India – a land of contrasts

Travelling from the north to the south, seeing the difference between the rich and poor areas, India is a land of major contrasts that make it interesting, frustrating and a place I won’t forget. Below are some of the contrasts that I experienced during my 10,000kms:

Cold in the North to Hot, Humid weather in the South
I wore all my clothes on the drive to Delhi from Katmandu while under a blanket of smog. In the south the sun burnt through a thin layer of smog and made for hot days.

Mountains to beaches
I did not get into Kashmir, Indian Himalaya, but relaxed and explored the coasts of Kerala and Goa. Beautiful landscapes of palm trees down to the green waters in Kerala and the beaches of Goa. Each place I stayed was a traditional fishing village turned into a backpacker resort.

Mumbai – the haves and have nots
I visited a few nice restaurants, drank some Indian wine (more work required) and enjoyed a few western luxuries. I visited the biggest slum in South East Asia, where people lived in fox holes and Western work place healthy and safety would have shutdown the whole slum, but I came away positive about human ingenuity. The slums had education, healthcare and vibrant energy while rural Indians battled against drought, famine and access to education and health care.

Conglomerates to an individual
A visit to India sees every man, women and child using all means to make a rupee. Anyone that has demonstrated success has had their ideas copied by everyone around them. This is in contrast to the conglomerate Tata Group who comprises of 114companies, from steel , cars to tea and water. Tata had revenue of US$70 billion in 2009… a little more than the average man, woman and child on the streets.

Socialism to democracy
India is the largest democracy in the world but there is socialist populism in the southern states of India. Southern India is the economic, agricultural and industrial power house of India with the highest literacy rate and university educated individuals but have a leniency towards socialism. Part of the reason for high education and regional economic power is the colonial rulers occupied the south of India, yet Socialist parties dominate the political landscape.

Rules to practicality – motorbikes on the freeway
We need rules to ensure there is order in society but they need to be sensible. On many freeways in India motorbikes are not allowed, makes sense when they only travel 30km/h. The rule should be under 150cc no freeway. I got past one set of officials to drive travel 80km along a 120km section where the alternatives limited – 5 officials flagged me down after the several individual officials on the side of the road I ignored.

Religious openness to closed communities and untouchables over 10% of the population
The former Portuguese town of Fort Cochi or French town of Puducherry are opposites of the Muslim and Hindu communities in the North of India where communities are isolated in a different world. In Fort Cochi Christian women are emancipated but in the north Hindu and Muslim women are veiled and are second class citizens. I visited a rural community near Jodhpur where women attended only the equivalent of junior school, married below 18 years of age and were veiled. Gandhi spent a majority of his time to remove the idea and segregation of the underclass but still today the hierarchy of Indian society sets your path in life.

Culturally unique – constant staring and no personnel space
On my travels to date, I have to conclude that Indians on a whole are culturally unique for three reasons, staring, personal space and sharing.
Staring - the most amazing part is the staring. The unflinching, frozen state where people do not flinch when I say ‘Hello’, wave and even jump up and down.
Personnel space – stopping in remote places, men would gather around, jostling to get forward to the bike. Sometimes I was getting pushed away or onto the bike...similar to a Bollywood star stopped at a truck stop.
Touching - The expectation that my bike is the same as any bike where they can sit, touch and borrow for a ride goes against my culture where you do not touch other people’s property. A Norwegian biker referred to it as touching ones wife... but the language barrier lost the menaing.