Incredible India in pictures

Incredible India!

Incredible India! This is the claim of a massive ad campaign of the Indian Ministry of Tourism and it is a very good one-liner for our 3 months experience in this country.

India is incredible on all scales:

- India is an emerging country as well as one of the poorest countries in the world. We have never seen so much poverty and such a big divide between rich and poor in our lifes. India is developing at a rapid pace, no doubt about it, but it is like the rich pockets are islands in an ocean of poverty. There are people living on the street on every corner, with a small exception of Kerala, the richest state in southern India. There are gangs of street children and as Indians confirmed: begging is big business in India. So remember the scenes from Slumdog Millionaire and you will know what we are talking about. Children are also still abducted and used as beggars, circus kids, servants etc. The overall literacy rate is around 60 per cent, but only at 48 for women. On the gender equality index India ranks 114th out of 134 countries measured. And this is all happening in the year 2010!

- India has an incredible cultural and religious richness. There are magnificent Hindu, Jain and Sikh temples, mosques and Christian churches almost everywhere with richly adored columns and facades where a stream of faithful go in and out at every hour of the day. Some of the temples are over 2000 years old and were built with an eye for detail and proportion that has unfortunately gone missing in modern India. Religious ceremonies take place at home and are ingrained in daily life, in the morning candles are lit and put in house altars, water ceremonies are performed in Rajasthan on every rooftop, incense is spread in Syrian Christian houses in Kerala. There are great colonial buildings in all big cities, most of them dilapidated which gives them a somehow morbid charm. In Rajasthan we visited forts and palaces and you could still feel the grandeur of the height of Maharajahs' times. It is somehow bizarre to think that the Rajs of the time drove around in the desert in a Buick amidst camel and buffalo carts.

- India is a vast country and thus offers a variety of climates which made us use again all of our clothes. In our Xmas holiday on the Andamans we were fortunate to swim in pristine waters and sunbath under coconut trees (swimmers needed only). South India embraced us with humidity day and night, but also a lush and green landscape with endless rice fields and lovely backwater canals in Kerala (long pants only needed at night to fight off the ferocious mosquitoes). The hillside is sprinkled with tea bushes and spice gardens and it does get cold at night. We spent an evening huddled around a fire place in Kodaikanal which is in the hills in Southern India (with all our clothes on)! We were happy to flee sweating South India to Goa where we found a quiet beach and cool nights. In Hampi, the hills were scattered with big boulders, it looks like a giant has played stone lego, just amazing. And finally in Rajasthan, the Thar desert made us wonder how people are surviving in this harsh climate where summer temperatures sore to 48 degrees.

- India is loud, dirty, smelly and just in your face. The holy cows roam the streets, accompanied by dogs, pigs, and goats, everywhere even in major cities. They feed off rubbish and leave a trail of feces behind them. Open sewers and the lack of sanitation facilities as well as waste collection is a challenge for eyes, nose and feet (definitely no flip flops). Traffic is increasing and if there is one rule in the chaos it is to use your horn frequently and loudly. As fascinating as the religious diversity is, if you are woken up every morning at five by squeaking loudspeakers blaring Hindu or Muslim hymns, it can be a bit annoying.

- India's people are a strange bunch. Tourism has been here for over 30 years, but people are still excited to see a white person, they give you the biggest smile in the world. If we went out in the morning hours, busloads of school children would surround us and want to know: what's your name, where are you from? And they had the biggest smile on their face as well. We were stunned to find out that English is not spoken widely, but rather the exception. Thinking about the low literacy rate and poor government schooling system it quickly makes sense why this is the case. People involved in tourism are mostly the 'business' type of guys, whatever you need or inquire they have a brother, uncle, friend who can help you. Because wages are so low, everything works on commission, which is pretty bad because you get shown shops and hotels you really don't want to see. Also in some places - mostly in Northern India - people constantly hassle you if you want to buy something "just looking". This makes sightseeing a bit stressful. Therefore, we sometimes adopted travel nationalities: We were from Uzbekistan and were taxi drivers there. This worked pretty well, people left us in peace or we simple stated that we don't speak English.

In a nutshell, incredible India left us quite indifferent, evoking neither hate nor love (as most friends of ours predicted). We encountered some very puzzling moments and striking beauty of some parts of India, but overall we cannot understand some travelers' euphoria for this subcontinent.

Finally, for your entertainment a typical street scene video of Old Delhi (switch on your speakers!!):