India – Into the Maelstrom
Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 12:07:50 PM PDT
After spending three weeks in India I find myself fascinated and repelled. I have traveled all over the world and I can honestly say that this is the first time that I was ever impatient to get home. Still, India is a fascinating country, if very hard to get to know. It has the potential for greatness and an army of incredibly bright and dedicated people to get it there. On the other hand, the problems are also legion.
The first thing I noticed (and could never stop noticing) was the trash. As an American, you have no idea how much you have been indoctrinated with the "Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute" mantra until you enter the city of Delhi. On more than one occasion, I found myself in great distress for lack of a trashcan in which to deposit my refuse. Where are all the trashcans?! It eventually occurred to me that trashcans are a waste of time if there is no garbage man to empty them. The poor simply scoop the piles together on winter nights and burn it to keep warm. More than once we saw contented cows munching on cardboard boxes as if they were after dinner mints.
Repeatedly, my travel partner and I improvised trash cans in our room because we simply could not leave stuff just "lying around". Silly perhaps, but it offended our sense of order, so strong is our programming in that regard.
The second thing I noticed was the poverty. I believe the term "abject poverty" was coined specifically with India in mind. 1 in 3 of the world’s poor people live in India, and I don’t mean poor like on welfare poor, I mean poor like the World bank definition of a dollar a day or less poor. With that many people to raise up from poverty, India is in for a long haul, but I think they may get there, considering their GDP is growing by approximately nine percent per year. That said, without significant investments in infrastructure, they are going to lag behind (China spends three times as much of its GDP on infrastructure).
The last, and most shocking thing that I noticed crept up on me during the trip. Having traveled a bit, I am often asked, "Where are you from?" I usually say California, to which most people will say something like "Schwarzenegger, Hollywood, Disneyland, San Francisco, etc." In India I got only blank stares, forcing me to nervously expand to "The United States," which only gets a perfunctory nod and half smile.
What finally occurred to me is that the U.S.A., premier exporter of CULTURE has not made any significant inroads into this part of the world. Oh, they know who we are, but only in a general way. They have not absorbed our music, movies, cuisine, or hobbies. Generally, Indians have little interest in the U.S. except as a place where their second cousin works right now (as an engineer).
The only time I caught anyone’s interest was when I explained our highway system to some drivers and tour guides, "Over 100 kilometers an hour?!" they would exclaim in disbelieve. "How does one get on and off a road that has EIGHT lanes?!" I spent an entirely satisfactory lunch explaining the California highway system.
At the end of my trip, I was happy to go, chachkis in hand. The air pollution was attacking my sinuses, and the trash was grating on my western nerves. That said, I can see great potential in this country with its own culture, its own religions, its own traditions, and its canny business sense. Maybe I will go back in ten years and see what they have wrought.
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