Observations from India

By | March 12, 2018

I have a giant, subcontinent-sized crush on this place called India. When I told India this, India told me we should just be friends. A couple of weeks later, India hinted that one could never have too many acquaintances. A few days after that, I heard India wanted to humiliate me in an arm-wrestling competition.

Observation #1: Breathing in India is hard on the body

You see, the dust in India is a national reality and it turns out I am very, very allergic to that reality. Of course I took strong allergy pills every day, but the polluted, dusty air always did me in. A permanently stuffed nose, hacking cough, and sinus infection escorted me throughout my trip.

I don’t think this problem with the environment is mine alone. I heard coughs everywhere I went. The dust is the result of climate, pollution, unpaved roads, deforestation, overcrowding, corruption and the color brown.

Regardless of the cause, India makes it hard for me to breathe. I like breathing, so I don’t think I could live here.

Observation #2: It’s really hard to get anywhere

Traipsing through India is an adventure. You get from point A to point B by hoping your luck holds out and muttering a lot of “oh dears.” Lanes aren’t really a thing here and if you wait your turn, it will never be your turn.

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Lanes? Don’t be ridiculous.

If your way is blocked, feel free to go into oncoming traffic. It’s less scary the twelfth or so time your driver does this.

So much uses the road and the flow doesn’t wait for indecision. Here is an incomplete list of things I have personally seen contribute to traffic.

Traffic-causing things

Normal cars with four wheels
Taxis with three wheels (auto rickshaws)
Motorcycles
Scooters
Tractors
Bullock carts
Vendor carts
People walking
Dogs
Cows
Goats
Pigs
Camels
Horses
Monkeys
While dodging all these things, you’ll hear a lot of honking. I think it’s an existential affirmation exercise. I imagine people screaming in their head “I EXIIIIST!” each time they honk. After piloting a scooter for a minute, I understand the impulse. The road feels safer when you’re honking.

Observation #3: Safety is optional

I found usable seat belts in cars about a quarter of the time. Railings that protect you from falling off high spaces are optional. You cross the street holding your breath and weaving your way through the crowd. There are no crosswalks. You can come into the hospital room barefoot, but not in shoes. I saw someone warm bath water using a heater and a hangar.

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Safety? Don’t be ridiculous.

Learn to swim by jumping into a deep well. Maybe that’s not unsafe, but it sounds terrifying.

Observation #4: Garbage collection is different

Per person, India creates much less garbage than the average Westerner, but disposal of that trash is much more interesting.

This is how it works in one medium-sized city. When you hear the garbage tractor coming down the street, you’re supposed to head to the door and hand the garbage man your bucket of non-food garbage. He takes it and dumps it into the garbage tractor.

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The garbage tractor

If you’re not home, you can just dump the garbage on the road — not in bags, just on the road, in a pile — and the garbage man will come by with his shovel and bucket, shovel it up, and put it in the garbage tractor.

For any food scraps, a cow will come to your door and eat it. This part of the process is positively delightful and something I’d like to see come to the States.

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Food waste removal specialist

Observation #5: It’s hard to prepare for India

Some countries make visitors go through an elaborate visa dance. Brazil and China were two in particular I remember being full of hassle. India joins their ranks. The e-visa asks intrusive questions — prodding about religion (Zoroastrian is an option, but Secular Humanism is not), requesting references and probing for secret Pakistani influences. India really doesn’t like Pakistan very much.

You also have to make sure your vaccines are up to date. Malaria. Typhoid. Diphtheria. There’s so much out in the world that wants to kill me for some reason.

Observation #6: Traveling in India makes you appreciate the things you take for granted.

I love traveling because I desperately need the reminder to enjoy the mundane, but astonishing positives I acclimate to and tend to take for granted. Traveling kicks you out of your comfort zone so you can appreciate your comfort when you dart back inside it.

Coming back to the U.S., breathing so easily feels like a gift. Toilet paper is abundant and there’s no question of squatting. Before India, I forgot to feel thankful for the cold, safe water I can drink straight from the tap or the lovely shower, hot so quickly. Taking a bath using a bucket and a cup in India is fun and novel the first few times you do it, but it’s really hard to wash your hair.

Observation #7: It’s all worth it

This was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I’ve been on more than a few trips, so that says a lot. I keep learning this lesson over and over. It’s the people you surround yourself with that matters more than anything. Happy relationships make people happy.

I spent every minute of this trip with family. I’m lucky that I have a large number of excellent people who share some of my parents’ names. I have 25 aunts and uncles and 31 first cousins and a bunch of second cousins and another bunch of first-cousins once removed. I got to see and hang out with a lot of these people on this trip and a lot of them live within shouting distance of each other, so it always felt like a party. That is a recipe for a wonderful time.

