India is insane...

2005-07-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

India.
There is no place like it on earth. I did not expect this, nor could have prepared myself for the craziness that runs rampant through the busy, crowded streets littered with trash, people, mud, and random farm animals. The most striking thing about the country thus far is the poverty... Oh my god, the poverty is unbelievable.... miles and miles of makeshift homes built from rotting lumbar and blue plastic tarps. You catch an auto-rickshaw and drive past these communities, and your jaw drops (literally) as your heart wrenches for these people, and somewhere inside you thank everything and everyone that you were born in (as they say) "Ah-mar-ee-kah." The naked children play about 4 feet from oncoming traffic, as the mothers scrub laundry against the asphalt or squat and cook chappati over an open fire outside the house. The streets have no lines, they drive British-style, and there is absolutely no regard for other vehicles, pedistrians, or even the driver's own life. Each time you climb into a taxi or rickshaw, it is like Russian roulette with your life (and stomach) on whether or not you picked the wrong cab to negotiate with. Everwhere you go you are stared at with unabashed curiosity, as a white person is a rarity in this part of the world. The Caucasian hertiage is a beggar-magnent, and they grab your arms and poke you all over, mumbling in Hindi, and it takes every ounce of strength you have not to pull out your wallet, hoping to cure the problem, even if only for a day. Indian men are fascinated with white women, and you cannot escape the staring, catcalls, and feeble attempts at conversation in thickly accented English. I have already received a marriage proposal from a guy who could not pronounce my name... Mumbai is a city of immense weatlh and unfathomable poverty, and the disparity between the two is supposedly unique to this thriving metropolis of 13 million. But, this is what I have traveled halfway around the world to see and experience, and I am doing my best to embrace it and assimilate as best as a white, middle-class American, Jewish girl from Florida can do...