India

When I think of India, I think of a country that has tons of culture and history. One of the oldest civilizations in the world, India has beautiful country side and magical tourist attractions. I’ve wanted to visit India since I was very young, enchanted by images of blue or four-armed ancient gods. When Wes Anderson released his film Darjeeling Limited in 2007, I was surprised at how colorful and vibrant everything appeared.

The first thing I would want to see, of course, is the Taj Mahal. Shahjahan built this enormous palace in memory of his beloved wife, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child. I was recently watching Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, a film about a game show contestant on the verge of winning millions of dollars. Jamal Malik, the main character, grows up poor in India and works odd jobs his entire life to scrape by. One of my favorite scenes shows a young Jamal posing as a hired tour guide at the Taj Mahal as his older brother steals tourists’ shoes. Though some rumors say the legend of the Taj Mahal is pure myth, it is still considered one of the wonders of the world, and definitely on my list of worthy sites to see.

The second order of business? Shopping. When I worked at Earthbound Trading Co., many of our imports were from India, and none of them lacked character or culture. Who can resist colorful saris, elaborate jewelry, and gorgeous beaded sandals? Below I’ve included some photos of great finds from India.

The cool thing about India is that you don’t even have to stay in a hotel! You can ride on one. Railway tours are very popular and most trains stop by the biggest tourist attractions in India: the Taj Mahal, Khajuraho Temples, and numerous caves decorated with statues depicting ancient Indian gods.

India is said to be a very spiritual place, and I think it would be so fun observing their religious practices as well as their culture. While there, I would absolutely have to practice yoga, which originated in India almost 30,000 years ago. Yoga is really the only time anyone speaks Sanskrit anymore because it is a dead language.

With so many different attractions and potential destinations, I don’t see why anyone would not want to visit the oldest country in the world.