Gap Year

A popular joke amongst Israelis traveling in India goes like this: An Indian asks an Israeli backpacker, “So how many Israelis are there?” The backpacker answers “Around 7 million.” The Indian then asks, “And how many in Israel?” Around 50000 Israelis visit India each year – mostly backpackers, a large proportion of whom are on a gap year between the end of their army service and the beginning of the rest of their lives. They comprise only a minuscule proportion of the total number of foreign visitors to India each year, but Israelis are the only ones who have a tendency to travel in packs, and to cluster in certain places. In Delhi they stay at the Hare Rama, one of the grottiest guesthouses in Pahar Ganj, a seedy area near the train station. In Goa there is Tel Aviv Beach, and during the summer Israelis stay in spots around Himachal Pradesh (HP), most notably in a little village called Bhagsu Nag, near Dharamsala. The presence of Hebrew-speaking backpackers is so overwhelming in these places that they have come to resemble little Israeli colonies in India. Some speak of an Israeli invasion, and one Israeli woman wrote her doctoral dissertation on the phenomenon. The locals who run the restaurants and guesthouses often speak a bizarre version of idiomatic Hebrew that is notable for its hilarious syntax. Hebrew signs for various services – from internet cafes to rickshaws – are posted everywhere, and the restaurants serve falafel in pita, hummus, shakshouka and jachnun …