SUMMARY
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After four extended visits, each lasting nearly a month, it’s fair to say that India has carved out a space in my wanderlust. Friends often ask me why. Their curiosity is usually marked with skepticism, sometimes even concern. “What do you like about India?” they ask with bafflement.
The question is often followed by a familiar refrain, shaped by viral TikTok clips of dirty street food pantries: “Isn’t it dirty?”
I’ve answered the question so many times, I might as well be reciting from a script, of an improvised monologue repeated over the years, with all the usual reasons: the food, the history, the sound and color of the bazaars, the warmth of the people, and yes, even the dizzying disarray of the streets, which to some may seem like chaos, but to me feels like choreography.
Maybe it’s time I moved beyond the rehearsed reply. It’s about time, perhaps, to unpack the whys and how’s, and finally give fuller voice to my likeness for India, to offer a counterpoint to those who see the country only through viral clips and offhand jokes that hover dangerously close to racism.
India to me is all these and more.
A country perfect for curious travelers
Few places, if any, rival India in its ability to serve as a crossroads of continents and cultures. A living, decompression chamber where East meets West, and North touches the South.
For the curious traveler, India is less a destination and more a sensory journey: a place where the unfamiliar feels curiously new, and the familiar are spruced up dressed in colorful garbs, sound, and spice.
Step just a few hundred meters beyond your place of accommodation, and you’re instantly swept into a mix of color and contrast from centuries-old temples and palaces to the everyday scene of the street.
As the oft-repeated phrase goes, ‘India assaults all your senses,’ but in my experiences, it’s not only true, it also has seduced me in. And in that combination of noise, smell, texture, and taste, it also has satisfied my own wanderlust.
A sense of history everywhere
In India, history isn’t tucked away in museums or written only in books, it pulses through the streets, temples, forts, and daily rituals. Mughal palaces rise beside colonial-era buildings; ancient Hindu shrines stand amid modern chaos. Even the smallest alleyways often lead you to landmarks and museums keeping stories of past kingdoms, wars and revolutions.
India’s history is embedded in the everyday lives of its people. Some are hidden in plain sight like a palace in Jaipur that quietly takes visitors into winding lanes and scenes of daily life, while others, such as the iconic Taj Mahal, and the citadels scattered across the state of Rajasthan stands out more.
To sum it up, just by exploring the streets of India will always take you to unpredictable paths, where the country’s history awaits to be told. For history junkies, it is important to know that there are 43 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the whole of India, with 35 of which are considered cultural sites and 7 nature sites.
Shifting landscapes per state
To describe India in just a few words based on its topography is much like calling New Zealand hilly, the Philippines an exotic island paradise, Switzerland a land of snowy mountains, or many African nations a mix of forest and desert plains — India would be a combination of all.
There are the golden sand dunes of Rajasthan, the art-deco architectural hub of downtown Mumbai, the snow-capped Himalayas, the tropical vibe of Kerala’s backwaters and Goa’s beaches, the rugged slopes of the 1,600-kilometer-long Western Ghats mountainside, the high-altitude plains of Ladakh, and the coastal lowlands off the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, and much more in between.
Each time you hop on an inter-state train, expect to disembark into an entirely new landscape.
A backpacker’s training ground
A friend of mine, Monette, once told me she knew she had found the right man to marry after they spent over a month traveling around India together. This is because the country, known for diversity and experience, can also test your patience.
Alongside the warmth and friendliness of its people, you’ll certainly encounter the less pleasant ones: countless so-called “touts,” or peddlers of overpriced souvenirs, dubious services, and inflated cab fares, who will get in-your-face instantly that shoving them aside becomes an art in itself.
The train system, while impressively vast and essential in moving millions daily, can be chaotic to navigate, and an adventure in itself. The chances of boarding the wrong train rise with every moment you lose focus or hesitate to ask someone what the public address announcement just said, all while a flurry of rushing commuters past by you.
Then there’s the street scene, a torpedo of noise, motion, and sensory overload that can trigger immediate culture shock, especially for first-time travelers from the West.
But for someone like me, who started out roughing it as a solo backpacker, traveling to India four times has prepared me for all kinds of eventualities.
More importantly, it has made me a better traveler, one who, instead of complaining or withdrawing, embraces what one fellow traveler described to me as “bedlam in the streets of India” and turns each challenge into an awakening, a lesson, a humbling experience, and eventually, a story worth writing and telling about.
Fascinating cultural, religious traditions
During my first trip to India more than a decade ago, I experienced what I can only describe as an in-your-face awakening. In Varanasi, the ancient city along the Ganges, I found myself stunned by the sight of funeral processions weaving through narrow streets, culminating in open-air cremations along the ghats, which is usually a concreted stairs leading to a river. Though I had read about these Hindu rites, witnessing them unfold with such a short distance away took me by surprise.
As I often say, once you have absorbed Varanasi, everywhere else in India seems to taper off in intensity. The country’s cultural and religious traditions then reveal themselves like a vast canvas, painted with every imaginable color with each stroke illuminating India’s heritage, character, and wild spirit.
For spiritually minded travelers, India offers countless sanctuaries of reflection and renewal. In Rishikesh, often hailed as the yoga capital of the world, visitors find a haven to enrich their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Here, one can also witness the Ganga Aarti, a sacred riverside ritual held only in Rishikesh, Varanasi, and Haridwar.
Throughout the year, India’s calendar is adorned with fascinating festivals. Among them is Holi, the Festival of Colors, Love, and Spring, which celebrates the divine love of Radha and Krishna — and which I personally experience in the city of Jaisalmer in the state of Rajasthan.
There is also Diwali, the festival of lights and perhaps India’s most widely celebrated event, observed by millions around the globe. And then there is the Kumbh Mela, a massive Hindu pilgrimage considered as the world’s largest peaceful gathering.
Of course, the food
I often tell my friends that I could easily transition to a vegan lifestyle in India. Despite being heavily rooted in vegetarianism, their cuisine is so flavorful, thanks to centuries-old culinary traditions that masterfully employ a vast use of spices, curry sauces, chutneys, raitas, and assorted dips.
I always order a thali, a traditional Indian and Nepali meal whose name means “plate.” It typically consists of an assortment of dishes such as vegetable curries, dal, chapati, rice, papad, and curd or yogurt.
Sometimes, it also includes lamb or chicken. The meal is usually served on a round metal platter with small bowls arranged around the central serving of rice or bread.
Don’t let those viral TikTok videos of questionable street food stalls scare you off. If you take the time to explore, you’ll find plenty of spots that focus on serving delicious, high-quality Indian food in clean, welcoming settings. Trust me, the flavors of Indian cuisine are worth the visit to the country.
To sum it up, India is not merely a destination to tick off a bucket list. It is a country that demands to be understood in all its contradictions, beauty, and chaos. Across my four journeys there, each visit has added another layer to my understanding of its history, culture, and people, leaving me forever changed and improved.
For me, India will always be a place of rediscovery, of the world and of myself. It is a land that challenges, humbles, and feeds, both figuratively and literally. It fills the mind with new learnings and spirituality, forever reminding me, in the words of French novelist Gustave Flaubert, of “how tiny a place I occupy in this world.” – Rappler.com
How does this make you feel?
