I am tired of the way many travelers talk about India and Indians.
Giving others the feeling that it is a country full of garbage, a country that is completely overpopulated, a country full of rites without ifs and buts. Many times I got the feeling from reports that the Indians won’t understand me anyway, education is rather absent and everything revolves around religion.
The Walt Disney method: one character is good, another is evil.
The good wins, the evil is defeated. At least, that’s the kind of Walt Disney world I’ve come to know and the one that was the successful model until the 2020. Back then Zoomania hit the big screen and until the very end you didn’t know who was good and who was evil. And in the end, the sheep was the bad guy. What a surprise.
We have learned through such films for generations: Good is rewarded, evil is punished.
For most people who report about India there is first the statement: India will be a culture shock for you. For some it ends in: India and the Indians, a disaster.
For others it is the best thing that ever happened to them. India polarizes and everyone knows that he and only he, is right.
In no other country have I experienced this so strongly. Why is that? Yes, India falls out of our mental and emotional pattern, but so does Africa. So what is the reason?
I won’t discuss this further here, but maybe it will be food for thought for you to question things differently.
We came to India with all these “prejudices” in us. Because of our way of traveling, we are lucky to have to get involved in a change of perspective. Of course, we don’t always succeed, but India made it easy for us. The Indians made it easy for us.
We only got a very tiny glimpse of the India of today. We cycled from Mumbai down the west coast to Mangalore and then further inland to Bangalore. Only about 350km to go and we will leave the country again from Chennai on the east coast to Vietnam after 2,5 months on Indians roads.
But this much I can say in any case: don’t be scared by contributions of other travelers about culture shock, garbage, way too spicy food, lack of distance, dirt, spoiled stomachs, beggars, fanatic believers and so on.
India is also very different. Above all, it is colorful, in every way.
We have been traveling for 10 months now and this country is the winner in everything. In everything that we are looking for, like to experience on such a trip.
The young Indians are on a fantastic path. A path that transcends caste thinking. There are discussions about the nature of democracy, about environmental awareness. Plastic bags have not been on sale for a long time. The topic of health and healthy food, an important one. Vegetarianism anchored in their culture. Animal welfare is a topic that constantly accompanies them, and they are also active in the area of street dogs, for example. In the countryside, medical care is free, as are the necessary medicines. Young people have long since left home to study and work in other cities and countries, and not just to send money to their families at home.
Some have whether my positive reports to India of course directly the negative ready. I would like to ask them to explore the country and the people themselves and to find out which of their judgments and prejudices may come more from hearsay or from the media. Which are their real experiences and how many of them refer to this big country India or how many of them take place only in a small part.
Who has seen Mumbai does not know whole India.
We do not need to discuss the fact that this country still has many problems. Which country does not have that. That some problems are much more serious than problems in Germany, that is also out of the question.
Without civil disobedience these problems will not be solved. But this is also something without which problems in many countries cannot be solved.
Come here and make yourselves a picture of a country, which brings up above all a giant projection concerning empathy opposite other living beings and plants. Something that I have missed in other countries so far.
I like India and the Indians. They are a warm, intelligent people with problems that need to be solved and on which they are working very progressively in many ways.
There are sports clubs that take care of the young people around them as a matter of course. Drugs, smoking and alcohol are forbidden. Healthy food, sporting activities, relationships built on trust instead of just a short burst of love, and so on.
Yes, I like this country and I resist the negative impulses that continue to come from outside. From people who want to have their say without ever really having experienced the country. Or at least only a very small part of it, which is possibly also influenced by tourism.
Yes, the government in India is right-wing and tries to drive out any religion other than Hinduism. Hate speech and black and white thinking are also popular fighting tools among them.
And that is exactly why we should not work according to Walt Disney’s old pattern, good and evil, but let ourselves be surprised and experience for ourselves what is in between.
We got to know the Indians as extremely friendly, open, interested and helpful. No matter where we come from, which religion is ours and no matter if we are on the road with dirty old bicycles.
Our bicycle trips, our reports, also a little bit an act of civil disobedience 🙂 or better civil resistance, non-cooperation?!
This is what India needs and they are doing it. It has taken a long time since Gandhi’s disobedience helped end British colonial rule and much has been lost in the first flush of newfound freedoms, but now they are at it again. And I am convinced they will succeed. Just as they are also convinced about it.
Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the development of a true democratic spirit (Mahatma Gandhi)
The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not enough for everyone’s greed (Mahatma Gandhi)
Some examples of civil disobedience that have made a big difference can be found here: Rebellion.
Indian people practice civil disobedience. Let us all practice civil disobedience 🙂
Some side thoughts about Water
For us traveling, next to get food and to find a safe place for the night, Water is always a main issue. We are so lucky in our western countries about how easy our access to fresh water is. India knows about the importance of fresh water for their people. Therefore they installed places where everybody can get the drinking water for free or at least for a real small amount of money. If you buy your water in bottles, the 1l bottle always, doesn’t matter where you buy it, is about 0,23 €, the 2l Bottle always 0,34 €.
The water problem will not get better, but rather worse. A lot needs to be done about it. Similar to other countries, there is a lot of water contaminated with arsenic (which occurs naturally here). You can’t see it, you can’t taste it. It is used for cooking, rinsing and for the fields. The poisoning of people will be only visible after many years.
We do carry a water filter with us, for emergencies, but it won’t be able to filter everything out.
Some travelers completely reject plastic bottles. We decided to use ONLY the water from the plastic bottles.