Ridin' Dirrrty - My trip to India

OK, so you know I have been sort of intrigued but sort of dreading this trip since Tony got back from India and told me that I would hate it...So, I was trying to be brave and expect the absolute worst and hope for the best....It was really unbelievable how these people live and unfortunately I got so wrapped up in the poverty and the filth that it was hard to find any very redeeming qualities about the country, that is, other than the food!
To set the scene, picture the worst slums you can imagine. No running water. No electricity. Garbage filled streets. No toilets, sinks, kitchens. Whole families living in a shack build from sticks and tarps, like a tent. They walk down to a water pipe to get their water to wash with and cook with. And the people in the cars drive by unfazed by what is happening on the streets.


The stores are lined up right next to these slums. A 'store' consists of a similar type shack with a painted cardboard sign identifying what they are selling there. The streets are a combination of mud, garbage, and urine. In fact, I was in one city where there is only 1 toilet to 9000 people. So, if you had to pee, you'd spend a week waiting for the bathroom.


As there is no bathroom, most of the people come up to the street level to relieve themselves. They do this because they live on the side of the street and don't want to get too close to their homes. I cannot tell you how many people I saw publicly urinating, full stream in the streets.

They carry large objects on their heads like this lady and use their hands to keep balance.


The roads are chaos. Cars, and trucks share the lanes with motorcycles, 'auto rickshaws', and animals - camels, cows, elephants, horses and goats. There is no order to the chaos, no lanes, and sometimes to make it even more fun, there are no roads! The roads they do have are filled with potholes and you can't drive much over 40 km / hr because you have no where to go. They also like to shove as many people as possible into their vehicles, and have no regard for safety of families or of children. Here is a picture of an India school bus.
I saw 3 adults on one motorcycle, and on another one and entire family of four. Dad was driving with a child standing on the platform between his legs. Mom was sitting side saddle on the back holding a baby girl in her arms. no seat belts, no helmets. Nothing! Also on my journey, we almost got involved in several 'cow' accidents where we'd be getting up to a steady pace of 60 km / hr and out of nowhere, a giant cow steps in front of the car and we screech to a halt.

The good news is that we had our own professional drivers through most of the time I was in India. One of them when we were in the southern region was very religious and had to stop at the temple before we took off for a prayer and a swipe on his head. He then bought four lemons from this man sat outside the temple (see the trash in the background, lovely?) and promptly places one under each tire so that when we were off on the road again, we rolled over the lemons for luck. Not sure if it was the Hindu gods working or not, but the next day, he did not go to the temple before we set sail and we got a flat tire!
The man with the hairiest ears I have ever seen in my life. That is all ear hair sticking out, no head hair! Double click on the picture for a larger more textured view, if you dare....
The first picture I took didn't come out as well so I had to snap another one. I was pretending to take pictures of a plane in the back ground, but I could not disguise my interest in his furry beast ears. Enjoy!

There is something to be said about being in India though - everyone communicates in english, making the business aspect of traveling a lot easier. There are so many dialects and languanges other than english that people from the north cannot communicate with people in the south, so they all use english as the moderator. So, I understood everything! What a concept!

Here's me eating a delicious dosa (a southern India crepe made from rice and beans) at a road side cafe on a three hour journey to Pondicherry. They let me stop off here to use a real live toilet so I didn't have to squat in front of my coworkers and our driver on the side of the road with the rest of the folk. Big smile here : ) In gerenal the food was great for what I was able to eat of it - lots of veg dishes, curries, and the most delicious breads! Carbs carbs carbs. Love it! But I of course was not able to drink the water or eat any uncooked fruit or veggies. Everything I ate had to be piping hot with steam coming out of it. It was nice to know it isn't just us...I met a guy who grew up in India but for the past 5 years had been living in Singapore. He had to acclimate himself back to the dirrrrty water by taking one sip every day until he stopped getting sick from it, and then slowly adding other items into his new bacteria diet. So gross.
My journey through the week started in Mumbai (the new name for Bombay), then to Pune, Dehli and finally Chennai and Pondicherry. If Pune was a flea on a rat on the Lower East Side, then Dehli is a Park Avenue penthouse. None of the airports were of any particular scale of worst to best, however I did spend the most time in the Chennai airport on my way home. Five hours to be exact waiting for my red eye flight home to Hong Kong through Bangkok. Fun fun fun! At least they had free wireless Internet so I could pass the time doing work and chatting on line to some friends and family.

Here's a shot of Ghandi and I in Pondicherry, a former French settlement. Beaches, Cafe's, French influence architecture, and a statue of Gandhi. Not I get it. Living his principals, the southern region is nearly 100% vegetarian. Gandhi also believed in truth, nonviolence and simplicity. He had cute ears. All of his statues around the country seem to emphasize them.

The people in the south also dressed a lot like him with a wrap around sheet / skirt for men. Women everywhere dressed the same in their traditional saris, draped in various styles and colors - it is definitely one of the most colorful countries I have ever seen and the sari's are the pallet. The women are quite plumper than the men in general and their little chubby tummy's stick out from under their pretty sari.

So, would I ever go back? Maybe. But only if I was guaranteed a trip to the Taj Mahal as part of it. I've gotta see that!

Till next time, I LOVE YOU & MISS YOU!