But I was too young to take it seriously. The first eight years just graduated, planning to take a graduation trip, just because the hands of the part-time job has a little money, they quickly in the fly pig on the search for a fly India tours. After packing up the luggage, a person the next day with a leap of faith set off. In addition to the tour guide I was the earliest to the airport, in the airport at once recognized the tour guide, holding a small flag, tanned skin, strong arms, is holding a cell phone chattering about what. I rushed up to say hello, the guide to the information and greeted me to sit down, waiting for the others to gather. Our group in addition to the tour guide a **** 10 people, mostly composed of family members, mom and dad with a small child, there are 2 grades a little older, fifty or sixty years old, looks like a couple of grandparents.
A: India's special smell
Speaking of India, the first impression is that this country is wafting a ubiquitous strange smell, very special, after I got off the plane, walking in the passage to the airport building, I smelled that smell. The moment I stepped foot in the airport, that smell at the time both delighted and excited me. It was the smell of gods, demons, empires, resurrected and corrupt civilizations mixed with the smell of tens of millions of animals moving, sleeping and defecating in India, more than half of which were humans and rats. That odor reeks of heartbreak, of the hard struggle to survive. It was the odor of ten thousand restaurants, five thousand temples, shrines, churches, and mosques, and a hundred bazaars specializing in perfumes, spices, burning incense, and fresh flowers.
Second: the heat of India
Less than a moment after I got out of the plane, my whole body because of this terrible weather in India all of a sudden wet, a sticky smell on the body, like a big pot of water splashed on you head-on, not yet dry that kind of disgusting experience. I didn't stop sweating on the way to the hotel.
Three: Unregulated Traffic
The traffic in India is, how can I describe it, a complete mess. The streets are filled with the sound of car horns, and every car is racing to be the first to enter the street. Bus engines rumble, gear levers clunk into gear, and buses speed through crowds of baggage handlers and pedestrians. People either tiptoe out of the way, jump out of the way, or take a step to the side. The bus brushes past, just centimeters away from hitting someone. The bus driver straddles the bottom step of the door and swears at the crowd in fluent profanity.
Four: Bathing men everywhere on the road
The most interesting thing I experienced on the road was witnessing the strange custom of bathing everywhere on the streets of India. What is impossible in your own country is really everywhere in India. Indians will take a bucket of bath in the streets of people, body coated with soap bubbles and pass by the Indian amah to say hello. I even saw a family sleeping on the road, all the property is 3 bricks (cooking utensils), a board, and a plastic sheet used to lie down.
V: India's Standing Baba
We returned to the hotel is already 7:00 pm, after dinner, they went back to the house to rest. The next morning the whole group assembled at 8 am to visit the Gateway of India. It is one of the most popular and cherished landmarks of Mumbai. This 26-meter basalt arch blends the architectural style of the Roman Triumphal Arch with traditional Hindu and Muslim designs, and was a gesture of welcome to King George V and Queen Mary during their visit to British India in 1911. The arch was the gateway for the last British troops to leave India in 1948 after the country declared its independence from Britain.
Today, the Gateway of India is one of Mumbai's most popular meeting places for tourists and locals alike. Watch yachts and ferries sail into the sea from the five piers that flank the arch. Enjoy some of the famous bhelpuri (a crispy, savory snack made of puffed rice and dipped in tamarind sauce) from street food vendors. Or just spend an hour or two watching this lively attraction. Then it's a 10-minute walk southwest to the Colaba Causeway Market, a vibrant bazaar selling just about everything you can imagine. It is one of the best places for cheap shopping in Mumbai.
It was at this bazaar that I was crowded out, and when I realized that I had lost sight of my guide, I looked around in panic, when a short, curly-haired man opened his mouth towards me, saying something with a big smile on his face, and I gestured to him that I didn't understand what he was saying, and he appeared to understand it, and opened his mouth towards me in English, which is not very good, and I stumbled over my words. I heard the word "search" and thought he was going to take me to my tour guide, so I thanked him profusely and followed him. (Only later did I realize that he was talking about taking me to find the best places to visit in India.) I followed him all the way through to a corridor between two brick buildings. Within the walls of the temple, there was a tin roof covering and the floor was paved with stone slabs. A group of people with an odd pace entered through a door at the back of the corridor, while everyone else uniformly entered and exited through another iron door at the end of the street. Customers from all parts of India and all walks of life stood along the corridor walls. Everyone stood. The drain near the entrance to the iron door was fitted with a faucet where some people drank or bent over to spit. The peculiar group of men walked from one group to the next, filling up funnel-shaped clay water pipes with marijuana for the patrons and smoking along with everyone else. Seeing this incredible sight, I knew in my heart that I had come to a marvelous place that I probably would never have seen in my life if it wasn't for this little guy.
Standing Babas are men who have vowed never to sit or lie down again in this life. They stand day and night, forever. They eat standing, poop standing, pray, work, sing, and even sleep standing. Sleeping in a sling supported their bodies so that the weight of their bodies still fell on their legs and at the same time prevented them from falling to the ground as they fell asleep. After five to ten years of such prolonged standing, the legs began to swell. Blood flows very slowly in the veins that must not rest, and the muscles thicken. The legs are so swollen that they no longer look like legs, with many varicose vein tumors spread over the surface. The toes extrude from the thick and fleshy feet, resembling those of an elephant. Over the next few years, the legs get thinner and thinner, and eventually all that's left is the bone and a thin layer of skin coated with atrophied veins that look like termites crawling over them. The pain was never-ending and very human. With every downward pressure, there came from under the feet a pain like a nail or a spear poke. Standing babas suffer from agonizing pain, but they are by no means static. They swayed and danced gently, changing their feet from side to side, and all who saw them were fascinated by the movement, as they were by the hand movements of the snake charmer playing his flute.
Some people swear to such austerity at the age of sixteen or seventeen. They are driven by some kind of vocation, and in the case of other cultures, the same vocation that drives people to become priests, rabbis, imams. There are many more older men who disappear into asceticism so that they can prepare for death and the next stage of reincarnation. Many Standing Babas were originally businessmen who pursued pleasure, power and money before going into hiding and asceticism. Some saints had already traveled other paths and were skilled in self-punishing austerities, and finally took a vow to become a Standing Baba. There are also criminals: thieves, murderers, important gangsters, and even war veterans, who have vowed to undergo endless suffering to atone for their sins.
At the final moment of departure, the overzealous Indian guide asked for a tip and then took me back to the hotel where the tour group was staying. Whether you're traveling with a tour group or on your own, I suggest that you need to be mentally prepared to travel to a place where the monuments of India are still very impressive, especially the religious and some sacred temples.