Any Indian Pilgrims?

[Dewdrop]

Hi, I am Bindu and I will be walking CF from SJPdP on 25th August 2018. I will be undertaking this solo. I look forward to meeting a few fellow pilgrims along the way.

I live in Bangalore, India and I wonder if there are other Indians in this forum.

Thank you.

 

[Bradypus]

Welcome to the forum! As an Indian you will be part of a very select band indeed on the Camino Last year there were a little over 300,000 Compostelas handed out by the pilgrim office in Santiago. Each year they publish a breakdown of their statistics which includes the nationality of pilgrims. Last year just 86 went to people from India!

 

[Dorpie]

Hi Bindu and welocme,

As Bradypus says chances are that you'll be one of on a handful from India on the Camino when you walk, but not to worry, in my experience at least the Camino is a very inclusive place.

Buen Camino,

Rob.

 

[Dewdrop]

Thank you Rob. I am sure I have nothing to worry. Yes, from what I have read about the camino, the sense of community is strong.

 

[Dewdrop]

Welcome to the forum! As an Indian you will be part of a very select band indeed on the Camino Last year there were a little over 300,000 Compostelas handed out by the pilgrim office in Santiago. Each year they publish a breakdown of their statistics which includes the nationality of pilgrims. Last year just 86 went to people from India!

Just 86 out of more than a billion of us?! Thank you for pulling out that statistic @Bradypus

 

[Bradypus]

Just 86 out of more than a billion of us?! Thank you for pulling out that statistic @Bradypus

It surprised me too - especially given the size and long history of the Christian churches in India, particularly in the south. Just as a comparison it might interest you to know that South Korea - a country of only 51 million or so and therefore smaller than Karnataka alone - accounted for 5106 of last year's Compostelas.

 

[jungleboy]

South Korea has a GDP per capita more than five times that of India, per the CIA World Factbook. Plus, Paulo Coelho is popular in South Korea.

 

[AML]

Hi Bindu,
Welcome to the forum. Great that you have the opportunity to walk the Camino. I've been to India a few times and visited many pilgrim places there. I found this old thread which may be useful to you to connect with other Indian pilgrims. https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/any-indian-citizens-here.20595/

Wishing you all the best for your pilgrimage
Aidan

 

[wisepilgrim]

I suspect you won't find many Indians along the way, but that the 1 you do meet will be from Bangalore as well... and probably lives within 500m of where you sit right now. This world only looks big.

 

[Dewdrop]

Ha ha @wisepilgrim true that!

 

[Dewdrop]

Hi Bindu,
Welcome to the forum. Great that you have the opportunity to walk the Camino. I've been to India a few times and visited many pilgrim places there. I found this old thread which may be useful to you to connect with other Indian pilgrims. https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/any-indian-citizens-here.20595/

Wishing you all the best for your pilgrimage
Aidan

Thanks Aidan. It’s good to hear that you have been to some spiritual places in India.

 

[Deleted member 32363]

Hi, I am Bindu and I will be walking CF from SJPdP on 25th August 2018. I will be undertaking this solo. I look forward to meeting a few fellow pilgrims along the way.

I live in Bangalore, India and I wonder if there are other Indians in this forum.

Thank you.

I Live At Amritapuri Ashram, Kerala, India, 14 years, but am British-Canadian heritage.

 

[Dewdrop]

7 Sept..? I hope we meet... if not on the camino then in India!

 

[lt56ny]

Hi, I am Bindu and I will be walking CF from SJPdP on 25th August 2018. I will be undertaking this solo. I look forward to meeting a few fellow pilgrims along the way.

I live in Bangalore, India and I wonder if there are other Indians in this forum.

Thank you.

Welcome and Buen Camino. One thing that I am sure all Pilgrims agree on is the opportunity to sit down at a communal dinner in an Albergue or in a restaurant with 8 or 10 people from e8 or 10 countries. I was just speaking to my cousin who is thinking of walking with me on my next Camino in September. I was listing all the different countries that pilgrims were from that I have met in my three caminos. I have met people from every continent and probably around 35 countries. It is so special to sit with someone from another land and talk. Last year I had dinner with 14 people from 11 different countries in an Albergue in Portugal. You don’t forget dinners like that. It is especially wonderful when you meet someone from a country that is really brand new to you. Talking about family, Friends, day-to-day life, custons, food all the little things that make life wonderful are the most memorable moments that you carry forever from your Camino experience. I’ve never met someone from South Asia. I’m sure you’re going to be a popular person to talk with and share your life with when you walk. Have a wonderful Camino experience. I’ll be walking in September also but on the CMamino Norte!. Once again Buen Camino.

 

[Dewdrop]

Thank you. Buen Camino to you too. Where are you from and why can’t I tag you @It56ny?

