I remember taking a regular train from Agra to New Dehli. When I boarded the train, all the seats were full so I stood in the aisle. There was a Danish man adjacent so we made conversation; foreigners out of place tend to do this. I learned that this was his first visit to India and that Agra (Taj Mahal) was his first stop in a 3 week solo tour. At one point, his eyes glanced behind me as his face turned a different shade like he was about to puke. I turned around and saw a kid around 4 feet tall with one foot the size of Shaq's but much thicker. The kid had Elephantiasis. My response was muted as I had been in India for months but the Danish man was still shaken after the boy had passed. India is sensory overload when you come from sanitized Scandinavia.
@Anonymous And I could be flippant and glib and say "I am not an animal" ala John Hurt in The Elephant Man, but I just did.
What separates/ed me from not having had that same fate handed to me at my formation? Fuck all if I know. Best to try be be a good human is the only sane answer I can arrive at.
It's a beautiful day out here in The Pacific Northwest. I should enjoy it while it is to be enjoyed.
I haven't been back to India in a long time so can't comment on how much has changed except via Linh's pictures. Picture show me change has been very slow. Compared with China's development, it's night and day. Bangalore, one of the wealthier and more developed cities still has that underlying Indian chaos. Since Western news is filtered, many don't realize the birth defects are a result of irresponsible toxic waste dumping and malnutrition. Just like in the developed World, the eradication of many diseases and birth defects are a result of clean Sanitation and Nutrition and NOT drugs. Goes without saying Big Pharma and the medical community want the population to think otherwise. Lastly, the one time I did feel like the Danish man, was during a second visit to India. I had at this point over 6 months of India the previous year. I landed in Mumbai and went directly to the Central Train Station to purchase a train ticket south to Goa. It was early morning (~5am) so the Station was still relatively calm. Walking around, I saw a disfigured man, legs bent backwards like a spider crawling in the tracks on hands and knees. This is Indian tracks and NOT Japanese or Swiss tracks....it's littered with garbage and defecation. As a human, all the emotions one feels for another human being surfaced. I looked away. As the Train Station started filling up what surprised me most was how the native people walking by didn't even notice this man crawling in the tracks below. It's as if the person was invisible. That is when you realize you are again back in India. Similar to all the begging kids you encounter on the streets of Mumbai or New Dehli, to survive you need to ignore because the country is just too big. IMO, this is why you need Government; one who's mandate is to protect the people (i.e. the poor). Talk is cheap, you need to judge with actions.
"I haven't been back to India in a long time so can't comment on how much has changed except via Linh's pictures."
From what I've seen it's much the same except everyone has cell phones, boys and girls openly date, and there are 100 times too many cars for their roads which were built for a much smaller population who previously walked everywhere. Now pedestrians share even the tiny side roads with cars which are being driven far too fast.
Some positive changes I noticed on my last trip in 2019 is that young people are beginning to embrace athletics a bit more, so you see a lot of more healthy looking people, and there is less of that depressed looking computer nerd gait. It's a hopeful sign.
India has potential. They just need to navigate modernity carefully without losing the good aspects of their traditional ways, which is guess what the whole world is struggling to do.
5 comments:
I remember taking a regular train from Agra to New Dehli. When I boarded the train, all the seats were full so I stood in the aisle. There was a Danish man adjacent so we made conversation; foreigners out of place tend to do this. I learned that this was his first visit to India and that Agra (Taj Mahal) was his first stop in a 3 week solo tour. At one point, his eyes glanced behind me as his face turned a different shade like he was about to puke. I turned around and saw a kid around 4 feet tall with one foot the size of Shaq's but much thicker. The kid had Elephantiasis. My response was muted as I had been in India for months but the Danish man was still shaken after the boy had passed. India is sensory overload when you come from sanitized Scandinavia.
@Ron: I can only sigh after reading this.
@Anonymous And I could be flippant and glib and say "I am not an animal" ala John Hurt in The Elephant Man, but I just did.
What separates/ed me from not having had that same fate handed to me at my formation? Fuck all if I know. Best to try be be a good human is the only sane answer I can arrive at.
It's a beautiful day out here in The Pacific Northwest. I should enjoy it while it is to be enjoyed.
I haven't been back to India in a long time so can't comment on how much has changed except via Linh's pictures. Picture show me change has been very slow. Compared with China's development, it's night and day. Bangalore, one of the wealthier and more developed cities still has that underlying Indian chaos. Since Western news is filtered, many don't realize the birth defects are a result of irresponsible toxic waste dumping and malnutrition. Just like in the developed World, the eradication of many diseases and birth defects are a result of clean Sanitation and Nutrition and NOT drugs. Goes without saying Big Pharma and the medical community want the population to think otherwise.
Lastly, the one time I did feel like the Danish man, was during a second visit to India. I had at this point over 6 months of India the previous year. I landed in Mumbai and went directly to the Central Train Station to purchase a train ticket south to Goa. It was early morning (~5am) so the Station was still relatively calm. Walking around, I saw a disfigured man, legs bent backwards like a spider crawling in the tracks on hands and knees. This is Indian tracks and NOT Japanese or Swiss tracks....it's littered with garbage and defecation. As a human, all the emotions one feels for another human being surfaced. I looked away. As the Train Station started filling up what surprised me most was how the native people walking by didn't even notice this man crawling in the tracks below. It's as if the person was invisible. That is when you realize you are again back in India. Similar to all the begging kids you encounter on the streets of Mumbai or New Dehli, to survive you need to ignore because the country is just too big. IMO, this is why you need Government; one who's mandate is to protect the people (i.e. the poor). Talk is cheap, you need to judge with actions.
"I haven't been back to India in a long time so can't comment on how much has changed except via Linh's pictures."
From what I've seen it's much the same except everyone has cell phones, boys and girls openly date, and there are 100 times too many cars for their roads which were built for a much smaller population who previously walked everywhere. Now pedestrians share even the tiny side roads with cars which are being driven far too fast.
Some positive changes I noticed on my last trip in 2019 is that young people are beginning to embrace athletics a bit more, so you see a lot of more healthy looking people, and there is less of that depressed looking computer nerd gait. It's a hopeful sign.
India has potential. They just need to navigate modernity carefully without losing the good aspects of their traditional ways, which is guess what the whole world is struggling to do.
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