Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Travel Tales: India, A Tourist in my Own Land


I am Indian. Whatever my passport says, when someone asks "Where do you come from? " I hesitate just a second before saying "India". A lifetime spent in four continents of the world has made me a bit of everything else as well. So I am excited but also a little nervous about planning a touristic trip en famille to India .

The kids want to 'discover their roots'. As a first trip in their age of awareness, it has to be the Golden Triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, extended to as much of Rajasthan as we can manage. I do an in-depth study of travel guides, take suggestions from friends and do comparative shopping of travel agents. It feels odd, being a tourist to my own land. Finally the Plan is ready, deposits paid, we wait impatiently for the day, and we fly.

It is a surreal trip for me. I see India both from within and without. I am both part and apart from this land. I see it all also through the eyes of my children, whose links are more tenuous. As the days go by, my veneer of 'apartness' is shed, and I become more and more a woman of this land. My daughter sums it up. "It feels good Mum", she says "to be the same as everyone else".

Come, follow the tales of my voyage with me..

Day 13 - Delhi
Day 14 - Delhi and return

1 comment:

Sambasivan Amarnath said...

Beautiful pictures...keep it going.