A little observation...

While at times it seems that there are Indians everywhere and the masses of people and constant hustle and bustle of everyday life can be kinda stressful, the cultural attractions of India are devoid of crowds. For instance, in a city of 4 million people I saw more people working at the City Museum of Ahmadabad than patrons. They had to turn the lights on for me and it was well after noon, so I knew nobody else was in the museum at the time I entered. This museum held a great deal of information about the city's history and also contained some paintings, textiles, sculpture, and also interesting anecdotes about Gandhi (who spent much time at an ashram , or holy residence, just outside of the city. Gandhi made many important speeches during his "Quit India!" campaign for Independence here and also started his famous salt march just outside of town. The art museums of Mumbai were lacking of onlookers and similarly deserted are many of the religious caves that have been cut into rocky hillsides. For instance, Elephanta Island and Sanjay Gandhi National Park, both situated virtually right in Mumbai, were scantly populated by tourists- maybe even more westerners than Indian families on vacation, too. This trend isn't universally true, as the religious pilgrimage sites can be quite full of people (and livestock) and the active temple areas are swarming with locals. So if I am feeling a little burned out by all the crowds, I am just gonna take a visit to a local cultural attraction and breathe a little sigh of relief.