India Wrap-up
So despite all of the negative or somewhat negative sounding comments I have made about India, I am very glad that I went. In fact, I think it should almost be a required place to go visit for people from developed countries like the US because there is a lot to see and experience that words from others (myself included) cannot do justice to. Its probably cliche to say this, but it is one place for most Americans is almost certain to be 'life changing' since you can't help but change your perspective at least a little bit after having been.
Even though I am very glad to be out of the country now, I would still like to go back at some point and see some more of the mountainous regions in the north and the more remote parts of Rajastan. I both loved and hated India. It is undeinably a very dynamic place that is hard to describe or define. Nonetheless, I will not miss having taxis hail me instead of vice-versa, people grabbing my clothes asking for money, the awful smell of a lot of places, the trash, the dust, the heat, the undeinable poverty, the corruption, the scammers, the lack of any sort of 'personal space' once your outside a hotel room, etc., etc.
A couple of broader comments/observations:
1) Time in India. When I told people I was there for three-weeks, most Indians I met replied with 'oh that's short.' At this point, I think they're right that a trip to India does require at least three weeks because it takes at least one week if not longer to adjust to being there and probably another week after that before you begin enjoying it. Also getting around is a time-consuming affair.
2) India is very, very, very big in many ways. People told me this before I went, but I didn't completely understand what they meant. The population makes it big, the physical area makes it big as well, but more than either of these alone, the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to get from one place to another even when they are relatively close by makes it seem even bigger. That said I am still glad that I took the time and money required to see at least one place in each of Indians major regions: Mumbai (the West,) Calcutta (the East,) Dehli and Agra (Central,) the South (Goa and Kerala,) and the North (Dehra Dun.)
3) China vs. India. I no longer understand where this analogy comes from after having been to both. India and China are very different places besides having similarly large populations and cheap labor as a result. The Chinese government at least appears to be in control of most of its country which does not seem to be the case in India. Furthermore, poverty and poor sanitary conditions almost do not exist in China in comparison.
4) Military. This might be one thing that is also similar with China actually. Everywhere that you go in India there seems to be some kindof small military presence in terms of bases, ships, or uniformed officers on the street.
5) In India, cheap does tend to mean low quality or very low quality. This made my trip to India about twice as expensive as I planned it to be because eating budget food was just unsanitary and made me sick and staying in budget hotels was bound to get me lice or malaria (despite taking malaria medication.) At least if cheap means low quality that means markets are actually competitive though and goods and services are not just cheap arbitrarily.
6) The role of the middle class. This is an interesting one, since Indians who are in the Middle Class seem somewhat concerned about the dire situations around them, but are almost to busy protecting their own positions to do anything about it or to show any compassion. Perhaps, this is because if you show any hint of compassion, you end up with throngs of people around you begging.
7) The rules. India seems pretty close to being a lawless place to me. There clearly are laws but the enforcemnt mechanisms aren't strong enough in most places to keep people following them. Several times, I heard people comment about how they could buy their way out of situations rather cheaply if on odd chance they got caught doing something wrong.
Even though I am very glad to be out of the country now, I would still like to go back at some point and see some more of the mountainous regions in the north and the more remote parts of Rajastan. I both loved and hated India. It is undeinably a very dynamic place that is hard to describe or define. Nonetheless, I will not miss having taxis hail me instead of vice-versa, people grabbing my clothes asking for money, the awful smell of a lot of places, the trash, the dust, the heat, the undeinable poverty, the corruption, the scammers, the lack of any sort of 'personal space' once your outside a hotel room, etc., etc.
A couple of broader comments/observations:
1) Time in India. When I told people I was there for three-weeks, most Indians I met replied with 'oh that's short.' At this point, I think they're right that a trip to India does require at least three weeks because it takes at least one week if not longer to adjust to being there and probably another week after that before you begin enjoying it. Also getting around is a time-consuming affair.
2) India is very, very, very big in many ways. People told me this before I went, but I didn't completely understand what they meant. The population makes it big, the physical area makes it big as well, but more than either of these alone, the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to get from one place to another even when they are relatively close by makes it seem even bigger. That said I am still glad that I took the time and money required to see at least one place in each of Indians major regions: Mumbai (the West,) Calcutta (the East,) Dehli and Agra (Central,) the South (Goa and Kerala,) and the North (Dehra Dun.)
3) China vs. India. I no longer understand where this analogy comes from after having been to both. India and China are very different places besides having similarly large populations and cheap labor as a result. The Chinese government at least appears to be in control of most of its country which does not seem to be the case in India. Furthermore, poverty and poor sanitary conditions almost do not exist in China in comparison.
4) Military. This might be one thing that is also similar with China actually. Everywhere that you go in India there seems to be some kindof small military presence in terms of bases, ships, or uniformed officers on the street.
5) In India, cheap does tend to mean low quality or very low quality. This made my trip to India about twice as expensive as I planned it to be because eating budget food was just unsanitary and made me sick and staying in budget hotels was bound to get me lice or malaria (despite taking malaria medication.) At least if cheap means low quality that means markets are actually competitive though and goods and services are not just cheap arbitrarily.
6) The role of the middle class. This is an interesting one, since Indians who are in the Middle Class seem somewhat concerned about the dire situations around them, but are almost to busy protecting their own positions to do anything about it or to show any compassion. Perhaps, this is because if you show any hint of compassion, you end up with throngs of people around you begging.
7) The rules. India seems pretty close to being a lawless place to me. There clearly are laws but the enforcemnt mechanisms aren't strong enough in most places to keep people following them. Several times, I heard people comment about how they could buy their way out of situations rather cheaply if on odd chance they got caught doing something wrong.
posted by Traveling Brian at 5:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home