Initial Thoughts on India

Now that I've been in India for 2.5 weeks, I figured it was time to jot down some of my observations about the country in general. 1) Very Blunt/Direct in Communication: One of the first things you'll notice when talking with Indians is that they are very direct in finding out information about you or letting you know what they want from you.  For example, its perfectly normal for them to ask you all about your family, job and marital/dating status within the first 5 minutes.  Also, if they want money from you, you can bet they'll ask you for it. 2)Dirty Country: Its impossible to miss wherever you look...there's trash everywhere.  The concept of not littering just doesn't exist here.  In fact, its next to impossible to find a garbage can outside of a hotel room.  Most people just throw garbage out the window...definitely a surprise the first time I saw people doing that on the train.  The best explanation I got for it involved the fact that up until recently, Indian people used very few things that didn't biodegrade.  For example, intead of plates, they'd use banana leaves...still common at roadside streetfood vendors.  Everything that's edible would get eaten by the goats, cows, and pigs that wandering India's cities and villages.  Who knows how long it will take for India to wake up to the growing environmental problem...for their sake, hopefully not long. 3) Status is Very Important: This is partly reflecting in the questions they ask you when they meet you.  In trying to learn about your family and job, they are trying to figure out where in society you fit.  But its also reflected in clothing and behavior.  In terms of clothing, women wear far more jewlery (that's much more austentatious)  than in the west.  In terms of behavior, it was best seen in Delhi...where everyone whose anybody has a driver and a siren for their car.  You can't go anywhere without some regular guy (whose probably a mid level civil servant) turning on his siren to let you know that he's important. 4) Surprisingly Little Regard For Their History: I was surprised by how many sites are in a sad state of disrepair or have been completely torn down.  The Red Fort in Delhi was the last great palace built by the Mughals in Delhi...but apart from the outside, its really in pretty bad shape.  From reading a couple of William Dalrymple's books, I learned that the cities of Hyderabad and Lucknow used to be some of the most beautiful cities in the world...as recently as 100 years ago.   But after partition, most of the old palaces and gardens were destroyed in the name of progress and replaced with apartment blocks.  I understand that the progress vs preservation debate is one that all developing countries face.  But it really is a shame to see a country lose its history. 5) Quality is a Foreign Concept: There's a joke amongst travellers about Indian Standard Time meaning 2-3 hours late.   I haven't been on a train that's been less than 3 hours late yet...I've heard announcements for a few trains stating that they're 10 hours late.  The only thing you can do is accept it if you're a traveller.  But when I talk to Indians, they just don't seem to see the need to improve it.  From talking with my friend Nate and reading a bit about Indian politics, the average Indian is perfectly willing to accept that almost all of their politicians are incredibly corrupt. I don't want you to think that everything in India is of terrible quality...there are of course pockets of excellence.  But in general, people seem more than happy to settle for mediocrity.   One guy in his 20's that I sat with on a bus was trying to get me to buy into his sob story about not being able to get a civil service job. His dream was to get a service job that would pay him alot and would come with lifetime job security.  Since he didn't do well on the entrance exam, he missed out on the job and was forced to work in the private sector.  Apparently the private sector doesn't pay nearly as well.  I tried explaining  to him that he just needs to look for stuff to improve so that he can make himself more valuable to the company.  But he just didn't get it.

Some of these might seem a bit negative...but I really have been enjoying myself on this trip.  Its definitely been eye opening and I look forward to getting to know India better over the next 1.5 months.