In no particular order :
In India they drive on the left too. Two big differences. On a roundabout or junction cars coming from the right give way. The other - they overtake from either side.
Unusual to see women drivers. Men are very chauvinistic on the road. No female Tuk Tuk or taxi drivers.
While there are some taller youngsters at 5’9” I am tall by Indian standards. It reflects diet more than genes I believe.
Indians seem to eat chapati with everything. There is nothing much to dislike about them but less to like. Like warm damp cardboard ( in my opinion - I am smiling!).
42% of an average Indians diet is made up of pulses (I have read). In the last year the price of pulses have increased by up to100% because of an inability to increase supply to keep up with demand. Why can’t supply meet demand? There was a poor monsoon in most areas. This has meant a shortage of water (or expensive tanker water has to be brought in) is one reason as farm production falls and costs increase. The other is insatiable and increasing demand. (see paragraph below re population growth.) This is making Prime minister Modi unpopular with some because the price of food has become so high ( but still very cheap by western standards ).
India's population is currently increasing by 2% per year. With a population of over 1 billion this means an increase of over 20 million people per year. India will overtake China as the most populated country in the world. This is causing India many problems and many see it as the biggest threat to India’s future. Why is it growing so rapidly. A cultural attitude. Hindu’s love children and the family unit remains prized. I have also been told that Muslims quite often have multiple wives and large families. Increasing India's food supply by 1% a year is a big pressure. 2% has been too much and India is importing food - pulses from Africa for instance. I have asked what can be done about it. The response - broadly nothing in a democracy ( no proposal to go down the China route of limiting the right to have more than one child). They will try to change attitudes through education and apparently the city based middle classes are already reducing family size as a result of the financial pressures they see mounting on parenthood.
India is cricket mad. I was wearing my cap. I was told I look just like Ricky Pointing the former Aussie captain! What do you think?
Unemployment is a big problem in India. Even if you are well qualified wages are relatively poor compared with what can be earned abroad. So many bright young people have told me they want to live in Canada, Sweden or the UK. These youngsters are not idle. They want to be millionaires and quickly.
I chatted to one young man on the train. He is a navigator on an ocean going container ship. He was very bright. Very ambitious. He said he had had some difficulty adjusting to life on board because the crew is multicultural. A Bulgarian cook for instance. He said he was Hindu but out of necessity he has started eating beef and pork - normally forbidden to Hindu's. His rational. He believes there is actually only one God but he gets called different things by different faiths. Other faiths eat beef and pork and they cannot all be sinners so he reconciled himself to being pragmatic.
I think Hindu women are very attractive. I don't make this comment in a sleazy way and I have only seen Hindu women act with decorum. But they dress in their brightly coloured sarhees and of course they are very keen to wear bangles and jewellery. They all have long sleek black hair tied back. They celebrate their womanhood. They are relaxed, at ease and laugh a lot. They will smile at you when it is appropriate. I have watched them operate. They make the family tick particularly with the children. The husband no doubt is the figurehead but Hindu women get the job done. By contrast I have seen many Muslim women.There are 170 million Muslims in India. I have not had the opportunity to engage with any Muslim women. It might be a sweeping generalisation but observing from the street and watching Muslim families walking together it seems to me that their role is totally secondary and not the happy one so often displayed by the outgoing, relaxed Hindu women. It is a shame I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment