The true meaning of brown claw & a leapord in camp

My first Indian wedding experience lived up to expectations, yes half the guests got food poisoning, but before that kicked in it was one hell of a night. The reception was located at what we normally use as a campsite for the OB programs but it had been seriously pimped up. The dancing was interesting as all night the kids surrounded me, I suppose they thought white people have good moves, they came to the right place. I ran around like a headless chicken that night trying to experience all the wedding festives; the all woman circles that danced in a jumping culty motion, the live band, getting those sexy indian hand hennas (although mine was severley smudged when someone took my hand as it was time to leave the dance floor).

The week after the wedding was a little bit of a smudge, after my body got over the food poisoning, I safety kayaked for the ex prime ministers grand daughter, with 30 armed security guards I felt a little pressure but all ran smoothly. I then began a 7 day trekking and rafting expedition with a group from Singapore which is what I'll be focusing on in this blog post.

During the trek we came across some ola fruit which was initially bitterly sour to the point my face felt it was compulsory to scrunch up like an saggy grape, then after 5 seconds of uncomfort it transformed to a dance of sweetness filling my cheeks. It was so worth the initial grim taste to then have the overwhelming sweetness. The Ola fruit is a good metaphor of my time so far in India, yes there are times when it's challenging but once I push through that, there are extremley sweet times to be had.

The trek was special for me as we were followed by a dog named bobcat (I had no say in the naming process). He slept in the doorway of our tent at night and kept the group together in the day.

  Bobcat getting the love and attention he deserves

One lady in particular deserves a mention as she acted as a motivation for many of the group on the last leg up the mountain; stick lady. Every time she see's a group trekking to the top of the mountain she stops whatever she is doing and gives them all trekking sticks that she made, the reason being; it is her dream to visit the temple on the top of the mountain but she has never been able to make it all the way, however just knowing that her sticks help some people reach the top brings her joy. I tried to persuade the lead instructor to let her ride a mule to the temple but I had no luck. The campsite had a delicious view of the snow capped himalayan mountains which turned orange as the sun came up, just looking at these mountains makes me feel things I can't quite explain.

In the morning Ajay, Debu and I went to visit the temple which had an entrance with hundreds of bells all around. Once speaking to the Sadhu and finding out the story of the temple, I also found out that the bells where brought by the people that have had their prayers answered. We all said a prayer before leaving, I hope one day there will be a bell from me hanging outside the temple.

Apres trek, we started the rafting, Bobcat couldn't quite let go and hopped onto a raft to join us. Coming to the end of the day of mostly floating, Nathan pointed out a surf wave so I paddled over for a play and saw 2 black bears on the beach, not wanting to shout as to scare off the bears I felt it was a perfect time to use the brown claw river signal. A confused Nathan looked back at me as we had previously said how ridiculous the signal was, he then saw the bears and understood. I was slightly torn between watching the bears or surfing the wave as it was a nice looking one, so I opted for both and managed to get a nice view of the bears 10 feet away from me whilst on the wave.

Bobcat all about that rafting life

David Attenborough may as well have narrated this day as once we arrived at camp the wildlife didn't let up. Chilling round the camp fire, we were disturbed by a very loud growl coming from the bushes. We went over to investigate to find 2 yellow eyes staring at us from the jungle, we moved closer to be met by an aggressive growl which sent us all falling back over the sand bank. After some discussion of what to do with a leapord wanting to come over for tea, we decided camp evacuation was too dangerous as it was now dark, so instead we set up a harbour area with 3 fires, raft shelters facing inwards, and centuries on night duty. All we needed was inches of snow and not being able to feel my fingers I would have thought I was back on one of my OTC camps in England. Armed with a paddle and river knife me, Nathan and Raju went to deconstruct our shelters which had unfortunately been put up only meters away from the leapord. After a swift operation we made it back with our sleeping bags and roll mats ready for the night. Once morning came I was very eager to check out this leapord situation, with tracker Ajay we found where the leapord had taken down its prey and then dragged it off into the jungle, there were also leapord cub prints alongside the mothers which were adorable.

The expedition was made by the extrodinary people we got to share the experience with, two instructors from Singapore Arfan and Khali, Ajay the Rafiki of India, Raju and Debu (Mario and Luigi) and of course the infamous interns JP and Nathan.

Appreciation

Brace yourselves, this ones going try and explore my feels.

