After a 9-hour train ride, in which we (Maria from Khajuraho accompanies me) were involved in a conversation with Indians for about six hours, we arrived in Agra very tired. My first impression: I will stay here longer. But that changed quickly the next day when I met the Indians in an unpleasant, very enterprising […]
The business of death
Hooting cars, blasting rickshaws and mopeds and screeching bicycle bells combine to create a deafening noise potpourri that torments my drumming field. Varanasi – the holy city on the Ganges and the holiest city of Hinduism! And it’s so unbearably loud in the city center that I have to hold my ears more often. I […]
Hyderabad’s dilemma is symptomatic of the whole of India
Hyderabad is the capital of the newly created Indian state of Telangana in 2014. With 6.8 million inhabitants in the actual city (more than Berlin) and 7.7 million in the agglomeration, it is the fourth-largest city in India and the center of the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the country (source: Wikipedia). The city can look […]
Boulder mekka in the realm of monkey gods
Hampis cultural heritage In the Hindu epic Ramayana Hampi is referred to as the realm of monkey gods (Kishkindha). This seems to me still quite obvious once you become aware of the monkey bands in the area running over rooftops daytime and nighttime and watching the people from a safe distance from the tops of […]
Communication training at Kudle Beach
When traveling, you get to know the funniest and craziest people, especially if you are staying in the backpacker hotspots. The hitherto most interesting encounters I had on Kudle Beach in Karnataka, an alternative to the famous Om Beach. The Beach is mostly visited by backpacker travellers because it as no access by a road. Therfore […]