Sam's BlogLet Sam motivate you and read his lastest musings and observations.

It was great to see my family in India. Mum, Dad, my 2 sisters and 4 nephew and nieces who all had travelled from Australia to India. It’s a little crazy when you meet up with close family over the other side of the world.

My entire life I wanted visit my mothers hometown and travel to Kharagpur which is a place 2.5hours SW of Kolkata one of the largest cities in India (maybe the 3^rd largest after Mumbai and Delhi). So here I was, travelling to Kharagpur for the first time in my life to visit Mums relatives that I had never met before, to visit the place where my Mum and Dad met and got married, and to visit the place where my Mum grew up. It was quite and exciting journey. Arriving in Kharagpur, my Dad, who picked me up from the airport, pointed out to me the church where they got married. Wow that was an awesome feeling seeing this church. I got goose bumps.

The next morning we went to a village just a few km from Kharagpur. Now this was an awesome experience, as I had never experienced village life ever in my life, and mate was I challenged! These primitive natives were beautiful and very embracing of our western accents and mannerisms. Yes they had electricity, but the living environment brought ‘Lower Social Economic Living Conditions’ to a whole other level for me.

To get to the village, we took a vehicle, than a rickshaw and finally we had to walk down a narrow path across a bamboo bridge and zigzag through rice fields. Finally we got there in the middle off the day, sweat pouring off my face as the heat is extreme and the humidity is even worse. When I arrived it was hard not to notice the life style and environment of these, forever smiley and fascinated faces. They lived in mud huts, used outside fires for cooking and pumped water out of a well. It was just amazing. We read about this type of living and we sometimes see it on TV but to experience it and see it first hand is just mind blowing!

Eating a meal that they prepared I must admit, I was very hesitant in eating it as their hygiene standards, lets say, are different to ours. After carefully eating the meal on plates made out of banana leaves we then tried to communicate with them through the little language that we all knew.

I was with my parents, my sisters and my older nieces and it was so amazing when they started talking about having one of my sisters or nieces as a wife for their tribal men. They even went to their huts and got all dressed up in their finest garments to try to impress. It was just fascinating. After thanking them for there hospitality we began the walk, bike and car ride back to Kharagpur. WOW what a day.

Did you know….

Mumbai used to be called Bombay; Chennai used to be called Madras; Kolkata used to be called Calcutta… Why? Because the under British rule for many years the British people gave the large metropolitan cities and many other cities new names to suit them as they did not know how to pronounce the original names. But just recently ever since independence in 1947, many cities have changed their names back to Indian names. The latest being in Aug 1996 when Chennai was created just 1 year after Mumbai…

I read recently that in Mumbai, it has over 50% of the population living in the slums…

Click to enlarge photos:

Me and Mum on a Rickshaw (Umbrella instead of hat)

Me using a well pump

My sisters on bridge

Villagers preparing us lunch

Villagers Waiting for lunch