On a British school trip last week with 9 yr olds from extremely well off backgrounds, part of the trip involved visiting a local village school. The school was situated on the side of a mountain, with the school playground ending with a cliff edge, half of the fence that had been put up for safety had slid off the side of the mountain. These kids lived in shacks and had very little belongings, 1 textbook which reminded me of the Bible in regards to its approach-ability, this was the main resource for each classroom. The British School kids we took to see farm animals, boating, tractor rides, things the village kids would go crazy for, and a lot of them just complained that it was "boring" and they'd "done it all before" which made me feel sad initially of how not all the kids appreciated how lucky they were. That being said, it didn't seem to bother the village kids that they didn't have much, they were so happy and excitable, more so than the British school kids who seemed to get bored with things easily. It's made me see how little money has an effect on happiness if you don't let it, and it will never dictate your worth. This trip slightly changed my perspectives on the underprivileged in India, comparing the two groups of children from two very different worlds, made me realise that I shouldn't pity these village kids, they may not have as much as we do but that by no means results in not having happy lives.
The village kids are more familiar with the actual meaning of things, and aren't manipulated or corrupted by the media which I have come to realise has such a large hold on us westerners. It makes me wonder who really is better off in terms of values and happiness? Is it better to be poor, being more in touch with life and connected to the environment around you, or being well off, having things handed to you on a plate and not overcoming hardships to then appreciate life?

A 10 year olds drawing of his home after being hit by a landslide

I learnt a lot from these British school kids when I saw some of myself in them, in the way that they are always looking for the next thrill, the step above what they have just had. Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined by the search for experiences and feelings, that are "varied, novel, complex and intense" Zuckerman (2009). For example, the kids had already seen farm animals before so they wanted to see bigger (better) animals, the rafting they had done before so they wanted to do it in a new, varied environment. For me, I have found it in everything since coming to India. First of all I got my excitement from simple things like going to the market, crossing the road, seeing a monkey, soon it became boring, the 'norm' I needed something more, something different, the river Ganges was my next big excitement and even now I find myself looking further up the river at sections we haven't run, wanting to go and find the next river, the next big wave, the next mountain, the next adventure. I guess it made me realise that sometimes you just need to stop and appreciate right now. Because all these experiences I have been lucky enough to have, so many people would give an arm or a leg for, and all too often its not until what we have is gone, that we then begin to appreciate it.

Taking a moment to stop and appreciate the beauty of Devprayag 

Last week Nathan and I were finally blessed with not just one but two days off! We both knew this meant one thing....roadtrip!! If you're going to learn how to ride a moped where better than speeding round the mountain tops with views of the Himalayan mountains and the Ganga river. Our journey took us to the town of Chamba where in an attempt to get money out of an ATM as the Prime Minister of India decided to make 80% of India's currency redundant over night cancelling 500 and 1000 Rupee notes, we came across a man named Sanjay.

Sanjay is one of those people who come into your life and leave a mark, in a brilliant way. His outlook on life was inspiring, he saw us as guests in his country and went above and beyond to make us feel welcome, under the saying "Guest is God". We met his family; wife and two sons, and sat down to a cracking lunch with a view looking out onto the mountains. Sanjay then drove us with his family to the Tehri Dam where we went on a boat ride. Finished off with a drive to New Tehri for some chi and pakora (deep fat fried veg) my view is the healthy counteracts the un healthy in this lush dish. Sanjay wanted us to see all the best bits of his home and never once asked anything of us. Sanjay is so committed he once took in 20 Japanese tourists who's car broke down travelling through Chamba, there was a great photo of them all crammed into his small living room drinking chi. In the morning his wife made us Parata's which are chipatti stuffed with veg so so good. After a sad farewell to Sanjay and his family we were back on the road. I know we will not forget Sanjya's kindness. His families hospitality was touching, they gave us the gift of temporary companionship. I found that when you're travelling it is easy to connect to a simple shared humanity, and that when you do, you emerge feeling more complete and real.

Sanjay's fam

India has shown me that there are only a few things you need to live a happy life. I feel selfish for all the unnecessary comforts I have in life when there are so many without enough just to be warm. A good friend recently said to me "I have a meal for tonight therefore I am richer than 70% of India so there is no reason for me not to be happy".

 Zuckerman, Marvin (2009). "Chapter 31. Sensation seeking". In Leary, Mark R.; Hoyle, Rick H. Handbook of Individual Differences in Social behavior. New York/London: The Guildford Press. pp. 455–465. ISBN 978-1-59385-647-2.