Moving on

So I'm finally leaving behind my happy, structured life in Jodhpur; my family, my home, my friends and my job; for a vagabond life riding the pace of India on her buses and trains. My adventures as a solo female traveller start here - two months of stability and confidence give way for for two months of being lost, foreign and footloose.

I feel overwhelmingly intimidated by what lies ahead of me. India as I have known her so far has existed only within Jodhpur, a small and friendly city where I was known by many. My judgements and opinions on this country have been based on what I experienced there. Now India opens up to me as a land full of wonder and contradictions, dangers and monsoons, where my sturdy judgements are tested and I am treated like some anonymous wallet. Two months living a comfortable, somewhat luxurious life of 'Foreign Guest'/'White Lady' has rendered my physical being weak: my muscles have deteriorated, my limbs are skinny and my tummy reveals my penchance for Indian sweets and Mrs Tanwar's ghee habit. My bag probably weighs as much as I do and I wonder how I will lift it. It's full of Indian dress, salwar kameez for work and saris for dinner, and it pulls on my shoulders like a tonne of bricks. It's going to take some time before feeling like my bag and I are one.

And so the questions of itinerary arises! I'm heading straight to Pushkar, a small holy town famous for its unique Brahma temple, making it the top pilgrimage site in India (or so grandpa Tanwar tells me), and hippy travellers. From here I'll go to Jaipur for a quick rendezvous with some familiar Jodhpur faces, then to Agra to marvel at the Taj Mahal. From Agra I'll head North to Dharamsala via Chandigargh, Shimla and McLeod Ganj, then have a quick peek at the Golden Temple in Amritsar before gravitating towards Delhi to catch my visa extension flight to Sri Lanka on 22nd July. August will be spent taking a slow and winding tour around the coasts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala with my long-since-last-seen lover, Jeppe; a trip that unfortunately has an unmovable end date for I am due to swap my galavanting travelling days for more working ones on 1st September. All in all it's quite a long journey, probably about seven months in total, but right now it seems like that isn't nearly long enough. I am here not only to see and experience, but to learn. I feel like I've started my career here. I once described myself to someone in Jodhpur as 'in further education, just not in an academic institution'. In many ways it feels like I've been here no time at all (I've merely scratched the surface of what this country's all about), but there is no doubt that the past two months have equipped me with an undeniable love for India, a feel for her pace and ways, a grasp of her culture and tongue, and a patience with her surprises.