Every new year brings new plans for travels, a process that goes from exploring the bucket list and deciding where to go, then change it all according to what life and friends throw at you, to the joy of booking flights. To me, it all starts with looking back at the previous years adventures, and 2015 was very much mostly about India.
It has been pretty much a year to the day that I started my adventures in India. And somehow, I am still not quite sure what to think of the place. A beautiful and mesmerizing place, but in the same time difficult to approach. A fascinating culture, yet well guarded to the unworthy foreigner. An engaging population, all smiles and all warmth; all genuine though? An explosion of colours so compelling and inviting, but that hides shades of dark and grey in its history and customs. India is a complicated place, and time is essential to really have a chance to grasp what this land is all about. I didn’t have a hell lot of time, I’m guessing this might be at the root of my confused feelings…
Before my brain start smoking again due to all these existential traveler’s questions, let me share with you some of my Indian experiences. I managed two trips, within the validity of my visa; first to the South and the warmth of Kerala; and later to the North towards the mysterious and mystic sources of the Ganges. Each of these journey showed a very different face of the country and its cultures, and I have no doubt were I to visit another area, I would discover new wonders. Each of these journeys have inspired a colourway, each of which I deeply like.
Kerala – In search of winter sun, I headed to the South of India, to the Kerala region. On paper, the stuff of dreams: sunshine, coconut trees and luxuriant vegetation everywhere, a unique way of life revolving around the geography of the backwaters – a labyrinth of rivers and canals, which provides all aspect of the people’s lives in the area. In reality, equally the stuff of dreams! Kerala literally means “Land of the coconut”, and I wanted in my yarn to pay tribute to all that is coming from the tree and its fruit; to the slow paced, respectful of its environment, living of the area; and of course to the beautiful people of this land. Cruising along the backwaters is a very relaxing experience, yet so rich in entertainment if one takes the time to look around. And time you have; there’s no way you can end up in a rush, stressed, in a place like the Kerala backwaters. Whether you float along on a kettuvallam (the landmark house boat) or on a canoe dug out from a tree trunk, the mood is to breath out and watch life go by… Coming across other boats, some carrying goods from one corner of the backwaters to the other, others herding ducks; waving at schoolkids running along the river banks; housewives doing the laundry and socializing… The Kerala backwaters provide life for these people, it is part of who they are, and of their daily lives. Such simplicity is truly humbling.
Journey To The Ganges – My second adventure in India took me to the North West of the country, to the foot of the Himalayas, joining -in part- the search for the sources of the Ganges. Hinduism is a complicated thing, at any time. Millions of Gods, many known in hundreds of different names. Beyong that is the fact that hinduists in the South and those in the North of India don’t seem to agree on what is the truth. On everything. Behind the smiles and jokes about who’s story of how the world came to be is right, there’s a real and fierce debate. Whereas the Southern India seemed like a balanced metling pot of religion, the North felt to me much more anchored into Hinduism and the rites attached to it. The Ganges, the Holy river, the mother of all deities (figuratively, but quite literally too…). Formed of many smaller rivers, the Ganges actually count many sources; and here again no one seem to agree on which is the “real one”. So, a pilgrimage to the sources of the Ganges will take you on quite a journey, up and down the lower Himalayas, where it all starts. Of course, I didn’t do an actual pilgrimage. I am not Hindu, and I am a foreigner which brings its lots of limitations. But still, what a sight! The image that struck me most, and that inspired the colour way Journey To The Ganges, is these religious men walking along the many arms of the river to worship those places where it humbly comes out of the earth. They were nothing but some saffron robes, and carry nothing but a blanket to sleep on. Saffron is a holy colour, and whereas it dots the paths along the river, it is very much omnipresent and overwhelming in those religious hot spots that are Rishikesh, Badrinath or Gangotri (to name but a few)…
The views on India I share are my own, and you may disagree with some notes I’ve made. Feel free to comment, I’d love to discuss different points of view.
And for those of you who thought there’d be hundreds of pictures of pilgrims in the saffron clothing walking up in the mountains, well, I’ll just say it’s not an easy task to photograph while on vehicle travelling on the death threatening roads that lead to the sources of the Ganges! But thanks to my trusty diary and water colours that I always take on a journey, and less thanks to my appalling drawing skills, I can give you an idea of what it kind of looks like…
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