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Jan 29, 2020 • 7 min read
You never forget the first curry you eat with your hands; the momentary awkwardness, the sticky feel of sauce between your fingers, and, of course, the taste – somehow all the sweeter for your show of dexterity. However, India is full of first experiences, each more unexpected, unfamiliar, and wonderful than the last. Consequently, these experiences add together to make one of the most surprising, challenging, and rewarding travel destinations on the planet.
Discovering India is not something that occurs all at once, on a single trip. This is a country the size of a continent, and understanding India’s customs and quirks is a lifelong quest. Nevertheless, it’s those first experiences – your first train ride, your first banana-leaf thali, your first temple blessing – that will stay with you for a lifetime.
Your First Meal on a Banana Leaf
Plates and cutlery are so last year. In the Indian south, meals are dished out on a freshly wiped banana leaf and eaten with fingers, without the aid of a spoon, fork, or knife. Learning the Indian way of eating is a skill that every traveler to India should acquire; indeed, when you leave the tourist trail, cutlery becomes a rare novelty. Once you get over the initial squeamishness about getting hands-on with your food, you’ll soon be enjoying curries like a local.
The trick to enjoying rice and runny sauces with your fingers is to clump the rice and sauce into balls, sliding them off a ramp created with your fingers into your mouth. Remember to do this one-handed – in India, the left hand is reserved for personal ablutions. Only eat with your right hand and carry a bottle of antibacterial gel to avoid skin-carried bugs.
The best banana leaf thalis are served in steamy South Indian cities such as Mysuru (Mysore), Madurai, Chennai, and Bengaluru. Alongside bottomless servings of rice and roti (chapatis), your banana leaf will be topped with assorted curries – usually vegetarian, though some places offer a choice of veg and non-veg dishes – and sides such as curd, dhal (stewed lentils), pickles, and even desserts. It’s a South Indian feast, with no environmentally-unfriendly washing up to worry about at the end.
Your First Temple Blessing
Faith is far from a private matter in India. Blessings, invocations, and rituals all take place in full public view – at temples, shrines, along the banks of sacred rivers, in homes, and even out in the street – and visitors are routinely invited to participate. Your first blessing at a Hindu temple can feel a bit like a drive-by baptism, but it’s an indelible part of the Indian experience.
Most likely, you’ll first be offered a blessing when entering a temple courtyard or wandering along sacred ghats (ritual steps), by a white-robed priest wearing a sacred Brahmin thread. You may be whisked to the inner sanctum and invited to sprinkle blessed water or waft sacred fire amidst a whirlwind explanation of the temple deities and their wish-granting powers.
Almost every temple blessing concludes with a chanted prayer and a daub of colorful kunkum powder on the forehead, representing the third eye and devotion to a specific sect of Hinduism (though you don’t need to hold Hindu beliefs to participate in this distinctively Indian ritual). You’ll also be asked to make a donation – locals invariably do, so you’re not being singled out – and offered prasaad, ritual food blessed by the gods.
Your First Train Booking
Train rides anywhere have a little sprinkling of magic, but in India, the fairy dust is heaped on in abundance. From the moment you set foot on the platform, you’ll be plunged headlong into the irresistible intensity of the country. Hawkers hawk, porters push, waiting passengers eat tiffin-pot meals or snooze under shawl blankets, and chai-wallahs (tea sellers) fill the platforms with a high-speed, song-like chant of “ek chai, ek chai, ek chai”.
Just the act of booking your first train ticket will fill you with elation at having navigated one of the most fascinating, furious examples of bureaucracy on the planet. To book your train, you need to know the train number, the abbreviations for the exact train stations, the seat classes, and which of the dozens of ticket windows to queue at. You also need at least a working understanding of the system of wait-listing and quotas in case your chosen train is fully booked.
It’s possible (if complicated) to book online, and somewhat easier if you visit the special foreign quota desk at major stations such as Mumbai’s CST and New Delhi railway station (the International Tourist Bureau is located upstairs). However, the sense of accomplishment that comes from booking your first ticket in the chaotic surroundings of the general ticket hall will linger long after the train has delivered you to your destination. This experience is one of the great gauntlets to run before you can say you have truly arrived in India.
Once you’ve secured your ticket, prepare yourself for the next wonderful India first – rattling through the countryside with a cup of chai in hand.
Your First Indian Shave
For male travelers, getting a shave in India is a step back to the golden age of male grooming. Entering a barber’s shop becomes the first step in a flamboyant piece of public theatre that begins with the almost ritualistic snapping of a fresh razor blade and concludes with a vigorous head massage.
Part of the enjoyment of a traditional shave with a cutthroat razor lies in surrendering to the process. A shave is an act of grooming; an art performed by the skilled person on the other end of the blade. It should be allowed to unfold in its own time. Having committed to the process, you put yourself entirely in the hands of the person delicately sliding an extremely sharp blade just millimeters from your jugular; mental images of Sweeney Todd add a sense of thrill to the proceedings.
To start, you’ll be lathered with foamy soap, applied with a hog’s hair brush, before your skin is pulled taut in every possible direction to ensure that not a single hair escapes the whispering blade. Once the undergrowth is cleared, you’ll be rubbed with potassium alum, a natural astringent that tightens the skin and sterilizes any microscopic nicks and scratches, followed by a pampering rub with moisturiser and aftershave.
The final touch is the head massage, a vigorous pummeling and drumming of the fingers that ends with sudden, unexpected twists of the neck and slaps on the forehead with hands clasped together, as if in prayer. Although this may sound a little like being the loser in a pehlwani (Indian wrestling) match, the process is ultimately invigorating.
Your First Visit to a Gurdwara
The Sikh religion is renowned for its hospitality. A visit to a gurdwara (literally, the ‘door to the guru’) is a humbling reminder of the common humanity that binds people together, regardless of colour or creed. Topped by ribbed, lotus-like domes, gurdwaras reverberate with the hypnotic chanting of passages from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, while ceremonial weapons are prominently displayed inside, serving as a reminder that Sikhism is both a welcoming philosophy and a martial order.
Nowhere is this welcome more evident than when visiting a langar, the communal gurdwara kitchen and dining hall, where free meals are provided to all comers (a donation is appreciated).
At significant shrines such as the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the experience resembles being a spontaneous guest at a vast Indian banquet. And we mean vast – the Golden Temple’s Guru-ka-Langar feeds an astounding 100,000 pilgrims daily. Meals are simple yet nourishing – chapatis, curries, and rice – eaten cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by people from every walk of life. It’s a testament to India’s remarkable ability to bring people together.
