Long gap since the last post. I've been in India for nearly a month now but haven't yet brought myself to take the time to write about it, partly because I wanted to wait until I had uploaded some photos to go with the post.
So - What to say about India? I'll start with immediate impressions.
There are low standards of quality of all things - the pervasive attitude seems to be, why do better than just good enough? Sheets on beds are rarely fully dry; toilets don't work properly; easily fixed problems like broken bathroom fixtures or loose door hinges are left to decay or given jury-rigged fixes, and get steadily worse. Trains usually run hours behind schedule. People urinate and defecate on the sidewalk. Garbage is thrown into the street or the river, the nearest possible place that its owner can not have to immediately deal with it anymore. Animals flourish in cities and towns as a result - cows famously, but also stray dogs and large monkeys.
Thieves, cheats, schemers, of all ages, predominantly male but not entirely. Is this true of Indians generally? Or is it only a property of those who gather around travelers, drawn to the easy money promised by naive people with fat wallets? One cannot generalize from this self-selecting sample to the whole, but at the same time I have not encountered this in other countries to nearly the same extent. What about Indian culture makes this kind of exploitation so common? Does it share a common root with the widespread corruption in the country, itself stemming from the culture of "backsheesh"? Or could it just be a product of India's exceptional poverty? This doesn't seem right - I don't think India is really any poorer of a country than Ghana, where I recall the scammers were considerably fewer.
The food is generally very good, and very cheap. When I leave it's going to be tough not being able to have Indian food for every meal of every day.
But all of these are minor factors, the kind of things which after a week one stops noticing much, and which then fade into a kind of third-world background noise. So what are the more enduring impressions, the things that matter?
The one thing I really hate about India is related to the pervasive cheating I describe above. The 99 people who approach you to get money from you make you suspicious of the one who genuinely wants to get to know you. And the 98 of those 99 who try some scheme or want to grossly overcharge you harden you towards of the one honest businessman in the bunch. If all one hundred were cheaters I wouldn't mind nearly as much.
On to more positive things.
For many Indians, just seeing and meeting a Westerner is a strange and marvelous thing. Everywhere one goes one is stared at by half the strangers they pass; many smile, many others just look shocked. Some want pictures with you ("Proof that I really saw a white guy!"), while others are happy to just take pictures of you as you pass, without asking - though I've only seen this happen to women travelers so far. Some people, charmingly, want to add you on Facebook after five minutes of broken, language-inhibited conversation.
The best experiences I've had with people have been in public transit, specifically while riding trains and waiting in train stations. Mass transit throws people together who otherwise would probably have no interest in one another. The person across from you on the train isn't there to sell anything, they're there to get somewhere just as you are, so when they try to start a conversation, you know they're being genuine. And Indians are more friendly and outgoing to strangers than people anywhere else I've been*, so there have been a lot of great encounters.
There is a pleasant, mildly comical rhythm to daily life in the cities and small towns. Clusters of ragged-looking old men sitting around drinking chai, chatting and joking with each other. The streets populated by both people and all manner of animals living, if not in harmony, at least in a kind of hierarchical equilibrium based on grudging mutual respect. An unceasing background noise of honking horns from autorickshaws and motorcycles (cars aren't very common) as jams form and unform in the absence of anything resembling traffic lanes. Paintings of Shiva and other deities hanging in almost every room. Sadhus on street corners. The occasional cacophony of a nighttime wedding party, drummers and horn-blowers leading a groom on horseback and a procession of relatives and lamp-bearers. Fun stuff.
Particular observations about the places I've been...
Kolkata
Exploring a city neighborhood in the morning; a market consisting of blankets spread out on the sidewalks along a street; vegetables, poultry, nine-inch prawns with whiskers still twitching.
Tremendous air pollution. Spend twenty-four hours in Kolkata and when you blow your nose it will come out black.
Astonishing poverty. Anywhere you look, in every nook and cranny, someone has taken up residence. Elsewhere as well - homes made of plastic sheets stretched over bamboo frames.
