I’d just quickly like to introduce a new contributor to this blog, Headache, a twenty-something woman from Armenia who is currently in India. She’s there for a very important reason, but unfortunately, for now I can’t say what. When all is revealed you’ll understand the reason for this, but until then Headache has agreed to post her impressions of India, the first of which is posted before this introduction.

I think it’s interesting to see any country through the eyes of someone else, and relevant to this blog because firstly she’s Armenian and secondly, Armenians and Indians have a long history together, as the always excellent and informative Wikipedia explains.

It is believed that the Armenians might have first come to India around 2000 BC, along with Semiramis, the warrior queen of Assyria who had invaded India, as faithful allies. Several centuries later, in 327 BC, Armenians are believed to have come to India, when some Armenians joined the auxiliary elements of the forces under the command of Alexander the Great when he crossed Armenia en route to India. The earliest documented references to the mutual relationship of Armenians and Indians are found in Cyropaedia (Persian Expedition), an ancient Greek work by Xenophon (430 BC – 355 BC). These references indicate that several Armenians traveled to India [1], and they were well aware of land routes to reach India, as also the general and political geography, socio-cultural milieu, and economic life of the Indian subcontinent.

There are also a lot of Indians in Armenia, especially students who by some accounts number over a thousand at Yerevan’s Medical University, and as Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) at Notes from Hairenik has detailed before, some very good Indian restaurants in the capital. Business between India and Armenia is also said to show potential although, as the Wiki has explained already, this is nothing new.

The mutual economic, cultural and scientific ties between the Armenians and the Indians are of long standing. They existed before our era and continue at present. They intensified as the first Armenian settlers set foot on the hospitable soil of India where they won the affection and respect of the Indian people, and began to enjoy patronage of the local authorities. Being situated on the crossroads of caravan routes between the East and the West, Armenia had established cultural and economic ties with India over the centuries.

Armenians, whose love for commerce has been proverbial, have seen trading from time immemorial with India. They were lured from their distant homes in the snowclad mountains of Armenia by the glamour of the lucrative trade in spices, muslins and precious stones. They carried on their trade successfully with Europe via the overland route through Afghanistan, Persia and Armenia via Trabezund (Trabzon) long before any European traders, adventurers and intruders first appeared in India.

It can be mentioned that even before the Moghul invasion of India, Armenians were found in all the principal commercial centres and state capitals of India engaged in the peaceful pursuit of commerce. However, the early Armenian traders formed no permanent settlements.

There are also a few Indians blogging from Armenia such as http://nanyaar.wordpress.com and http://jeya.wordpress.com. Nanyaar also has a photoblog from Yerevan at http://photoyerevan.blogspot.com and a blog of poetry at http://kannathil.blogspot.com. More on Indians in Armenia and blogging from India later, but until then, welcome Headache!