End of last year I spent 2 weeks in India. It’s now February, 2 months have passed since I came back and still I think about this trip almost every single day. There are so many stories to tell…
How do I describe something that felt like the trip of a lifetime to a country that is so different from what I’m used to?
Well here are some words that come to my mind…
INTENSE. HOSPITALIY. EXCITEMENT. CHATTY RICKSHAW DRIVERS. CRAZY. NOISE. FUN. OVERWHELMING. COLOURFUL. CHAI TEA. SCENTS. POVERTY. STREET LIFE. HAGGLING. SMALL HOUSES. RICKSHAWS. MOPED. CARS. SPICES. NAAN BREAD. CURRY. GRUMPY UBER DRIVERS. TRAINS. SMILES. ALL THE FOOD. NEW FRIENDS. BOLLYWOOD. LONG DAYS. MEMORIES. POLLUTION. NAMASTE. SLOW. CHEAP. COWS. CRICKET.
People’s life happens on the street. Every day, all day. Nobody seems to lock their doors, families live together in the smallest spaces and everyone is welcome. We actually got invited into people’s homes a few times, they would serve us tea and even offer us food. Those people have next to nothing but shared the little they have with strangers in order to practice their English and talk about their beautiful country. People are proud of India and they would welcome us with open arms without seeming to expect anything in return. I’m still amazed by the friendliness of everybody we met. It was amazing and India won my heart over in no time.
I did this trip with 7 other photographers from all over the world. A few Brits, a Romanian who lives in Germany, an Australian and another Brit who lives in New York but seems to be in a different city every weekend. It was a good group. No wait… It was an amazing group. I’m honestly still amazed by how well we got along and I now have 4 new friends on top of the 3 I knew before starting this trip.
It all started with Anna and Matt who planned the trip and invited a bunch of photographers on a street photography adventure and I happened to be one of the lucky ones who got asked if they wanted to come. I was actually just sitting in makeshift restaurant on a lonely island that belongs to Vietnam when I saw Anna’s message on facebook. I didn’t even finish reading and already answered “Yes I want to come” before even finding out what exactly would happen and when. Turned out that the trip would start on my birthday – well that’s a great way to celebrate and definitely something new.
Over 2 weeks we visited 4 cities – New Delhi, Jodhpur, Kolkata and Varanasi. Every city was very different from the others and every place had something special to them that would fascinate us.
We started in New Delhi, where the air was so bad that it equalled to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. The streets were busy, the food was amazing and we learned how easy it was to take photos of people.
One thing that really left a memorable impression on all of us was when we booked a slums tour in the city. We visited a community that basically lived on a battlefield. While we were there, the government was tearing down the houses people lived in, to build something else. It was heart-breaking and hard to witness. But for everybody there, life went on. They dealt with it and kept on living their lives.
We then took a 10hour night train to Jodhpur and arrived in the morning in what seemed like a different world. The blue city had a calming feeling and Anna booked a hostel with a beautiful rooftop terrace. For 2 days we roamed the city, talked to people and had fantastic chai tea in people’s houses. I think for the atmosphere, Jodhpur was my favourite place.
