How I ended up in India

I'll detail the good, the bad, and the ugly of India later but thought I should start by explaining how I ended up there in the first place.

I was invited to go to India by my dear friend Kim Gipson who was, in turn, invited by Kay Karuna. Let me introduce Kay Karuna. Kay is one of those women who never take a bad picture, never has a hair out of place, always knows the best places to dine and shop, and would be equally comfortable haggling in a dirty market or having tea with Queen Elizabeth. I want to be Kay when I grow up. Kay is also the owner of a very successful cooking school in Singapore called Cooking with Kay and her business is where my invitation originated. Kim was taking a class with Kay when the India invite was issued and then Kim invited me.

Kay and I in Jaipur.

The third person that made India possible was Vikram Singh Rathore. Vikram was in his early twenties and had been hired to guide us between Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. My husband says that there isn’t anything on earth that would motivate him to be responsible for the happiness and safety of 14 random women but Vikram was a natural. I can only imagine that at times it felt like he was herding cats but in eight days he never raised his voice, rolled his eyes, or lost any of us. I’ve been guilty of all three just getting my two kids to the grocery store.

Exchanging Holi powder with Vikram in Agra

The trip was only for adult women. No kids and no husbands. At the time of the trip, I had been a mom for ten years and had never taken more than a short business trip without my kids so I felt one kid-free trip per decade wasn’t too much to ask. I offered to buy my mother-in-law a round trip plane ticket and give her some spending cash if she would come to Singapore and keep my kids alive in my absence and she agreed. I was off.

American travelers are often accused of showing up in a foreign country looking for something similar to what they would find in America. Basically, an American experience in a foreign country and I was determined to show up without any preconceived notions. I left with no expectations and an open mind and it’s a good thing I did. There was nothing about India that was familiar to me - not the sights, not the sounds, not the customs - but I loved it.

Don't get me wrong, travelers find the same basic amenities in India that they would find in America but with some subtle and some not-so-subtle differences. For instance, India has nice restaurants but we shared the road with camels to get to them. India has amazing hotels but our bus was stopped outside each one so the guards could check for bombs. India has a vast network of service-industry staff but the gap between the people cleaning the rooms and the people sleeping in them is measured in miles not inches.

Of all the places I've explored, India is the most unique and interesting. My memories of that trip are so lasting and dear to me that when I'm old and decrepit I'll still think of India and smile.