Chaos
You either love it or hate it. There is no in-between. That is India.
As soon as you arrive in the country, you are thrown in the midst of chaos. There are people everywhere doing whatever it is that they do. Cluster phobia is felt even outdoors. Vehicles, pedestrians, and shop stalls all share the same space. Temples, palaces, and museums are filled with Indian people and don’t feel touristy or pretentious. It’s very now and real. Life is happening. It’s an engaging experience you don’t get where tourism is overly protected.
Workers
You will encounter some harassments by souvenir sellers, but for the most part it’s all about the locals going on with their businesses. My attraction toward India is that tourism is simply an intrusion into the ongoing lives of the people. There are boundaries for the locals, but not for the tourists. We are free to mingle and absorb the lifestyle that is so different ours, and it is this everyday chore that are so normal to these people are so fascinating to us.
Animals
One observation I made through my travels is that proximities between different aspects of life profoundly defines the place. Tourists and locals, vehicles and pedestrians, rich and poor, and so on. Indians live close to animals, particularly cattle and dogs. Their sense of sanitation is different to ours, but they have the stomach for it.
The threshold of safety is very different to ours, and Indians do have more mortalities from injuries and diseases than in developed countries. However, people do live like this, and their moralities and ethics don’t differ much to ours. The rules and regulations in our countries seem superficial and immoral since they mainly exist in service for big corporations.
Places
The sites in India are as amazing as they are, it’s the in-between bits that fascinated me the most. Some children play with smartphones and know how to charm the tourists, but much of the country is still uncorrupted and the interaction is very much genuine. Even in the cities.
Faces of India
If you pay a little more money, you can stay in renovated villas that once served the maharajas. A great architectural experience on its own, though the true Indian experience lies with the locals on the streets.
