My first trip in India

Summer 1992

My first trip to India and Pakistan age 20, the Summer of 92.

I arrived in New Delhi, fresh from Sydney. The smell of tuberose has always remained with me, as with a sense of something poignantly familiar whenever I am in India. A breakfast " tramezzino " with elephant backdrop (I showed an Italian friend this photo... and as Italians do, she noted " che tramezzino ! " ; before noting elephant and before noting man on the bicycle. (Does that qualify as some sort of indicative IQ test ? )... And The Omnipresente Taj M.

The impossibly twisted, eternally non compliant telephone and electricity wires overhead (remain the same today), the heat which was and also remains abominable in July. Let's cross over to the mountains in Pakistan, we said.

To the border we went ! Amritsar : the Golden Temple: tasting Karah Prasad a dense, rich, and sweet pudding made from equal parts whole wheat flour, ghee and sugar cooked with water (emphasizing that all people are equal regardless of caste, class, gender, or status), music resonating and walking on water pathways. Jesus walked on water too. Pilgrimages, baptisms.

The Karakoram Highway (KKH), N-35, is the highest paved international road in the world, reaching 4,693 meters at the Khunjerab Pass. Spanning 1,300 kilometers, it connects Havelian in Pakistan to Kashgar in China, traversing Karakoram, Himalaya, and Pamir ranges. The highway follows a branch of the ancient Silk Road, oering views of 8,000-meter peaks (Nanga Parbat, Rakaposhi & K2.)

It was dreamlike following the Indus. We walked and slept outdoors for some week. Somewhat unprepared, Nomads curious of our tent, oered goats milk, dried apricots and almonds. I remember reaching the Khunjerab pass in a logging jeep that oered us a ride ( men with machine guns... warlords; a degree of lawlessness in these parts, I was told later ). Youth. I sensed at that age that the Silk Road must resonate genetically in me.