Cash and Curry

Unless you’re fascinated by its culture and the spirituality that seemingly emanates from that continent, India does not rank high on the list of most Filipino tourists. Weaned as we are on all-American holidays, we have Disney on our minds. We like our steaks on a plate in front of us, not idly blocking traffic on every street corner. The prospects of vegetarian fare, heat and dust as the visceral foundations of any brush with India have made most Philippine tour groups shy away, either heading for the opposite direction, flying over and reaching for Europe, or falling short and redisovering Southeast Asia. Which is a shame, because a million and one lessons and pleasures are there for the learning and the absorbing, if we would only be more adventurous and set aside outdated prejudices and foolish aversions.

Fortunate to be accommodated and catching up with the Asia Society group for the last seven days of their ten-day sojourn to New Delhi, Udaipur, Jaipur and Agra, I was constantly reminded of just how different, and yet how similar, India is to our own country. Never less than fascinating, I quickly realized that we were, in fact, only getting the smallest of slices of the varieties and diversities of the sights, sounds and smells that make India so unique. The southern part of this nation, with cities like Goa, was simply out of the equation, given the limited time we had.

The Republic of India is 3,287, 263 square meters of 1,027,000,000 people. Yes, that is one billion and then some, and not just hundreds of millions. While in the rural towns you may not feel the congestion of people, in the city there were instances when it seemed like the billion were right there beside me. And in my face, trying to get me to part with whatever cash I had.

Talk about aggressive vendors, and every tourist destination in India will have a swarm of them, pushing their wares under your nose and not knowing the meaning of the word ‘No’, ready to bargain with you till kingdom come, or the bus leaves them in a cloud of red sandstone dust.

As for the weather this time of the year, while the days were just like Manila’s tropical days, the nights were surprisingly cool, with the temperature plunging down to 60oF (15oC). It was literally out with the pashmina shawls and woolen jackets or pullovers as night descended, or carrying on dinner conversation with teeth chattering.

With the Asia Society organizing this tour (take a bow, Doris Ho, Ines Delgado and Mylene Golla), one was assured that special arrangements would be made to ensure that this would be a more than memorable excursion into India. A lunch with the Maharajah of Jaipur (I especially loved his Savile Row dark grey suit matched with brown lace ups, so "veddy English!"), a tour of Delhi’s Presidential Palace (the Rashtrapati Bhawan) conducted by the man who wrote the coffeetable book on the Palace, a specially arranged elephant polo match with some of us participating as players, and a special dinner at the Sanskriti Museum of Everyday Art hosted by the visionary who put up this privately funded museum were just some of the highlights of the tour.

The first stop on the tour was the lakeside town of Udaipur. Known also as the "City of Sunrise", it is literally a jewel of an oasis, a spark of color in an otherwise stark and arid desert region. Replace the villas with white marble palaces, retain the blue lakes and green hills, and Udaipur struck me as reminiscent of the Lake Como region that’s nestled between Italy and Switzerland. There’s a grand City Palace and the Fateh Prakash Palace (private domain of the Maharanas), both overlooking the shores of Lake Pichola. Renowned as one of the most picturesque cities of India, Udaipur has served as a favorite of poets and painters, travelers and writers. The Udaivilas (an Oberoi hotel) where we stayed had us imagining we were Maharanas ourselves.

Then it was on to Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan. Billeted at the Rajvilas, we were feted with a ceremonial royal welcome at the hotel gate, then a brief puja at the hotel temple.

Known as the Pink City, the kingdom of Jaipur was originally Amber, which is also the name of the ancient fort (palace) that is located seven miles away and dates back to the 12th century. This hilltop Amber Fort is one the most enduring images of Rajasthan. Known for their specialty jewelry, arts and crafts, enamel work and hand-printed fabrics, it was no wonder that our group literally went to town in Jaipur, shopping-wise. Visions of overweight baggage came into the equation at this point of the journey.

The 16th and 17th century was the time of the Moghuls, and Agra was the capital of India. During the reign of Akbar, a universalist religion was promulgated and in order to achieve this, Akbar gathered around him men of culture and genius, attempting to synthesize Hindu, Moghul and Persian influences and beliefs.

It was also during this period that the Taj Mahal was built, a tribute from a great emperor to his departed second wife. The irony is that in his last years, this emperor was fated to merely view the monument from the Agra Fort, situated on the other side of the Yamuna River. He was toppled by his own son and left imprisoned in the Fort. Despite the countless times one may have seen the Taj in photos, the actual sighting still takes your breath away.

New Delhi and a taste of the more modern India, mixed with its "seven cities" origins dating from the 13th to the 17th centuries, was our last stop. At this point, while most of the people claimed they were all "shawled out", it didn’t take much to get them to once again shift to shopping mode, and expend a lot of energy haggling and adding to their respective Manila-bound booties, when they saw the shopping districts spread all over the city.

For historical and cultural experiences, one has to visit Humayun’s Tomb and the Qutb Minar tower. The tomb was built in the 16th century, and is considered a forerunner of the Taj. The tower is 234 feet high, a Delhi landmark and dates back to the 12th century. Commemorating the first Muslim dynasty in India, it’s truly an architectural marvel when you consider when and how it was built.

Throughout the trip, one was constantly cognizant of the intense pride the Indians have in their history and culture. Despite the years of British rule and the assimilation of influences from various sources, whether Persian, Hindu, Moghul or British, there remains a distinct notion of what it means to be Indian–we would do well to emulate that.

They have a very strong sense of how to organize their tourism industry (we could emulate that too). Our tour leader was a history professor who had retired from teaching and was now happy to remain in service to the country by helping visitors understand India much better. Of course, we gave as well as we took, and by Day Three, he had some idea of what Manila-time was all about. Even he was perplexed at first by our seeming indifference to punctuality and the obsessive manner with which we made shopping an official Olympic sport.

Talking to the younger people I encountered, there was the tacit admission that arranged marriages and the caste system still play a major role in contemporary Indian society. But despite this, general progress and their competitive edge in the global economy are not affected. Again, there was the easy intermingling of things traditional with things modern. If it was partying Indian-style one was after, most of the younger set unanimously agreed that one had to go to Bombay (or Mumbai) and imbibe the more cosmopolitan nature of that city, home to the Bollywood industry we hear so much about.

While we were there, the country was in the throes of election fever (again, I was struck by parallels to our own country). Not content with the slew of movie stars running for this or that post, it was relayed to me how one party even had a convicted criminal on their slate. I commented that at least in the Philippines, we first elect our criminals-to-be, convicting them after.

It is in the highly competitive business of outsourcing that the Indians have made their mark. Their facility with English, the networking that’s achieved given the number of them who work in Silicon Valley, the manner with which they’ve kept costs down and the more than abundant number of trainable workers all make for an advantage that will take some time to overtake. India, despite the poverty and over-population, is poised to play a major role in the global economy.

One billion people, staunchly proud to be Indian, no matter if they’ve been flung to the far corners of the world or fated to live under very different economic circumstances–it makes for a sense of national identity and consciousness that’s to be envied and learned from.

The Asia Society is already planning their next Asian foray, so make an effort to join the Society. Besides the wonderful talks that are regularly organized as renowned speakers ‘do’ the Asian cities, there’s no better way to acquaint yourself with the region and make the most of your travel time.