Field notes: Discovering India – the InsideAsia way
We’re on the countdown to launching India, our next InsideAsia destination.
Jess is our product manager for India, leading the team as we build our knowledge (and excitement) ahead of launching in September.
Here, she tells us more about how she came to love India, and our plans for getting ready to launch.
My love affair with the Indian subcontinent began by chance. When I was 18, I spent a year working with a local NGO, living with paddy field farmers in Sri Lanka where, each evening, I’d wash my clothes in the well as the sun began to dip. Walking back to the main house (dropping freshly washed clothes as I went), emerald-collared parakeets returned to trees to roost for the night. I could feel the beauty in the moment’s simplicity – and I knew that this part of the world was special.
Fast-forward 20 years, and, having worked with numerous NGOs in Sri Lanka, taught myself Sinhalese, taken a degree in South Asian studies (with a module in Bollywood) and dozens of trips to India, I am completely obsessed with this part of the world.
Now, as we launch India as a brand new InsideAsia destination, I’d like to share a little about why I love it – and how we plan to introduce you to India, too.
What makes India special?
Firstly, and it’s a bold claim, but one I’ll happily stand by: I don’t think you can ever be finished with travelling to India – and I’ve been doing it my entire adult life.
Part of that is because the country is just so vast. Each state has something different to offer, which means it’s almost impossible to have the same trip twice. Many of the experiences I’ve had over the years feel like they happened on utterly different continents.
In 2010, for example, I travelled through Kashmir, where I canoed to the early morning floating market on Dal Lake to buy saffron, and water-skied with wooden planks strapped to my feet. Then, that same year, I watched mud wrestling in the Punjab. Another time, I joined a festival in Ladakh – where locals wore fluffy-fringed traditional dress and performed archery against a mountain backdrop.
I’m not listing these experiences just to show off (although I have been incredibly lucky), but to showcase just how diverse the things India has to offer truly are.
And, when you consider that the Himalayas cross 13 Indian states, the Thar desert is over double the size of France, and there are over 2,000 ethnic groups in the country, that’s not too surprising.
Isn’t India loud and intense?
The idea of India being a sensory overload is a well-worn stereotype – and to be completely clear, it absolutely is an assault on every sense. Head into Mumbai – with its 26 million inhabitants, tuk tuks, motorbikes, vans, cars, people and cows jostling for space on its choked-up roads – and you’ll understand why immediately.
That noise and density is a big part of India’s personality – but it’s not the only side to it.
Take places like coastal Kochi, for example, with its renowned modern art scene, water metro system, colonial buildings radiating the balmy afternoon heat, and relaxed cafe culture, where a matcha latte isn’t out of place. Cycling the backstreets, people-watching as locals do their morning exercises, or catching the sunset on the beach, you’re worlds away from Agra or Delhi.
And then there’s Wayanad, one of my favourite districts of Kerala. This is coffee, tea and cocoa country, with coffee blossom that could rival the cherry blooms of Japan or South Korea.
On my last visit, I stood in a tea plantation as the sun went down, watching school children and tea pickers make their way home through the fields, the occasional brightly coloured truck rumbling past as temple bells gonged in the distance. Hiking up into the hills, with not another soul in sight, only soaring mountains and deep valley crevices for miles, the view was like a watercolour painting.
How to do India right
With so much to see and do, there are endless ways you could plan a trip to India – but there are definitely ways to do it right. It moves fast, it’s supercharging its economic and social development at lightning speed, and every time I visit it feels like I’m on catch up.
Many first-time visitors want to start with the ‘big sights’ of the Golden Triangle: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. And that’s absolutely possible, but there are experiences that go beyond the obvious. Of course, fill your camera reel with the Taj Mahal, but I’d also encourage you to consider some things that might surprise you, too. Like staying with locals in a countryside home in Ramathra, toasting naan bread on wood fire chullas, or going to Karauli bazaar to see lacquered bangle makers at work.
Wherever you go, though, in my experience, some things are always true on a visit to the Indian subcontinent, and that’s the interactions you have with people and the slices of local life you get to experience that make India truly memorable.
Stay in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, for example, and you might walk past a ‘kitty party’ – where women dress up for high tea in fancy hotels – in full swing. Take a tour through the tapioca fields near the Muvattapuzha river, and you might taste fresh chai and banana fritters, cooked by a local whose been perfecting the recipe his whole life. Visit Piplantri village in Rajasthan, where they plant 111 trees every time a baby girl is born, and be greeted with scarves and tikka ornaments – just like I was last year.
Life, lived away from the sights of the Golden Triangle, has so much to offer – and respectful tourism (and its dollars) are welcome here.
What is InsideAsia planning?
We want to build itineraries that offer a solid basis for you to take inspiration from and make your own – each offering a ‘goldilocks’ amount of time in each place.
Pacing is important, and your energy will be pulled in so many different directions: the heat can be fierce and jet lag will take its toll, but that doesn’t have to stop you from enjoying yourself. It just means you might need to take things slower than you’d expect – stay three or four nights in some places to take it all in. If you love it, you can always come back.
In my opinion, the biggest mistake you can make is rushing through (save that for Race Across the World contestants!) You’ll have a much richer experience if you prioritise where you want to go, and what you want to do while you’re there.
It’s with this in mind that, with each of our trips, that we plan to build in free time for spontaneity, allowing space for moments of serendipity. Sometimes stopping for a chai, chatting with the smiling chaiwala, is more memorable than strolling through grand forts and palaces.
Join us as we learn more and countdown
India isn’t known as the Land of Smiles (Thailand’s been granted that moniker) but in my opinion, it’s a title it deserves, too. Indian people are kind, open and welcoming – to the point where I’d advise leaving space in your suitcase for all the presents you’ll collect along the way.
The saying “guest is god” is deeply ingrained into India’s culture. You’ll be let into everyday life: invited into a home at a moment’s notice, joining in with a local Theyyam festival, or chatting about where you’re from at Dal Lake market. Visit India, and I can almost guarantee something wonderful and unexpected will come to pass.
We’re on the countdown to launch – and we’re still learning. As we explore, meet more incredible people and expand our love of India along the way, we’d love for you to join us.
I’m making it my mission to get people as addicted to India as I am, and I’d love to start with you.