Five years ago, I set out on a virtual journey around the world to honor those that have visited this blog. Back then, my mind was blown that people from 79 different countries clicked their way to this site. Today, that number has increased to 136 and I have no idea how the fuck that happened.
The last stop on this expedition was Australia, and today we are traveling 7,802 km/4,848 miles from Down Under to India. I have never been to India but that doesn’t mean that my head isn’t full of images and preconceived notions: Naan bread, spices, holy cows (literally), a million Gods, the Ganges river, Mumbai, torrential downpours, slums and poverty, an outdated caste system, henna tattoos, extravagant weddings, our talented wedding photographer, engineers, and doctors. Before I offend anyone, let me hit you with a couple of quick facts. (Yes, I saved you 30 seconds for the google search – you’re welcome.) In case you didn’t know, A LOT of people live India, almost 18% of the world’s population, a close second to China. For comparison, the United States of America house a meager 4 percent of the world’s population.
Since I don’t have any valuable experiences or stories to share, I’m going to end this short stop with a book recommendation: Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbay undercity by Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter. It’s one of those books that makes you feel things and changes you. Read it. Now. And then come back to my blog. Dhanyavaad.
Wow – and my blog has about ten countries.
India has some great holidays… A few years ago we were invited to a massive Holi celebration, a Spring festival, in Queens. It is quite literally a festival of colors with powdered dyes and, at least at the celebration we were at, water balloons. Don’t wear important clothes.
The food was great. I’m vegetarian and the vendors had a huge variety.