where is the promised land?
i am back, from a 10 day excursion to india. in 10 days i manged to go to: mumbai, new delhi, agra, and all the little towns of goa: anjuna, calengutte, baga, panjaim, old goa, vagator, and probably a ton of other places i didnt even realize i had crossed through.
it was a really interesting experience. i'm not sure where to even begin to explain such a place. i'm still trying to figure it out myself. it just seems like its a total 180 from america. and there are so many people there. it doesn't really seem better, or worse actually just different. the people are clearly less wealthy. but only when seen through the lens of material ownership. the majority are in a constant struggle to provide food, but otherwise are off enjoying themselves or their friends and family. most places are open from sun up to sun down and you've got people putting in 12-16 hour days. but its not like a job where they or their bosses are afraid you might spend 6 minutes in the bathroom instead of 5(which is like where i work)
the entire system seems like its held together by nothing and could unravel at any moment. but really why would it if the people don't want it to? example there are no traffic lights, and most roads dont even bother to have lines painted on them or signs. if a guy is riding his horse he rides it on the freeway. if there is a slow scooter in the way, just go into the other side of the road. stuck at an intersection, try to squeeze 4 cars into 2 lanes. instead of closing 3 lanes of traffic for 2 weeks while they work on the road you better heed the orange cones or you'll fall into the hole in the road. amazingly i never saw a single traffic accident except one. and not so amazingly it was one involving myself. :p i knocked a guy off his motorcycle. he went sailing into the air, bike skidding in a shower of sparks across the land. he got up covered in mud from the road, dusted himself off and rode away. no police on the scene. no law suits. no one was hurt, he was barely going 8 miles an hour, a standard speed on the little 1 lane barely paved roads. that incident seemed to sum up the entire trip for me. it was much simplier. the people of india were not out to get one another. they lived collectivly together. and with nature. sharing their space with their sacred cows, dogs, pigs, chickens, monkeys, birds, camels, elephants, and cats. waste was shunned. most stores only electing to air condition 1 tiny room used as escape from the 100+ temperatures of the day, instead of our amazingly energy consumptive need to keep the air inside our closets 68 degrees as if our shoes some how felt the difference.
all in all it was a place that made me wish we could find some happy medium. no amount of frustration i experienced could be expressed in a mere journal post after going into the 10th shop that had a sign that said "wifi high speed internet avaliable here" only to find that they were an umbrella store that just thought the name sounded futureistic. in fact the names and looks of the loctions seemed to have nothing to do with what was going on inside. run down shacks outside opened up to be quite palatial inside. and fancy looking outsides with great western sounding names were shells looking to trap tourists.
india seemed to be an amazing game, and once you learned how to play it made life interesting and fun there. overall i'd say i really enjoyed being there, but i was quite ready to come home. there are just alot of things i wish i could bring back to our society. we aren't as advanced as we think we are.
it was a really interesting experience. i'm not sure where to even begin to explain such a place. i'm still trying to figure it out myself. it just seems like its a total 180 from america. and there are so many people there. it doesn't really seem better, or worse actually just different. the people are clearly less wealthy. but only when seen through the lens of material ownership. the majority are in a constant struggle to provide food, but otherwise are off enjoying themselves or their friends and family. most places are open from sun up to sun down and you've got people putting in 12-16 hour days. but its not like a job where they or their bosses are afraid you might spend 6 minutes in the bathroom instead of 5(which is like where i work)
the entire system seems like its held together by nothing and could unravel at any moment. but really why would it if the people don't want it to? example there are no traffic lights, and most roads dont even bother to have lines painted on them or signs. if a guy is riding his horse he rides it on the freeway. if there is a slow scooter in the way, just go into the other side of the road. stuck at an intersection, try to squeeze 4 cars into 2 lanes. instead of closing 3 lanes of traffic for 2 weeks while they work on the road you better heed the orange cones or you'll fall into the hole in the road. amazingly i never saw a single traffic accident except one. and not so amazingly it was one involving myself. :p i knocked a guy off his motorcycle. he went sailing into the air, bike skidding in a shower of sparks across the land. he got up covered in mud from the road, dusted himself off and rode away. no police on the scene. no law suits. no one was hurt, he was barely going 8 miles an hour, a standard speed on the little 1 lane barely paved roads. that incident seemed to sum up the entire trip for me. it was much simplier. the people of india were not out to get one another. they lived collectivly together. and with nature. sharing their space with their sacred cows, dogs, pigs, chickens, monkeys, birds, camels, elephants, and cats. waste was shunned. most stores only electing to air condition 1 tiny room used as escape from the 100+ temperatures of the day, instead of our amazingly energy consumptive need to keep the air inside our closets 68 degrees as if our shoes some how felt the difference.
all in all it was a place that made me wish we could find some happy medium. no amount of frustration i experienced could be expressed in a mere journal post after going into the 10th shop that had a sign that said "wifi high speed internet avaliable here" only to find that they were an umbrella store that just thought the name sounded futureistic. in fact the names and looks of the loctions seemed to have nothing to do with what was going on inside. run down shacks outside opened up to be quite palatial inside. and fancy looking outsides with great western sounding names were shells looking to trap tourists.
india seemed to be an amazing game, and once you learned how to play it made life interesting and fun there. overall i'd say i really enjoyed being there, but i was quite ready to come home. there are just alot of things i wish i could bring back to our society. we aren't as advanced as we think we are.