Overview of India

   India is an enormous place filled with over 1.2 billion people and many states that are far more different than even Texas and Massachusetts, so needless to say, our visit only scratched the surface.  We visited four major cities in Northern India; Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, and Varanasi.  Each of these cities had a hugely different character and feel. 

   Delhi: Delhi had almost none of the stereotypically elements of what people say India is like.  Its modern building facades, beautiful government buildings, institutional yet completely livable government apartments (all government employees get housing if they want it), and an absolute abundance of gorgeous greenery including many old trees and multiple acre gardens flew completely in the face of what I thought India would be.  Our hotel was in an area that upon our arrival looked very sketchy; there was rubble we dodged in the street to arrive and no other lights around.  But, in the evening, we saw the neighborhood come alive with thousands of people wandering one of the many markets that surrounded our hotel.  Even among this mass of people, we felt comfortable.  Old Delhi housed a winding bazaar and market, that, while crowded, still was modestly clean.  Truly a spectacular city.

   Jaipur: Also unexpected, Jaipur is a very ancient city with unique terra cotta architecture, forts, a palace on a lake, and elephants roaming the streets, which made the place feel like the embodiment of some Arabian fairy tale.  While the old city holds approximately 10 times more people then it was originally planned to hold, the separate sections of the city for the spice market and the textile market and the jewelry market felt full of life and did justice to those city dwellers who were very proud of their home.

   Agra: A normal city that happens to be home to many mausoleums including the incredible Taj Majal.  Besides the chaos of the streets which was more of what I was expecting from India, Agra did not seem such a shining modern city as it was full of insurmountable traffic, disgusting smells, trash heaps, and dirt.  The city itself stood in the starkest of contrasts to its old relics including the palace of the Mogul's, and multiple pieces of architecture that have no rivals even today.

   Varanasi: Wow.  Small streets, huge crowds, a throbbing pulse of Buddhist and Hindu spiritualism, cows, dogs, pigs, goats, feces, people, people, more people, crematoriums, holy pilgrims, and non-stop chaos.  Varanasi is the spiritual center of India and the oldest continuously lived in city in the world, and no words can properly describe the experience.

  Countryside: More rural than Africa, the India countryside is full of farms and small villages to house farmers.  These areas exist directly outside each major city and are striking in their lack of people.