Don't Know Why I Like India So

 

Autorickshaw

Fish stall

Girls in Sunday best

Riding sidesaddle

 Sometimes, I don't know why I like India so.

It's messy and chaotic. It has smelly open sewers and a billion people, most of whom stare at me as I walk down the street. It has beggars who tug at my arm and grown men who pee and spit their way through the city. It has autorickshaw drivers who drive me insane (pun intended) and pushy shopkeepers who insist "madam, madam, I will show you beautiful pashminas" as I walk by their stores. It has breathtakingly beautiful beaches defiled with human waste. It has enticing mountains of fruits and vegetables, crawling with flies. Its plastic-bag garbage breaks my heart.

And yet.

It moves me. