Last day in India

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Sorry to leap ahead to the end of the story here, but it is my last day in India. I have the rest of my time in the North yet to post - I wrote it by hand on the trip, and I haven't had a chance to type it all in yet.

Since we've been back in Hyderabad, we've been wrapping up our business. Mainly, this means finding some way to pack up all of the cool things we bought into 4 bags, each no more than 23kg. 23kg is a surprisingly low maximum weight for a bag - just a normal sized travel suitcase full of clothes weighs this much. If you're trying to carry much else, you'll go over.

And, I've observed this week, word gets out quickly that someone is flying to the US, and everyone starts calling asking if they could take along just one little thing - only 2 kilograms - it's for my daughter/son/etc. Priya and I have no spare capacity whatsoever, so the favor-askers have been disappointed. Even my Indian friends in the US have been asking me to bring things back for them!

Since yesterday, we've been packing and repacking the bags, weighing them and repartitioning as necessary. We now have our four bags to check packed optimally, without any volume or weight wasted. Now we just hope our scale was calibrated correctly and the check-in people won't give us any trouble.

Since I'll be boarding my flight to New York in a few hours (at 4am actually...), I guess this is the time for me to make some summary statements about my visit. All-in-all, I've had a great time. For me, there was about a two week adjustment period where I let go of my American preconceptions that things need to be organized and follow rules to work. Here, things look like chaos a lot of the time, but everything does gets done. It's just that here, people don't buy into the American idea that everything should be as efficient and organized as possible. Being raised in the US, I have that idea as a permanent part of my world view. It took me those two weeks to quit saying to myself "this is how things should be done" and start saying "well, this works, but I don't understand how".

Regarding the people here in India, I think I have a very good idea since I've been staying with and travelling with Indians. Some westerners that come here are turned off because most people a western traveller encounters will try to swindle them. Had I not been with Indians who know how much things should cost, and know the ways things work, I would have been swindled a lot. (And, swindling is not just for westerners... it goes on all the time here in every kind of situation. My hosts tell me that the look-out-for-oneself attitude comes from the intense competition for everything that people growing up here have to deal with.) But, aside from those types, the Indian people that I've stayed with and met have been genuinely nice people. I think that every person I've met as a friend of my hosts has invited me to stay with them the next time I come to India.

Overall, I see India as coming up in the world, but it has a lot of challenges, such as the massive population, serious pollution problems, and widespread corruption. Things are changing here, but corruption is slowing things down. Many people I've met are just resigned to the fact that there will always be corruption - "it's in the blood" they've told me. Most everyone wishes that it weren't there, but when it is so widespread, it's not clear where to even start to deal with it.

On a more personal note, I'm happy to say that I missed out on what everyone warned me about - getting sick. I'm a hypochondriac in the US, so it's wasn't hard for me to stay worried (and vigilent) about my food. I kept my mouth shut in the shower, brushed my teeth with bottled water, and always carried a bottle of water with me. I avoided shady restuarants, and only ate cooked dishes. Maybe it was beginner's luck, but it worked for me, thankfully.

Now, I'm going to rest a bit, stretch out a bit, and mentally prepare myself to spend 20 hours in a big metal tube!

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