# So, I'm back from India **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872 "2004-11-20T21:56:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/1 "2004-11-20T21:56:12Z")
Well, I’ve been back almost a month now. In June, I decided to buy a ticket to India. I spent two weeks scrambling for visas and shots and all that, and then went. I was there for three months and traveled around the country pretty extensively. It was (as I’m sure you can guess) increadably amazing. I miss it a lot. Sometimes, when I fall asleep, I start wishing I was laying on a damp thin foam mattress in some two-dollar hotel somewhere, or hearing the constant sounding horns from the road as I fly along at breakneck speeds on some bumpy bus in the middle of the night. Or that I’m sleeping under the stars on a rooftop, ducking my head down when I get up so that everyone in the village doesn’t wonder who the heck this white girl is and what she’s doing there. Or I’m wrapped up in a dirty shawl in my second-class sleeper berth, listening to the rhythm of the tracks and waking occassionally to the robotic drone of “chai coffee chai coffee”. Anyway, [here is my weblog](http://www.livejournal.com/users/jeninindia/) for the trip. I’m thinking of trying to write some travel articles based on my experiences, so if anything stands out, I’d love to know. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/2 "2004-11-20T22:13:29Z")
That is _so cool_. Wow. What a fabulous thing to do. So what I want to know is . . . where are the pictures? Ya gotta have pictures, man! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/3 "2004-11-20T22:24:50Z")
Hehehe…I dropped my camera in the Ganges in Varanasi. I’ve got a bunch of bad digital camera pics and a couple rolls of film I can’t afford to develop yet. I’ll let you all know if I get any of these online. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/4 "2004-11-20T22:42:42Z")
Wow. Three months. I was there 9 years ago (for about one month, only). Fascinating place. Gotta dig out that travelogue I wrote about it… And if anyone’s interested, a small collection of [photos](http://public.fotki.com/fpan/loc/india/) are online. I’m in the process of digitizing my slides, but it’s a loooong and sloooow project. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/5 "2004-11-30T03:28:31Z")
Wow. I’ve just read the whole blog, and it was really cool. I’m afraid my brain is fried from reading student papers at the moment, so I don’t have any insights about which bits might be publishable, but thanks for sharing 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/6 "2004-11-30T07:55:40Z")
Heh! It took me a minute to figure out what those ‘waterballs’ were! Slurp!! A really interesting read. You should’ve posted that you were coming to Bombay - there’s 3 of us here (or very nearby) who would have happily shown you around a bit. Anyways… Good to know you enjoyed yourself! ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/7 "2004-11-30T08:01:59Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > You should’ve posted that you were coming to Bombay… Npt a “Mumbai” person, **gouda**? Does this mean you’re not PC or that you’re making allowances for the board? ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/8 "2004-11-30T08:14:30Z")
LIke I’ve posted on several earlier occasions, the name change hasn’t been 100% pervasive. Those who always called the city Bombay - like me - continue to do so, those who called it _Bumbai_ continue to do so, and those who called it Mumbai also continue to do so. Newspapers named Bombay so-and-so are still called Bombay so-and-so. The last time I booked an international flight into India (maybe 3 years ago), the ticket had Bombay printed on it (maybe that’s changed by now though - those bought from here do have Mumbai printed). Whatever issues I had with the name change process have been forgotten over the years - I’ll call the city Mumbai when I have to, which is more or less never 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-back-from-india/275872/9 "2004-11-30T08:28:48Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > those who called it _Bumbai_ continue to do so I like this one best - combine exoticism with images of the haemorrhoids ward on ER.