I left Chennai on the 3rd of November. I (will be) leaving Delhi on the 4th of December. That’s a 31 day trip. It taught me to be optimistic. It taught me in very real terms that the world is a large place, and so is life.

A few highlights:

  • Building an app from nothing to workable state in a few days
  • An actual first class train ride in India
  • Running into a bunch of random french people who ended up becoming travel buddies
  • Feeling small, and very temporary being in the ruins of Hampi. Here was a civilization that used to be great, reduced to rubble visited by 2-3 tourists a year. Our Data centers and Washington Monuments will be similar in a few hundred / thousand years. “The one thing a man can not truly have, is perspective” – DA.
  • The best lassi money can buy
  • First train ticket that was confirmed after being waitlisted
  • RAVE!
  • The scenery at the Goa Beaches
  • Learning to float in the ocean. ZOMG THIS IS AWESOME!
  • Pulling a passed out guy out of the ocean, and seeing how other locals react to that.
  • Watching Rob Moen try to negotiate with the local hawkers
  • Stopping at a Pharmacy every time we get into an Auto with Rob Moen
  • Being annoyed at Jon Robson’s eternal optimism,  and then eventually coming to accept that it is a good thing
  • Feeling incredibly unsafe in Aurangabad 2 days after Bal Thackaray’s death, harassed by a bunch of auto men.
  • Being told flat out that I’m not Indian, and having to pull out ID to prove otherwise
  • Being stranded in Aurangabad, with a bus journey out costing about 50 hours
  • An airport (Aurangabad) smelling of pure unadultered human shit.
  • Good things happening
  • Horrible horrible experience in Agra – Taj Mahal surrounded by lots and lots of slums with open sewers. Entire place being pimped out for money. The ‘two India’s in sharp contrast again
  • A 9 year old girl selling pens at traffic signals, speaking to me in a language I could not understand about things that do not need a spoken language to be understood
  • Surprised to find myself a grown up in Delhi

I’m sure I’m missing out a few things (intentionally or unintentionally) – and each of those things would merit a blog post of their own too. Maybe I’ll write them sometime. Maybe I’ll write about my (amazing) last year out too.

Thanks to @rakugojon, @riddems and @flyingclimber for making this awesome.