Of the India ,by the Indian and for the Foreigner !
People : Nowhere did humans so dominate like India.
Humans - in such overwhelming numbers. Teeming, crawling, running, walking, lying, shouting, sleeping ....
everywhere humans. The things built and used by humans are themselves shrunk to nothing by the sheer volume of people.
Color : Brilliant red saris crowned by green shawls; trucks festooned with color-bright bangles; structures pink, red, white, brown; flashing brilliant green wings of ubiquitous parakeets; a welter of shimmering red blood staining a black highway where a strong young man lies, struck dead by a truck; a golden robe on a holy man; mountains of multicolored trash on the streets, the alleys, everywhere -- eyes are overburdened and dazzled.
Noise :Constant, dunning, blasting sound.
Hawkers try to out-shout their competition, table conversations rise in flooding waves of sound, and even at night the streets resonate in shouts. Horns blare, animals bleat, Indian birds (naturally) all screech and rant, trains blow their wailing drones constantly and all night through, and not a truck in all the subcontinent has a muffler.
One craves silence in vain.
Odor : Stink is everywhere. The overpowering odors of humans fill the sense - excrement, urine, sweat, mold, human smell - everywhere. The smells of animals are secondary, but powerful - cows, pigs, goats, dogs - concentrated bovine smells in the cities. Everywhere patties and rivers of urine - human or animal - fill and flow in the streets.
Touch : Everything is touching and bumping - hands are tugging and begging; bodies are jarring and bumping; tires are pounding into pothole pavement, shuddering the bus; cold from stone penetrates "temple socks," numbing feet in sacred places.
Flavor : You are not merely flooded with the stink - you taste it as well. Your tongue is conquered by overload. Only when you eat, can the taste/smell of the human environment be temporarily overcome - by peppers, curries, coriander, cilantro, and myriad spices enflaming the mouth.
Faith : Religion is everywhere - sacred cows, men, statues, shrines, temples, stupas, and buildings. The next life has to be better !
Corruption is endemic in the system. Twenty rupees will get you to the head of the line, or anywhere or anything else for that matter. The only time anything works is when the palm is crossed with a pile of moldy notes - and then it’s done with a glacial pace, if at all. Huge sums are allocated to repair a one-mile stretch of
The caste system is alive and well - the top class is doing very well, the vast middle-castes dominant, the servant/untouchables are in rags, living on the streets and begging or picking a living.
Democratic government - is everywhere - immovable and unproductive. Nothing much works, or only barely. Everyone waits for someone else to fix it - meaning the government, and the politicians and civil service are only concerned about perpetuating themselves in non-jobs forever. Nothing much gets done.
The newspapers are dominated by politics - and that means whose doing what to whom - not about whose doing what for the people.
Western travelers who visit India fall into two categories - those who love India and those who detest it.
I love India what about you ?!
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