Faces and Places of India

Having been warned of the heat, the dirt, the poverty, the “strange” practices by western standards, and most of all, the crushing crowds, India had not been high on my list of luxury destinations to visit. But if you have been put off by these negative impressions like I was, please continue reading and rethinking your desire to visit the country. Hopefully, like me, you will find India exotic and addictive.

On my first trip, I visited Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, just two of the current 34 and counting states that comprise the subcontinent of India, which is home to one of the oldest civilizations on our planet. But lest you think it has been a homogeneous march through the centuries, au contraire.

Without boring you with names and dates of conquerors and conquered, suffice it to say that India has been a player on the world scene since 2,500 B.C., suffering invasion after invasion  from within and without until after a period of non-violent protests led by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, India gained independence from the British Empire in 1947.

All of those invasions have created a country rich in social variety and brimming with cultural diversity in religion, language, customs, dress, and attitude. There are about nine practicing religions – although Hinduism is the largest – and 18 major languages with more than 1,000 dialects spoken.

Manners in dress for both men and women are dictated by the region in which they reside. So, too, is the method of draping the sari, the traditional costume for women, and the length of a man’s trousers. But ornate jewelry is favored throughout the country with the style and manner determined solely by financial constraints.

The things I found in common were the easy smiles and warm, friendly greetings from everyone I encountered. The universal love of color, music, and art, and the joyful participation in festivals and celebrations was a nice surprise and a real eye-opener.

Indian weddings are famous for their three to five-day affairs of dancing, singing, eating, and  socializing. Many overlapping weddings put partygoers in the difficult position of choosing whose affair to attend on any given day.

There is an unhurried momentum in the south, even in the cities, that puts you at ease even in the crush of humanity. This makes it easy to view the passing scenes and note the variety of features, sizes, shades, and manners of the surrounding multitudes.

If you go to India and see nothing of its many historical artifacts (which would be tragic) or its  modern accomplishments (another shame), you will still find the possibilities for photographs or painted images to be limitless and enthralling.

Methods of air-conditioned travel can be arranged to get around, but to experience the real India, take the time to stroll the streets and markets with your camera at the ready. It’s a photographer’s dream and presents a photo opportunity at every turn. I could not take my camera away from my eye for fear I would lose the shot of a lifetime.

There are numerous luxury and ultra-luxury properties to be pampered in. I stayed in the fabled royal residence of the Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan, purported to be the richest and most powerful man in recorded history, and now an ultra-luxe hotel of the Taj Group.

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Here is a sampling of my impressions of India … close-up and personal.