Don't trust anyone - Μην εμπιστευεσαι κανενα

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Θα προσπαθήσω αν έχω χρόνο να γράφω μερικές φορές και στα Ελληνικα.

I ll do some posts in both greek and english as I had many complaints about it.

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"Μην εμπιστευεσαι κανενα." Πόσο λυπηρή ακούγεται αυτή η φράση... Αυτο ειναι που σε συμβουλευουν ολοι οταν ο προορισμός είναι η Ινδία. 

Ταξιδιωτικοί οδηγοί, ταξιδιώτες, αρθρογράφοι λένε όλοι το ίδιο πράγμα. Ενα email ομως που έλαβα απο ενα φίλο, που με συμβούλευε ακριβως το ίδιο,  με ταρακούνησε και θέλησα να το αναλύσω περισσότερο στο μυαλό μου.

Το να εμπιστεύεσαι ανθρώπους σου δίνει ένα υπέροχο συναίσθημα. Σκέψου μια φορά που εμπιστεύτηκες κάτι σημαντικό (ενα μυστικό,  το χρόνο σου ή ακόμα και τη ζωή σου) σε ένα αγαπημένο πρόσωπο.  Πόσο ανακουφισμένος ένιωσες; !

Σκέψου τώρα μια φορά που εμπιστεύτηκες κατι σημαντικό σε έναν τελείως άγνωστο (ίσως σε ένα ταξίδι) και τα πράγματα ήρθαν καλύτερα από ότι περίμενες. Πόσο ευτυχισμένος και ερωτευμένος με την ανθρώπινη φυλή ένιωσες τότε; !

Ένας ταξιδιώτης λοιπόν στην Ινδία,  έχει να αντιμετωπίσει το εξής παράδοξο,  να νιώθει οτι θέλει να εμπιστευτεί τους ανθρώπους αλλά να πρέπει να κατευνάσει τα ένστικτά του και να γίνει αντίκοινωνικός με το πλήθος. Ο λόγος που είναι δύσκολο είναι το οτι οι Ινδοί είναι καλόκαρδοι άνθρωποι (μπορείς να το καταλάβεις απλά κοιτώντας μεσα στα μάτια τους) αλλά η ακραία φτώχεια που αντιμετωπίζουν, τους κάνει να έχουν ανάγκη να σε εξαπατήσουν στην καθημερινή μάχη τους για επιβίωση. 

Αυτό που πρέπει να κάνω,  είναι να προσπαθήσω να συναναστραφώ μαζί τους χωρίς οικονομικές συναλλαγές.

Αυτό που πρέπει ΟΛΟΙ ΕΣΕΙΣ να κάνετε, είναι να εμπιστεύεστε ανθρώπους στη ζωή σας. Όλοι αξίζουν μια ευκαιρία. 

Μην ξεχάσω να πω οτι όταν εμπιστεύεστε ανθρώπους, επιτρέψτε τους επίσης να σας απογοητεύσουν αλλιώς θα πληγωθείτε με την πρώτη τρικυμία. Είμαστε άνθρωποι στο κάτω-κάτω και κάνουμε λάθη συνέχεια οπότε γι' αυτό πρέπει να μάθουμε να συγχωρούμε. 

Θελω να σας ευχαριστήσω όλους για τις όμορφες ευχές σας. Συγνώμη που δεν απάντησα προσωπικά στα emails και τα μηνύματα σας αλλά δεν είχα χρόνο και γι' αυτό το κάνω εδω. ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΩ ΠΟΛΥ.

Τοποθεσία: Αεροδρόμιο Αθήνας

Αύριο πρωί: Νέο Δελχί

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"Don't trust anyone." How sad this phrase seems... That's what everybody advises you when you want to travel to India. 

Travel guides, travellers, bloggers say all the same thing. One email I received from a friend, saying exactly the same thing, triggered me to analyse this phrase in my head.

Trusting people is an incredible feeling. Think of one time you entrusted something important (a secret, your time or even your life) to a very beloved person. How relieved did you feel?!

Then think of one time you entrusted something important to a total stranger (maybe in a trip) and it came out better than expected. How happy and in love with the human race did you feel then?!

So a traveller to India has to face a paradox, feeling like trusting in people but having to calm his insticts and become antisocial with the crowd. And the reason it's hard is that Indians are good-hearted people (most of the times you can see it just by looking in their eyes) but the extreme poverty they face, make them need to deceive you in their battle for every day survival. 

What I should do is to try to get involved with locals as much as I can without involving money.

What YOU ALL should do is to trust in people in your lifes. Everybody deserves a chance.

Not forget to say that when you trust people, allow them also to disappoint you or else you ll get hurt in the first tempest coming . We are humans after all and mistakes happen all the time so you must learn to forgive.

I want to thank you all for your beautiful wishes. I didn't reply personally to mails and messages because i had no time but I m doing it here. THANK YOU

Location: Athens airport

Tomorrow morning: New Delhi

Before the big adventure

Eight days left, before the 21 hours' travelling, to reach the diverse country. First stop would be Athens' airport. After a long wait there, a connection flight to Jordan awaits me and finally the flight to India's New Delhi.

Here I am, eight days before, literally running around in order to leave Greece in peace of mind. This morning I finished up with all the vaccines (well, two of  the vaccines I need, are impossible to found in Greece) something that I didn't want to do in the first place but after all the whining of family and friends I accepted to do, just to make them worry less for me.

As always I left everything to the last minute so now I am a bit stressed to get some information before I go there. I had good reasons not to do it before... Camping in south Crete, two-weeks caving expedition and more activities in the nature. I have a never-ending list of things to do but I hope by the end of the week it will be empty and i will relax in my last days in Crete.

Art from the underworld (caving expedition 2014 - Plativolo cave)

I have long dreamt of this day and finally it is happening. A trip with just yourself, in a totally different world and no return ticket. You need to do sacrifices to make something like this happen. Most people think that I have a wallet full of money but I know that I have less money than most of them and I am very happy about that. Of course I don't own a car, don't consume, don't smoke and don't drink much. All the previous, plus a weekly visit to the local fruit and vegetable market, can make your life happy and sustainable with very little money. One day I hope I ll grow all my food and wont need to buy anything. Let's see!

The trip will start from New Dheli where I hope to see in few days how some things work in India and buy some basic equipment I need for the trip like mosquito net, cooking utensils, knife, poncho, proper clothes and then I ll head to Himalayas hoping to spent a month there before the heavy cold arrives. I don't know what to expect up there but I have a feeling that i will be happy.

This blog started to keep my family and friends up to date and not worry to much. If you want to contact me during the travel, send me a mail (soultatosyiannis@gmail.com) and I ll get back to you when i find internet connection and time.

Namaste

What the blog's name mean

Looking for a name for this blog was a tricky thing to do. I needed something that could express the state of my mind in this last few years. I still believe that good days will come for everybody in this pesimistic period of human history. I see this little light in the tunnel, so I decided to focus on this...
Then I thought of one "mantinada" I love. "Mantinada" is a small poem of two fifteen-syllabus' lines that rime with each other. It is a little poem that Cretan people can come up easily to describe different chapters of life and usually they sing it in local tunes.
It goes like this...

Ως είναι η σπίθα λαμπερή, στη χόβολη χωσμένη,

ετσα 'ναι κι η αγάπη μας, κρυφή μα μπιστεμένη...

 The closest I could bring the above with my poor English is.

Just like a bright spark, burning in a sand stove,

that's how our love feels, hidden but sacred...

So I am borrowing this starting line to name this blog, underlying that this bright spark is there, we can see it, it keeps us warm and gives us hope .