Thanks to everyone who sent in questions via YouTube, this blog and Twitter about our trip to India. We really appreciate everyone keeping up with our adventures and I hope everyone is enjoying the videos and blogs.

In addition to the video response for our favorite question, we decided to answer a few of the other great questions we received.

abell7428 – Is India as rocking as its portrayed in Bollywood movies?

Away from the Hustle and Bustle

Lindsay Clark: Rocking. Do you mean flashy and dazzling? Or just really darn cool?

To be honest, I don’t really know the posh side of Indian culture. I’ve only backpacked across the Subcontinent, usually living on the bottom of the tourist barrel.

Bollywood is quite flashy and all about color, mass choreography and sometimes duplicating the most hilarious American movie concepts. I don’t know if parts of Indian culture are truly reflected on silver screens across the nation and beyond. But they are certainly creative, and man do they have incredible budgets for jetting stars around to remote locations (for 5 second clips of them singing on a mountain)!

However, if you’re asking whether India is all that cool, the answer is yes. As you well know, it’s a shocking country, but as much as the poverty can get to you, it cannot overcome the fact that their culture is unique and spectacular: the visuals, the flavors, the diversity…boy oh boy. I know we say this a lot, but India has a culture that cannot be duplicated, explained, or passed up. And Bollywood does a good job at illustrating just how odd and fantastical it can seem to the visitor. Chances are, if you love Bollywood, you will love India.

Chris Danner: Yes, Indians randomly break out into song and dance.

michaeldowning – What’s the biggest misconception about India?

LC: No idea about the biggest, my friend. But one thing people may assume incorrectly might be that its incredibly dangerous.

Well, the crime you should worry about while there is truly only petty and easily sidestepped. Bringing locks for hostel-hopping, having good hiding places for your money and always being aware can stop a lot of problems. Of course, I’ve never used a lock, often keep my money in a big open cargo pocket, and sometimes space out in the middle of a hot, urban crowd. It all depends on your comfort level and where you’re hanging out. Agra and Delhi though are certainly where you should keep your eyes peeled a little better.

CD: I’m not sure if this is really a misconception, but I don’t think a lot of people realize just how diverse India really is. Indians are very proud of where they come from: Their hometown, their specific dialect, their religion, their favorite cricket team, etc. Not only are there so many different races and types of peoples in India, but there are also so many smaller groups within the larger generalizations that are only visible when you are in the country.

amagner3 – What is the most unique thing about India that you would not find in any other country?

LC: I’m going to be obvious first and list a few things that fall under this category: Kashmir, the Taj Mahal, Kangchenjunga (third tallest mountain), Bollywood, innumerable historical sights, and plenty more. And now to be a little more insightful, I’d say, maybe aside from Bangladesh, you cannot find a country that smells the way India does. I’ve tried to identify the olfactory flavors many times before, and I always fail to figure out what really makes it complete.

It’s certainly a mixture of dung fires, incense, urine, awesome food, chicken poop, human poop, more animal poop, jasmine, trash fires, body odor and things indescribable. It sounds a bit rough, but it instantly puts you in the atmosphere of India and makes it impossible to believe you’re anywhere else. Ain’t no way that desert reminds you of Arizona or that beach reminds you of Thailand. It smells like undeniable India.

CD: Bollywood. More specifically, the experience of being in a movie theater in India watching a Bollywood film. They go crazy watching that stuff and it was definitely one of my favorite parts of the India trip.

brimarie88 – What is your favorite part of the Indian culture?

LC: Every part of it that you would never find in America. These parts also happen to be the ones that most often piss me off while there. I like India because it’s challenging and it confronts me with very different situations. Haggling is huge on my list of fun travel pastimes. We barely bargain for antiques and used cars at home. India makes it a dance between buyer and seller, and I find it thrilling when I get a good price, a local price, after the friendly, psychological game called “What’s your best price?”

Other loves of India are its accessibility to other domestic locations (cheap trains), the mountain culture and the diversity of people found within the borders. Beautiful thing is each traveler falls for one thing or another in India, and that’s why people who go to India make it a long trip or a repeated destination. Gotta keep going back for more of the good stuff.

CD: The food. That may not be the most creative thing, but then again my favorite part about Italy is the women. In my mind, Indian food is the most flavorful cuisine on the planet. And I’m not really a health nut but it’s mostly vegetarian and very good for you. It is spicy though, so if you’re not into that then just ask for milder dishes, they are aware that their food can cause intestinal turbulence and they will be happy to accommodate you.

I’m sure you’ve already heard that India is an overpowering place. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and any other S-words that could continue that alliteration. The entire country is alive and breathes with this incredible vitality, even in its darkest parts. But I am nowhere near a good enough writer to convey the complex contradictions and inherent truths that are evident all around you when you see India for the first time. So here are some things to keep in mind if you find yourself stepping off the plane onto the sub-continent.

