A day in India
So here I am, all the way on the other side of the world. It's been almost 19 years.
After two cramped and grueling 8-hour flights, I can say that every penny I spent on my new iPod was well worth it. Having on-flight video screens with movies and games helped too. I finally got to see the Simpsons movie (not impressed) and most of “300” (very pretty). Unfortunately, the plane was ready to land and they shut off all the screens with only 5 minutes left to go in the movie. I guess I’ll find out the rest in a month or so.
Anyway, I'm writing from my uncle's apartment in Bombay. I haven't seen much of the city yet -- only glimpses of the streets from the car window over a couple of trips to people's houses -- but it's easy to see how colorful a city Bombay is. On every busy street you'll see hundreds of people, dozens of tiny shops, and stories to be told for each one. The city, like the rest of the country, is developing and becoming Westernized at an lightning fast rate, so the range of sophistication is really wide. You'll often see new, artsy buildings mixed in with the old antiques. The same goes for the people and the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, and they way they live. Young hipsters and old loons, rich businessmen and poor children, you can see them all walking around side by side in any given direction.
I've only seen one cow on the street so far, but I do love watching the dogs walk around the city with their meek, non-chalant attitudes. It's like they've got their own little society alongside the humans. People don't bother them and they don't bother people. Most just coolly bum around waiting for someone to drop some food, otherwise they don't give a shit about us. We provide the food (trash), shade (overhangs and parked cars), and sometimes company (beggars); besides that, we're just the big guys that buzz about the city they think they own.
Driving around here is CRAZY. It's like a two-way go-cart track spread out across the entire city. No rules, no order, yet little danger. Half the roads don't have lanes, and the ones that do are ignored anyway. Turn signals are second to car horns, making the overpopulated city quite noisy. It's an incredibly aggressive, yet non-selfish system, which is why it somehow works. I can't decide if it would be really, really fun or stressful to get behind the wheel around here.
I've only been to two places so far: my uncle's apartment and that of a family friend's. My uncle's is about the size of a nice college dorm, but his entire family lives there. It's pretty simple inside and has a nice view. The other was pretty pimped out with marble floors, a surround-sound speaker system, Greek-inspired architecture, and a GREAT view of the city.
I mentioned overpopulation...a word that's probably synonymous with "India" and that's posing a bit of a problem. There's a job for everybody, though. Both of the residences I've been to have visiting paid servants who clean up around the house, make/deliver/serve food, or just assist you with whatever you want. Around the city, there's never a shortage of manpower or grunt workers. It was a little depressing looking at a shaggy 60 year old man -- who's probably been poor and uneducated his entire life -- pouring water for you, your parents, and other people the same age as him. That's just the system, though. It really shows how good you've got it and how bad it could be. I'm really glad my dad decided to live in the States...
Anyway, it's a Friday night and, much like in Marietta, I'm doing absolutely nothing. There will be much more to do and there will be much more to write. I'll post lots of pictures sooner or later.
Quote(s) of the entry:
"You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea."
- Benazir Bhutto
After two cramped and grueling 8-hour flights, I can say that every penny I spent on my new iPod was well worth it. Having on-flight video screens with movies and games helped too. I finally got to see the Simpsons movie (not impressed) and most of “300” (very pretty). Unfortunately, the plane was ready to land and they shut off all the screens with only 5 minutes left to go in the movie. I guess I’ll find out the rest in a month or so.
Anyway, I'm writing from my uncle's apartment in Bombay. I haven't seen much of the city yet -- only glimpses of the streets from the car window over a couple of trips to people's houses -- but it's easy to see how colorful a city Bombay is. On every busy street you'll see hundreds of people, dozens of tiny shops, and stories to be told for each one. The city, like the rest of the country, is developing and becoming Westernized at an lightning fast rate, so the range of sophistication is really wide. You'll often see new, artsy buildings mixed in with the old antiques. The same goes for the people and the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, and they way they live. Young hipsters and old loons, rich businessmen and poor children, you can see them all walking around side by side in any given direction.
I've only seen one cow on the street so far, but I do love watching the dogs walk around the city with their meek, non-chalant attitudes. It's like they've got their own little society alongside the humans. People don't bother them and they don't bother people. Most just coolly bum around waiting for someone to drop some food, otherwise they don't give a shit about us. We provide the food (trash), shade (overhangs and parked cars), and sometimes company (beggars); besides that, we're just the big guys that buzz about the city they think they own.
Driving around here is CRAZY. It's like a two-way go-cart track spread out across the entire city. No rules, no order, yet little danger. Half the roads don't have lanes, and the ones that do are ignored anyway. Turn signals are second to car horns, making the overpopulated city quite noisy. It's an incredibly aggressive, yet non-selfish system, which is why it somehow works. I can't decide if it would be really, really fun or stressful to get behind the wheel around here.
I've only been to two places so far: my uncle's apartment and that of a family friend's. My uncle's is about the size of a nice college dorm, but his entire family lives there. It's pretty simple inside and has a nice view. The other was pretty pimped out with marble floors, a surround-sound speaker system, Greek-inspired architecture, and a GREAT view of the city.
I mentioned overpopulation...a word that's probably synonymous with "India" and that's posing a bit of a problem. There's a job for everybody, though. Both of the residences I've been to have visiting paid servants who clean up around the house, make/deliver/serve food, or just assist you with whatever you want. Around the city, there's never a shortage of manpower or grunt workers. It was a little depressing looking at a shaggy 60 year old man -- who's probably been poor and uneducated his entire life -- pouring water for you, your parents, and other people the same age as him. That's just the system, though. It really shows how good you've got it and how bad it could be. I'm really glad my dad decided to live in the States...
Anyway, it's a Friday night and, much like in Marietta, I'm doing absolutely nothing. There will be much more to do and there will be much more to write. I'll post lots of pictures sooner or later.
Quote(s) of the entry:
"You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea."
- Benazir Bhutto