Well, you now can get a sense of the incredible experience I had in India and the Maldives. In most ways, it was all exactly as I expected. The overwhelming assault on the senses in India – I could be walking down a street/alley, inhaling the smells of yummy food cooking and turn the corner and have it smell like a sewage pipe had broken nearby. Small wooden fires anywhere on the street, enclosed by people squatting and standing around it to get warm. The backs of men standing in roughly hewn stalls, urinating, and women draped in brightly colored, embroidered saris, heading home with groceries for the evening’s meal. And always pushing through crowds of people, all headed to shops, work, chai stands, rickshaws or the Ganges for their pilgrimage. The clatter and tumult of the throngs even close to midnight was simultaneously invigorating and draining.
The experience on the road and highways beats even the wild-ass driving in Mexico. The highway was a double lane affair, but not always a serious barrier between the two. When passing through a town, cars have to slow to pretty much a standstill, as horse and donkey carts, bicycles loaded to the sky with hay, or motorbikes crossed and headed every which way. And don’t worry about the stripes that indicated the formal lanes – drive wherever you need to. Honk when you come up behind anyone, to let them know you’re about to move around them, and if a car or truck happens to head in your direction (yes, going the wrong way), just everyone sway a little to the left to let them by. Passing through down the middle of the two lanes, right down the dotted line, works well too – why not create another lane when needed? The funny thing is, it all works so smoothly that it doesn’t seem scary as long as no one moves in a sudden or unexpected manner (like pulling over on the side of the road in an instant so someone can throw up – an elderly woman on a bike smashed right into ours when Matt had to toss his cookies. I insisted we help her, but the guide says there were plenty of people around to help, and indeed there were).
The biggest surprise I had was to find out that very few people in India actually go hungry. There are so many Temples and organizations set up to provide food, however meager, that it is not one of the country’s most pressing problems. To a man, the biggest problems facing the country were said to be poverty and corruption in the government. Can’t get a damn thing done without paying a bribe to someone. Recently, a gentleman went on a hunger strike because no one in the government would introduce a bill that required permits to be issued within 30 days, and if they weren’t, to provide proof that there was no extortion going on. Everyone we chatted with supported him and were happy that nonviolent protest was being dusted off and employed again in the fight for justice in the country. Elections in about 5 of the states were imminent when we were there, and we were informed that next year’s bigger elections will tell the story.
It’s difficult at best to see and understand a whole (sub) continent in 3 weeks, but I think I got more than just a taste of life. The booming economy and drive to a better life is evident everywhere. It will be interesting to follow India’s economic and social progress in the next twenty years.
Thanks for joining me on my journey. As always, I thrive on the connection to my community and love the comments you post along the way. Let me know if you have any questions or further comments. Til next time….