POST-TRIP COMMENTS

INDIA

Going to India is like going to a different planet. Many other places one visits are really a lot like the USA. But India is totally different.

Everyone who likes to travel, and has the time, the means, and good health should visit India at least once.

There are some challenges to visiting India. But visiting India is worth it. You have to very carefully protect your passport and valuables. You have to drink and wash teeth with only bottled water, and you have to watch what you eat. Even then, it's likely that you will have a bout or two with 24-hour diarrhea. You have to be careful to not get run over and to not stumble on the obstacles and holes in the walkways nor step in a cow pie. You have to endure the heat when not in a hotel or bus. You can expect crowded conditions on the streets. You have to put up with the beggars and the extremely aggressive hawkers when you are on the streets or entering or leaving your bus; it's generally not a problem when you're actually touring a monument or temple. We were told to ignore them and that “no” just means “maybe” to them. In Varanasi we encountered women beggars trying to capitalize on their infant children they were carrying out in the hot sun. Som says begging is often a chosen profession and beggars can often “earn” more than laborers.

India is diverse. You have to be careful about generalizations because, in many cases, opposite things are true depending on location and other factors.

India is a land of contrasts. One is the contrast between the rich and the poor.

India is a land of many religions. (Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, a few Buddhists, a few Christians.) The majority religion nationwide (about 70%) is Hinduism. We were told that people of different religions get along well together – until stirred up by the politicians.

I've always know that Hinduism is polytheistic and Hindus are idol worshipers. But I learned that Hindus believe in the oneness of their gods. They believe there is one universal soul or cosmic force and that all people and living beings are part of it. And their ultimate goal is to reunite with it (which seems to me a contradiction if they are already part of it). They consider that their individual gods are various manifestations of this universal soul. Hinduism is so old – thousands of years -- that no one can say when it started, and there is no known founder. And there is no hierarchy or central authority. The priesthood is passed down father-to-son as the profession of the Brahmin caste, and priests are paid by the donations of worshippers. A family has a family priest.

Astrology is very important to Hindus. Important things are done at auspicious times.

Karma is very important. You build karma by doing good deeds – including giving to beggars and feeding the cows in the streets. Your karma determines your next life.

India is hot. And this was northern India. It's a dry heat. Fortunately we had air conditioning in the hotels, in the buses, and in the nice shops we visited.

Water is scarce. It is often hand-carried in jars from old-fashioned hand pumps. In Jaipur we were told the water table is receding rapidly, and wells are failing.

India is dry. They get monsoon rains, but apparently very little rain at other times.

Most of what we saw of India was mostly flat.

Fuel is generally “basic.” Firewood is scarce. In the country, dried cow (or water buffalo) dung is routinely used for fuel for cooking. A mixture of grain is used as fuel to fire pottery or to make bricks.

Cell phones are plentiful in India. India has more of them than does the US.

Driving in India, be it a rickshaw or a tourist bus or a motorcycle, be it in the city or in the country, is a miracle to behold.

We were told that there is no resentment among the poor toward the rich. Hindus believe their condition was “meant to be” and was determined by their behavior in their past life/lives.

Caste remains important in the psyche of Indians even though the constitution declares that all people are equal. Politicians seek to capitalize on people's loyalty to their caste. Couples patronizing a sperm bank demand to know the caste of the donor. There are four main castes and at least hundreds of sub-castes. A trade or profession is passed down father-to-son through the generations in a sub-caste.

Most marriages are arranged by the two families. The system apparently works quite well in most cases. However, when it works poorly, I think there is little the wife can do. Couples (who usually have not known each other) get acquainted during the many parties and rituals in their multi-day wedding (and in another way). Advertisements for prospective brides and for prospective grooms are place in newspapers.

A woman's life is different if she is a widow. Widows usually don't remarry. It would be extremely difficult for a widow in a village to remarry.

The dowry is important and has become, in many cases, a demand instead of a gift.

A family in India is an extended family who all live in the same building, the sons staying and the daughters joining the family they marry into. Grandparents on the bottom floor, children and grandchildren on second and third floors.

A marriage joins not only a couple but their families and, in Hindusim, is not just for life but for several lives to come. It seems a contradiction to me that conflicts over the dowry are sometimes a source of strife between the joined families and sometimes leads to murder or suicide of the wife.

It seems to me that India's biggest problem is overpopulation. John Sollid says India has had a population growth rate of 6% for many years. Som says the politicians will not touch the issue of birth control. Too sensitive. You can't get reelected that way.

Indians are socially conservative. There is no public display of affection, not even hand holding. Women's legs are always covered and not with transparent stockings (usually with ankle-length dresses, sometimes with thick, opaque stockings). Men's legs are always covered too, for that matter.

There are virtually no fences in the countryside. You can look across flat farmland as far as you can see, and you don't see a fence. In the region where camels abound, herds of female camels and their young are driven across the countryside, and the landowners apparently don't mind. Sometimes you see a group of 20 or 30 goats, always with a herdsman.

Animals do not graze in pastures. Cows and bulls wander in the streets. (They have owners and are said to come home at night to be fed, but we saw them in the streets late at night too. They're a source of milk, and feeding them is a source of karma for the people.) Kolkata, by law, is different -- no cows and no draft animals in the streets and strict controls on dogs. I think that is to avoid having droppings in the streets. Water buffalo (never used as draft animals but used for milk) are tied up in the farmyard.

