India is an experience that you can't imagine until you've been here. I've been struggling with something to say to describe it, but I'll try…..
Bamboozling? An Enigma? In-Your-Face? India is often described as the most multidimensional country on earth. People love it or hate it, but usually both at the same time. Let me try to explain.
First, there are more than a BILLION PEOPLE in India. Bombay alone has over 17 Million people. This seems to factor into almost every experience. Every town and city is crowded with an eclectic mix of people from many ethnic groups and religions. Crowded is not something you really understand until you've been inside the teeming masses of an Indian City. You get pushed and jostled, no matter where you go or what you're doing. On first impressions the Indian people seem rude and pushy, but you soon realize this is an impression based on a western centric view or personal space. Personal space in India is very close indeed. To survive, and get anywhere, you need to push and jostle other people. It is done in a friendly manner. I now feel fine pushing and shoving. It's a learned thing, and the only way to get to the front of a line. How about personal space? Children walk right up to you and stare into your face. And by staring, I don't mean they just look at you and walk away. On a local bus, a kid in the seat across the aisle stared at me for the entire 2 hour journey. It really freaked me out. Another time, an old man in a florescent orange turban stared at me for at least 30 minutes while I waited for a train. Am I really so interesting?
Let me talk about infrastructure. Ya, that should be interesting. In the west we take many thing for granted. Things like paved roads, traffic lanes + lights, and rules of the road. Try to imagine a Billion people all moving around in a small space with no traffic lights, roads full of pot holes, and no rules of the road. Imagine 25 lanes of run down cars, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, trucks and buses spewing exhaust, all intermixed with a mass of humanity seething along narrow city corridors. Oh, and the noise. There is a constant deafening noise of constant honking. Actually, some of the tuk-tuks leave their horn on all the time. Can you imagine? At times, it's physically painful. I'm considering buying earmuffs.
How about garbage pickup. As far as I can tell, there is none in India. The garbage and dirt just gets swept around on the streets from one spot to another. Walking can be a challenge as you weave you way around huge piles of steaming cow patties, and try not to get hit by speeding punks on motorbikes.
So why do people love India? Again, it's hard to explain. It's kind of intoxicating. I'm not a religious person, but there is something very spiritual about India. Religion suffuses almost every aspect of life in India. And it's a real mixture… Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists, Sikhs, and Islam. Where else would you find a museum dedicated to the history of Turbans. The colorful Hindu Temples with their thousands of complex Gods and Goddeses. Greek myths are simple compared with Hindu legends. There are oodles of sacred sites surrounded by stirring philosophical epic stories. Or maybe it's just the fact that there are a Billion people all trying to achieve Mokssha (Nirvana for Buddhists). Trying to gain enough Karma to be released from the cycle of reincarnation? Not something we think about much in our materialistic western cultures.
Or maybe it's the food. Again, it's the diversity that rules. There is no one Indian cuisine. It's a wild culinary adventure. The streets and restaurants are full of frying, simmering, sizzling, kneading, and flipping a diverse array of regional dishes. The menus changes radically from region to region. And it's mostly vegetation, with some of the most interesting spices in the world. It's not boring. No wonder the British came for the spices, and stayed for the weather.
Or maybe it's the history. I'm not a history buff, but if you have time, watch the BBC Series called "The Story of India", narrated by a young historian named Michael Wood. He travels throughout India by train and bus telling the history of India along the way. Fascinating and entertaining. Also, you really should watch "Gandhi" again. It's really the story of the creation of India as a single country.
Whether it's trying to understand the Indian obsession with Bollywood or the rules of Cricket, or trying to figure out what festival in on now, India always has challenges to throw at you.
In India it may not be easy to reach your destination (physically or spiritually), but Indians have always known it's the way you make the journey that counts. I think I'm starting to get the hang of India, and take the experiences as they come. It's the Indian way.
Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment