People often ask why I love to travel to India. About 50 percent of those asking can't imagine the attraction. Negative media and little actual contact with Indian people and culture have formed their perceptions. For the other 50 percent of people, the constant theme is, "India is on my life's bucket list." I definitely fall into the latter camp.As a child, I grew up in a very small town in Canada with little exposure to multiculturalism. I was completely enchanted by the first Indian person I ever met. She was the wife of a visiting professor at the local college. I remember that time so clearly.My friends and I got to sit on intricately woven carpets as she pulled silk saris and family heirlooms from a trunk.

Each item came with a story of her homeland. She served us sweet and creamy cardamom-scented chai (tea) and pak (Indian fudge) with real silver leaf on it. I wanted my carpet to fly me to India. I yearned to see this place that I imagined was filled with silks, saris, and spices.It's funny how the heart remembers the soul's desires when the mind forgets.In my twenties, I moved to a large city and had the chance to eat Indian food for the first time. The tastes resonated with me and brought back my desire to see the place where these exotic tastes came from. I started a yoga practice at age 40 and learned more about India's religions and Ayurvedic practices. I began writing about food and started a food tourism company. That gave me the chance to co-author an Indian cookbook with a great Indian cook who became my mentor.As I approached age 50, my husband asked if I wanted to do something special for this milestone in my life, I asked if he would go to India with me. Sadly, he could not go I told him, "It's okay.

I know I will get there somehow, I'll just let go of this dream for now and somehow it will happen." A month after my fiftieth birthday, out of the blue, I got an invitation to lead tours to India.This year will be my seventh year of bringing groups to India. I love the natural splendor of Kerala's spice-laden hills and the waving coconut palms that line its backwaters and beaches. I feel the ancientness of Tamil Nadu in my bones. It's the warmth that travels up from the sun-baked granite stones of its thousand-year-old temples as I walk barefoot across them. It's the care taken of my very being when I visit the ashram at Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore. It's the taste of recipes that I know have been prepared by Tamil cooks for hundreds if not thousands of years. In the North, I've trekked the foothills of the Himalayas near Rishikesh and stayed at the world's number one destination spa – Ananda in the  Himalayas. I've visited the Golden Temple and made chapattis in the kitchen where they feed a hundred thousand people minimum per day. I've rambled across Rajasthan and stayed in its white, blue, and pink cities - Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaipur. I've soaked up the colors of the Rajput's turbans and the women's saris and been dazzled by the jewels and handicrafts. I stared in awe at the Taj Mahal in Agra and found complete peace doing yoga on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi at sunrise. I've plunged into the Arabian Sea at Goa and the Bay of Bengal in Mamallapuram. I've marveled that it takes three oceans to wash the feet of Mother India.I've not shied away from India's polarities either. My trips have not been one-sided explorations of affordable luxury.Beyond the natural splendor and renowned monuments, I've visited government schools in tiny villages, spent time in Mumbai's largest slums with local guides, toured the alleys of Delhi with rescued street kids, and visited empowerment projects for seamstresses, weavers, poppadom-makers and laundry workers. I've learned about a fine balance that allows dignity and pride while working for a better life for one's family and self.

Food was really how I came to know India and I've cooked with some of the country's best chefs in ashrams, bustling markets, organic gardens, resorts, and world-class restaurants. They have shared their best recipes freely and made the complex cuisines of each region accessible in the way only a true master can. The pull of the food alone would be enough to keep me coming back to India for a lifetime but above all these reasons to travel to India, there is one more that is the most compelling of all.The reason why I went to India in the first place and the reason I will always return is my love for India’s people.In every set of eyes I have encountered in India there has been kindness. When people greet you with their hands together, it is a sign of mutual respect and acknowledgment of our oneness. Atithi Devo Bhava, our guests are our Gods, is the widely held ethos.

A visitor is a blessing,When a country and its people make you feel this way, it is like being welcomed into a warm and loving family. Visitors can still go to India and just check off a list of things to see and do but, my colleagues in tourism have created experiences for their guests to dive deeply into their country, connect with locals, understand their daily life, and take home memories forged by the bonds that creates.My guests think about their trips to India with me for months and years after our journeys. Their lives are changed. They are humbled and grateful for the gifts we receive. Some have returned a few times with me. If you ask them why, they'll say the same thing I go to India because of the people. That is the best reason of all.


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Karan Anderson

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