Posts Tagged ‘india’
India: first impressions
After spending one week in India, I have some first impressions to share. My entry point to India was Mumbai and I didn’t intend to stay there for long, instead I tried to book the first available train to Delhi (it ‘s a 2 days train journey). The train booking system seemed a little intimitading at first, having to fill out a forms and to queue up in counters (usually the ladies counter or the one for foreign tourists for me) but after getting used to the system, the booking system seems to be very well organised, especially when dealing with such crowds. The Indian men are quite laddish and I was fortunate that the local trains in Mumbai did have separate compartments for males and females. The rush hours are the worst, being squeezed into the train like a fish into a can and the probability of not being able to descend is very high if not close enough to the exit door.
I remembered once I asking a fellow traveller, Dirk with whom I was travelling through south east Asia: ‘So how was India’ and I still remember the answer ’India? It was a large shithole but I liked it’ Laughing at his answer back then but how true this is.. More about the hygiene later.
In the train to Delhi (I got the seat regardless of my waiting list status) I catched up with a fellow traveller, an Indian from Pune and spent a few days in Delhi with shopping and drinking. I was amazed about the book street, Nai Sarak, and how books on though subjects like operations research or higher maths in general are available for a fraction of the cost in Europe or the western world.. And they are even as good or even better than the ones which can be found in the western world. Walking through of parts of Delhi (and this applies to anywhere so far in India) is a nightmare, where you need to pass cows, their excrements, dogs and many other undefinable creatures. The smell of India is another thing hard to describe yet unique to this country. Once in a while it smells good, but suddenly (after having passed any dirty corner) a stench comes up. After Delhi, I passed Agra (Taj Mahal) and Gorakphur, both places not being any different from Delhi in terms of hygiene, but close to the nothern parts of India, I also passed a lot of flooded areas. Also, the scammers are quite present in India and at every corner, someone expects that you are waiting for some kind of transportation (usually for the triple of the cost locals pay..) But having travelled South East Asia, the scams don’t differ that much and can be avoided easily with common sense. Back to Gorakphur - where it was raining thoughout my stay and everything got wet and muddy. The small town isn’t much more than a stopover place for travellers, either for visiting Buddhas birthplace Lumbini in Nepal or Nepal in general. More about Nepal will follow.
