Less wealthy than we think?
India can only be described as a smorgasbord - of sights, sounds, smells and tastes, with a range that's broad enough to please travellers with the pickiest of palates. Since finishing my internship and arriving in India, I've seen the posh high rises and sprawling slums of Mumbai, tasted the tantalizing masala dosas and idlis of Chennai and Bangalore, and gazed in awe at the majestic forts and vast deserts of Rajasthan. And that's just a meagre sampling of the many experiences that India has to offer.
But regardless of how many photos I snap, I know that, ultimately, my memory of India, and in fact, of any place that I visit, will be centred on the people I meet and my interactions with them. In thinking about that, I've lost count of the number of times I've met people on the street, in the market, on the train, etc. and been treated as if I were a long-lost friend - invited to share a meal with their family, shown around their neighbourhood, and given some sort of small gift just for "awarding" them with my company. The same applies to the all the instances when I've been even slightly lost or confused - someone would inevitably appear, sooner rather than later, to point me in the right direction, and often, personally escort me there; Granted, some of the treatment I've received can be attributed to curiosity - an Indian who can't speak the national language, travelling solo, seems to be a guaranteed crowd drawer. But that reason doesn't account for all of it - for example, the genuine interest in their voices when they ask questions about me and my family, the sincerity of their warm wishes and invitations to return again soon, and their refusal to accept either thanks or payment in return for their hospitality.
It's made me think about the term "less developed country," or LDC for short, that's often used to describe countries like India and Bangladesh where vast portions of the population don't have their basic needs met. In terms of standard of living, developed countries obviously win, but what about kindness, caring for one's neighbour, and performing unselfish acts? All of those are traits that I've seen personified over and over again in this part of the world, but sadly, seem to be disappearing from the Western world, where the name of the game is about looking out for No. 1. I hate to point the finger at capitalism, since it's already blamed for so many of the wrongs in the world, and also because it's what's fuelling India's and Bangladesh's growth into increased prosperity. But it seems obvious when I compare my experiences in these two very different parts of the world that, although the LDCs are obviously lagging in many important areas, the developed societies have also lost something in their drive toward material wealth - it's difficult to put a label on what exactly that "something" is; perhaps the best way to describe it is a powerful sense of community that extends beyond just immediate family or friends, and even past the town or city borders.
This isn't meant as a condemnation - I'm as guilty of the "don't even know your neighbour" phenomenon as anyone else. But I know that when I get back home, I will make an effort to change that. Because, just like the end goal of development should be focused on improving people's quality of life - a measure that has many dimensions - I've learned that connecting with people, whether they're right next door or halfway across the world, can't help but enrich the quality of mine.
Image gallery from Raksha and Helen
Tagged with
poverty,
wealth,
development,
caring,
west,
community
| 
RAKSHA VASUDEVAN 
HELEN HSU 
Comments
insightful
"an Indian who can't speak the national language, travelling solo, seems to be a guaranteed crowd drawer"
India has no national language.
Hey, great post. It's been said before, of course, but it's nice to hear such a sincere and well written account.
Good job and good luck from a fellow Calgarian.
Ahh, Rajasthan. Don't know if you got a chance to see Jaisalmer (desert forts reminded me of it) or Udaipur, but I admit that I have been touched by the beauty of those places. Quite 'shanti'.
Regarding developed countries and how people are more individualistic, I wonder if this is bound to happen in any society that develops towards a more 'capitalist' models. Will the Indian people grow apart as the country becomes richer and more international, or is the sense of community engrained no matter what? Is it part of a certain scheme of things that the more a country improves financially, the less spiritual and caring it becomes (' Money = Root of all Evil' type of thing?) Is there a bargain to be made between higher standards of living and knowing your neighbor?
I don't really have the answer, it's just food for thought. But you are right about one thing, and I realized that while travelling too: trully rich people are not necessarly the ones with the most money...
Hey bob, India has a national language ..its Hindi.
This article is very accurate. I would like to add that If you visit cities like Delhi or Chandigarh .... you won't be able to separate the difference between the developed cities of the western world with developed cities of the supposedly low developed countries. Old Delhi is a little rough ... like Chandni chowk etc but New Delhi is as advanced infact more in some instances compared to Vancouver or Toronto.
I left India about 7 years back, even to this day we call our NEIGHBOURS and see how they're doing. The past 7 years here, I don't even know who my neighbours are. You can't really blame people, it's the way society is shaping up. People need to change themselves. Everybody's so much into themselves. Nobody's living but living out their lives.
Everything will change when we do.
As an Indian myself, I can hardly believe that the writer had such a good experiences throughout her travel. Its just too good to be true for INDIA. I have lived 22 years of life in that great country. I have lived through all the good and the bad parts. I know the culture,food and the people. I also understand how anyone can get carried away in positive emotions especially when you have old roots in that country.
To me, what writer presented is not even 1% of true INDIA. She missed out on so much especially the bad part.
The talk about neighbors being over friendly - False. People are what they are, Indians are pretty much same as Canadians. They treat their neighbors in pretty much the same way any Canadian will treat their neighbors. There is no more love in India then there is in Canada. There are no more nice people in India than Canada. To compare western society and India in terms of caring for the neighbor, sense of community is such a false comparison. When it comes to basic human emotions and characteristics, Indians are very much same as their western brothers and sisters. An ordinary Indian is as much as materialistic as any good Canadian. There are definitely differences but those differences cannot be used to declare one set of society better than the other.
To be fair to the readers, I would like to present some facts which the writer is probably experiencing during her travel but is hesitant to share it.
(1) Hygiene - very poor
(2) Temperature - Very Hot
(3) Chances of getting stomach flu and fever - Very High
(4) Chance of getting ripped off by some stranger - Very high again, but it really depends on what your IQ is?
(5) Chance that you will be really irritated due to traffic and driving sense of locals - almost 100%
(6) Chance that you will see at least one act of corruption every single day - 100%
That is just a few in a long list.
Before I end I want to clarify something, I love INDIA, and I am proud to be Indian (and of course Canadian too :)) . Keeping strengths and weaknesses aside, its a great country, its different and its unique in itself. I would encourage all the readers to visit it. But keep in mind, it has both ugly and beautiful.
Note for the writer: Writer should present a true account of their experiences not just the one they think are positive and present a country in positive light. Happy Traveling :)
Hey Raksha,
Great post! It's good to see you articulate in the post that material wealth alone is not enough to make one rich. I recently saw this movie called Amal which is a lovely story of an autorickshaw driver who is content with his simple lifestyle who is kind, honest, compassionate and generous to a fault, even decides to sell his auto to pay for the surgery of a homeless girl and when he is bequeathed with a fortune, he let's it go. I doubt if you can experience like that in the so claled higher developed/captialistic societies.
Enjoy the travels!
Cheers
wonderfully put together, raksha. the description, the thought behind, is all sewn perfectly into one. Please do keep writing blogs somewhere, 'cause each of your entries is a treat to the mind. Good luck with recovering from your reverse-cultural-shock, and keep goin'.
as for varun, blogs are supposed to be personal glimpses, and not account for a "complete country guide". the Lonely Planet is the book you probably confused raksha's blog with. If she had a good experience in India, she'd just write about that, and a blog is not bound to be informative in all aspects.
It's a competitive world, being too kind is not how you get ahead in this world. Nature has seen too it that we are not powerful enough to help everyone.
And most people just aren't that good or even worth having around, lets face that fact. Our world sucks because human beings fundamentally are limited by their biology, which determines their intelligence, their likes and dislikes (for good or bad).
The world does not have enough of the right kinds of people in it.
Life without quality is meaningless.
Varun, first of all shame on you for being a fool. It's obvious that you have idea about India and it would be great if you keep your mouth shut. I don't know where you spent your entire childhood but I grew up where our neighbours used to look after us like their own children while our parents were out of town, we helped them whenever they needed something without any incentive for ourselves. There is nothing FALSE other than your pathetic statements. Sure money is desirable who doesn't want it but friends, relationships are not based on how much money you got. What kind of vehicle you drive and all the crap.
And about your useless points... Hygiene is bad only in certain parts of many cities. I don't know much about the entire country. I am from N. India but Delhi is pretty clean. There are parts of cities that are 1000 years old that look a little rundown also the country is only 60 years old with tons of chaos left and almost all money stolen by the british. Let us put things in the right place.
If you don't like the heat, you can stay in HP or JnK. You sound like those travel idiots who're always talking about how they got this room for $5 a night in India and then talk about how bad the room was and what not.
I lived there for 16 years and only got fever once. You probably went with your not easily adaptable immune system, which requires a healthy brain to function btw and got sick. So stupid of you to be careless but you're blaming the country instead.
chances of getting ripped .... if you're dumb anyone can rip you off. Like our universities ... every year fee increases, unreasonable expenses on the most useless buildings we don't even need. If you're not alert and lazy to react ...any and everybody will rip you off. rather than blaming the country .... be alert.
What village are you from?? Have you driven in Toronto or vancouver?? It's not bad or anything but drivers there are accustomed to their own way of driving. If I drove there, i'd prolly crash because they go way faster and yellow doesn't mean prepare to stop to them. What I know is, people are accustomed to drive like that now. Sure they're getting a little better, but for most part it won't change. I mean Mumbai's population in almost as much as Canada's population.
About corruption ... yes ... the only problem is that India has a lot of low level corruption where as in the west it is more political based only.
You're few points are really pathetic, I'm glad you didn't right more. yeh yeh you're proud to be Indian ... bleh bleh bleh .....
The writer is very rational .. trying being half a person that she is only then write stuff on here.
Helen, Raksha and Globe staff,
I just wanted to say how very much I have been enjoying reading these blog posts - it makes me nostalgic for my own work abroad, fills me with emotions of hope and optimism that together we will solve some of these problems, and is giving me the impetus to plan my next career move abroad again. Thank You!
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