V Indijo / To India

Vedno sem imela nekje v podzavesti, da bi rada šla nekoč v Indijo. Malo me je za to navdušila kolegica, ki sem jo spoznala med trekingom v Nepalu pred nekaj leti, saj je ona sama precej potovala po Indiji in je povedala, da se tam lahko ženska sama brez težav potika naokrog. Ampak ko imaš enkrat družino, otroke, dom, službo in vse obveznosti, je težko kar tako odpotovati na počitnice. Potem pa se je na vsem lepem zgodilo, da so nam v službi nepričakovano ustavili projekt, na katerem sem delala in takrat se mi je ponudila edinstvena priložnost, da se zmenim za mesec dni dopusta. Doma so mi tudi dali privoljenje in sem lahko šla. Na pot sem šla iz Trsta preko Rima v Amman in od tam v New Delhi, kamor sem prispela v zelo zgodnjih jutranjih urah. Čeprav sem bila pripravljena na vse, nekaj sem tudi že potovala pred tem in sem vedela, da v Aziji je vse drugače, sem bila vendarle kar precej šokirana ob prihodu na letališče v New Delhiju. Nepregledne množice ljudi so se drenjale ob izhodu iz letališča, verjetno so vsi nekoga čakali, in to kljub temu, da je bilo zelo zgodaj zjutraj, saj je bila še tema. Odločila sem se, da malo vedrim na letališču, vsaj do neke bolj razumne jutranje ure, preden se odpravim proti mestu. Bilo je še kar hladno, videla sem, da so bili domačini večinoma zaviti v nekakšne tanke volnene odeje, ki so jih imeli poveznjene čez glavo. Ena ženska je spala kar na tleh v stranišču, kjer je bilo malo topleje. Odpravila sem se z avtobusom v mesto in brez težav našla prenočišče Sunny Guest House, ki sem ga izbrala iz turističnega vodnika. Tam sem pustila prtljago in šla malo peš naokrog. In kmalu ugotovila, da v Indiji nikjer nimaš miru, da bi se lahko sprehodil in se malo razgledal. Vsi nekaj ponujajo, sprašujejo, se hočejo pogovarjat, če že nič drugega pa ti vsaj hočejo očistit čevlje. Enostaven »ne, hvala« itak ne zaleže, tudi bolj oster NE nič ne pomaga, če jih pa ignoriraš, te potem gnjavijo, češ ali se nočeš pogovarjati z menoj, tako da ne moreš zmagat. Res je, da sem bila neprespana po dolgem potovanju in malo me je zdelala časovna razlika, zato nisem imela preveč potrpljenja, a za prvi dan sem imela dovolj, se umaknila v prenočišče, kjer sem malo brala in malo počivala in ko sem v recepciji zagledala ponudbo za vozovnice za avtobus sem takoj kupila vozovnico za nočni avtobus za Dharamsalo za naslednji večer, ker sem se želela čim prej umakniti iz mestnega vrveža. Naslednji dan sem se še malo potikala in razgledovala naokrog in res je pomagalo, da sem se spočila in naspala, saj me vsiljivost domačinov ni več tako zelo motila.

I always had it at the back of my mind that I want to go to India some day. I was inspired by a girl I met during my Nepal trekking trip a few years earlier who told me that she spent lots of time traveling in India alone as it is safe for a woman to go alone. But when one has a family, children, a home, a job and everything that goes with that it's not easy to just take off and go. But all of a sudden I had a window of opportunity: they cancelled the project on which I was working at my job and I was able to get a month of vacation time. At home I was also given permission and off I went. My trip started in Trieste from where I flew to Rome, Amman and New Delhi where I arrived super early in the morning. Although I was ready for anything, after all, I had done some traveling previously and I knew Asia was different, I was still quite shocked when I arrived at the airport. Despite the early morning hour, so early that it was still dark, there were huge crowds of people all shoving around the airport exit, probably each of them was waiting for someone to arrive. I decided to stay at the airport for a while, at least until a more normal time of the morning to find my way toward the city. It was slightly cold and I noticed that the locals all had blankets over their heads. A woman slept on the floor in the toilet where it was somewhat warmer. Later that morning I took the bus to the city and found my chosen Sunny Guest House without problems. After I checked in I left my stuff there and decided to go for a walk to look around the area. I soon found out that in India a tourist is never left alone to just wander about and sightsee. Everyone is trying to sell something, they want to chat, or, if all else fails, they want to clean your shoes. A simple "no thank you" does no good, a more firm NO is also not taken for an answer, simply ignoring them induces them to inquire whether you don't want to talk to them, so in the end, you can't win. I was really tired and jet lagged after the long trip and so I was cranky and not too patient with them. I had enough for my first day. I retreated into my guest house to rest and read and when I noticed that they sold bus tickets at the reception I immediately bought a ticket on a night bus to Dharamsala for the next night because I wanted to get away from the crowded city as soon as I could. The next day I went out again to walk and explore and it really helped that I was rested after a good night's sleep because the touts didn't bother me as much any more.