Good Bye India

A really big statue that was just on the side of one of the main roads we used frequently.

Well we have arrived in London. Before I talk about that trip and things here, however I want to reminisce about India and some things I have noticed about the people after living there for 3 months. These aren't necessarily things I'll miss, just things I have noticed.

The people there are very nice. Those in Jason's office were great to us and people we met out and about were also. It didn't hurt that we had Anna whom people said looked like a doll and wanted her picture. They were sometimes lacking in tact, however.

Everyone will stop and ask for directions. Even if you get in a rickshaw and tell them where you want to go and they say they know where it is, they may still have to stop and ask for directions. Ironically, no one will admit they don't know how to get somewhere when asked. At one point the directions included going to the next town over and returning to the town they were in.

The men wear generally western style clothes. Women have more options. They will wear western clothes or sometimes saris or some times the tunic with loose pants and a scarf combo. As far as I could tell, it wasn't a generational thing, I saw women of all ages wearing all three options.

The women also wear brightly colored clothes. Fuscia is not uncommon. They also like to wear a lot of sequence and glittery beads. As far as I can tell, any day is a day for dressing up.

Sandals go with everything. Men will wear a full suit and a pair of sandals. This makes sense as people take their shoes off either just inside or outside your door.

Driving is crazy but somehow it works. They drive on the left like in Briton (ironically, it doesn't look strange to me anymore. Driving back in the States may be strange at first). There is also all manor of vehicles on the road: bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, cars, rickshaws, trucks, rickshaw-like trucks (three wheels). There may be lanes marked but they are more like guidelines. Even the directional lanes are just a general idea, it's not uncommon to see cars drive the wrong way down the one-way street.

Horns are used for every intersection as if to say, "I'm coming up on the intersection, don't hit me". They can also be used to tell people to get over so you can pass. In spite of all the horn honking, there doesn't seem to be any road rage as far as I can tell.

At night, brights are always used. I don't know how the drivers can take it but I had to look away whenever anyone passed us.

In Gujarat, ice cream was a big deal. I think there was even a big dairy company nearby. Ironically cheese is not big. In the store they mostly had processed cheese. There was some other imported stuff (white cheddar, Gouda, Camembert, brie, frozen mozzarella) but mostly it was all processed.

Grocery shopping was kind of hit and miss. If something was at the store one time, it wasn't guaranteed to be there the next. Things were also moved around a lot so if it was still there, it might not be in the same place.

Guards are everywhere. We had some at the entrance to our apartment building. They were at the grocery store and checked your receipt before leaving. The ones at the airport that you had to show your ticket to to be let it carried small loaded automatic weapons. At the police station, they had a sand bagged, mounted guns.

Public urination, spitting and defecation were totally no big deal. They wouldn't even go behind anything, just on the side of the road. Once, one the train, I was looking out at the station and saw someone just squatting. I can only assume it was the accepted bathroom place because while one guy was going, another was waiting to go and when he was done, a woman came up.

They have no problem being squeezed into tight spaces for long periods of time. I was amazed at how many people they would cram into a rickshaw. When we were driving to Udaipur, we passed a number of Jeeps with so many people in them, the back door was open and guys were standing on the bumper holding onto the roof. I don't know how far they were going but I saw several cars like that. On the same trip we also saw people sitting on top of a full bus.

Men are very touchy. They have no problems walking around holding hands or having their arms around each other.

Generally, the majority of the people you see out and about are men. That's not to say there are no women, but they are a very small minority. Groups of men walk around, go out to eat together and so forth.

Definitely an interesting place. While there were some things I didn't like, all in all I enjoyed my experience there and will miss it. There were a number of things we didn't get a chance to do, see or buy and I had to tell myself we would be back or else I would have been too disappointed.