India Street Savy

Namaste. We're here to talk about India street savvy. I know you've probably seen those crazy clips of all the traffic in India with the rickshaws and the motorbikes and the cars and the people and the cows and the dogs and the goats and everything. And you're wondering like, how do I fit into all that? Where's my place? How do I cross that street? When I first went to India, that was the first thing that came into my mind as I left the airport in the taxi was, how am I going to walk down that street? How am I going to find my way? So let's talk about it. When you're in India, the sensory overload is incredible. From the sounds of all of the traffic and the people and the cows and the monkeys and the goats and everything. And if you're in a big city, you'll probably see the streets full of cars and cows. That's just the way it is. The cows in India roam freely during the day. Bulls you'll see are free. They're bachelors. But the female cows will wander during the day and munch at different people's vegetable pile and then they'll head home when they know it's food time. So if you see female cows roaming around with their calf, they do belong to somebody, but they are part of the traffic. And if two bulls are having a fight, the whole road will be stopped to a standstill until they are finished. This is one of the fabulous things that you see in India is just how everything stops to make room for nature. It's important to use your intuition on the streets of India, not just with the animals, but with the people. But let's talk about the animals first. There's monkeys, there's cows, there's dogs, there's cats, there's goats. You'll see all of them. Where I live in Varanasi, you might see monkeys jumping from the rooftops and you'll see goats running by. And then every now and then you've got to watch for a bull that's trotting down the road. And the roads are so tiny that if you don't lean over to one side, you'll definitely get hit by those horns. So when you're encountering the animals on the streets of India, you need to use just a sense of caution because a lot of the dogs, they live on the streets and they eat trash and many of them carry rabies. So even though they might seem cute and cuddly, you shouldn't pet them unless you really are willing to get a rabies shot. The cows in India, you can touch them, but just be aware that the cows are really sensitive and the moment that you touch their back, they'll probably shake their head. And that's just natural. And when it comes to bulls, my advice is steer clear literally. As far as cats and monkeys, you'll see cats very seldomly in India and they kind of run and hop across the rooftops, but they don't really spend very much time being domesticated. There are areas of India like West Bengal where people keep cats and really love them. But where I live in Uttar Pradesh, people are kind of wary of cats and a little bit afraid of them. Now monkeys, everybody loves to see the monkeys in India.

And depending on where you stay, they might even run and jump and land right on your windows sill and be looking at you and making sweet sounds like, give me that piece of apple. Can't I have a bite of your banana? And they'll communicate with you. But again, you need to be really cautious because these monkeys, they're not friends. They do carry rabies. And the fact of the matter is they are wild. And if you were to get really close, they could bite you and it would really hurt you. A friend of mine recently went to Rishikesh and saw a langur, which is a black ape. It's a really tall monkey and it has a tail that's also really long. Think the Wizard of Oz. These monkeys are so huge that if they were to hit you, it would be like the strength of three men. So you really need to respect them and be careful around them with your food. Like don't be opening up your food packets when you're around a pack of monkeys, because be guaranteed those mischief makers, they're going to have some of that. The street scenes in India are just teeming with life and movement. And you could stand on any corner and observe for hours because you see so much happening. People going by with bullet carts pulled by oxen. Maybe someone is in a chauffeured car.

Then you've got rickshaws going by and ringing their bells. And just looking into people's faces and observing on the streets is one of the joys of being on a pilgrimage and having this experience. So when it comes to the streets of India, you definitely need to have your smarts. You need to use your intuition when you walk. And walking is such a wonderful practice to be really grounded in your feet, to rock forward and backward and really feel your feet on the earth and then connect to your heart and your head. Because if you lean a little bit too much to the right, you could get hit by a rickshaw or headbutted by a cow. So just using that and making that one of your practices when you're on a pilgrimage like this is so important and you'll get so much from it if you continually ground yourself each day and throughout the day. And just know that you're walking from your core and you're experiencing these streets in a way that you just don't get to at home. So what might you encounter on these streets as you walk, focused and centered and sometimes spinning out of control? These streets will be anything from needle-thin streets that only two people can walk on to huge, grand highways in the big cities. And because it's India, the amazing thing to observe is that one side of the street might be completely built and remodeled and the other side is in total disrepair and broken down and in rubble. So you need to be aware as you walk. There could be cobblestone streets that are full of pilgrims to streets where cars and autos and rickshaws all are in alignment with the people who walk there every day of every year. As you walk in India, one of the remarkable practices that you can do is to look into people's faces and to see them and to use this as a practice of mirroring the lessons of your pilgrimage. There are many people in India that will approach you on the street, especially if you were to look at them or make eye contact. The sadhus of India are very famous because they look so mystical to us who has grown up in the West and you'll see them hanging around temples or just walking down a road or hanging out next to a river. And many people in India will say to you, oh, that person is not a real sadhu, they're just a beggar. This is a question that you must answer internally to yourself because there really is no way to know because you will have your own experiences and exchanges with people on your pilgrimage. So the best way to approach this subject is to have the right etiquette in how you treat a holy person. If you're approached by someone who appears to be a religious person to you and they ask you for money, it's up to you to use your intuition and inner guidance as to if you would like to be generous to them. It's not a requirement. You will see a lot of people dressed in orange or white or looking as if they're on a spiritual path in their life. And all of this is up to you to explore on your own. But basically, I would suggest from my own experience that you be frugal with what you offer and that you offer from your heart and that you offer things that you feel safe offering, like food or drink or something you feel moved to give the person, but it need not be money. There are a lot of people in the street in India living in poverty and this is one of the moving things that you'll encounter walking in streets. You'll see a lot of women with children and people that have lived in really unfortunate circumstances and are handicapped or are sick in ways that we just don't understand in the West. Let your heart overflow with compassion for them, but with boundaries. Set your boundary where you feel comfortable and be safe. That is number one. I suggest to everyone that comes to India, that I know, that when you're on the streets and you encounter these people that before you leave your hotel or your guest house or your ashram that morning, that you put money in your pockets or somewhere where it's easy for you to access so that you never have to open your purse when you're approached by someone. This will keep you safe and it will also keep them safe because the opening of the purse can oftentimes be an invitation for negative attention. Walking is a big practice in India. You'll walk so many places and you'll have amazing walks and incredible adventures walking through the streets and through the areas that you visit. As you walk, my suggestion is that you don't walk at night, especially if you're a woman. Women walking alone at night after 8 or 8.30 really invites a type of attention that you don't want to invite in if you want to be safe. You'll notice that after a certain time in the evening, after dinner, that you'll see very few women on the street and that is the clock moves into 9 and 10 o'clock. There are almost no women on the street. So observe these things as you move. For men, walking at night is okay, but again, you should use caution and I would say that walking after midnight is probably not a good idea just because you'll see the streets become very empty. So try to observe as you're on your pilgrimage, what are people doing in the streets? Have your eyes open.

It's so easy to get swept up in this incredible flow of life that is India, but really keep yourself grounded and observe.