Reflections on India

I have wanted to visit India for many years. Both my daughters were born in Calcutta, and as a consequence I have long keyed in on the country when I’ve seen news commentaries and have read many memorable fiction accounts of the country by outstanding Indian writers. But what I have read was not all pretty and so it was with a little trepidation that I traveled to India from Yerevan, Armenia on the once-a-week only direct flight. (Other days would involve long layovers in Moscow or Dubai and considerable more expense.)

The first two weeks of August were a convenient time for myself and my friend as she was leaving to return to the US after this trip. I’m usually a careful trip planner, but in this case because of time and project constraints we decided to take a packaged tour of an area called the Golden Triangle, which included Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra. The second week was spent in Kerala state on the southwest coast of India about 1,200 miles south of Delhi, which we reached by plane.

I was left with several strong impressions of India. I could not believe how clean it was. Somehow I was expecting garbage everywhere. But there appears to be a big government campaign to recycle and control garbage. There are fines against spitting, and food waste and recycle cans are everywhere. There were signs up saying “No plastic bags.” Purchases we made were put in flimsy paper bags or wrapped in newspaper and shoppers carried their own shopping bags. Storefronts were clean. Rivers and lakes were not cluttered with garbage, including refrigerators and cars. (This is a major problem in Armenia.)

There was some obvious poverty, but in a controlled way. The government allows people who have homes a distance from their work to “camp” in the city. There were a lot of beggars who approached us, mostly in Delhi. Many of these had serious deformities or wretched looking children. One man, who I can not get out of my mind, approached our taxi with enormous exposed testicles that sickened me. But when I asked about these people, I found out that medical help is available, and that “they are professional beggars.” Indians we talked to felt a huge personal responsibility to help the poor in productive ways. There were food banks and subsidies available and the major Sikh temple runs a huge twice daily feeding program. A few people mentioned that their Hindu faith requires them to help those worse off. We often saw lines of peoples waiting to buy government subsidized food. I did read that China has been much more successful in moving its population out of extreme poverty than India has.

I was amazed at the industriousness of the people. Everyone appeared to be working and busy. There were little shops for everything. Along the street we were staying on there were all kinds of little shops to support rickshaws, like wheel frames, re-tread shops, decorative painters, upholstery repairers, glass replacement shops, etc. In shopping areas every shop was different from the next, each with colorful signage. (This is in strong contrast to Armenia where you can see five shops next to each other, each selling identical poor quality items, with no signs to distinguish themselves.) The quality of the goods and the choices available seemed overwhelming. I had to remind myself that India has a middle class population larger than the total population of the US.

I was amazed at the Indian reverence for life. My favorite sign was: Don’t scare the animals. I never saw anyone strike an animal. Cows are sacred in India, but I would say that all living creatures are sacred to Indians. Our drivers gave a wide berth to all animals we encountered (and outside Delhi we saw as many animals as people.) Even when our host at the cardamom plantation was talking about the “pest” animals that ate his fruit and spices, it was in a loving way. In Armenia dogs cower around people because they are regularly beaten or kicked and cows and sheep are abused by their herders. (In Armenia I once watched two boys beating a calf that was following the wrong mother home as idle men just watched.)


I was surprised at all the Muslim mosques, Hindu temples and shrines, Sikh gurdwaras and Christian churches and at the fact that they were always busy. When we visited any of these places hundreds of people were worshipping. The Catholic churches in the south were overflowing. This is a culture that actively participates in its religions. We saw thousands of religious pilgrims walking hundreds of miles in colorful orange attire carrying water from the sacred Ganges to their temples. The Hindus believe in reincarnation (in any animal form), which may explain why the whole country appears to be so kind to animals. In contrast, in Armenia, where the state religion is Apostolic Christian, all marriages are performed in churches but other than for that 10-minute occasion very few people actually ever attend church.

I loved the beautiful and colorful saris worn by most women. Even women working in fields wore saris. There were so many possibilities in terms of how to wear them and color combinations that they seemed like a wonderful way to express your personality. We saw many women shopping for saris, and lots of discussions among women over combinations that blended and complemented each other. Most men outside of Delhi wore a dhoti, a piece of cloth wrapped around the waist and legs in place of pants. When I asked about it, I was told that it was extremely comfortable in hot weather. In Armenia most people wear black. There is very little color in dress, especially men’s dress.

