The Best of India and the Worst of India

India is fantastic, and we are enjoying ourselves tremendously, but there are things that have annoyed us.  These include dust, driving and bureaucracy.  This blog will start by addressing the three matters in a light-hearted way as they are all part of life here, and will end on a positive note by talking about the Best of India we’ve experienced in the last few days.

The first matter, dust, is reasonably easy to cope with as there are things called showers, but when we arrived in Shimla yesterday after a nine-hour coach drive, along dusty roads, with open windows to cool down, we were filthy.  When we checked into a nice hotel in Shimla we looked a mess, as our heads and clothes certainly were not clean.  We soon came back to being clean and immediately put our T-shirts, shorts and underwear in for a spring clean at the princely sum of £12 for fifteen items – that is the Best of India.

Secondly, it is almost possible to cope with the driving in India, but only almost.  In the cities and towns you surprisingly get used to auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers weaving in and out of traffic, driving the wrong way up roads, and avoiding head on collisions by a matter of inches.  But it’s the constant beeping of horns and driving in the mountain villages that is really nuts.

Everybody beeps their horn, even if they are only moving ten yards and you are within twenty.  They beep their horns in concerted unison even if the roads ahead are clearly blocked by buses or lorries trying to pass.  Perhaps worst of all is the beeping at 11pm at night when someone is trying to herd fifty goats along the main road outside our hotel.  Thankfully we are now in Shimla, where all the main street is pedestrianised and beautiful – again the Best of India.

Perrhaps the hardest to get used to is the bureaucracy.  After living in France for five months we should have been used to it, but India takes it to a new level.  Whether it’s filling out a form for a train ticket, when this could have been done directly by the reservation officer in front of you, who asks you to repeat to him everything you’ve just written on the form; or whether it’s the typical Indian denial at hotels when something isn’t right.

So far we have experienced heated discussions at most hotels which advertise “WiFi available in all areas”, when in fact it once worked three months ago in a secret office nobody ever goes to.  Another one is lack of hot water.  This is variously described as the “Indians don’t take hot showers” to “everyone was washing their clothes in the sinks” and used up all the water.

Trying to sort any of the matters out can be a source of short-term high blood pressure.  Excuses start from “it was working fine yesterday” to “I’ve called someone about it”, which we have come to learn means “what do you expect me to do about it, really?”  As for the Indian hotel booking agents, they seem to always accept that it must be our fault for expecting so much – hence we have had to change hotels a few times at short notice.

All this is counteracted by the absolutely fantastic staff in all the hotels.  Whether they are the young guys running the £20 a night hotels with a smile on their faces as they run around finding you an extra towel or sheet, or the 45 staff at the chain hotels all wishing to chat and be friendly while they bring you two fried eggs on a plate, they have been invariably great.  This is definitely the Best of India.

So on the other foot, after the heat of Delhi, Rajasthan and the Punjab we have headed into the hills of Himachal Pradesh.  After McLeod Ganj we went to a place called Kasol in the Parvati Valley.  This is where the Himalayas start and you can see 5,000m mountains with snow-capped peaks up the valleys ahead.  It’s where serious walkers start their ten-day treks up in the mountains, and just stop at homestays, where a local family give you a bed for the night for a few pounds.

We took a local bus up the most amazing road to the head of the valley at Barsheni.  The bus literally clung to the side of sheer cliffs as it wound it’s way through narrow lanes.  The driver was incredible, as we were not sure at times quite how many tyres remained on the dirt roads!  But it was worth it as we watched the clouds clearing so we saw the peaks above us.

Kasol was an enigma, as although it was initially a small town and then a part of the hippy trail, it now attracts a lot of young Indian guys, and some families.  It is still famous as having the finest cannabis in the world, but now has a separate allure as a sort of “Spring Break” destination for young Indians who can drink and smoke without their parents knowing they’re doing it.  This means that there is everything from street stalls selling sugar cane juice to trendy bars with live music.  This shows how India is changing, and local people are getting the benefits too.

We then moved to Manali.  We stayed at the wrong end of town and experienced bad drivers and honking horns.  It was a bit like Blackpool in the mountains with all sorts of tat for sale, clogged roads (at least two mile queues of stationary traffic in places) and small theme parks.  However, when we got up to Old Manali there was a lovely vibe of people just chilling in cafes and bars.  We had some great views of the mountains from there.

The highlight was then moving to Shimla, the summer capital of the British Raj, where we are now..  The main street is pedestrianised and beautifully kept, with many of the old Raj-era buildings beautifully restored.  The weather is like a lovely English summer’s day, although with the odd thunderstorm thrown in.

We have also treated ourselves to a luxury hotel.  It has  allowed us a breather after three and a half weeks of constantly moving and travelling; which is in line with what we wanted to do.  We won’t get a break now until after Bhutan in mid-July, so resting up for four days is good.  The hotel has great views and a lovely bath, but we are aware of the acute water shortage in Northern India so will probably not get to use it.  We did debate coming here, but the worst of the water shortages have been alleviated now.

This os definitely the Best of India so far, so let’s see where we go from here.