We've just finished a day exploring Delhi. We are on our way back to the hotel and already my heart is starting to sink. Our hotel is in a relatively impoverished part of town and I'm just dreading what I may see this night. How many dogs will I see lying in the street dead or waiting for death starving and with injuries of all types. How many people I will see lining the streets, sleeping on make shift mattresses that are little more than a rug or sheet. Trash strewn all about, puddles of stagnant water everywhere your look, and a smell that will never let you forget this place.
Welcome to India!! A land of extremes...extreme traffic, poverty, beauty, diversity, pain, determination, optimism, and honking car horns!
Talking with locals it's clear there is a rising tide, but it is unclear weather it is raising all ships.I couldn't help but be struck by the stark contrasts between the more well to do Indians and those that are not so well off. I had read somewhere that in a country with over a billon people there are still more than 500 million living in abject poverty (that number may well have changed since my reading).
With that said this is no doubt a dynamic city. I heard someone say once that no Indian has ever failed in business. I am not sure if that's true but there is clearly a vein of self determination that transcends this city and there are people making every type of product and offering every type of service imaginable. This is a very enterprising population.
Through my travels I have heard "tales" about the other parts of India and how they are so different than the north. One person explained it to me this way, India is really like three different countries; north, central, and south with different culture, language and religion. I concluded that a solid two years might be enough time to really explore this land. Unfortunately we don't have that long on this trip so we will excitedly start with India's Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur).
Stay tuned...
Welcome to India!! A land of extremes...extreme traffic, poverty, beauty, diversity, pain, determination, optimism, and honking car horns!
Talking with locals it's clear there is a rising tide, but it is unclear weather it is raising all ships.I couldn't help but be struck by the stark contrasts between the more well to do Indians and those that are not so well off. I had read somewhere that in a country with over a billon people there are still more than 500 million living in abject poverty (that number may well have changed since my reading).
With that said this is no doubt a dynamic city. I heard someone say once that no Indian has ever failed in business. I am not sure if that's true but there is clearly a vein of self determination that transcends this city and there are people making every type of product and offering every type of service imaginable. This is a very enterprising population.
Through my travels I have heard "tales" about the other parts of India and how they are so different than the north. One person explained it to me this way, India is really like three different countries; north, central, and south with different culture, language and religion. I concluded that a solid two years might be enough time to really explore this land. Unfortunately we don't have that long on this trip so we will excitedly start with India's Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur).
Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment