India: Assault on the Senses

This isn’t a travel blog but it is a blog about learning… so I need to write about my visit to India, which was certainly a learning experience!

Our time in India was interesting and eye-opening… at times overwhelming, at times difficult, but always fascinating.

From the roadside slums in Mumbai to the breathtaking beauty of the Taj Mahal… jostling through the throngs in Delhi’s Main Bazaar Road or mustering the fortitude to cross Relief Rd in Ahmedabad… the variety of sights, sounds and smells bombard you!  Children flying colourful kites on the rooftops for Uttarayan, piles of richly coloured spices on a market stall, dirt and rubbish underfoot, honking rickshaws vying for place on the chaotic roads, insistent touts persuading you that their goods are what you need, the catchy sound of Bollywood music, the mingling smells of  pollution and spicy dishes being cooked at street stalls, sweet chai masala in little cups from a roadside cart, a beggar’s hand pulling at your sleeve, a woman on a construction site nursing a baby while carrying bricks on her head, families living at the side of the road, elegant saris in exquisite colours and fabrics, funeral rites at the river’s edge, traffic jams comprising  cars, buses, rickshaws, people dogs and cows…

All these are just a small sampling of the sensory overload we experienced! I’m sure I’ll blog again as I process it all.

PYP Key Concept: Form. Series of posts through the lens of key concepts of PYP.