India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) - Keith Bain [4]
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Chapter 1: The Best of India
India will humble, awe, frustrate, amaze, inspire, and intimidate you—all on the same day. Home to some of the world’s most spectacular medieval structures and largest slums; sacred rivers and filth-strewn streets; deeply religious ritual and endless traffic jams; aristocratic tigers and low-caste untouchables; jewel-encrusted tombs and pavement-bound beggars; ancient traditions and modern-day scams—there is so much to take in. Whether you’re here to soak up India’s spirituality, chill out on the beaches, or live like a king in the land of princes, this chapter will help you experience the very best India has to offer.
1 Experiencing Spiritual India
Visiting temples that pulsate with devotion will evoke a sense of the sacred, but in India, where religion is such an integral part of daily life, spiritual experiences occur when you least expect them.
* See Things as They Really Are (Vipassana Centers throughout India): Maintaining a strict code of silence with no sensory stimulation for 10 days may sound like a self-induced hell, but after attending a 10-day Vipassana meditation course, most people claim transformation and find the mental training invaluable. And it costs nothing. See chapter 3.
• Witness the Miracle of Hope (Mumbai): Set to become the world’s most populous city within the next few years, India’s economic capital is a heady, seething megalopolis, loved and loathed in equal measure. It’s also a beacon of hope and promises of a better life for millions of people. Some achieve godlike status as Bollywood superstars, but the vast majority struggle by, ever-hopeful of achieving the type of miraculous success that’s seldom seen in real life. You’ll see the poor and dispossessed everywhere in India, but in Mumbai, a tour through Dharavi, Asia’s largest shantytown and setting for Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, will show you a culture of dogged hope and aspiration that will melt even the coldest heart. See chapter 5.
• Become the Buddha That You Already Are (Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune, Maharashtra): Attracting controversy for most of his life, the radical, capricious 20th-century mystic Bhagwan Rajneesh—aka Osho—rejected religion, opposed existing social order, and spoke out strongly in favor of independent action that, with disciplined and rigorous meditation, would lead to enlightenment. His teachings form the basis of programs at numerous Osho centers around the world, but his original commune in Pune (not far from Mumbai) has been transformed not into an ashram, but into a campus of beautiful gardens, pyramidal meditation halls, and elegant spaces that include an ultra-Zen guesthouse, cafes, and a huge swimming pool. You’ll understand immediately why Osho was known as the rich man’s guru, and given enough time here—cloaked in a maroon robe and attending meditational gatherings that many outsiders have labeled as secretive, cultlike, and mysterious, you’ll soon discover your inner Buddha. See “Pune and the Osho International Meditation Resort” in chapter 5.
• Hop on a Motorbike and Head for the Drumbeat (Goa): Once capital of the global beach party, Goa may be past its prime, but when rumors start that an event is in the making at a to-be-announced venue, keep your ear to the ground. Why? Because only in some deserted clearing near a golden Goan beach can you trance out with the nationals of the world, and find solace in the serenity of a rural villager’s smile as she hands over cups of soothing chai for the duration of the party. See