📸 When we get off the train in Varanasi, we are not overwhelmed by hustlers as we expected, and after some quick negotiating, we pack ourselves and our bags into an electric tuktuk. Soon we are zooming amongst a crowd of green and yellow tuktuks, in a deafening concerto of honking. Quite unexpectedly, we first go through a Muslim neighbourhood where men in long white robes and women in black burqas go about their day in the narrow streets. The call to prayer, which we hadn’t heard since Malaysia 6 months ago, accompanies our first images of Varanasi. Quickly though we transition to a Hindu dominated area and flamboyant reds, yellows, golds and greens become ubiquitous on people and market stalls. Women are richly dressed with colourful sarees and golden jewellery. The narrow streets are lined with small shops selling offerings, flower necklaces, samosas, lassis… Our nostrils are in turn filled with smells of delicious incense, urine, decomposing garbage, and frying oil. Crooked dogs, enormous cows and cheeky monkeys roam this urban labyrinth already full with human life. All are tucking into plastic filled garbage. We find our guesthouse at the back of a quiet alley and, through our window, catch a first glimpse of the mythical Ganges river.
📸 The next morning, we are sipping a delicious chai into a small clay cup, admiring the grandiose mughal architecture along Varanasi’s Ghats, and observing the intense spiritual life taking place along the holy Ganges. A huge fiery sun is rising quietly, reflected in the calm waters of the Ganges. For a few minutes we can stare directly at the sun, its power filtered by the smog that blankets the plains of India. Hindu pilgrims are bathing in the holy (and very polluted) river, scooping water and letting it flow down between their hands, pointing at the sun. Some women are shaving their long silky charcoal hair as a sign of devotion, cleaning their smooth head with Ganges water before drying it with their bright coloured sarees. Groups of men are bringing a loved one to be cremated by the holy river and receive the Muksha – liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth. We are told the women have to stay home because they cry too much and that would cast negative vibes onto the deceased. Later, we observe the Ganga Aarti ceremony where priests ring bells and swirl around fiery candelabras, watched by thousands of colourfully dressed Hindu pilgrims chanting mantras, and honouring the river. These rituals take place every. single. day. of the year. and Hindus come in millions to accomplish this pilgrimage at least once in their life. We remark that we’ve never been anywhere with such a strong spiritual atmosphere and vibrant traditions.
📸 Intent on visiting the museum located on the Benares Hindu University campus, we are met with a very different different image of India. Women simply dressed in jeans and t-shirts, young lovers hanging out in the park, and some appealing electronic music playing somewhere on campus while we do a yoga session on the lawn. We can’t resist following the sound of the bass and eventually stumble upon a student celebration of the Holi festival (officially in a week’s time). The students are euphoric and covered in bright colours that they’re spreading on each other’s faces. Of course we join in and before we know it we’re covered in colourful baby powder, dancing to Indian electronic and pop music and having a lot of fun. We did go to the museum after that, not before having somewhat unsuccessfully washed ourselves. Three weeks later, our (numerous) white hairs still have a pink glow!
📸 After a terrible night in the train and with our first (and not last) Delhi belly, we arrive in Agra. Whilst there were few foreign tourists in Varanasi, we are surrounded by groups of Americans and other foreigners as we wait in the long line to visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise. When we finally make it in, we are immediately awed by the Mughal architecture: the grandiose arch of the red limestone gate, the perfect curve of the marble dome, the colourful pietra dura flower motifs in precious stones, the marble balustrades sculpted with geometric shapes. The mastery of craftmanship is simply breathtaking and we marvel again as we roam the Agra Fort and Emperor Akbar’s tomb. Whilst these architectural treasures, dating back from the 16th & 17th century, are primarily remarkable examples of islamic Mughal architecture, they also blend in references to other religions, as Akbar was known for his strong stance in favour of religious diversity and tolerance.
