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RON SNIDER
A VISIT TO ASIA
 "Everyone
says they like India … but (confound them), they
can never tell you WHY they like the (bloody)
place!"
-- Paul Newby, a British
"traveller" in the very early '70s.
I met Paul, along with many other back-packers,
in Tokyo, where we were all teaching English of
one sort or another. Most of these 'travellers'
had been to places like Hong Kong, Bangkok,
Calcutta, Bombay, Karachi, Kabul, etc.- on their
way from Europe to the Far East. I was different.
I flew directly from Alberta to Tokyo in early
1969.
Paul had 'issues' with India: Indian people,
Indian travel, the Indian railway system, Indian
toilets, Indian food, and so on. When he was
asking why everyone seemed to like the place, I
had never been there, and would not have the
opportunity to do so until I had finished my three
year English teaching stint to the Japanese
"Zaibatsu" (conglomerates like: Hitachi,
Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, et al). This question
sparked my curiosity.
I was eager to go to India, but had virtually
no contact with things Indian, save some Indian
pickles in Japan. I liked the pickles and later on
would come to love the food after my first 'real'
exposure in 1972—take-out from a small Indian
restaurant in the Changi district of Singapore.
This exposure to some very excellent Indian
cuisine occurred in Singapore while in route to
India with friends. We were travelling on the
cheap: tramp steamer from Hong Kong to Singapore— "deck class" for about US $45. We cut
our hair on the ship a couple of days before
landing, as we had heard that the authorities in
Singapore would cut it for us!
That was 33 years ago. I went to visit and
ended up staying in India for two years. I
revisited New Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta a few
brief times around 1984; then did not set foot on
Indian soil again until February 2004. I returned
once more this year for four weeks in February and
March. Most of this last visit was not dedicated
to travel and photography but to spending time in
an ashram where meditation was a major routine of
the day—a 'spiritual boot-camp', as it were.
However, I did get in about a week of 'travel'
during each of these recent trips and exercised my
camera. I had always wanted to see the 'desert of
Rajasthan'—camels in the sunset and all that
jazz. I wanted to go to Jaisalmer, in particular.
In the end, Jodhpur was also a treat for the eyes
and senses in general.
The following images are from my last two trips
to Asia. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as
I enjoyed Making them.
Ron Snider
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