In addition many houses were painted incredible colors, like hot pink, scarlet, peacock blue, etc. Many times I found the colors jarring. This was in sharp contrast to the warm Mediterranean colors seen on Turkish homes. In Armenia I think that it would be safe to say that less than five percent of the homes are any color other than natural stone or cement-block grey.

We visited a school where the children were beyond thrilled to have visitors. They started school in their native tongue (Malayalam), and then studied English and Hindi. (The official language of India is Hindi though several people said in situations where it is not the first language, few students become proficient in it. There are 28 languages, other than Hindi, spoken by more than a million people.) All secondary schools and universities use English for their curriculum. School was in session while we were in India. It did appear that there were too many young people not in school though they were working. I thought that the most prominent advertising on billboards (some of the largest billboards I’ve ever seen) and in newspapers was for questionable higher education schools. It is hard to believe that most of them are legitimate. Teachers are held in very high esteem in India, though there are many reports of wide shortages.

We had many discussions about arranged marriages, dowries, and the caste system. Our young female tour guide in Delhi had hoped for a “love” marriage, but she is now 23 and has turned to her parents to arrange a suitable marriage. “Suitable” means that a professional who suggests complementary horoscopes reads her horoscope and then a partner is sought who meets the criteria. If both horoscopes are complimentary the parents get together, decide if the families are compatible, and, if so, the two young people meet briefly, and if there is interest they become engaged and marry shortly, often within two months. The wedding celebration often includes 1,000 to 2,000 guests. Nearly everyone we talked to had parents whose happy marriages had been arranged. Dowries still play a very important role in marriages. Even though the government opposes the caste system everyone told us that there are very few inter-caste marriages. We spent several hours with a man and his wife who are Brahmins, the highest caste (teachers, scholars, and priests.) They were a little strange (eccentric) and it seemed obvious that their caste status is an important part of their identities. They were also light-skinned and tall as expected of Brahmins.

I never saw a Hummer or Land Rover in India, for a good reason. The roads are narrow and the competing traffic (rickshaws, elephants, people) seems to get priority. There were an amazing variety of really small cars, something for everyone including a $2,500 Tata Nano (in cute colors) that hopefully offers an alternative to all the four passenger motorcycles I saw. (Dad driving with four year old in front of him and mom on the back holding the baby.)

Everyone we met was extraordinarily friendly (even the hawkers.) Many times I was amazed that we would both be speaking the same language, and I couldn’t even understand them. Between British English, the accent of their regional language, and the use of a little higher pitch, I often just didn’t get it. (They may as well have been speaking Armenian.) Most people went out of their way to help us. Another surprise was that when we mentioned that we were Americans, all the Indians praised Obama. On the other hand, I am impressed that this country of 1.14 billion people has a female president!

We definitely traveled to India at a terrible time.  It was hot, humid, and monsoon season.  The best months to go are January and February.  Tourist season is October to March.  Only crazy people (or the uninformed) go to India in August.  My daughter pointed out to me that I was going at a bad time, after I was committed.  It rained most days, sometimes torrentially, was always humid, and got as hot as 1o4 degrees.  I tried to find out what appropriate clothing was for monsoon season before I left, but found nothing.  As in Seattle, when it was really pouring, people waited undercover for the worst to pass, when it was raining normally, all the umbrellas came out, and when it was drizzling/misting, people carried on with their activities as if it were dry.  I did buy a $3 monsoon umbrella that is far better than my $40 Seattle drizzle umbrella.   Halfway into the trip we washed a few clothes which never dried in the humidity.  I just always felt damp.

India still has a lot of problems. Half the population lives in poverty. We talked to some women working in rice fields (who begged to have their pictures taken.) They make 250 rupees a day ($5.36) for grueling work. The education system is so poor that families struggle to send their kids to private schools, though Kerala state has the highest literacy rate in the country at 90%. Still the positive attitudes of the people and their buzzing activity make me hopeful that their lives will improve rapidly.