 

[oursonpolaire]

Dewdrop may find that pilgrims from India might be out-numbered by Canadian, UK, and US pilgrims from the South Asian diaspora. Running pilgrim training sessions in Ottawa, I believe I have worked with about two dozen pilgrims from the diaspora-- a few from Kerala and Goan Christian backgrounds, but others were Jain, Ismaili, Hindu, and Sikh. I spent a day walking along the del Norte with two very entertaining Gujurati Texan accountants who had decided that on their return they would do a stand-up comedy routine on being vegetarian pilgrims on the Camino. I was once served my cappucino in Tofino BC by a Sikh barista wearing a flecha-amarilla badge and she offered to switch my order to a cortado.

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

Hi Bindu,

You will soon find out that the Camino is a global community, where differences by nationality, race and religious background hardly matter. You will feel at home everywhere.

Here is a piece I wrote last year that might put to rest any apprehensions you might have in commencing this journey.

Friends join pilgrims from all over the world on ... - Washington Post

All the best

 

[Dewdrop]

South Korea has a GDP per capita more than five times that of India, per the CIA World Factbook. Plus, Paulo Coelho is popular in South Korea.

Personally, I would rather look at GNH instead of GDP.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....-gross-national-happiness-indicator-.amp.html

 

[Dewdrop]

It surprised me too - especially given the size and long history of the Christian churches in India, particularly in the south. Just as a comparison it might interest you to know that South Korea - a country of only 51 million or so and therefore smaller than Karnataka alone - accounted for 5106 of last year's Compostelas.

Ah ! I understand why there are few Indian pilgrims. There are many such pilgrimage routes in India that people undertake in the Himalayas (on foot). These are sacred sites for the Hindus. So the 86 who walked the Camino last year would be in the upper middle socioeconomic class, are literate, those that form urban India... which is at best 1-2% of the Indian population.
Plus India has a strong cultural spiritual identity which obliterates such a need. @Bradypus does that make sense?

 

[jungleboy]

Personally, I would rather look at GNH instead of GDP.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....-gross-national-happiness-indicator-.amp.html

Sure, but unfortunately GNH does not help people fund trips to Spain, which was my point.

 

[Dewdrop]

True! But then again... it’s the modern, consumerist, unsustainable life that has probably lead to this kind of tourism... in the past days people just lived their lives and that was metaphorical enough of the inner journey.
That I feel the need to travel across the continent to do this probably points to a lacuna I hope to fill by doing this... is it not?

 

[LGLG]

Just 86 out of more than a billion of us?! Thank you for pulling out that statistic @Bradypus

A Bollywood movie about the Camino, should solve that one quick smart!

 

[Dewdrop]

Lol... very true!

 

[Bradypus]

Ah ! I understand why there are few Indian pilgrims. There are many such pilgrimage routes in India that people undertake in the Himalayas (on foot). These are sacred sites for the Hindus. So the 86 who walked the Camino last year would be in the upper middle socioeconomic class, are literate, those that form urban India... which is at best 1-2% of the Indian population.
Plus India has a strong cultural spiritual identity which obliterates such a need. @Bradypus does that make sense?

It does make sense. For the great majority of Indians travelling to Europe to walk a Christian pilgrimage route would be too expensive anyway. And India's many faith groups have their own places of pilgrimage - some internationally famous, others more regional. Many years ago I stayed for a few days in a Christian ashram in Pune. An Indian man appeared in the garden one morning and was greeted very warmly by the Christian sisters who ran the ashram. A Varkari who walked continually between sites linked to Dnyaneshwar and paused for a couple of days on his way to the site of Dnyaneshwar's samedhi at Alandi. Clearly a place of far greater personal significance to him than Santiago de Compostela could ever be.

 

[Thomas77]

Bindu I walked the Portuguese Camino with my daughter this June. It was a great experience. Though Indians by nationality we walked as international pilgrims and enjoyed the fellowship and interaction with fellow pilgrims.

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

South Korea has a GDP per capita more than five times that of India, per the CIA World Factbook. Plus, Paulo Coelho is popular in South Korea.

You make an uninformed reference to per capita GDP to make your point. India's middle/upper middle class is larger than the entire population of France and far surpasses South Korea's middle class. It's this segment with its high purchasing power and affinity towards luxury goods that the global companies have been targeting. This segment also travels far and wide, and walking the Camino should be least of their problems, affordability wise.

 

[Dewdrop]

I have another perspective on this... although the young, middle/upper middle class Indian has the purchasing power (in recent years)... we eschew austerity/minimalism which I think is a philosophy that can embraced only after living with abundance (in the mind)... as a society we have seen far too much poverty. Those who can afford such a trip would be doing the touristy things in Europe rather than a pilgrimage.

 

[nycwalking]

Buen camino Dewdrop.

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

I have another perspective on this... although the young, middle/upper middle class Indian has the purchasing power (in recent years)... we eschew austerity/minimalism which I think is a philosophy that can embraced only after living with abundance (in the mind)... as a society we have seen far too much poverty. Those who can afford such a trip would be doing the touristy things in Europe rather than a pilgrimage.

Yes, agree, and your point essentially supports the argument that the reason for few Indians on the Camino is related to various factors, not just due to affordability. Your earlier point that there are massive pilgrimage points inside India itself is also well taken.

 

[Dewdrop]

Buen camino Dewdrop.

Thank you.