After returning from a 15 day trip across northern India and Nepal, the most frequent question I encountered was “what was the most impactful moment you experienced?” Most often, this question was asked in an “elevator pitch” sort of way – as if there was a singular, ten second answer that will make for good small talk, check the “I asked about your trip” box, and allow everyone to move on. Only the real answer is not that simple.
To be honest, there were dozens of impactful experiences, meaningful encounters, and spiritual moments spread across those two weeks. So many, in fact, that I find myself forgetting many of them until they suddenly pop into my mind and I’m immediately taken back to experiencing the moment first hand. That is actually a wonderful gift in addition to all the experiences of our journey.
Over the next few months, I’ll take to the blog to describe the most meaningful moments of our trip. Today, I’ll start by providing an overview of the genesis and parameters of the trip to provide context here, and then I’ll jump into the stories in the next post. I’ll add photos for context when I can, but even then it will no doubt be challenging to capture the ambiance, experience, interpretation, and lasting effect of these memories. In my mind, though, I feel that they are all teachable moments and that it would be a shame not to share them with the world.
Planning for this trip began during the summer of 2017 and sign up commenced in January of 2018. I signed up immediately because it’s a part of the world I had always wanted to visit. I suppose it dates back to the days of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as I’ve always been fascinated with ancient history both secular and spiritual.
The group of twenty was led by a friend of mine who is originally from India. Every other year, he creates and leads a personalized tour group – a pilgrimage in effect, that focuses not just on history but on the various religious influences, monuments, and movements that have shaped India over the years.
Having someone with first-hand experience of India was key to a trip that was consistently off the beaten path. Rarely were we surrounded by tourists, rather we were typically immersed in the culture, surrounded by natives of the country, and experiencing life as they would day by day.
Despite the long flights there and back, the quick pace of our daily excursions, and a touch of sinus allergies I picked up along the way, the trip was phenomenal on all accounts – honestly to the point of it feeling like home or, at the very least, like a place I had a lived before and was returning to for a short visit.
That’s it for now – come back next week for the first post of our experiences.