Katharine in India

Goodbye India, Hello Bollywood

• By Katharine
• 20 March, 2014
• No Comments

I have been storing up mental lists of things I love about India – and things I won’t miss at all. I’ll share these lists as my farewell to an amazing country and to this blog.

First, the things I’ll miss and/or that I admire:

1. Hot, milky chai every morning for breakfast, and at any roadside hotel, for 10-20 rupees (15 to 30 cents) a cup. Ditto for fresh lime soda – salty, sweet, or plain (they’re all good).
2. Warm weather, fragrant jasmine, beautiful courtyards, and the time to relax and enjoy them.
3. The infinitely various parade of women in colorful saris, salwaar kameezes, embroidered tunics, flowing scarves, bangles, and gold jewelry.
   

   Women in saris

4. Young boys and men trying their best to look like slick Bollywood stars.
5. Old-fashioned courtesy, kindness, and leisurely conversations. Even young people who are trying to look “cool” have ready smiles, a lively sense of humor, frank curiosity about others, and a genuine willingness to share their own lives.
6. The sweetness of young courting couples, boys who are friends holding hands or putting their arms around each other, and girls leaning into each other.
7. The bright, curious looks and laughter of children who are not absorbed in video games or iPods.
8. The abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit – including carrots so red I kept thinking they were slices of papaya or red pepper – and excellent ways of preparing them.
   

   Men peeling and chopping carrots at the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi

9. While I’m on food: crispy dosas stuffed with potatoes and onions, savory breakfast pilaf, thin buttery omelettes, garlic naan, rich palak paneer, butter chicken, “finger chips” (fries), and mutton tikka. Also, little packets of real, dried milk for one’s tea, instead of fake creamer made of hydrogenated corn syrup; when did we start thinking of this as “cream?”
10. Multiple English-language newspapers in every town, as well as inexpensive paperbacks (India is the fastest-growing market for English language books in the world).
11. A culture of devotion to education and hard work.
12. A tradition of practical social activism, arising from a vivid knowledge of and connection to Indian history.
13. Not having to lift a finger to do housework, dishwashing, cooking, etc. for two-and-a-half weeks; also, watching five men clean my hotel room, supervised by a sixth.
14. The smells of fresh spices, cooking food, wood smoke, ganja, and sun-baked dung and dust.
15. Animals everywhere, wandering through even the biggest cities with no fear of being harmed: holy cows, monkeys, goats, pigs, and dogs. Working animals: horses, camels, oxen, buffalo, and sheep.
    

    Holy cow and auto-rickshaws

16. Brightly painted temples and accompanying stalls selling candles, flower garlands, coconuts, and images of the idols.
17. Going barefoot in holy places, and the beauty and serenity of mosques and gurudwaras.
18. The bustle of open-air markets and the fun of bargaining, especially alongside the other “single” women on the tour.
19. Indians do not hate Americans – for which I was very grateful, after traveling in countries where our culture and/or government are despised. I was also grateful that the official language of government and higher education in India is English, since I don’t speak Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malalayam, Gujarati, or any of India’s other native languages.
    

    A thali for lunch

20. Bollywood films (fortunately, I can see some, with English subtitles, at my local theater).

Some things I won’t miss:

1. Men attendants inside women’s bathrooms. (Yes, really: If it’s a paying job, a man has it, no matter how inappropriate to Indian or Western notions of feminine modesty.)
2. Touts at tourist attractions following me right to the door of the bathroom or onto the bus and haranguing me to buy stuff. I understand their need to make money, but think that saying “No, thank you” three or four times should be sufficient.
3. Being regarded as a bit of a freak because I’m a woman traveling on my own. That being said, almost everywhere I went, someone speaking good English stepped forward protectively to help me out and make sure I was OK.
   

   The view from my auto-rickshaw

4. Listening to rude Americans complain loudly about something that wasn’t what they were accustomed to – what did they expect?
5. “Delhi belly” caused by food that was often too hot (spicy) or rich for my unaccustomed gut.
6. Diesel fumes and completely chaotic traffic. Every rotary or traffic circle is a free-for-all, and every traffic jam is a game of chicken, with auto-rickshaws, bicycles, cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, and pedestrians darting forward to take advantage of any tiny available space, then slamming on their brakes just an inch short of a collision. Even on major, divided highways, drivers think nothing of going the wrong way for a mile or more so as to reach a turn-off or destination on the opposite side. I admire Indian drivers, who must be far more skilled and alert than we are, just to avoid getting in an accident every minute. But I won’t miss the stress of a hundred near-collisions per hour.
   

   The mother of all traffic jams, outside Aurangabad

7. Plastic litter covering highway shoulders, clogging the gutters of city streets, and plastering riverbanks.
8. Watching my taxi or auto-rickshaw driver spitting out the window every time he can tear his eyes off the road.
9. Unreliable hot water and electricity.

One more list, of suggested books and movies for anyone interested in a taste of Indian culture (these recommendations are totally random, based on my random reading habits):

1. A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth.
2. Karma Cola, by Gita Mehta.
3. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo.
   

   A bookstore at night, Kolhapur

4. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy.
5. “Monsoon Wedding,” a Mira Nair film.
6. A Free Man: A True Story of Life and Death in Delhi, by Aman Sethi.
7. “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” starring Judi Dench.
8. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, by William Dalrymple.
9. Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India, by Miranda Kennedy.
10. Miss New India, by Bharati Mukherjee.
11. Any Bollywood movie.

Finally, thanks again to everyone who helped me with this trip, in ways large and small, not least of all by encouraging me to go and by reading this blog: my parents; my husband and son; my Uncle John Webster, the author of several scholarly books about aspects of Indian history and religion; his wife Penny and my cousin Marilyn Webster, who grew up in India; Jayshree Iyer; Sue Martin; the “Pen Hens”; Narendra Nayak; the members of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, especially Deepak Girme and Girish Phonde; Bob Walter; the students, faculty and staff at Shivaji University; Intrepid Travel and my tour leader, Ranobir Guha; and the many lovely people I met along the way.

Relaxing in the city palace, Karaula