By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
Landing at the airport it felt like any other holiday. We collected out bags and proceeded to our transfer. It then happened, the most unusual but happy feeling. Everyone has a feeling of happiness when they are on holiday, but this was different. I felt a sense of bliss, fulfilment. I'd never been to India before and yet here, I was with an overwhelming feeling of contentment. I wasn't just on holiday, it was like I was home. It's become a cliche to talk about the sights and smells of India bring overwhelming, but for me it just felt familiar. Our first trip was to Juhu the Hollywood of Hindi cinema if you like. I was really excited being a massive Bollywood fan. Thoughts were racing through my mind, who would be just hanging out, Shah Rukh Khan or maybe Vidya Balan. We made our way to the beach, had a walk around and had a great day. Later we went to Borivali vegetable market, where we tried some exotic vegetables. So far so cliched but what happened next was different. The next day while we were exploring a crowd had gathered. A person came up to me and said "are you that famous actor" I said not, but he insisted that I was. Suddenly there was a throng of people waiting in line for an autograph. So I obliged, it was surreal I had to ask them who I was, but they were so happy they didn't even notice. We managed to leave after a short while, still high on adrenaline. What a surreal experience that was. We got back to our guesthouse which had a serious cockroach problem. I couldn't wait to leave, because I have a serious insect phobia but that wasn't going to ruin our night. We were going to party like a local. Indian women have a reputation for being beautiful, but the women in the nightclub were beyond beautiful. We started dancing the locals found our attempts at Bollywood dancing hilarious. Next day we went exploring when suddenly a pandit approached us, and started talking about how I had a connection with the area. I was dismissive but intrigued, I felt a connection but thought he was maybe trying to scam us. The food was quite a challenge, because while being a vegan it should have been easier than China for example. It was actually hard because everything is cooked in clarified butter. Another hard thing was seeing a few elephants transporting goods or standing at the temples. While it is considered a good thing to honour Lord Ganesh, in reality an elephant doesn't know or care about Ganesh or religion. The best way to honour any God is to leave their representatives, in the wild and look after them from afar. Anyway back to the story on our last day we stopped of at a tea shop, I was approached by again by the owner who said I looked very familiar. I told him that I had never been to Mumbai before. He then showed me a grainy black and white photo of his grandparents with a person who looked like a lot like myself. I was shocked to see it, but I then remembered that there was a rumour that I had India relatives. My friend and I thanked him a went on our way. When I returned home I did some research and found out that my ancestor had indeed lived in that particular area. He subsequently moved to the Caribbean. In conclusion I now believe that you should trust your feelings and go and try to achieve your goals.