INDIA-Epilogue
Written by Laura

This is taken from an entry in my journal I wrote while we were riding the train from Mumbai (Bombay) to Amritsar. Our remaining time in India was very short and I wanted to write down all the wonderful things I would miss about India as well as the difficulties, so I could remember them. Thought this would be a good note to end the India section on.

So here we are in India. There will be things I'll really miss. I love the women in their saris. I've gotten quite used to them. I'll also miss the punjabies. Can't wear that anywhere else. And the colors of the women's clothes, its so nice. I love the food, although sometimes its a bit spicy for me. I love the warmth, the hospitality you get from so many. A tuck tuck driver, another passenger on a train, a waiter. They have such a warm and open side. Their funny English, the words they use and their funny emphasis. Always calling you "friend". Their bargaining, in the good sense. It really can be fun to bargain when they are having a good time and not being cut-throat. The beautiful things to buy, there's so many. I really hope our work of art makes it home. I can't wait to get it framed and hung.

There are lots of trees and lots of butterflies and bats. That's nice to see. All the vegetarian food, that's wonderful. I do like the trains, but really they are not as nice as European trains.

But I won't miss being treated so differently because I'm a woman. I won't miss the incompetence- there's so much! Oh, I'll miss the Taj hotels and palaces. What a dream. And all the marble and precious stone carving inlay. Truly beautiful.

I won't miss people yelling at me every 5 minutes to buy something. I won't miss how they try to rip me off almost all the time. I won't miss the spitting, hacking and all the disgusting noises they make constantly. I won't miss the trash and excrement everywhere, especially not the smell of burning trash. I won't miss the people's inability to make a que or not cut in line. Oh how I hate that! I won't miss their crazy way of doing things, like buying a train ticket or sending a package. I won't miss the crowded streets and sidewalks, nor the death defying everyday way they all drive. I won't miss the poverty and the beggars. All the people living in the worst possible places with the worst possible of circumstances. I won't miss the heat and humidity. I will miss the Sikhs and their cute Sikh children. And all the extremely cute Indian children, they are truly adorable. Even when the're snot faced, full of dirt, and in the most shabby of clothes.

I won't miss people seeing me as an ATM or that "the circus has come to town". I will miss the wonderful smiles the women give me on the streets or trains. I will miss how generally friendly everyone is and their joy in sharing their country with us. I won't miss the disgusting hotel rooms and bathrooms and their inability to really clean something sometimes. I won't miss the high pitched, melodramatic Indian pop duets blared out at way too high of volume everywhere. I will miss the catchy ones though. I will miss the luxury so few dollars can buy you. I won't miss the hassles you encounter almost everywhere. I won't miss the small change rupee shortage. And the petty things bureaucrats do to ensure they have power and have something to hold over others, or make sure they and their own are cared for.

I've seen enough temples. I won't miss them, but I did enjoy them. I will miss the old churches and the interesting gravestone markers from all the colonists who died. What secret stories they hold. I'll miss the exoticness of it all. The camels, incense, ancient history of it all. I won't miss seeing the scummiest and seediest westernern tourists the world has to offer. With their unwashed dread locks, bones sticking out from lack of food, and haggard look in their eyes from all the drugs they've done. How embarrassing, India thinks this is an example of western people. And the're only looking for the next town they can take over and make their orgy drug haven. Poor locals.

I'll miss the broad variety of people. The Jains, Brahmins, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, and other I don't even know about. Some Indians look as fair as though they're direct descendants from the Persian invaders. And others are black as night, true Dravidians. I'll miss how in love with the USA they are. How their eyes light up when we way where we're from. When they recite the long list of family members living in the states, and how grand they think it is to be a part of such a big, wealthy, and powerful country. Like we're the longest running super bowl champions or something.

I'll miss their obsession with pens. Stores devoted to selling cheap pens. Children constantly asking for pens. And even adults who want to buy my nice Active Software pen from me! All these pen stores yet no one has a pen! I, of course, have my favorite Indian gel pen, bought four!

I'll miss the power we have in a situation because we're white. We can drive into exclusive neighborhoods or hotels just because we're a westerner. We can chat with the superintendent of trains about our seating problem because we're foreign. We can look like hell, but still eat at a Taj palace hotel or check out rooms - just to see- because we're foreign. But when we walk up, the price rises three or four times because we're foreign than if we were Indian.

I love pretending to be a typical tourist who doesn't know how to bargain and then soon they don't know what hit them. They sold it to me for less than half of what they asked and I got a great deal. I'll not miss the fact that when I ask the price of something at a roadside stall, my heart wrenches as they chase me down the street dropping the price by 100 rupees for each step. And I try to explain that I really just wanted to know the price.

I'll not miss being checked out by pick pockets at train stations and crowded areas like lions looking for their kill. Geez, they really take all your clothes off with their eyes and see only the contents of your hidden pocket and money belt. I'll not miss all the stray cats, dogs, puppies, kittens, cows, calves, bulls, ox, pigs & chickens running around the streets of all the cities and villages. Oh, the poverty! Oh, the pain & suffering is so brutally exposed here, you can't run from it. Men with no fingers, stumps for legs or arms. So many people with hideous skin diseases or pigmentation disorders. Where are these people in the US? Why don't I see any of them during the day, driving their cars? We must have them too! And the many old women and men walking with bound legs, limping. Huge swollen necks or ankles, you think its possibly just a thyroid problem. The festering wounds I see. The women so hunched over they're at a 90 degree angle from their legs. The lack of teeth, or the odd directions they can poke out from, even through the lips. It just boggles my mind. The many adults you see victims of polio- still! The signs posted urging mothers to bring their children in for polio vaccinations, unreal!

I'll miss the love they have for their children, how you rarely hear the children cry for longer than a minute. They spoil them so. But is so sad to see them with no toys or to see so often 3-4 year olds caring for the 1-2 year olds. I fear for their safety. They've got the whole village watching the children, never are they unsafe from other people as in the US. They have a much higher chance of being hit by a car than kidnapped.

I won't miss seeing so many children who should be at school, 8-12 years olds working in a street side stall or as a busboy in a restaurant.

I'll miss seeing the colors of the women fetching water in large plastic or metal jugs balanced on their head. And you always know when its bath day because its done right on the sidewalk where they live.

Oh, sidewalks. Not to have to scramble into the sewer/ditch on the side of the road anytime two buses must momentarily share the same road as they pass next to each other. Oh why didn't they build two lane roads with room for a lane of traffic going each direction? And a side area for the oxen and scooters on both sides, and sidewalks for the many pedestrians? Why? Why must there be so many bloody and fatal accidents everyday? Why?