I thought I would write some of my general impressions of India through the lens of the senses. There are so many differences between this country and mine. I think what I see shows me some of the major differences.
There are people everywhere. India is the seventh largest country by area, second most populous county and the most populous democracy in the world. The population is over 1.3 billion. People walking, biking, riding what they call two wheelers (scooters or motorcycles), pushing carts, or just sitting around.
The women in particular are beautifully dressed. The dresses and saris they wear are bold and loud with all sorts of color combinations that burst right off the fabric. Most men are dressed in Western clothes, but some, like some of the rickshaw drivers, wear all white. Some wear a white hat that looks like something the deli counter workers at home might wear.
The rickshaws in the north were green, but here in Pune they are black and yellow, like little bumble bees buzzing from one part of the city to the next.
There is garbage everywhere. Squalor down every tiny street. Posh homes behind nice walls. And temples, large and small, on every street, corner, and, in fact, in every Hindu home. When we stop to look in we find them spotless, usually unoccupied, save for the statue of whichever god the temple is dedicated to. Many of the statutes are almost cartoonish in nature, brightly painted, plump and well lit.
As we walk to the store we often go single file, since there are trees growing in the middle of the sidewalk (there is some law about not cutting down trees) or the sidewalk is narrow, uneven, or non-existent. Lots of times we walk with eyes to the ground because of these obstacles. We pass fruit and veggie carts along the street and buy bananas, papaya, carrots, potatos, and eggplant, to name a few. There are strange and unknown veggies and fruits I have never seen elsewhere.
Sometimes the vendors will meet my gaze. Other times not. I don’t know if it is their way of being polite, if it is a language barrier, the fact I am a foreigner or that I am white. Other times, while walking, we are stared at. We are in the minority and they are perhaps curious and look. I have never felt unsafe here. I ignore the guidebook’s advice to avoid eye contact with the men (wear sunglasses!) and meet their gaze, keep walking and go about my business. The women look also and I smile. They almost always smile back.