The most memorable thing I saw in the city, more than the stately old British graveyard, was the "trash mountain" of the municipal dump, the subject of a recent documentary; a toxic, smoking five-kilometer-long wall of garbage inhabited by a community of trash pickers. I was literally dumbstruck for about twenty minutes after seeing it up-close.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152257978435879.1073741846.514945878&type=1&l=895d5ad110
Makaibari Tea Estate
Leaving Kolkata, a homestay at this tea estate was the next stop. Emotionally worn by the often grim spectacle of the city's life and trying to get over a head cold, this turned out to be a perfect remedy. High in the mountains in the Darjeeling region, far from anything resembling a major city, surrounded by spectacular scenery and genuinely friendly people, this was probably my favorite experience in India thus far. For the whole stay I ate authentic Indian-Nepali home cooking which was taken with lots of tea grown almost right outside the door, all generously prepared by the mother of the family I was staying with. I learned about the tea-farming business, played soccer with the local kids, and was taught to play carrom (badly) by my host family's son.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258009175879.1073741847.514945878&type=1&l=9e6315fea8
Bodh Gaya
Cool temples, nice vibe; more relaxed than big cities but more energetic than Makaibari. Coming in to town I saw an elephant going down the road with some crops and a man on its back, but I was on the back of a motorcycle so I couldn't take a picture.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258027010879.1073741848.514945878&type=1&l=f6c29a046f
Varanasi
Varanasi is a sacred city in Hinduism due to its location right on the river Ganges, itself an object of reverence. It's considered highly auspicious to die in Varanasi, and if one's body or ashes are put into the river it supposedly gives one's soul a direct path to Nirvana. Consequently, there are lots of temples along the waterfront, and at two spots, bodies are burned on funeral pyres out in the open for all to see (though not to photograph). The burning goes on night and day without ceasing, and hundreds of bodies are burned daily. Lots of weddings are also held at the waterfront, with all of the pomp Indian weddings are famous for. The whole cycle of life is thus brought together here (or nearly - I didn't see any births).
While the narrow streets make avoiding underfoot garbage and feces a constant effort, it's still a beautiful place down by the water, and I spent a good week mostly just drinking it in.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258050330879.1073741849.514945878&type=1&l=8b629ac02f
Khajuraho
Decided to make a quick stop here after hearing about it from a friend in Varanasi who was going this way. Lots of temples covered with intricate carvings illustrating deities, animals, and sexual positions - often all three at once. Worth seeing. Couldn't say much about the town itself, except that I lost my passport and it was found by one of the guards from the main temple, who got it back to me. Lucky break.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258095155879.1073741850.514945878&type=1&l=a5d654f5ef
Agra
Agra was another one-day stopover so not much to say. The Taj Mahal is worth the hype, and the Red Fort is very cool too. Photos of this will come later.
That's all for now. I'm in Delhi at the moment, and tomorrow I'm going to check out Comic Con India, which by total fluke I arrived just in time for. Thanks for reading!
* With the arguable exception of Japanese girls in Roppongi clubs, but that's a different story :P
So - What to say about India? I'll start with immediate impressions.
There are low standards of quality of all things - the pervasive attitude seems to be, why do better than just good enough? Sheets on beds are rarely fully dry; toilets don't work properly; easily fixed problems like broken bathroom fixtures or loose door hinges are left to decay or given jury-rigged fixes, and get steadily worse. Trains usually run hours behind schedule. People urinate and defecate on the sidewalk. Garbage is thrown into the street or the river, the nearest possible place that its owner can not have to immediately deal with it anymore. Animals flourish in cities and towns as a result - cows famously, but also stray dogs and large monkeys.
Thieves, cheats, schemers, of all ages, predominantly male but not entirely. Is this true of Indians generally? Or is it only a property of those who gather around travelers, drawn to the easy money promised by naive people with fat wallets? One cannot generalize from this self-selecting sample to the whole, but at the same time I have not encountered this in other countries to nearly the same extent. What about Indian culture makes this kind of exploitation so common? Does it share a common root with the widespread corruption in the country, itself stemming from the culture of "backsheesh"? Or could it just be a product of India's exceptional poverty? This doesn't seem right - I don't think India is really any poorer of a country than Ghana, where I recall the scammers were considerably fewer.
The food is generally very good, and very cheap. When I leave it's going to be tough not being able to have Indian food for every meal of every day.
But all of these are minor factors, the kind of things which after a week one stops noticing much, and which then fade into a kind of third-world background noise. So what are the more enduring impressions, the things that matter?
The one thing I really hate about India is related to the pervasive cheating I describe above. The 99 people who approach you to get money from you make you suspicious of the one who genuinely wants to get to know you. And the 98 of those 99 who try some scheme or want to grossly overcharge you harden you towards of the one honest businessman in the bunch. If all one hundred were cheaters I wouldn't mind nearly as much.
On to more positive things.
