Dear Friends,
Yesterday I finally returned home after one month in India and 3
weeks in Vietnam and I feel I must write of my feelings and
observations whilst they remain fresh in my mind.
Although I knew beforehand that life in India would be confronting,
it was in fact far worse than anticipated. We here in Australia
constantly hear about India's rise and rise as a high-tech society
and yet in my experience the vast majority of India's gorgeous people
are blissfully unaware of this fact. Despite what we are lead to
believe the Caste System is alive and well with the borders of its 36
levels NOT to be crossed. Every city, town and village has thousands
living well below the poverty line in nothing but grass huts on the
edge of town. The streets are filled with the stench of urine and
worse, and it is common place to see folk pissing and shitting by the
roadsides.
Even in the more developed centres there is still no sign of digital
television, but there were advertisements advising folk that they
ought to consider buying a set-top box prior to the forth-coming conversion.
I had previously thought that the traffic in Saigon was the worst I'd
encountered, but throughout Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Himalcha
things are in dire straights on the roads. There are a few snippets
of freeway and a number under construction, but with the amount of
traffic (and some 10,000 new cars per week) these roads are simply
not coping: in fact India seems to be slowly grinding to a halt. The
maximum speed allowed in India is 80 kph, but this is seldom
possible. On the other hand, the average speed is 40 kph and often
much less. The journey from Delhi to Simla in the foothills of the
Himlayas is about 250km. I spent my last week in the gorgeous village
of Chail, some 45km east of Simla. The trip there took 9 hours EACH
WAY! Road rules seem non existent and even the driver I employed
thought nothing of going along the wrong side of the freeway, as did
everybody else. I am not exaggerating when I say that all traffic
drives only 2" (5cm) away from other vehicles. On a number of
occasions our driver actually passed his bonnet (hood) UNDER the end
of a tray truck in front as he turned right or left. Footpaths don't
exist in India, so apart from the cars, motor bikes, rickshaws,
bicycles and cattle, there are pedestrians with which to contend.
There was some very bad press here in Australia a year or so ago when
a number of Indian students were murdered. We were hailed as the
world's worst racists. It did eventuate that not one of these murders
was racially based: more to do with drug deals I believe. However, in
India, it immediately becomes quite obvious that when it comes to
paying entry fees for any museum, ancient monument etc., there is a
queue for Indians and another for Foreigners. On average the fee paid
by Indians is about one tenth of what I had to pay. Try doing that in
Australia and see if you'd get away without being called racist!!
Finally, while we all know that flying is no longer the joy is used
to be, leaving through the Delhi airport is the worst I have
experienced. You have to produce your passport and e-ticket just to
be allowed into the airport itself. Then after that the scanning
starts - at least 4 times in all. When I went to exchange my
remaining rupees into US dollars I had to fill in 2 pages of inane
questions in triplicate using CARBON PAPER!!! - so much for a high
tech society. The final insult came after I'd shown my boarding pass
and thought I was free to enter the aircraft. That was when the
police demanded to go through my wallet!!! By this time I was so sick
of smiling, saying thank you, and being gracious, that all I wanted
to do was shout, scream and get angry. But one is not allowed to
display such emotion in someone else's country.
Well, having now vented my spleen, I hope to be able to bring you
some of the wonderful stories and adventures I had over the
forth-coming days. It's great to be back.
David in Ballarat, AUS
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