A Market in Jaipur

There really are over a billion people in India. People are packed in everywhere and, subsequently, you won’t enjoy the same amount of personal space as you’re used to. This can be uncomfortable, especially for females, and I won’t say it’s some culture thing you should experience, it’s just a fact of life in India. The other big culture shock is the poverty and the visible squaller some people are living in. While India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the distribution of wealth and the standard of living are just not what Westerners are used to. And yet despite the garbage, filth, and poverty that some Indians endure, every person I know who has been there sees it as one of the most beautiful places on earth.

I don’t know how to explain India’s beauty any other way except that it is a type beauty that doesn’t exist in the developed world. It is purely organic and brutally honest. The beauty of India is not in it’s perfection, but rather in all it’s imperfections and the juxtaposition of life and death, the ripe and the rotted, the sacred and the profane, and it is all presented simultaneously. Exploring India has been one of the most engaging, challenging, and spectacular experiences of my life, the country presents life unedited, and I love it.

I’m all about traveling around the world just to see a building or painting – I’m a sucker for art like that. I fell in love with art in high school and I haven’t kicked the habit yet, hopefully I never do.
Consequently, seeing the Taj Mahal has always been a dream of mine, it is regarded as one of the world’s most architecturally perfect buildings and I was always told that the first sight of it would stick with you forever. Let me say this, it doesn’t disappoint. The Taj left me speechless.

I just finished seeing Slumdog Millionaire. For those of you who have not yet seen this film, it’s fantastic!!  But my very favorite thing about this film is not the film itself. It was the closing credits.  The cast busts out in a Bollywood-style dance sequence. Check it out>>

Photo Credit: Ezzz on Flickr

I consider myself a dancer.  Like many little girls, my parents threw me into dance classes when I was three.  Unfortunately for them, the hobby stuck, and I spent the next 15 years touring the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex dancing traditional tap, jazz and ballet.

It wasn’t until I went over the pond to London as a wee undergrad that I discovered the amazing genre that is Indian dance. I went to my first Bollywood musical, Bombay Dreams , and that started my obsession with Indian dance: the music, the bright colored costumes and energy.  I loved it all!  I figured I had what it takes to be in the Bolly Biz. I’m not Indian, but I had passion, right?  ;)

Well, turns out there is a little more to Indian dance than Bollywood musicals…

A brief history of Indian Dance:

Indian dance has been in existence for over 2000 years.  The original forms emerged as an illustration of Indian mythology and a way of worshiping God.  Over time, Indian dance has evolved into over 8 classical styles and many other “street” variations. In recent decades, Indian dance has started to make its way into U.S. popular culture.  With shows like So You Think You Can Dance (my favorite!), Indian dance choreographers are introducing American dancers and viewers to a huge piece of Indian culture.  Check out my favorite Indian dance routine from the last season of SYTYCD.

Last week, our World Traveler Interns got to experience Indian dance first hand and from the sounds of it, Chris and Lindsay may now be on the Bollywood bandwagon with me.

With this rise in popularity, I may not be able to hang with the rest of them and reach my dreams of being a Bollywood badass, but I’m happy to see Americans embracing India, and its amazing culture!

If you’ve experience Bollywood greatness, please do share in the comments below.

Fatehpur Sikri is:

• Akbar’s capital city and home in the 1500s.
• An incredibly well-preserved complex of structures created in the Mughal style of architecture.
• A pretty far out place in rural India.

So many centuries-old monuments are dilapidated and crumbling representations of their formerly grand selves. Sadly, pillaging and the wearing effect of time get the best of most. This UNESCO World Heritage site looks like it was mothballed for our later enjoyment in the 21st century. India has done great job at making this place a must-see site today and for the next century to come.

Fatehpur Sikri

Massive cloister-like open spaces, green grass, human-scale Parcheesi boards, huge wells and ponds, temples, individual homes for all three wives tailor-made to their backgrounds and tastes (Hindi, Muslim, and Portuguese); by golly, just look at the photographs!

Outside of this complex at Fatehpur Sikri, it seemed people just wanted us there to shell out hundreds in the breeze. Buying these little trinkets for 300% more than they bought it; it seemed a front for the real transaction. Some people actually sidestepped the process of supply and demand altogether and simply asked for foreign money, claiming they collected it. I know this is part of understood Indian culture, but I refuse to like it.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if this occurred only on the outskirts of a tourist or special attraction and not amongst them. Upon entering the nearby mosque, people used any reason to demand pay, everything from postcards and jewelry to merely being cute or talking to you. I found it disappointing that even inside a venerable tomb, the high holy man tried guilting us into paying for glancing.

I am so sensitive and worried when it comes to being a part of someone’s intimate culture, almost to the point that I don’t like visiting these sorts of religious or locally special sights. But it’s part of an experience that most tours and travelers find legitimate, necessary, and acceptable. Why then are we sometimes treated as such outsiders and exploited in a place where people worship? Are we also exploiting them and their destinations for our own scrapbooks and memories? I really don’t know (…and would love some feedback on this).

In the meantime, I’ll balls-up and love what I’m seeing, because it is truly wonderful.