Traveling to Badami
Dear India,
What really surprised me on the journey traveling from Goa to Badami was we stopped in at a hotel (what Indian people call a cafe) in a village, we didn’t eat there, but the owner still offered us a large jug of water. Australia and the USA used to be like this, but now you’re hard pressed to even have someone let you use their bathroom!
There is a cafe on Beachwood Canyon in Hollywood who will not even allow you to have a glass of water if you’re dining there. India gets a bad wrap and portrayed as a third world country. To me you can really judge a civilization and culture as to how people treat one another (even stranger not just friends and family) and also how they treat animals.
All my inhibitions and feelings I normally have had about developing countries are not there. I have traveled a lot and I have visited many ‘first-world’ countries where I don’t feel as comfortable. There is something about India, something about this land the feels oddly familiar. I am alone, yet I don’t feel uncomfortable as I thought I would. I don’t particularly care for my colleagues, they seem a little too aggressive and too city-like for me, but somehow I really like all of the other people I have come in contact with. The people seem kind, with kind eyes and nice hearts, not what I was expecting at all.
We arrived tonight at 11pm I am exhausted and can only think about laying down flat as opposed to being upright and bumpy along the dirt, unfinished road that lead us into the last stretch of 10k into Badami.
As I lay down writing this, I cant help but think about the journey from Goa and a conversation about Varanasi and the Hindu sect that are basically cannibals of the dead… what I learned was that they eat some of the dead person for special supernatural powers. I’m not one to judge customs and I am open to other people’s beliefs, but this did leave a particular impression and thinking of this still is a little disturbing to me.
For now I need to switch my brain off. Tomorrow is a new day I have traveled to Badami and tonight I am sleeping in Badami, India for the first time and I have not even seen what this place looks like!
Sunrise over temples Badami Karnataka, India
My journey through India took place a few months ago. Most posts on this blog will be post in real-time and will be updated as I am traveling. As I was filming a documentary while in India I kept notes on my travels and often lived without wifi so kept an ‘old-fashioned’ diary. I will be uploading my diary entries to this blog.
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If you’ve been to Badami, or you have any questions about traveling to Badami, India, please comment below:
