Random India Observations

· One of the first things our driver on the short drive from the New Delhi airport to our hotel asks us is “Do you have children?” (a question we’d be asked several times by others). Another question: “How do you like me?”

· In the bedside drawer in our hotel in New Delhi are both a Gideon Bible and a Bhagavad-Gita.

· Almost all the men in India wear long-sleeve shirts, some with sweaters or coats. It’s 90° and I’m conspicuous wearing short sleeves. I get stares.

· There are apparently no words for “oxygen mask” or “life jacket” in Hindi.

· The northern Indian landscape is mostly barren, lacking almost any sign of human habitation or presence (towns, farms, roads, etc.). The 1.17 billion people are apparently crowded into the cities.

· The traffic in Mumbai is insane, a congested chaos of cars, taxis, trucks, motorcycles, autorickshaws, mostly stopped at traffic lights or traffic jams in general or attempting to funnel eight unmarked lanes into two unmarked lanes.

· One of the views across the street from the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai is slums.

· Slums are also visible from the $1.8 billion, 27-story “home” of the wealthiest person in India (and the fourth wealthiest in the world).

· The traffic snarls at intersections attract both peddlers and beggars, tapping on the car windows. We take the cue from our first driver who automatically locks the doors at the first beggar’s approach and ignore her and the infant on her hip.

· Everyone you talk with in India sound like they’re tech support.

· 18 million people live in Mumbai. We tell our driver we live in a city of 60 thousand. He finds this quite humorous.

· We bump into a massive (and massively expensive) wedding celebration at our hotel. But it turns out to be a pre-wedding (massively expensive) celebration. Apparently weddings are no minor events here.

· The caste system is very much in evidence throughout India. We never do get used to viewing our drivers as inferiors, servants, at our bidding, but it is clear – and we are told – that that is the case.

· Most every public area is populated by beautiful Indian woman in wonderfully colored saris (their beauty no doubt accentuated if not effected by the wonderfully colored saris).

· There’s an awkwardness visiting Buddhist sites or temples, wanting to experience, not wanting to offend – take off shoes? not take photos? avert eyes from those in prayer? One of my photos of a temple doesn’t come out.

· With a computer connection, we’re able to read US papers daily, listen to NPR. On the cable TV we’re able to watch CNN and BBC. I go to the gym in the morning and walk on the treadmill, watching CNN. I check my email and my online classes a couple of times a day. There is no electronic or digital isolation.

· Just about everyone we meet everywhere is helpful, pleasant, accommodating to the point of obsequiousness (colonial residue or ethnic character?).

· We have problems understanding our driver, and he has problems understanding us. But if he had any command of English, he would be something more than a driver (the better-paid staff at the hotels speak generally good English).

· You hear both Mumbai and Bombay. Though Mumbai is official, Bombay is still common.

· The price of a 12-oz. beer ranges from Rs 60 ($1.30) to Rs 340 ($8.00). All is location.

· Getting lost in Mumbai (though not too lost) is probably a good thing in terms of seeing the city as it is day-to-day.

· We see very few Americans, virtually none beyond the business hotel we stay in, a number of Brits, especially in Goa (apparently a sort of British Riviera).

· Cattle and water buffalo have right away on all roads. It adds somewhat to the danger of a traffic that ignores lanes. But it also slows things up, sometimes to a complete contemplative stop.

· In the city, honking horns are the sound that dominates. On the coast, in Goa, it’s the squawking of crows.

· I only once barter for something, a t-shirt in Goa. They ask Rs 250 ($5.50), but I hold firm at Rs 200 ($4.50). I probably could have gotten Rs 175 ($3.75). But why? They certainly need the money more than me.