Coming to India for one year was one of the boldest
decisions I have made travel-wise. Having lived here for a couple months
already, going home to Poland and returning, I can now confirm the first
impression that I ever had about India: It’s the most complicated (I use this
word to be politically correct here) country I have ever experienced, and my
dear readers know that this is not the first developing country I visited.
The first thing that hits you the moment you leave Indira
Gandhi International Airport, apart from the unbearable heat, is chaos. There
seem to be no road rules and everything that gets you from point A to B is
acceptable, including insane speeding, not keeping to the lane lines (if there
are any …), driving the wrong direction (!!). Red light is not a sign you have
to stop, it means you slow down, check if there is anyone whom you have to give
way to and you whether do so reluctantly or you just keep going honking at
anyone who dares cross your way. Now imagine this traffic when you’re in a rickshaw.
Surely, you can squeeze in between cars when traffic gets intense, but there is
much less steel protecting you from all the madness. The only reason I have not
gotten a scooter yet is the car I saw once speeding insanely from a side road,
unable to take the turn despite 4 lane wide road size.
The second thing that hits you, is the amount of people
living in his country. Gurgaon alone has over 1,5 mln registered citizens, and
India has a mare 3 bln people! Duh! What did I expect?! A short economics
lesson for those unaware: this is the reason why labour intensive goods and
services are relatively cheaper. Technology and capital intensive goods are on
the other hand relatively expensive, as the energy prices seem to be spiking
the price together with the difficulties of maintaining quality of output.
I was told not to have any expectations coming to India and
experience it as it comes. I will make you expect the unexpected though as
nothing works the way it should around here. You’d think shops are closed on
Sunday here as everywhere else? Nope, they’re closed on Tuesdays. Why? “Welcome
to India!”. You can’t imagine living without electricity? We experience short
power cuts couple times a day, and trust me, wifi cannot function without
electricity – Internet does not come from the air. The country which is the
homeland of Kamasutra, erotic scenes are censored on tv and you cannot spot a
couple (even married) holding hands.
People told me that one either hates or loves India. Let’s
say I just want to understand it and make sense of what seems like craziness at
this time.
Oh... and when you get here for the first time, you get one response for all the stupid questions about Indian logic you might have: "Welcome to India" !!