For many Indians, just seeing and meeting a Westerner is a strange and marvelous thing. Everywhere one goes one is stared at by half the strangers they pass; many smile, many others just look shocked. Some want pictures with you ("Proof that I really saw a white guy!"), while others are happy to just take pictures of you as you pass, without asking - though I've only seen this happen to women travelers so far. Some people, charmingly, want to add you on Facebook after five minutes of broken, language-inhibited conversation.
There is a pleasant, mildly comical rhythm to daily life in the cities and small towns. Clusters of ragged-looking old men sitting around drinking chai, chatting and joking with each other. The streets populated by both people and all manner of animals living, if not in harmony, at least in a kind of hierarchical equilibrium based on grudging mutual respect. An unceasing background noise of honking horns from autorickshaws and motorcycles (cars aren't very common) as jams form and unform in the absence of anything resembling traffic lanes. Paintings of Shiva and other deities hanging in almost every room. Sadhus on street corners. The occasional cacophony of a nighttime wedding party, drummers and horn-blowers leading a groom on horseback and a procession of relatives and lamp-bearers. Fun stuff.
Particular observations about the places I've been...
Kolkata
Exploring a city neighborhood in the morning; a market consisting of blankets spread out on the sidewalks along a street; vegetables, poultry, nine-inch prawns with whiskers still twitching.
Tremendous air pollution. Spend twenty-four hours in Kolkata and when you blow your nose it will come out black.
Astonishing poverty. Anywhere you look, in every nook and cranny, someone has taken up residence. Elsewhere as well - homes made of plastic sheets stretched over bamboo frames.
The most memorable thing I saw in the city, more than the stately old British graveyard, was the "trash mountain" of the municipal dump, the subject of a recent documentary; a toxic, smoking five-kilometer-long wall of garbage inhabited by a community of trash pickers. I was literally dumbstruck for about twenty minutes after seeing it up-close.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152257978435879.1073741846.514945878&type=1&l=895d5ad110
Makaibari Tea Estate
Leaving Kolkata, a homestay at this tea estate was the next stop. Emotionally worn by the often grim spectacle of the city's life and trying to get over a head cold, this turned out to be a perfect remedy. High in the mountains in the Darjeeling region, far from anything resembling a major city, surrounded by spectacular scenery and genuinely friendly people, this was probably my favorite experience in India thus far. For the whole stay I ate authentic Indian-Nepali home cooking which was taken with lots of tea grown almost right outside the door, all generously prepared by the mother of the family I was staying with. I learned about the tea-farming business, played soccer with the local kids, and was taught to play carrom (badly) by my host family's son.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258009175879.1073741847.514945878&type=1&l=9e6315fea8
Bodh Gaya
Cool temples, nice vibe; more relaxed than big cities but more energetic than Makaibari. Coming in to town I saw an elephant going down the road with some crops and a man on its back, but I was on the back of a motorcycle so I couldn't take a picture.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258027010879.1073741848.514945878&type=1&l=f6c29a046f
Varanasi
Varanasi is a sacred city in Hinduism due to its location right on the river Ganges, itself an object of reverence. It's considered highly auspicious to die in Varanasi, and if one's body or ashes are put into the river it supposedly gives one's soul a direct path to Nirvana. Consequently, there are lots of temples along the waterfront, and at two spots, bodies are burned on funeral pyres out in the open for all to see (though not to photograph). The burning goes on night and day without ceasing, and hundreds of bodies are burned daily. Lots of weddings are also held at the waterfront, with all of the pomp Indian weddings are famous for. The whole cycle of life is thus brought together here (or nearly - I didn't see any births).
While the narrow streets make avoiding underfoot garbage and feces a constant effort, it's still a beautiful place down by the water, and I spent a good week mostly just drinking it in.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258050330879.1073741849.514945878&type=1&l=8b629ac02f
Khajuraho
Decided to make a quick stop here after hearing about it from a friend in Varanasi who was going this way. Lots of temples covered with intricate carvings illustrating deities, animals, and sexual positions - often all three at once. Worth seeing. Couldn't say much about the town itself, except that I lost my passport and it was found by one of the guards from the main temple, who got it back to me. Lucky break.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152258095155879.1073741850.514945878&type=1&l=a5d654f5ef
Agra
Agra was another one-day stopover so not much to say. The Taj Mahal is worth the hype, and the Red Fort is very cool too. Photos of this will come later.
That's all for now. I'm in Delhi at the moment, and tomorrow I'm going to check out Comic Con India, which by total fluke I arrived just in time for. Thanks for reading!
* With the arguable exception of Japanese girls in Roppongi clubs, but that's a different story :P
No comments:
Post a Comment