India

India has always been an inspiration for European people's fantasies.
India ist more than a country, bigger than Europe and not to be generalized. What is mostly true though: India is full of people, full of scent, and full of sounds. Novels about contemporary India are interesting, not only for travellers who often think of themselves as being superior to other tourists. Read The Beach or Paperback Raita and get a different impression! British journalist Tarquin Hall has a true story to tell about Where the Elephants die, that often seems more a parody than an accurate reportage, but anyone who has been there knows that in India, unbelievable things happen every day.

More thrilling and sometimes funny stories about travel in India come from Indian-born Salman Rushdie, like his famous novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990), a feary tale about beautiful landscape and daily madness in the Indian part of Kashmir, with its lakes, canals and floating gardens of lotus flowers. Salman Rushdie's novels can be quite different from one another, but in each one of them, phantastic ideas and images are always spiced with satrical allusions to our modern world.

The film "Slumdog Millionaire" offers a slightly funny, but also slightly shocking view (at least for those who have never been to India before) of today's India, with a fascinating story (based on the novel by Vikas Swarup) and a marvellous sountrack. Danny Boyle (The Beach, Trainspotting) was first told that Slumdog Millionaire had no chance for commercial success, the same film that later won several Academy Awards and set a new box office records in the UK. Bollywood fans have to wait until the end of the film to enjoy a real Bollywood-style dance scene.

So-called Bollywood films are becoming increasingly popular in Europe. Maybe that's for their mixture of musical, dance, action and romantic elements, but you'd better ask a Bollywood fan about that. Commercially, Bombay's film industry is at level with Hollywood. Likewise, the glamourous world of these movies has little to to with reality in India. Mountain romance is often screened in Switzerland instead of the Himalayan with its Earthquakes, civil war and poverty. Many Bollywood actors use their popularity to gain political power like Reagan and Arnold did in the USA.

India is a world of sound, not of letters. Traffic signs are as rare as newspapers, and every driver indicates his position and importance by constantly using horns and other signals ... Descriptions like this one are not just fun to read, they also teach a lot about India. Together with more practical hints, they can be found in the book "Culture Shock India" written by the Indian author Gitanjal Kolanad.

In India, there is music all around, mostly pop music from Bollywood sountracks, played loud on small tape recorders or sung in the streets. Looking for classical Indian music with sitar and tabla takes some more time, but then again, you should bring a lot of time for a trip to India.
Well-known "serious" musicians from India and Pakistan are Ravi Shankar, his daughter Norah Jones, tabla player Zakir Hussain. Talented sitar masters like Pundit Shivnat Mishra ("Music of Benares") deserve to be more famous than they actually are. Most famous musician is the singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. After his death in 1997, he will be remembered both as a conserver and a modernizer of traditional Pakistani music (Sufi Qawwali Music). Many remixes exist of his songs, like those of DJ Bally Sagoo. Like him, Talvin Singh, the inventor of electronic tabla drums, is one of the "Asian Underground" musicians in the UK who like musical experiments. The world hit "Mundian to bach ke" by Punjabi MC made Bhangra music quite popular. Goa is a beach region of India, but the psychedelic trance music played there is mostly produced in Europe and Israel.

India has many different languages. While Hindi and Urdu are widespread in the North, only English is common to all Indians. The every-day language shows some peculiarities of Asian grammar (the popular Indian question "Possible?" is similar to "Can?" in Thai English, and "Yes, possible!" is a perfect answer to it). Office and banking English in India resembles old-fashioned British bureaucracy of the colonial era. Travellers have added some Indian words to their vocabulary, like "Achha" (O.K.). Worship for Shiva (who creates and destroys while dancing) and Ganesha (God of luck) is also not uncommon among travellers and Goa freaks.

Many Indians don't have enough to eat, so tourists find themselves surrounded by the palms of begging children and the elderly, but food stalls at street crossings sell food for a few Rupees that's superior to most international junk food. Main ingredients are rice and dal (lentils). Meat is less common due to religious and often also financial reasons. Indian food is always hot and spicy. Mangos, pomgrenades and bananas are common in the warm climate, while apples are a speciality of the Himlayan highlands. Bread usually means flat white Chapati, other sorts are sometimes found in travellers' cafes and so-called German Bakeries. India is a country of tea. Many varieties of black tea are named after Indian landscapes, like Assam and Darjeeling. But Chai (tea) is usually served with loads of milk and sugar. Coffee is nearly unknown. Other things to bring from home are moskito repellent (Autan) and moskito nets just to be sure, as insects can bring Malaria and many Malaria variants have become resistent against available medication. Bakshish means tip money, bribe or a small "thank you" payment. Someone who can afford travelling to India is considered "rich" and expected to pay Bakshish! "Western" phenomena like atheism, having only one child or not marrying are as uncommon as short trousers. For greeting and eating, always use your right hand, not the left one which is reserved for touching dirty things.

Indian history is several thousand years old. Veda and Kama Sutra, written in Sanskrit, are renowned worldwide, just like the words and deeds of Buddha and of the idealistic lawyer Mohindas "Mahatma" Gandhi who fought for Indian independence with non-violent resistance. His philosophy "Live simply so that others may simply live!" has unfortunately still missed to reach the hearts and minds of many people.

Indian games include Chess, Carromm - a game where flat pieces are tossed with the fingertips to shoot them into target wholes before the opponent does, and Cricket - the British flavour of Baseball, where most players stand around idly most of the time, at least this is what it looks like from a spectator's point of view. Womens' soccer is no typical Indian sport at all - watch the nice film "Bend it like Beckham" with Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley to see why. After all, India is worth more than one trip, but travellers to India should prepare themselves well.