passage to india

In less than 48 hours, I will be winging my way back, back, back to the near-motherland: India.  The golden triangle in specific, which includes Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra.  I know this seems crazy, but I've only spent two nights in the country that neighboured by birth land (n Calcutta, no less).  It will be whirlwind, a mere eight days (for 36 hours flight time, that seems insane, but there you have it).  As is tradition, I have brought myself down with cough and relentless fever.  So, I haven't packed or done anything except secure my visa and my inoculations.  I intend to spent the next 45-hours-and-counting drinking soup and sleeping.

Am I excited?  Yes.  It's been bucket-list item of mine to see the Taj Mahal.  Everything else is cherries.

The Golden Triangle

Also, nervous. 
I'll be with a big group of tourists, but I seem to be the only south-east Asian in the mix.  Somehow, I feel this puts a sort of pressure on me to, I don't know... represent?  Which is impossible, because I don't identify with the language, the culture, or even the geography.  I once asked a waiter to explain what "paneer" was and he actually sneered back saying "you don't know what paneer is?"  Well, no.  I didn't.  I was nineteen and we call cheese "cheese" in my house; we certainly don't eat the tofu-like substance that is paneer.  I know
now (and would never order the stuff).  I suspect there are white people out there who are more familiar with Indian cuisine (Indian everything!) than I am.  So, yes, I'm a little afraid that the standards of dress and behaviour which are typically shrugged off for tourists won't apply to me.  Troubling, since it is so very hot and I would LOVE to wear my sundresses everyday.

I intend to shop, take too many pictures, gorge on food, and (as always) appreciate the moment my plane lands in Pearson.  Travelling is very much about experiencing the world; in equal measure, it's a way to really appreciate home.

Namaste, poppets.