Smell - India is full of smells good, bad and just plain right ugly! One moment you can be walking down a street wondering where the fabulous spice smell and food is coming from, drawing you closer to a potential restaurant of choice, until you get closer and the smell of deep frier fat for all the fried snack stalls that line the streets or beam from your hopeful eatery, which can instantly make you gag! If you choose to continue to walk further and are not careful enough to notice you'll be standing next to sewers, garbage or the general waste on the street which starts to rot! If your quick enough you remember not to try and look where it's coming from, because really there is no point, it will not go away! You should always just keep walking because sooner or later you'll pass someones shop, home (or side pile of items they are selling lined on the street itself) where they are burning not to just one, but several incense sticks! Now if you like the smell of sandalwood this can potentially work in your favor, if not just hope that person has opted for a more fruity flavor! Eventually you end up getting into local transport by bike or auto-rickshaws that move so quickly smells whizz past you too quickly to recognize! Then back to your hotel/guesthouse, where the options are endless, but there is always something!
Sight- In India, remain switched on at all times! Absorb the colours and contrast, from house to house, market to market, yellow rickshaws, green rickshaws and blue! Observe the trees and what they add to the beautiful backdrop, but try to focus your gaze to filter our the power cables, that are in the most bizarre places. Know who you can hold eye contact with and who you can't, don't spend time trying to figure out the serious faces of the elderly ladies, the smirks of the young men or the laughter from the children, just know it will happen and what their faces read may not be their full thoughts! Look out of the transport as this is when you'll learn the most as you pass places you never imagined were possible or observe scenarios only possible in India! At night, should you choose to walk In the dark, allow your other sense take over, as you could end up in a sticky situation involving a cow sitting in the street. But one thing is for sure never open your eyes for too long as dirt and dust are everywhere and who knows when the wind will choose to blow some up in your face and give you an eyeful!
Taste - Be prepared to keep an open mind for all you eat! Spice for breakfast isn't as bad as it seems! Sometimes they are clever enough to avoid garlic and onions for early morning food so you won't stink for so much of the day! Note that if you ever fall sick, carry an emergency supply of plain bland food, because expect that whenever you just want something to settle the stomach is when you are stuck in the only town or train station with fast food outlets with either fried foods, curry or high sugar content, so maybe skipping dinner is the better option than trying to fight keep something down! Also mints are essential, especially if you're not into the Indian fennel seed mouth fresheners! What ever happens you'll find a curry just right for your taste, and the taste is definitely improved with the use of your fingers, although rice dishes will challenge your manipulation skills and co-ordination, but at times make it well more worth it!
Sound - If you've never been to India, one thing you probably know is that is noisy! You can find peace and tranquility in certain places but know if there's a road there will be noise! Combine the sound of a horn, none stop, dogs barking, men talking very loudly, bells ringing, chants from Temples, so it's hard to focus! In fact this is the hardest sense to ever relax in India, even in a small town or when taking time for your meditation know it will be disturbed, either by fruits falling, or insects buzzing very very close by. Most importantly, practice meditation because nothing goes right through you more than the sound of the high pitched horn constantly close to your ear, no matter where you are walking, or what transport you take on the road, it's there, it's constant and it's annoying!
Touch- India is the place to come if want to improve your body awareness! Never get comfortable in your shoes, but feel temperatures under your feet as you walk and compare the slates, contrete and marbel of all the different temples you visit! Be ok with feeling dirt, and not having a place to wash off when you need it! Feel the burning sand under feet, but don't expect to dodge broken coral it shells on the beach, but bottles, food wrappers and more! Be prepared to breath as you try to retrieve or buy something and stand in what you would assume could form into a queue, but instead allow your body to be shoved side to side, prodded and poked by those around. Walk down a street and know you will be expected to move otherwise your personal space is no more! Be prepared for people to enter that space as they touch your forehead to bless you with a dusty due or wet wet paint, and feel the cold on your head! Be prepared for you temperature to fluctuate and skin to burn unless you stay shaded safely from the powerful sun!
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