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Culture Shock, India Style
Entry 15 of 51 | show all | print this entry |
So as Sarah and I took our last day in Bangkok to run some errands and prepare as much as we could for India, we both were more nervous than two people probably should be considering we've already been travelling for over 3 months now. The reason is simple, India is intimidating. There are so many people and so many cultures packed into one country not to mention travelers, that stories about pickpockets, scams, and worse are told not only by other travelers, but are also detailed in our guidebooks. I don't know about Sarah, but I entered India with a "mental lockdown" of preparedness - no accidental bump or person staring went without suspicion. Of course this is not only tiring but really makes travelling and interacting with people almost impossible, needless to say it didn't last long. I was helped out of this mindset by another traveller on the plane, Greg, who we decided to share a cab with to the main travelers hub in Kolkata, Sudder Street. He was meeting woman at the airport who had arranged a train ticket for him to meet with his girlfriend in Delhi. Not only that, but she was also arranging travel for some Myanmar pilgrims on their Bhuddist pilgrimage and somehow ended up driving Greg, Sarah, and I to Sudder Street.
Arriving to a city at night is never my choice but coming from Bangkok to Kolkata didn't make it any easier. Traffic is absolute madness. There is no such thing as a lane and the streets can be absolutely packed with taxis that look like they came straight out of Dick Tracy, huge busses just billowing out black smoke, and rickshaws. Not cycle rickshaws mind you, we're talking rickshaws pulled by people, sometimes barefoot, right in there with the traffic. Add to that a trolly system and the random cow and the complete picture of the streets of Kolkata can really start to form. Oh, l left out the heard (were talking 30 goats easy) of goats that just wandered by as Sarah and I were eating lunch the next day - complete with shepherds.
So yes, we fell victim to culture shock India style. It wasn't the traffic though, that was just funny, it was the sheer number of people. Sidewalks packed with people at all times of the day. And of course there is poverty too, something we haven't seem much of yet (believe it or not). So many people dressed in different ethnic garb. My repeatedly asked question to Sarah was a whispered and unanswered: "What (ethnicity) is he/she?" I knew before that India had alot to offer and could be overwhealming but it's different seeing it for yourself. We only stayed in Kolkata a few days but even the we got a taste of Indian beurocracy when we went to buy our trin tiket to get us on our way to Darjeeling. Three hours just to buy a ticket! By the time we walked from Sudder Street to the train station I was just laughing at the sights before me. From insane nightmeime traffic, to urinals on the sidewalks just out there for anyone to use (you have to give up your privacy to the people walking by and the street traffic but I guess if you've gotta go...), to an underpass packed with people still selling fresh food, to a train station that could have come straight out of Mad Max. And then the power went out at the train station just for a little extra flavor. If I saw it on film I would've accused the director of using a little too much artistic liscence.
Still, our trainride was uneventful and we're now enjoying Darjeeling, a former British "Hill Station" set in the Indian Himalayas so I can at least feel a little cold for Christmas. Hope everyone has a good holiday!
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