Incredible India

Well the time has come to say goodbye to India ... with only a few hours remaining before I board a plane here in Mumbai (Bombay) for Bangkok.

Even though I feel ready to leave after 6 months in this magnificent country, I'm surprised at how sad I've been the past 2 days leading up to it. Just this morning I was talking to an Indian guy at the ATM about how today was my last day and my eyes welled up with tears.

I was asked the other day if India had changed me and I guess in a way it has. Mother India has opened my heart and shown me the very best and very worst of humanity. She has taught me compassion, tolerance, patience and that the universe will provide you with what you need, when you need it, if you’re open to it.

I’ve learnt to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, to take more chances, to calm my mind and that nothing is more important than your health, your family and your friends. That you can make a difference - every day - just in the way you choose to live your life and how you treat other people. She’s made me tougher and she’s softened me.

I’ve always known that it takes all sorts of people to make this crazy world of ours work, but here in India I’ve seen it and lived it. I’ve seen every kind of suffering and yet there remains a generosity of spirit that blows me away… something the western world could learn.

So here it is - the good, the bad and the ugly, as I see it. It's the little things about a country that you can often forget, but they are what really makes it unique, so here some of my observations from the past 6 months.

• Many Indians have nothing and yet they’re still able to find the deepest joy in life.
  
• They are very direct (and sometimes hurtful in their honesty) and yet they are always telling lies. “no buses today”, “your hotel is full”, “the meter not working”.
  
• To me, India has the most beautiful children in the world. Not just the way they look but their spirit too. They’re so different to western children. A lot more open.
  
• How many Indians can you fit on one scooter? At least 3 adults or 2 adults, 2 children and a newborn baby.
  
• Buses and trains. Well there’s always room for 5 more.
  
• Cows rule the roads. They gather at the busiest of intersections, change course just as you are overtaking them … they even rule the beach.
  
• Stolen youth - children are put to work on the streets when they should be starting school - many children are without parents.
  
• Here the pedestrian has no rights.
  
• You’ll never hear “excuse me” … instead you’ll be knocked over as people push past you to get on buses, trains, into or out of a store, footpaths.
  
• I love the children, the women and the older generation … but males between 18 - 25 all over this country are very annoying! I’m sure it’s because they have no interaction with the opposite sex which makes them very immature.
  
• Life is conducted from the streets. You can buy anything from the sidewalk. People sleep, eat and make a living here.
  
• They are always sweeping … but just moving the dirt from one place to another, not really cleaning.
  
• Everywhere you look there's history.
  
• You’ll find a slum next to every train station … houses built out of whatever they can find.
  
• Two out of every three men have moustaches.
  
• Indian people recycle everything but actual rubbish. There's people on the street that repair furniture, clothes, shoes, bicycles, teeth and household items, but the rivers and canals are littered with plastic and other non biodegradable rubbish. Plastic is fairly new to India and they don't have the infrastructure to dispose of it so it ends up in the street and in the water which is a massive problem.
  
• The pollution and dust is suffocating … you never feel clean.
  
• The people from one end of the country to the other look so different.
  
• Most Bollywood leading men are uuuugly, fat and have big moustaches.
  
• Indian women in the south wear lavender flowers in their hair which looks and smells wonderful.
  
• My least favourite people in India are the large population of auto rickshaw drivers. Many are very rude and 99% of them will try and rip you off. Plus there must have been some citywide phenomena in Chennai because all of the meters seemed to be "broken".
  
• Indians are either very curious or just plain nosey. From the moment you leave your hotel you are hit with a barrage of questions like "coming from?" (translation "where are you from?"), "your age?", "married?", "why not married?", "your work?", "how long in India?", "staying at?", "how much you pay?".
  
• Indian people love to dance - especially the boys. Never before have I seen such energetic moves.
  
• All bus drivers here are crazy!!!
  
• There is a system ... not that I can figure it out. Nothing ever happens as you think it will, but it always seems to work out in the end.
  
• Indians can’t drink.
  
• There’s only two volumes for music here. Off and really fucken loud (and distorted)!
  
• People drive with one foot on the accelerator and one hand on the horn.
  
• The landscape is so diverse: desert to coconut trees to lakes and rivers running through hillstations and mountains. Green and luscious or dry and dusty. But always colourful!
  
• You get asked for money at least 10 - 30 times a day.
  
• Everyone calls you “Madam” or “Sister” or “Aunty”.
  
• Men hiss at you to get your attention (and each other).
  
• The food is delicious and eating with your hands is fun.
  
• They love their cricket and thus they love Australians.
  
• From one end of the country to the other children ask you for “School pen?”.
  
• Classic moment: eating a thali meal in a ‘mans’ restaurant in Kanyakumari with Jelle and Marnix and listening to Aquas "where going to Ibiza".
  
• It takes 3 people to complete any task here.
  
• Spitting, burping, farting, picking your nose and pissing in public are all socially acceptable. The clearing the throat and then spitting makes me dry retch and yet it’s a daily reality. Once I counted how many men I saw pissing in public in one day … I stopped counting after 50.
  
• The saris is truly beautiful with such bright colours, but they’re bloody uncomfortable.
  
• I thought all the men were gay when I first got here ‘cause they all hold hands - even the police officers.
  
• “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s rude to stare”. Not in this country and as a white woman travelling on her own, it’s not uncommon to look up at any given time and see at least 10 pairs of eyes on you. A smile usually breaks their trance.
  
• I love the overnight train. You see and meet the most interesting people. It’s free entertainment as people selling all sorts of things board at different stations and wander up and down the aisles.
  
• There are many ways to god.
  
• All the bad jeans come here to die.
  
• If you’re out at night, be careful of the wild packs of dogs. They are everywhere … mangy and scary.
  
• It’s still very difficult for Indian women. They do all the work while men sit around drinking chai. In the south, it’s rare to see women out at night.
  Food I’ll really miss: Leechies, Parotta from the south, the Thali meal, Apple Fizzy, Chai Tea, Lassi.
  
• Indians are very friendly and generous people. They are very proud and positively beam when you tell them you love India.
  

THANK YOU INDIA!!!

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