Do Cows Feel Sacred? (and other thoughts on India)

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Well i do not know if cows feel sacred but it is something i have been wondering this whole trip. Most of them are fed garbage by their owners but they get to sit down in the middle of highways and stop thousands of vehicles as they please so i am at a loss.

We are in famous Calcutta/Kolkata and it is my favourite Indian city so far. Just walking around is a feast for the eyes in the older parts of the city. Chalk-a-block with amazing colonial buildings, albeit crumbling and rotting from the inside out, Kolkata oozes charm and well just lot of ooze is around. There are more people living in the street than i can remember from other cities but there is something different here. There is just so much livelinesss and colour from the locals. Instead of sneers you get mostly smiles and the street food is the best we have had in the whole of India. On the flip side there are many many beggars and they are more persistant than other locales but it is a minor hastle.

Today we went to the most amazing cemetery. It is an overgrown jungle with massive stone mosoleums, impressive obolisks, and some monuments looked like small houses. The damp jungle all around just makes for the perfect creepy atmosphere as well. (lots of pictures) None of the graves were built after 1830 so all of them were either rotten, or green, or had trees and vines growing out of them... perfect place for an afternoon stroll. As for the rest of kolkata we haven't seen many of the sights, just have been loving the architecture and locals. Today was some festival for mother teresa and many of the folks in our hostel are taking part in presentations from delegations from different countries. We didn't hear about it in time to sign up and it required some song or dance or musical performance so we opted to just wander around today. Lots of young people come here to volunteer with children or hospices for seniors and there is a greater exchange between tourists and the community here than anywhere else in the country. Where there is usually only a monetary relationship with locals who own shops, locals here chat and dine with travelers.

So in the last 5 months we have been to more than half the 27 states, hugged much of the coastline, sweated in the hot hot heat and traversed several ranges of the mighty himalayas. We have seen quite a lot to take in and feel truly lucky to get to see so many different locales. This is a amazing country with amazing people and much of it is amazingly fucked up. For as much beauty there is the seemingly religious attachment to littering that is ubiquitous. Every stream and waterway in the mountains had its current clogged with chip and cookies wrappers. Much of society is quite tolerant and lives peacefully with their neighbours but the caste system is as strong as ever. Sure people from untouchable castes don't have to walk backwards to sweep away their steps so that people from high castes don't sully their good karma but the internal racism and classism here is rampant and at times vicious. Every 3 days in the newspaper there is a story about fathers and their kin murdering one of their daughters and her husband. Often they are tortured first and it is in the name of family honour. It happens in cities and in "backwards" places equally.

India has quite a xenophobic national mindset. There are a host of historical reasons for this such as constant invasions and foreign conquerors but the seething hate that the people and government alike share for Pakistan is disgusting. What gets printed in the major papers could never make it to press in the west as it would bring on lawsuits and accusations of racism. (which would be completely warranted) There are many things that involve international politics relating to china and pakistan that simply cannot be raised in conversation but fortunately everyone here loves Canada as its home to hundreds of thousands of Indians.

People here treat each other with a pretty strong disregard. Someone will just walk into you or push you out of the way to obtain mere inches of gain in a line or on the sidewalk (when there is one). Drivers have a callous disdain for all things inf ront and behind them. It is a constant pain to cross even the smallest street as a motorcycle or car is likely to be there and will not stop even if you are in front of them. So it is not all peachy and spiritual here at all. Most of the idealized pictures of india are from the Himalayas or are outdated but the influence this area has had in the history of world cultures is almost unmatched. Everything is so juxtaposed here; the extremely beautiful aside the putrid. most travelers we speak with eminate similar feelings about the craziness and sheer absurdity of what seems to be the absolute commonplace here.

On the whole... glad to have come and wil never forget our experiences here and very glad to leave. It is too noisey and besides what are we doing in a country with this many people.... i hate people.

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Photos

one of our roomates
go ants go! eat faster!

jungle graves
grave of "hindoo Stuart"

jungle graves
should have gone for the deluxe package from the undertaker

Comments

[Dean]

More Adventures
All in all, I am pleased to be reading about all of this and not experiencing it. I am a few weeks behind even in reading. Hope all is well where ever you are.