India – Gets an unexpected grip on you!
Back to Edinburgh and back to the daily grind! A week on and I have found the time to reflect on my trip to India now that it has fully taken grip.
If I’m being completely honest, I couldn’t wait to get back to Scotland and all my home comforts and luxuries, such as being understood and getting the things I ask for! India, while you’re there, is a challenge and although, yes, they do speak English, we don’t understand each other. In addition, I was slightly under the weather the whole time I was there and this in part was due to the pollution, so imagine my feeling the minute I stepped off the plane into the crisp, fresh Scottish air. One of the most noticeable luxuries being home is the amount of open space and calmness in the streets.
India is crazy busy and you are constantly surrounded by noise. I dont think we slept our first week in Kolkata due to our room facing the street and noise keeping us awake all night and into the morning. The truth of this matter is that India, no matter where we went, was over populated! I won’t even mention the mosque’s next to our hotels and the call to prayers at unGodly hours! In keeping with this is the fact that as a tourist, you are unable to walk down a street without being hassled in one way or another, furthermore, being a foreign women, this hassle is times a hundred! In India, there is a concerning phenomenon called ‘clicking’ which is the art of taking random photos of women on your mobile. I am yet to discover the real purpose of this, but I can certainly pass judgement and say it is creepy, very weird and extremely rude! In addition, I read one day in the India Times that India was the 4th most dangerous country for women, lagging only behind Afghanistan, The Congo and Pakistan.
Next is the amount of garbage on the streets of India, in particular the bigger cities and poorer areas. It is shocking to go see the Taj Mahal in all it’s glory, only to step out into Agra and garbage up to your armpits: you’d think they’d make more of an effort to impress the millions of tourists passing through year after year. this is apparent across all of India and I can only imagine this is the result of overpopulation and lack of government spending on proper sanitation and waste disposal. That said, Nepal was much cleaner, yet poorer and i have been to a number of other poorer countries and never experienced filth like this, so I am inclined to believe this is somewhat of a cultural disfunction.
India is also strangled by unnecessary bureaucracy that makes no sense and is sure to send even the calmest of us over the edge, I think in one hotel I had to fill in about 5 forms just to stay for one night!… And don’t get me started on buying a train ticket again…
Leaving India, I wasn’t sure if I’d go back, but on reflection having returned to the comfortable west, I can honestly say that I will definitely go back, because in spite of all its issues and idiosyncrasies, India is in fact an incredible place! The people there for the most part are fun and friendly and its sad that the odd few bring them down. They have a vast culture changing from region to region and many parts are incredibly beautiful. Ican only say that when I do go back, I will hopefully use the knowledge gained from this trip and do things a bit differently next time round.
Muddy Soles 
If I could say Government should implement more rules and make sure people follows them. And its people’s responsibility to adhere to those rules. As you said its a great country with a very vast cultural history a filthy few bring it down.