I already told you about the chai, but the food is equally delicious and eaten fresh several times a day.

I appreciate how the place is bursting with color. Happy, lovely color.

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Color is India’s specialty. So many bangles.

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For art (rangoli)

I can’t wait to go back.

Observation #8: Not really an observation, but a list. I like leaving you with a list.

Sometimes, I write a regrets list after a trip to see how I can improve next time.

Regrets list – India

  1. I didn’t see a grocery store. That’s always a fun jaunt in a foreign country. I had the chance to visit one, but I didn’t.
  2. Public transportation exists, but I never tried it. I had the chance to use it, but I didn’t.
  3. There is so much still to see. Kerala, the Taj Mahal, a meditation ashram, Sri Lanka. I wish I had stayed longer.
  4. I ate food that I knew my body didn’t appreciate to please someone else. It’s an affront to refuse food and you have to guard your plate with zeal to avoid unrequested extras. I wish I used more zeal.
  5. My fitness goals fell off the wagon. Stupid wagon. I didn’t work out, didn’t wear my fitbit every day, didn’t keep up with the push-up challenge I was in the middle of before I left. Month five of the year of the body was a massive fail on my part.
  6. I acquired some new earrings. I don’t need them because I have so many already. But, oh, they’re so adorable. They’re meant to be nose rings. Yes, I’m judging me too.
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They’re tiny apples.

27 thoughts on “Observations from India

  1. Katsiki

    Very cool write-up! I want to see India; it’s on my list.

    At the moment, I am traveling in Greece. I was comparing your list to my experiences so far in Athens. Travel is definitely easy in Greece. The metro system is pretty elaborate and impressive.

    Reply
  2. Mrs Doodlepop

    Cool earrings! Love all the colors. So neat to have family in another part of the world. My dad’s side of the family is in Scotland where he’s from and they also live close to one another. I agree that it always feels like a party and is cool to discover parts of how my dad grew up.

    Reply
    1. Thriftygal Post author

      I wish I had family everywhere. It’s the best of all worlds — traveling and seeing people you like. 🙂

      Reply
  3. al

    Didn’t ride public transportation? Did go to grocery store? Then you saw India like a tourist. Too bad.

    Reply
  4. Herman Hudson

    The air pollution reminds me of Mexico City; the cows in the road remind me of Costa Rica and the trash in the street reminds me of our visit to Rome last year.

    Reply
  5. Anjani

    Anita, Good to read your observations on the environment…..also interested to know your views on people and attitude….

    Reply
    1. Thriftygal Post author

      Hard to generalize people and it was all my family, so I’m not sure how representative that would be.

      Reply
  6. steve poling

    I’ve been a fan of India since I saw Sholay then several movies later came to the realization that if its a romantic comedy, then Shah Ruhk Khan will be covered in his own blood at the end.

    My daughter who bounces between Singapore, Bangalore, and Dhaka thinks I’m nuts. I will ask her about the dust.

    Reply
  7. jlcollinsnh

    Everry one of your points rings true and since I was there 30 years ago, I imagine it is all even more intense today.

    Awesome place to visit, I went back to the Taj two years in a row, but it ain’t easy. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Thriftygal Post author

      30 years is too long in between India trips! My last one was 20 years ago and that was much too long.

      Reply
  8. Mike

    Thank you for the super interesting post! Makes me want to travel and see the world more.

    Reply
  9. Vig

    India seems nice and its still on my wish list. You look good with the cow, do you think you will get one to go with your chickens?
    I’m not sure what you’re next adventure is, but I’ve been rereading my Forrest Fenn books trying to figure out where in the Rockies he hid his treasure. It might appeal to your interests in reading, hiking, and you seem lucky. There are some preColoumbian nose rings and ancient Chinese jade carvings that you could make into earrings among the mix.

    Reply
  10. Simon Kenton

    in Kerala you could add elephants, jitneys, monkeys, and camel-drawn wagons to your road-list. I found no problem with public transport, but
    — it is crucial not to look where you are going, lest you learn what the driver is really doing, and
    — when stuck in traffic a woman with perfect teeth and flawless skin thrust a baby with sores and scabs at us, begging; it put me horribly in mind of munchausen by proxy.
    I loved the Taj Mahal; it has a black unfinished cousin across the river. I met an engineer there who told me proudly of the bride-price of his daughter: 50000 rupees.
    Flaming bodies on the bank of Ma Ganga, with STEM-success-school ads on the bridge pilings. Jaipur is marvelous, though it is hard for a male not to to self-compare detrimentally with Sawai Madhosingh I.
    I agree on the squatting; doubtless it is healthful, but a lttle of that is enough.

    Reply
      1. Anjani

        Like the family system, accumulation of wealth, arranged marriages, wedding spend etc

        Reply

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