Security is heavy. It may not be high-tech. (Policemen carry old bolt action rifles.) Policemen and guards sometimes seem to be almost ubiquitous. There are almost always two or more of them together. There are lots of walls and gates in the cities. Hotel complexes, monuments, temples, schools, universities are always walled and gated and often guarded. John Stewart says the walls are to keep people from camping in the yards. Security was very high in Agra. (Hotel guards looked in the trunks of all vehicles. Entering the hotel was like airport security.)

People revere Mahatma Ghandi as the father of their country. His philosophy was nonviolence. But there is violence in India. The newspapers contain stories of murders – not unlike in the USA.

Security was extremely high for the elections (many policemen at every poling station and motor traffic halted in the city) and with good reason. Nineteen people were killed in connection with the elections. There is a group of violent maoists call Naxals (named for a place name) who seek to disrupt elections in certain regions and are responsible for most of this. But voters generally were not deterred by the possibility of violence.

Cricket appears to be the most popular sport in India.

India has a rich history. India has many wonderful historical sites to visit and many interesting temples. In many cases, the grounds of these places are very large, very green, well landscaped with shrubs, and lovely.

Neighborhood parks exist in the cities, though they tend to be dry.

The hotels in which we stayed were all very nice. Wi-fi was generally offered. In two cases wi-fi was free. Sometimes, and especially in one case, the elevators are wholly inadequate – too small, too few, unpredictable.

The large air-conditioned coaches (buses) we experienced were all very nice, and the drivers were excellent -- in fact amazing the way they dealt with the crowded, sometimes difficult and chaotic driving conditions.

We were each asked what was our highlight. To me there were many highlights and it's impossible to single out one of them and I said so. But I also said a highlight for me was to ride the rickshaws – both in old Delhi and in Varanasi – and see the scenes along the streets and the chaotic, diverse, super-heavy traffic on the streets.

Indian English is different from American or British or Austarlian English. It's hard for me to understand. I don't think any amount of practice can change an Indian's way of speaking English. Invariably, different syllables of words are emphasized than we are used to.

Whereas American businesses tend to operate with a bare minimum of employees, this is not the case in India. It is required by law that buses above a certain size have a driver's helper as well as a driver.

There are some middle class families in India who have risen to that status through education and diligence. We met one of them.

There are families of great inherited wealth in India whose ancestors were royalty or semi-royalty. They are very proud, dignified people. They are more traditional than the middle class. We met one of them.

Men who would be Maharajas, had the pre-independcnce system continued, invariably enjoy great respect, even admiration from the people. If they choose to enter polities, they can get elected and reelected as members of parliament without affiliating with a party. Villagers come to them to mediate/arbitrate/settle their disputes.

Politics are multi-party, and people tend to be poorly versed in the issues. So they tend to vote for a name – like Ghandi. Politicians tend to prefer name-calling and smaller issues to the important issues. Consequently many people, especially young people, are turned off and don't vote.

In the newspapers I constantly saw differences, which I didn't always understand, between Indian democracy and American democracy, and other interesting differences. The Election Commission is very important. The law against hate speech is very important. I read of an instance where our principal against double jeopardy was violated. A politician was jailed for hate speech, then with the blessing of the Supreme Court and with a promise of good behavior, given a furlough to campaign. Shop owners were accused of encroachment on the width of their street. And on and on.

The residential real estate in some areas in Delhi is among the most expensive in the world.

Our guide Som was super-nice. Our step-on guides and our drivers were nice. Hotel personnel were nice. Both the middle class family and the wealthy family were gracious. The poor villagers and their children we encountered on the camel ride from the OAT camp were very friendly. Store clerks, although good salesmen, were at the same time gracious.

In the country, women as well as men work in the fields. In hotels some of the waiters and desk workers were women. Otherwise almost all workers we encountered were men – store clerks, hotel “maids,” drivers, guides, guards. Well, there were a few lady guards at airports.

We were told that in Delhi many wives go out to work. But in Agra, as in villages, this is not the case . Women there stay at home and take care of the household.

States in India apparently play a similar role as do states in the U.S. There are more than thirty of them, large and small. I don't remember the number. Delhi is not part of a state. It is the capital district, like our Washington, D.C. Kolkata, where we first visited, is the capital of West Bengal. We spent a fair amount of time in Uttar Pradash. We spent the most time in Rajahstan. The Rajputs are very proud of their heritage as warriors.

Indian cuisine is said to vary considerably from region to region. Indian foods tend to be spiced with curry. I don't like curry-spiced foods at all nor spicy foods in general. But not all of the food is spiced. I was able to stay well fed without eating spicy foods. This was especially true at breakfast.

Especially in the downtowns of old cities, the environment often appears old, run-down, shabby, dirty, and gritty.

A lot of work is done, on the farm and elsewhere, with hand tools. Draft animals are mainly used on the farm. In an extensive region in Rahjastan, the preferred draft animal is the camel, a native to India. There are no wild camels. We did see some nice tractors, but the average farmer does not own one.

Earth "ridges" about six inches high have been extensively formed manually in the flat, level fields to channel the flow of irrigation water. At least were we visited farms by the OAT camp, we were told irrigation is accomplished by pumping water from wells.

Woodlands are seldom or rarely seen, and very few trees are seen as you look out across the fields.

BHUTAN

Bhutan is a delightful little country to visit.

Bernie :-)