Incredible India

…we're more or less past the 15th of November when they tell us we've been included in a project for commercial development in India, so in very few days we had to organise ourselves, booking return flights, domestic flights, hotels and confirming the appointments on site. On the afternoon of 03 December we find ourselves finishing the last preparations, and a few hours from then our umpteenth adventure will begin. We're on the motorway around 03 at night, a quick breakfast and off to catch the first of a long series of flights. Bologna – Frankfurt – Chennai – arrival at 23.55 – our condition was terrible – Just the time to collect the bags and leave the airport, and we have our first abrupt impact with Indian reality, namely the smog at incredible levels and the HORNS.

Dark and dusty roads, people making a racket and/or trying to find a place to sleep at the roadside, under the flyovers or in makeshift dwellings. The hotel, though, was perfect, so a quick dinner and then off to bed, given that the time available for sleep is always scarce in these situations. Over the following 12 days, we travelled around India from South to West to North-East, moving from modern cities to slums, from chaos to desert.

The experience was beautiful and moving and let us see and touch with our own hands this beautiful and astonishing country where everyone nods their head to tell you Yes Sir, where chaos reigns at any hour of the day or night and if you don't honk your horn you're a poor soul, where you're at risk to life every time you get on a motor vehicle, because you're at the mercy of mad drivers who love driving the wrong way and/or crossing the road because nobody dares to stop, and.....where you could run into cows out for a stroll in the centre. As an advert says, "Incredible India"…