Holy cow…

I wasn't ready for re-entry into my regular daily life, so the 44-hour journey home from India seemed endless.

India is an amazing country. With about 20 different states, it's practically a continent in itself. In each state, the people speak different languages and practice many different religions - Hindi being the main language and Hindu the main religion.

I think the general perception of India is that it is a dirty, mean, unsafe, poor, uneducated, underdeveloped country. In some ways, it is all of that but in other ways, it is also none of that because the color, people and culture of the country outweigh all the grime and grit.

My traveling partner, Melanie and I started our adventure by arriving into Mumbai (better known as Bombay, but the country has made a number of name changes in the last 10 years) at 3 a.m. A little out of it, and, with our guards up, we got a pre-paid taxi to a hostel in a south suburb, an hour's ride from Colaba, the main part of the city.

After sleeping with the light on, we woke up and explored the busy, bustling city also known as "Bollywood" - the Hollywood of India where most Hindi films come from.

The next day, a wrong turn proved to be beneficial, bringing us into this incredible open air market.

We got a taste of the culture right off the bat. The men and women were stunning - especially the women with their colorful saris, nose-rings and jewelry.

The vendors took so much care with their stations full of vegetables- broccoli, cauliflower, eggplants, corn, and fruits- bananas, pomegranates, mangos, pineapples… Everything was stacked so neatly.

We got some stares, actually more then some, but we stared too, in mutual curiosity. It was actually pretty entertaining because, at times, we felt like movie stars. People would come up to us and ask if they could be in pictures with us, and ask for our autographs.

The most extreme case was one relaxing day on the beach, we had just gotten done swimming in the Arabian Sea and were lying in the sun. An Indian family was playing around in the sea and I thought, 'how sweet, the first time they have been to the sea.' They pulled out a camera, so Melanie asked if they wanted her to take a photo of them.

They said yes but the dad would not hand over the camera and took a picture of his family with a white girl (Melanie) in her bikini. That's the photo they wanted.

I was shocked by a few specific things about the country.

One was the trash. I figured there would be a lot, but it didn't stand out as much as I thought until one early morning after traveling all night on a sleeper bus, we had made friends with this man from Kashmir and we gave him the rest of our water in our plastic water bottle. He took a few swigs and then I thought he was going to offer it to the guy next to him. Instead he chucked it out of the window of the bus.

Later, on our first train ride after breakfast, I went to try to find a trash can for my aluminum breakfast container. This Indian woman saw me walking around with it, grabbed it out of my hand, and tossed it out of the open door of the moving train. Everyone does it. For the first week, we noticed we hadn't seen ONE trash can. It made me cry the first time I had to do it myself. I tried from that moment to find trash-cans, but it wasn't easy.

India has extreme poverty. The first night when we were driving in the taxi, it seemed as if the entire city was sleeping on the sidewalk, or benches, or outside on storefront stoops. But then, you cross to the other side of town where the Taj Mahal Hotel (not the temple) is located, and there are Luis Vuitton stores and chi chi jewelry too.

Another major thing we immediately noticed was that the Indian people are so in the know of our political situation. They were so knowledgeable, getting their news from CNN and the BBC.

Our first taxi driver, and, just about every Indian we would converse with, asked us about the election. If India could vote in the 2004 election, I would have to say there would be NO question that Kerry by a landslide.

It's funny because I don't even know the name of India's prime minister, yet the people there seemed to know so much about us; they LOVE Kerry and loved Clinton, but are not too fond of Bush.

The news they watch seems less skewed to any one side of a political viewpoint, and Indians appear to form their own opinions. As soon as they found out we were Americans, they ALL wanted to talk politics.

The people and the scenery in India were really mind-blowing, the people will do anything for anyone, and go out of their way to make you happy.

Needless to say, it's a bit different to be back. I am sold on another trip to India in the future. Next time, I want to explore the North of this huge and fascinating place.

The Indian culture is one I have never seen before, or could ever imagine, and I have lots more to write about.

In the next couple weeks, look for photos and more stories about India.

Lindsey Nelson is the photographer at the Whitefish Pilot.