Yeah, Yeah, But What's It Like?

Sir,

 

I've been way too much time talking about too little and haven't really given you a look at the bigger picture here -- namely, what's In. like?

 

Before I go off, I caution you.  I don't know about you but the statement, "Americans are pushy, bordering on rude.  There's a LOT of traffic and a blinding amount of neon," sure as hell doesn't sound like Laramie to me.  

 

What follows are broad sweeping generalizations -- I'm just trying to give you a feel ...

 

The streets are crowded and busy.  Traffic rules are treated more like suggestions, but not even necessarily "good ideas."

 

People, nearly everywhere, try to dress and look their absolute best.  Even a job that you'd consider to be menial labor will have someone as clean as tidy as is humanly possible for what they're doing.

 

In. is actually a bunch of tinier countries all pushed together.  Religion is serious, but in most places, not contentious.  All businesses, all homes will have an altar or some place reserved for worship.  The H. are curious, friendly and aloof.  The Muslims tend to be more aggressive in their manner but more reliable. 

 

In., as you've said yourself, is a place of smells.  Spices and food.  Flowers and animals.  Trash and exhaust.

 

Two stroke, mostly from trishaws, hangs in the air.  You can taste it as you breathe.

 

Women tend to wear saturated colors that nearly hurt your eyes.  They still dress fairly "traditional" for their region. 

 

Men tend to wear western dress -- the long sleeve dress shirt (typically pinstriped, with undershirt) is the clothing of choice.

 

You can hear both music, and horns, nearly anywhere you go.

 

Your station and position within society are both important.  When I tell people that I write for a living it's common for them to say that it is either a "noble," or an "honorable" profession.

 

Unless you're in some place like Ladakh, or the foothills of the Himalayas, the feeling is hot and gritty.  I haven't been anywhere in the world where a cold shower feels better than here.

 

Things take time.  In the West, time is what's expensive and goods are cheap.  Here it's the opposite.  I had a taxi that summed it up best on the dashboard:

 

Rate:

RS15/km

RS10/hr to wait

 

That's right, 25 cents an hour to wait.  As long as you want.  In the past I've had rickshaw drivers wait overnight for the princely sum of two bucks.  I hired one guy to be at my beck call in G. for $5 for the week.

 

Family trumps everything here.  Family comes first, then everything else.  If you're without a family, like I am, you're seen as being a cross between something very sad and something mildly pathetic.

 

There are bugs and general grime everywhere.  There's a lot of just general rubbish -- paan packets, shreds of paper, chai cups, etc.

 

Westerners tend to focus on the poverty here.  Yes, there are people living on the streets, in the train stations, and in tin shacks.  There are nomads who wander streets with goats and make something along the lines of $2 a month.  And no, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes ...

 

But I don't buy into the whole "poverty is bad" thing.  Because if you live that life and you're happy within your station and your family is loving and caring -- even if you have a life expectancy of 55 -- is it "wrong?" 

 

Bo3b Johnson hit the nail on the head when he said that the problem with the Golden Rule is it assumes that everyone wants to be done unto the way that you do ... but what if they want something different?  What if something different is what they need?

 

There were wandering nomads in Hong Kong (most of HK is wilderness).  The UN decided to help them out and gave them buildings -- complete with plumbing and electricity and a state-of-the-art hospital.  Within five years the entire population had either died from illness, disappeared in an "unexplained manner," or were addicted to miscellaneous drugs.  The answer to why that's true is important -- and it's nearly always overlooked.

 

In., more than anywhere I know of, and certainly more than Japan (which is known for it), is an "incorporator."  No idea, concept or thing goes into In. without being shaped, formed or slightly changed in function.  In. plays by In.'s rules.

 

In. also thinks of itself as being the cradle of civilization, or if not that, all the things that civilization represents (including mathematics).

 

Americans, for the most part, don't go here.  Even the adventuresome now head on the trail to places like Phuket.  For In. this leaves America and the American dollar mysterious if not just kind of dumb. 

 

For Americans it means what every "little" country means to them -- out of sight and out of mind.  A place you learn about in a paragraph of a history book (or now in a Wikipedia entry).

 

And then you turn the page,

b1