Musings and Reflections

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Our vacation was interrupted by the original purpose of our trip. Leo needed to conduct some business. I used these few days to read, catch up on my blogging, shop and get some laundry done. Nothing I need to fill in the details on, but I thought I would share some observations. For your information, We were in the state of Punjab in Chandigarh and in the state of Himachal Predesh in Paonta Sahib.

Grey and Brown

When we arrived in New Delhi the first time, I thought how grey and brown the city looks. Our first morning, I thought the sky seemed hazy and overcast. After 2 weeks, I now feel that India is just ‘dingy’. According to our local guide, hazy and overcast are the normal weather conditions. We haven’t seen too much sun as of yet. Remember the character Pigpen from the Peanuts series? Much of India feels like that. A low hung cloud of dirt appears to hang over and follow everything.

Along “major” roads, (I use that term very loosely), every printable surface is covered with boldly colored advertisements. Women, throughout the country dress in bright, multicolored and often sequined clothing. However, despite the blasts of color, India feels brown.

So many people to do so few jobs

Next to China, India is the world’s most populous country. There are xxx billion people. Maybe in an effort to spread employment among the masses, there is an overabundance of staffed help at most tourist destinations. Purchase an admittance ticket at a government run site, there are three people to sell you the ticket and three more people just feet away to take your ticket. (By the way: tickets for non Indian visitors are roughly 10 times more expensive. This is a good way to bring revenue into the country and still allow locals to afford to visit the attractions.) Hotels are overstaffed as well; three hostesses/hosts will greet you at a restaurant, two bellmen will bring your luggage up to the room and there are at least 2 doormen at every hotel entrance. However airports are really overstaffed: Your ticket and ID will be checked by two different military or police personnel prior to cueing at the ticket counter, at the security check point you are usually screened by another 3-4 people, and finally to board the plane one person will scan you boarding pass, another will check the security tags on your bags, another will view your boarding pass at the plane entrance, another will take the pull off portion of the boarding pass and a third will mark off some count on a clipboard.

Service Can Be Overly Attentive



We have been fortunate to stay in some of India’s finest hotels, primarily 4 and 5 star properties. The staff at these hotels is extraordinarily attentive. You can hardly walk 5 steps without someone greeting you with hands in prayer saying “Namaskar”. Heaven forbid you try and carry something through the hotel lobby. You will likely be stopped by bellman, porters or hotel managers quickly offering to take it off your hands. Stop to look at something on the buffet and the manager may run over and ask if everything is to your liking. In the Marriott lounge in Chandigar, the attendant ran from task to task so quickly, he was making me nervous. I could hardly put my fork down, before he would clear it away.

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