📸 Off another train in Delhi and we descend into the very modern and clean subway. No doubt we are in the capital city: here people are mostly dressed casually or corporate and generally look wealthier and middle class. Our airbnb is located in an upper middle class leafy suburb, big SUVs line the streets. Our host, Kiren, is an artist and her home is the most comfortable and clean place we’ve slept in so far. This vision of modern and wealthy India is quite a contrast with the extreme poverty and filth we have seen from the train windows. Within Delhi itself there is much contrast. In the morning, we roam old Delhi’s bazaars, walking through a labyrinth of narrow alleys – some packed with golden goodies and extravagant wedding outfits, others with nose-tingling chillis of all sorts packed in huge jute bags. It all feels like a messy and crowded accumulation of goods and people, not the least amount organised. 30 minutes later, we are strolling along the wide, straight, leafy and posh streets of the British-planned area, lined with imposing corporate and government buildings. If old Delhi looks like a messy maze on a map, colonial Delhi looks like a very geometric mosaic.
📸 Gulmarg’s highest gondola in the world emerges from the light clouds into the sun, and suddenly we are awed by an extensive view of the Himalayas on the other side of the wide Kashmiri valley. To the West, we can see all the way to the Pakistani side of Kashmir, Nanga Parbat (the 9th highest mountain in the world) towering above the range. Yesterday the clouds were so thick we couldn’t see the tip of our nose as we were arduously ploughing through thick and heavy powder. So today, with the gift of a clear sky, we take it all in, before launching ourselves down the mountain, following our Kashmiri guide Tiger and trying to trace as smooth lines as him, feeling the rush of adrenaline and the pain in our thighs! It feels like we have the mountain to ourselves as Indian tourists stick to sleds and bunny slopes. The tall pine trees are still loaded with snow, and birch trees shedding paper-like bark make this fairy tale atmosphere complete. The only issue is there is no raclette (melted cheese) to finish off the day here, only paneer!
📸 I’m sitting on the deck of our houseboat in Srinagar, the sun filtering through the intricately carved wood panels of the veranda. Dal Lake was so peaceful a couple of hours ago as I did my morning yoga with the huge snowy mountains and the early morning silver moon for sole companions. By now, a few colourful wooden punts are peacefully gliding on the water and floating merchants start approaching me offering flowers, silver jewellery or kehwa – the delicious local tea flavoured with cardamon, cinnamon, saffron and other delicacies. Birds are chirping away as the sun is rising above the mountains, golden light slowly replacing dawn’s pink palette. Imams were up earlier than birds, reciting Ramadan morning prayers since 4 AM (not sure if they even stopped during the night…)
📸 With wooden alpine buildings, snowy peaks and winding tree lined lanes, and a thick winter mist, we could be somewhere in the Alps. But here in Kashmir, tensions between a people desiring autonomy and the Indian government are evident. This is the most militarised place we’ve ever been to. Soldiers are on patrol as we take the bus out of town, the company spread out over hundreds of metres, walking with their assault rifles at the ready. Others patrol the roads with metal detectors. Columns of armoured cars roam Kashmir’s roads, with soldiers manning the machine gun turrets on the roof. Check points and military posts guard every street corner, surrounded by razor wire. It’s an intimidating environment, signaling violence or the risk of violence at every turn. This militarisation is a part of the Modi government’s hardline policy on Kashmir, including scrapping Kashmir (& Jammu’s) semi autonomous status, and a broadly hindu nationalist policy that’s creating increasing resentment amongst Kashmiris and leading to increased militancy. Despite all this, all we feel is warmth, smiles and kindness from Kashmiri locals, and from the soldiers themselves.
