The Time I Almost Died

India is a scary place.

I can honestly say that I am uncomfortable walking alone in the streets. If it's because I'm a "foreigner" or because of the growing reputation of India, but I honestly don't feel safe. The stares of everyone, especially men, make me feel like prey, and I feel like I should be ready to run at any moment. I am in no way generalizing the citizens here, merely explaining my thoughts. It may all just be the biased perspective I picked up in America, I couldn't tell you.

Driving in India is equally unsafe. The absence of traffic lights and stop signs creates an environment of chaos, filled with horns, honks, and too-close-for-comfort encounters. On the back of a scooter/motorcycle, there have been one-too-many times where I genuinely thought we were going to crash and die. There have been too many times a car has crossed the yellow lines separating opposite directions of traffic. Just way too many.

A subtle yet prominent distinction of color is also present here. Whether it was purely coincidence or an effect of some previous government instilled social ladder, I don't know. As you go down the social ladder, skin color gets darker. In a place where people share so many of the same customs, beliefs, and traditions, skin color seems inconsequential, but yet again the lighter people are superior. It seems like a universal mindset. Weird. 

India: The Time I Thought About Poverty

The education system here is very... different from the one I'm accustomed to in America. While they claim to shape kids through harsh discipline, evident through the strict uniforms and unnecessary school rules dictating hair style and behavior, the things that actually matter aren't enforced whatsoever.

For example, my cousin practically does double the schoolwork he needs to. Here, they have school, the regular classes during the day within a government-funded building with government-funded teachers. But afterwards they have "class" or known as "tuition" where they relearn everything they learned at school with a different teacher, one who actually teaches. Also they have school on Saturday, and I'm not about that life.

At the end of their 10th and 12th year, they take their "boards", which, from what I gathered, basically determine their future. Based on the grades from these "boards", you essentially pick what field you want to go into. The highest grades give you all the options (art, business, science, etc.), and as your grades get lower, your options decrease. And college is the same way, except without all the essays (the one thing about the Indian education system I wish we had).

Also these government-funded teachers don't care about cheating. People will swap papers during the exam period and copy essays word for word and the teachers don't bat an eye.

Anyways, enough about the school system.

If you haven't been to India, let me tell you something, it is stricken with poverty. People sell balloons and trinkets to make ends meet and even then you can find them settled in their mud shacks on the side of the road. They beg and they plead for money, anything to get some food and water into their and their children's mouths, but no one bats an eye at them, no one even acknowledges their presence.

Today, my mother, probably one of the best people in the world, spent money to give an old man and three children dinner. After everyone else told her no, she still went ahead and did it. And I can't help but wonder whether it was naivety or compassion that drove her to do this. For some reason, we've gotten it into our heads that people in poverty (mainly beggars) are manipulative. That they are trying to get money to spend on pointless things like alcohol. And while for some that is the case, which is extremely sad, it's not the case for all. Some people truly need help. We're just too scared and distrusting to give it to them. But then I have to ask myself, if these people were really in need and wanted to get out of their position, rather than roaming the streets begging for money, shouldn't they be working hard to pull themselves up the ranks? By answering their requests for money, are we, in fact, promoting this lifestyle? 

India: The Time I Started Daily Blogging (Sorta)

Ok, bear with me guys.

I want to try something different. And this may or may not work, but I'm going to experiment with it anyways. So basically, my family and I took a trip to India for pretty much the entire month of January and I really want to document this experience for some reason, so I'm just gonna try blogging about it, writing things that happened every day and thoughts and whatnot. This might be really boring or it might end up really cool I honestly have no idea, but yeah if you guys wanna keep reading that would be cool, and if not that's cool too. I'm still reading (I brought like 4 books here) and I'm still gonna write reviews though they probably won't be up until I get back.

So anyways...here's day 1?

This isn't the first time I've been to India and it won't be the last, but for some reason this trip feels monumental somehow. Maybe it's the first time I'm paying attention to the things around me, maybe I'm wiser and older and see things differently, I don't know.

India is one of the many places where the driver sits on the right but drives on the left side of the road, something that, as a new driver, really really throws me off. Also, drivers find it appropriate to excessively honk at each other.

"I want to pass you" *honk*
"You're driving too slow" *honk*
"I want to turn." *honk*
"I'm driving." *honk*

The backs of trunks actually say "Horn ok please" like they actually want you to honk at them. What? Also lanes of traffic don't exist. In most places, except maybe the highway, you can drive wherever you want in whichever direction you want. #safety

My experience with bathrooms in India has never been a pleasant one. I remember when toilets weren't a thing and I had to use one of the 'hole-in-ground' toilets. Those were some dark times. Regardless of the actual toilet, Indians also don't use toilet paper. Born and raised in America where toilet paper is abundant in every home and family, this experience is slightly jarring. Thankfully, we typically get temporary portable rolls for our stay but the first couple of days are usually the worst.

I'm going to be completely honest with you. Here I feel as though people see me as the "American spoiled brat." I try not to complain. I try to go along with the traditional Indian lifestyle, but it's the little things that are hard to adapt to. The little things like toilet paper that we've taken for granted. But is it really my fault? The fact that I grew up accustomed to certain things doesn't necessarily make me "spoiled", does it?

While India does have some drawbacks, of course not everything about it is uncomfortable and foreign. For example, the food here is amazing. I'm not sure where Americans got the stereotypes of eating the greasiest and unhealthiest foods because I can tell you for a fact that India fries pretty much everything. But it's still so good. So far today I've just eaten and been contemplative and it only 11 (already a more productive day than I've had in America), let's see where the rest of the day takes us.