Chronicles of an Elder
I’m old now. I didn’t take that in until my latest February birthday. Reaching it, I’m three years older than my mother who died at...
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Written and Spoken Word
India
Tess&Manasa
In this photo essay, Emerging Voices' social media manager Tess O'Bamber shares her observations as a tourist in India.
On her return, Tess chatted about her experiences to journalist Manasa Narayanan. Manasa is from India, now living in London. The conversation is shared alongside the images, giving an insider and outsider's perspective.
Tess: It was quite overwhelming, arriving into New Delhi, one of the busiest cities in the world. I loved that there were cows walking around, all the rickshaws…
Manasa: I was surprised to go back to India recently and not find it overwhelming. I've been in the UK for over two years and there are fewer people here. It's not busy in the same way, even in London. I was in Delhi, the month after you went. It was hot, it was busy, but it somehow didn't bother me. I didn't think about the fact that it was busy. Somehow my body just adapted to it very quickly. I thought I would see the place in a different way, as an outsider perhaps. I thought I'd notice the cows and the honking horns, the way people were rushing around, but I didn't.
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“If you're stuck behind a baraat you just have to wait half an hour. It's a bit of a travel nuisance.”
Tess: We arrived into an intense heatwave. They'd introduced a mask mandate a few days before and it surprised me how many people were wearing masks out in the streets in the heat. I felt like I was in a privileged position, being able to get out for an hour and return to an air-conditioned hotel.
Manasa: It's not like people don't feel it, 'cause it's 45/50 degrees. That can make people agitated, and in crowded trains you'll see people start fighting out of nowhere. But it is how it is. People expect the heat, and you deal with something when you have to deal with it. You find shade. You'll see people spraying cool water on the vegetables in their shop, because they don't have the privilege of a fridge.
Tess: Udaipur was probably the most touristy place we went. The highlight was this big wedding. They started the procession of the groom from our hotel.
Manasa: It was very noisy, wasn't it?
Tess: Lots of drums. There was an elephant.
Manasa: The groom was sitting on an elephant? That's the royal treatment. Usually it's a horse, which is a North Indian tradition. In other places, it will happen very differently. But the culture is transforming, I guess. You can see in Bollywood movies that the groom arrives on a horse so there are people in South India who've adopted it.