Landing Right Side Up in Nehru's India

<p>On India's Independence Day in 1962 an Ohio family of six landed dockside at the Bombay Harbor stranded by holiday miscommunications. It was a fitting introduction to an upside down lifestyle ahead. A two day train journey to their temporary home in the Punjab confirmed the fascination and unpredictability of travel in India.</p><p>A Fulbright grant bought them to Chandigarh the ten-year-old Punjab capitol. Making a home and learning to adjust to India's complex ways were challenges. Culture shock hit often and local schools stunned the children. Fortunately neighbors were welcoming.</p><p>Journeys by bus and train took them almost the length and breadth of India. Visits to the Taj Mahal the Ganges at Benares the Sikh Golden Temple four major cities a hill station an ancient cave temple carved from rock and a mud-hut village just skimmed the surface of all that is India. But they revealed awesome beauty and appalling poverty.</p><p>Traveling abroad with an open mind and a spirit of adventure can be transformational for any of us. For the author a single serendipitous photograph on a Punjab college wall recast the entire trajectory of her path toward a fulfilling lifetime.</p>