📸 At least a hundred women are sitting on the floor of Amritsar’s Golden Temple community kitchen, peeling and chopping vegetables, their chatter and laughter almost as loud as the metallic sounds coming from the dishwashing section where all the men are working. The holiest Sikh temple is teeming with life and embodies Sikh’s values of selfless service and egalitarianism. We follow the stream of solidly built men proudly wearing their turbans and women in sarees into the dining hall. Hundreds of people are sitting on the floor in long rows, and we join them to enjoy a free delicious meal cooked and served by volunteers. This is a 24/7 operation and as an old Sikh gentleman tells us: no one can ever starve in Amritsar. Amongst the visitors are Sikh guards, wearing a full purple robe and turban and carrying elegant sabers and spears. We see one gliding magically as he drives a mop to clean the tile floors of the hall. Later, we enter the heart of the temple, where worshippers are bathing in the giant square pond in the middle of which stands the majestic Golden Temple. Entire families are here praying and admiring the sheer beauty of the place to the sound of Kirtans in the background. We take in this intense spiritual atmosphere before heading to the dorm within the temple grounds where foreigners can stay for free and are given a bed in a dorm room, which we share with a motley bunch of travellers. Sikh pilgrims sleep shoulder to shoulder by the hundred on the floor outside in the courtyard and in the rooms of the multi story pilgrims house.
Overall, India has not felt as crazy and overwhelming as we expected it to be, perhaps because we have been in Asia for 8 months already. We packed a lot in two weeks and are very aware that we only saw a fraction of this vast land. But already in such a short time we got a glimpse of the intense spirituality, wild diversity and complexity of the people and the landscape. From the endless pancake-flat wheat fields of the north Indian plains, to the snow capped peaks, from slums along the railway to middle-class suburbs, from Varanasi’s intense Hindu spirituality, to Kashmir’s ubiquitous Muslim calls to prayer, and the Sikh’s Golden Temple hospitality. From the various distinctly Indian physiques to the persian looking Kashmiris, from the solidly built punjabi Sikhs with their colourful turbans and moustaches, to a distinctly South-East Asian looking guy from India’s North Eastern states.
Our travels were populated with encounters and conversations that start to draw an impressionist picture of India. From Rishi and Kiren, we heard fears from Hindus (who make up 80% of the population) about Muslim communities – their discourse punctuated by fake facts and generalisations peddled by the ruling BJP and other politicians. We discussed art with Meena in her Delhi art gallery, and plastic pollution with Jahan the Kashmiri ski instructor. We heard from young journalist Arsalan about the impact of climate change on Kashmir’s water resource and how the recent 80% decrease in snowfall means there is no electricity sometimes for 10 hours of the day. With him we discussed the rights of LGBTQI people and also hopefully changed his naïve / privileged mind that gender equality is already there (!). We visited a Kashmiri crafts store where Tim’s grandparents, Peter and Estella, had been 70 years ago, and discussed with its owner, Mustafa, how young educated Kashmiris are moving overseas for better opportunities, never to return. Yardhing, a young traveller from Manipur (North East India) told us about his home state which has a significant Christian population, ethnically closer to Birmans than to Indians. And countless Sikhs told us proudly about the altruistic values of their community.
These are just some of the many different facets of India.
A few things stand out for us. India is a developed nation, where extreme poverty and extravagant wealth accumulation exist side by side. Religion and spirituality play a major role in defining communities and society, and tensions between communities are increasingly prominent in Indian society (and politics) – as reflected in the very overt islamophobia expressed by several Hindus we talked to. Gender inequality seems to be blatant. « Where are the women? »! I asked Tim as I suddenly realised I was the only woman as far as the eye could see in a sea of men travelling in the Delhi metro. Even with the one « women only » carriage, women made up less than 5% of the passengers, and we observed the same thing many times in public spaces. The state of the environment is catastrophic. Rivers are not rivers anymore, they are open sewers and dumps. People throw their plastic garbage bags straight over the bridge and their cigarette packs right onto the snow. It is truly hard to feel optimistic about the state of the planet after having witnessed the scale of pollution in the most populous country in the world.
A week after leaving India and crossing the border to Pakistan, I feel that in India we spent two weeks in a country that embodies the great diversity and complexity of human societies, as well as the geopolitical, societal and environmental challenges of the future.


































