Well, "here" isn't very descriptive and that doesn't really tell you a lot so I'll be a bit more informative...
I ended spending three weeks in Arambol (the "plan" was 3 days) in the North of Goa after finding a place at the time I would have defined as home but I impulsively left after the vibes started feeling mixed. I was living a pretty idyllic lifestyle, by the beach, in the sun, driving to little beaches on my rented scooter. After a while, however, I was feeling a little lost, I had too much time for contemplation and even though I was with a large group of fantastic travelers spending time together and doing what backpackers do all day I started feeling a little lost and very unfocused. Thinking about my future and money, where i was and what I was doing wasn't making me feel very fulfilled. There were some of my friends on that rooftop who had been living there for over three months and just sitting around smoking charras all day, which is nice occasionally but not something that is good to initiate into your daily routine. So I went down South to the North of the next state - Gokarna, Karnataka with a good friend where we had some peace and focused on yoga and eating lots of fruit. Gokarna is the way Goa was about 10 years ago (apparently), gone are the sun loungers and the orange package holiday tourists and here are the campfires and 50 year old hippies from Aberdeen who like to talk about BBC4 documentaries and where the world went wrong (which is quite a long time ago in some places).
Anyway, I think Goa is going a bad way, due to the terrorist attacks and the "high risk" (pah!) that Goa was going next, the police really clamped down on the independence of travellers; even if you were just sitting round a campfire with a couple of friends after 10pm they would order you to go home and possibly search you. It wasn't actually very shanti in that aspect. One of my friends on the rooftop, who was very insightful offered his theory that this was their way and excuse of herding away the travelers with less money - the type more likely to sit around a campfire on the beach after 10pm drinking cheap bottles of rum rather than the type that sit in one of the many posh bars sprouting like mushrooms along the beach front sipping on their 130rps mocktails.
Whatever, I'm not going to get political and i am not going to rant about the corruption in the authorities and police that I have witnessed in the last few months, it's not going to change anything. India is a pure example of relativity, without bad, there is no opposite.
And I see a lot of good here, optimism is everywhere, progression is everywhere and productivity is everywhere. I reckon it's doing alright for itself seeing as India supports 16% of the world's population on 2% on the world's land.
i have loved more than anything seeing how each state changes; the people, the culture, the food, the landscape... I now realize how ignorant I was when i got here to think of India as one large blob, a very big and unorganized country thats smelly and dirty.
Ok, so it is smelly and dirty...
But anyway, I'd like to see the UK do any better in these circumstances, although Indians can be rude, pushy, and unashamed scam artists I have never seen so much compassion shown between family members, friends and even strangers. Imagine a local train that is so stuffed you may have several pairs of feet at once firmly parked in front of your face and several screaming children pushed into your lap while whole houses of appliances and furniture are optimistically shoved into these small metal compartments. would we absently acknowledge this crush of bodies and waggle our heads with warm humour at each other? No, someone would most likely get seriously injured in a stampede of aggression and frustration. Imagine an event such as the changing of the guards between the Indian and Pakistani border - Would Scotland and England cheer and wave companionably and sincerely at each other across the border? No. We'd slag each other off and throw beer cans at each other's heads.
I still learn something everyday and now i feel happy to be moving away from the coast and into the heart of the south - Kerela. I know it is high season and everyone that I've met are doing the same thing, going the same places and I will most likely see them in a cafe a few hundred kilometers down the line. that doesn't change anything though, ok so I'm treading the beaten track, in many places the track is beaten for a reason. It's not going to stop me turning down interesting alleyways, streets and paths along the way.
Whatever, I'm not going to get political and i am not going to rant about the corruption in the authorities and police that I have witnessed in the last few months, it's not going to change anything. India is a pure example of relativity, without bad, there is no opposite.
And I see a lot of good here, optimism is everywhere, progression is everywhere and productivity is everywhere. I reckon it's doing alright for itself seeing as India supports 16% of the world's population on 2% on the world's land.
i have loved more than anything seeing how each state changes; the people, the culture, the food, the landscape... I now realize how ignorant I was when i got here to think of India as one large blob, a very big and unorganized country thats smelly and dirty.
Ok, so it is smelly and dirty...
But anyway, I'd like to see the UK do any better in these circumstances, although Indians can be rude, pushy, and unashamed scam artists I have never seen so much compassion shown between family members, friends and even strangers. Imagine a local train that is so stuffed you may have several pairs of feet at once firmly parked in front of your face and several screaming children pushed into your lap while whole houses of appliances and furniture are optimistically shoved into these small metal compartments. would we absently acknowledge this crush of bodies and waggle our heads with warm humour at each other? No, someone would most likely get seriously injured in a stampede of aggression and frustration. Imagine an event such as the changing of the guards between the Indian and Pakistani border - Would Scotland and England cheer and wave companionably and sincerely at each other across the border? No. We'd slag each other off and throw beer cans at each other's heads.
I still learn something everyday and now i feel happy to be moving away from the coast and into the heart of the south - Kerela. I know it is high season and everyone that I've met are doing the same thing, going the same places and I will most likely see them in a cafe a few hundred kilometers down the line. that doesn't change anything though, ok so I'm treading the beaten track, in many places the track is beaten for a reason. It's not going to stop me turning down interesting alleyways, streets and paths along the way.
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