And finally.........India in a (cashew) nutshell!

It's hard to find the words to define the essence of India -it's beyond a statement and is so spectacularly diverse in every aspect of its being it's challenging, to say the least, to capture it in words. It's all the extremes and for anything you say about the culture, the people or the country, the opposite it also true. As well as extremes it's also a land of contradictions. From the landscape - sand blasted deserts to leach infested jungles, filthy, manic bazaars to long stretches of deserted beaches. And of course the people - welcoming and extremely friendly, they will share a packet of biscuits round to a whole carriage of strangers, know you 5 minutes then invite your round for dinner, and will keep an eye out for your stop on the train so you don't miss it, but at the same time, will barge into you whilst you're carrying a massive rucksack, haggle with you for your last rupee and burp in your face without giving it a second thought. For this reason you feel like you are constantly wrestling with your emotions - India has the ability to inspire, frustrate, excite, provoke and bewilder all at once. There are times when your sanity feels frazzled! We think it's a bit like marmite - you either love it or hate it and we think it's fair to say we loved it.

Spending 2 months in India left us with a whole range of emotions and observations, so here goes…………..

India boasts a melange of religions and ethnic groups who, with a few exceptions, seem to live alongside each other and respect each other's beliefs - well, on the face of it at least, when they explain that Hinduism is a way of life more than a religion you immediately understand. The Indian's certainty and commitment to their chosen religion is unquestionable and makes you feel slightly embarrassed at your own lack of belief! This said, it's great to be a speculator at the many festivals and religions events and also to be openly welcomed into them.

As well as the Indian's commitment to religion, another thing they are definitely committed to setting fire to things! They truly are a nation of arsonists! Everywhere you go, and every corner you turn you are bound to find a small fire blazing.

Another thing you can't walk 1 yard without seeing is a man relieving himself on the side of the road, pee or poop!! We are pretty sure that the men of India have the weakest bladders in the whole world. Why they seem to need to pee every 2 minutes is beyond thought or reason. Maybe its all the chai…….

The babies and children of India are the most beautiful we've ever seen. This is helped greatly by the use of the, it seems obligatory, make up - black kohl pencil around the eyes and the black or red bindi in the centre of the baby's head. The babies and children also always seem to be dressed in their best party frocks and jewellery. These items, along with the silky black hair and huge almond brown eyes all contribute to the gorgeousness of them!

Tata and reliance are the kings of India! Tata literally make everything and are everywhere! At first, we thought they were just a steel company but it seems they also do mobiles, cars, TV's, sky dishes and connection, batteries, solar panels - the list could go on forever! And apparently the guy who owns reliance is the richest man in India and nearly as famous as Sachin Tendulkar, the indian batsman - They love him and they love cricket. Cricket is the main talking point with locals, taxi drivers, kids, TV interviewers, shop owners and everyone else in the entire country!

The driving skills and nerve needed to get on the road in India is quite something. There is no such thing as giving way or letting people go - it's eat or be eaten! However once you get over the initial fear, the best part of being a passenger in any mode of transport on the Indian road is the quite unique attitude of the drivers. Everyone cuts everyone up, people quite nearly or actually do crash but yet we never saw one person ever loss their temper or even look annoyed. There is no such thing as road rage. We think this is a good indication of the Indian's general attitude to life - its short and sometimes tough, so just get on with it and don't worry.

As well as the usual vehicles you expect to see on the road you will also see hundreds of cows and dogs. The cow rules the road, well actually it rules pretty much everything and is a revered and holy animal and so gets away with almost anything. This said, they are not treated that well - most look near to death, need a good wash and feast on an unhealthy diet of rubbish.

Talking of rubbish, this is the one thing that we found frustrating and disappointing. It's literally everywhere and it is common practice to litter the whole time. It goes against everything we were taught as children but we even got to the point of throwing things out of the train windows. On several occasions, we saved our used chai cups to give to the chai man rather than throw out of the window (which is what everyone else did), only to give them to him and he then threw them out of the window! Sometimes you just can't win!

The food!! This is something we definitely researched very thoroughly! In a nutshell……it's AMAZING! If you like a curry in the UK, you will love the food in India - it's completely different but is a million times tastier. There is something for everyone and interestingly enough the veggie stuff is so good you don't even need meat. This is coming from mad meat eaters and so is a bold statement! We wonder if we should rename the India blog "Eating our way around India"…………

And finally, India and its people were everything we hoped they would be and more and we're very sad to be leaving, but at the same time we feel lucky to have spent 2 glorious months on its shores.