India by itself has been a huge change from anything I have seen. Using a tuk tuk or rickshaw as my main mode of transportation has been quite a thrill. Having random cows completely stop traffic or casually meander the Indian train stations is always an amusing sight. Seeing all the monkeys around, jumping from billboard to rooftop to telephone line can't replicate anything you see when they are trapped in their cages at your local zoo. They have truly turned a bustling city into their home. Dogs are everywhere, it is sad to see what bad condition they are in as they sift through the trash looking for possibly their last meal. The traffic is on another level from any place I have been to thus far. I honestly don't know how the people are not deaf here, the horns are constantly blowing, even the big trucks have signs on the that read "Horn Please." The horns are not all the same; some are really high pitched and some play musical tunes, pretty amusing. There are no lanes, street signs, stop lights, it is just pure chaos; however, the locals manage it just fine. The motorcycles and moped are all over the place driving into oncoming traffic and weaving through stopped traffic with their mirrors pulled in, the best combination of talent and guts I have seen on the road. I would love to see some of these people in LA or NY traffic back in the states; they would laugh as they wiz past everybody. They would single handedly destroy the time frame known as a New York minute. I can really see why the game Frogger was never done in India. It would just be one level, that would be hard enough...
While in India, you gain a different perspective on poor people. In the US a poor person may be getting a check from the government, have government subsidized housing, can go to a local shelter for food and possibly a bed during the winter, may have a cellphone, and maybe has a low paying job. Here, poor means poor. Living in a tent, looking through garbage for your next meal, bathing in the water you drink from, use the restroom on the side of the road for everyone to see, maybe missing a limb or two, potentially infected with a disease, have no chance of getting a job, and probably don't get any help from the government. It really changes the definition of poor. Is what I think of poor back at home actually poor? That is one of the great things about the US, no matter your upbringings, if you have strong determination and drive you can do almost anything or be almost anybody. That is the American Dream.
The cities that I have been in are very old cities slammed with people. In Jaipur they are starting to build a metro, which I think will drastically help relieve the congestion, but it should have been done years ago. I do not think the trash in India will ever change. One of the main reasons why is because there is no way for a trash truck to get to the trash. I can only imagine the hours it would take for a huge trash truck to get through all that traffic just to get to a couple trash bins. Also, like what I spoke about in Jordan, it is just engrained in their way of life to throw trash on the ground. Yash was telling me that when they throw their trash on the ground that they are creating a job for someone else... While that is somewhat true, someone does pick up bits and pieces of the trash or sweep it off the roads, I would rather give the job to someone who is completely collecting it and taking it to a dump site or recycling plant. There are too many people and not enough places to properly throw away or recycle the trash. The only real way to fix the trash problem is if everything was biodegradable, or if there was some special metal in everything disposable so some magnet could sweep over and only pick up the trash, that would be cool (patent pending).
The north is a more touristy area, from what I have heard. More of the locals are not vegetarians and there are more well known sites in the north. However, the south is much more relaxing; less population, pollution, and hustle and bustle, so I can't wait to see what the south has to offer. The south will be more vegetarian, hot, and have more mosquitos. I need to get to a Chemist (Indian pharmacist) to get some more malaria pills.
Since I have been in India, my days are much slower. Before India, my days were slam packed, trying to cram too many adventures into too little time. I will say that my one big regret thus far was not to fully update my music before I left. I mainly use Pandora back home, so I have no need to download music onto my iPhone, I only use it while working out. I planned to update my music the night before I left; however, I spent the night with my good friends, drinking beer and watching sports. If I could go back, I would not change a thing about that night, spending time with friends that I have been with most of my life before I leave for almost a year was much better than sitting in front of my computer alone all night. Got to take the good with the bad. However, the 127 songs are starting to get repetitive and not all situations allow for a good read. Like right now, I am writing this post while listening to music on the bus ride to the airport. Unfortunately I can't think, write and read at the same time. Maybe if I had the multi-tasking powers of a women it could be done.
To think that in a little over a month, I have explored the markets of Old Medina in Morocco, been to the top of the Galata Tower in Turkey, floated in the Dead Sea, been to the top of the mountain in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Scuba dived in the Red Sea, driven a horse carriage with the locals in Luxor, visited the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt, been to the top of the tallest building in the world in the United Arab Emirates, and bathed in the Ganges, regarded as the holiest river in the world, in India. What will the next month hold?
Only time will tell and anything is possible.
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." -- Oscar Wilde
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