Survived 1 year in India. Landed Apr 1 2009.
Summary: If you don't need to have anything done for you, you're fine. Once you need something, you face hardship, frustration, and happen to find a solid number of idiots who don't understand what they are actually doing at their "job". Customer service comes only if they have seen or talked to you a few times, otherwise there's no need to bother putting any effort out.
There are barricades acting as medians which are really just 4 foot high concrete separators because people WILL go in opposite sides of traffic to get to their destination. It makes sense to them though. If the barricade is there they can't access a shop back the way they came without making 2 U-turns. So in their mind it's easier just to drive back the other way in a one way in order to access it. Hmmm well I GUESS IT 'S OK as long as you don't hit anybody. Everybody knows that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Things I noticed in India:
- Society is over populated and chaotic at best.
- Dirt gets everywhere, all the time, no exceptions
- Wash your feet and hands upon entering any location as well as before and after eating.
- All 4 wheels of a shopping cart at a grocery store turn. So you ice skate through your grocery shopping on polished tile.
- Public corruption where cops are taking money from the people they pulled over.
- They're fascinated by how many people they fit in a small space. You see it everywhere.
- 5 member family on a motorcycle.
- 4 member family on a scooter
- No stop signs and only major intersections have signals. How many people can you fit in the intersection? Lets find out.
- Small Grocery store creates a maze they call isles. Entrance and exit are 2 doors, people inside are shoulder to shoulder as they check out from 2 registers.
- People walk on the roads, because rickshaws and motorcycles are on the sidewalks. Well, that's not entirely true, If you find the side walk, you may have to go around the over grown trees, dogs or people sleeping on them and jump over the 3 foot deep holes they leave open for easy access to cables or the small children that fall in them.
- The phrase "Traffic Rules" is an oxymoron
- Vehicles honking means "I'm about to pass you." Why do you think you need that?
- People drive literally in the middle of 2 lanes. (You're right…what lanes?)
- If you can fit a person, scooter, motorcycle, car, van, diesel in the space they WILL.
- They don't use mirrors: most are removed or closed because they could get them knocked off when they drive 2 centimeters between 2 other vehicles.
- They don't look to the side because they are too busy looking ahead because any number of things could be an obstacle.
- A person
- A family
- A cow
- A family of cows
- A hole big enough to swallow the family of cows
- An elephant
- A dog
- A parked car (in the moving traffic lane)
- A stopped car (in the moving traffic lane) (whose driver is now answering his phone)
- 1 car seeing a clearing and making a run for it to pass the intersection
- 25 cars seeing the same clearing and making a run for it to pass the intersection
- People are HIGHLY emotional here. Emotional about their pride, emotional about their car, emotional about their religion. Logic rarely plays a role here. That's not actually fair to say because they have logic, I've seen it. But it's distorted. If you grow up here that distorted way of thinking becomes "What makes sense". If you leave for long enough and come back, you can now "See" the distortion like Neo sees the matrix.
- Get a receipt for all payments.
- If not, it doesn't mean that you paid your bill. It means you paid that guy, he smiles and you never see him again.
- About half the economy is based on business in cash. They'd rather not report "some" earnings
- Most people are non confrontational.
- Outside the common man, even people that "appear" intelligent are still "part" of the culture so there are still blanketed by these thoughts.
- If you're in the middle of a deal or a decision and you don't hear from the opposite party then it remains on hold with little to no follow up. Thought: "It must mean they backed out" Second party is waiting for a call because they were talking instead of listening, once again little to no follow-up and they repeat... Thought: "It must mean they backed out"
- I want to help some of them. It's hard. They speak little volume, look away, or mumble. I like the guys that look you in the eye speak with confidence, and are courteous with your time.
- Indian Standard Time (IST) ACTUALLY means "Whatever time I tell you,+ 30min."
- Don't eat European or American style Desserts in India. They lack taste…and I personally think they are mocking us ;)
And India knows about these things. My father-in-law says "Welcome to India" still to this day if we experience something that doesn't add up. You can't fight this place it's too set in it's ways to change. So in order to "deal" with it you either "get along or move along".
On the streets, you can see the fruit and juicewallas. People walking are dressed in any bright color you can imagine. The things that you can see growing in India are some of the most beautiful plants God gave this earth. There are fruits that look colorful and unique and gives your tongue a taste not to be matched.
As we head out of town, through and around the hills you see the setting Indian sun. Which happens to be one of my good friend's name (Suraj). We drive under the trees that are bending over the road creating a perfect shaded path. Our destination, any number of local popular places, Goa, Bombay, etc.
On the highway we go through tunnels inside the mountain, we see families of monkeys, people parked on the side of the road over looking the cliffs, or peeing over them, whatever they happened to be doing at the time. If the trip is long enough, we stop for some chai, chikki and a stretch.
We come into the city, curse the heat, traffic, and people selling us things as we wait bumper to bumper. But once you get past that, it's an easy walk at Jogger's park in Bombay, some kulfi in the heat. Catch a rickshaw to uncle or auntie's house, visit and sit down to some Mutton Briyani, Palak paneer, and daal with roti. All that's good but then we finish it off with my favorite, Gulab Jamin. The food here is extraordinary.
In the evenings in Goa we eat fish with beer on the beach. While the food is being prepared we take Aidan to see the water, roll up our pants and let him stick his toes in the sand. In the day we can fly up in a hang glider pulled by a boat and take a few rounds. And if you're swimming in Cidade Goa let me know if you find my wedding ring :D
All in all just like any place we plan to live, there are pros and cons to people and places no matter who you are. These just SOME of our experience. I really need to write more when things happen. But I do what I have time for.