Regis Airault, a French psychiatrist, wrote an interesting book about westerners travelling in India. According to the author, there are two types of people who go to India: the people who are pathologically crazy before going to India and those who turn crazy once they reach the country. The latter usually get back to normal when they go back to their country. It involves hallucinations, violent behavior, paranoia, depression, suicide attempt, murder… I am glad not to have read it before going to India.
As far as I am concerned, I adapted quite fast to the country. The most difficult was to accept to be observed all the time. They STARE at you… Having an Indian boyfriend made the situation even worse on that field. Mixed couples are an exception. One has to have guts to go out with a foreigner in India. That’s my boy!
Be open-minded! I would also recommend you to take vitamins. If you are continually weak (due to a new and inappropriate diet), you wont be able to really enjoy the country.
Book: Régis Airault, “Fous de l’Inde”, Petite Bibliothèque Payot. I am not sure whether the book was translated in English or not.
What would prevent you to go to India?
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3 commentaires:
Every human is supposed to be socially adaptive, coz nothin is permanent in this life. Crowds, noises, pollution, etx are common phenomenons in this world. u cant go away from them.
"Crowds, noises, pollution, etc are common phenomenons in this world". True, but those phenomenons are particularly present in India...
"Every human is supposed to be socially adaptive". True again, but some human beings have a tough time to adapt to a new environment. India is so different that some people simply cant handle the chock.
Interesting post. There are other books about "travel madness" in India, such as "Global Nomads" written by Anthony D'Andrea. Cheers.
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