Globe Corner Blogs

In a few hours, I’ll be on my way to India. I’ve never been before, and it’s a little hard to fathom. I have not yet stepped off the plane and am already discombobulated and overwhelmed. The big stuff is taken care of: I’ve got my tickets, and my visa is on the way. My doctor has inoculated me against a number of diseases I’ve never even heard of, and I have a giant vat of anti-malarials resting safely in my backpack. (I have placed them there for safekeeping, in case I forget them in a frenzy of last minute packing.  Although it is equally likely that I will forget that I have already packed them and panic when I can’t find them…)

But it’s the smaller things that have been churning around in my brain. I’ve been scouring the travel blogs for any helpful bits of last minute advice for a woman going off to the subcontinent by her li’l ole self. (A blogger on the India Mike forums said she always carries a door stopper with her to supplement a lock; there is another post that lists the addresses of stores in the Bangalore area that sell Cobra brand Mace.)

As I write this, I’m looking through the windows of our store out onto the clean, red brick streets of Cambridge, punctuated by neat groups of pedestrians. The cars on Mt. Auburn Street stream past in, what looks from here to be, orderly, geometric cooperation.

I am trying to imagine the paved roads covered in dirt and beggars; the slick peppermint Green cabs as rusty rickshaws, garlanded with jasmine; the bicycles as cows; the skinny jeans as saris. Most of all, though, I am trying to imagine the empty space, miles and miles of feet, full of people. More people than I’ve ever seen. People with skin much darker than mine who wobble their heads and speak Kannada and won’t be taking anti-malarial pills because they can’t afford them.

As for my last minute packing, I have to find a mosquito net that’s been soaked in a chemical called permethrin.  Apparently they are hard to find, and even though I have been vaccinated against Japanese encephalitis and have my trusty little bottle of malarone (see anti-malarial comments above), the threat of dengue fever looms.  At least there will be delicious chai tea to make it all better.

Read more: Bangalore, India, News, South India, Travel, Travel Tips and Resources, Women's Travel


Nicole -- Nicole hails from metropolian Conway, South Carolina. While she's not busy doing Southern things like eating biscuits and heavily buttered grits (often together), she likes to travel to other countries and eat their food. Her favorite exotic treats include: Icelandic Skyr, South Indian dosa, British Jaffa Cakes, and Austrian strudel.

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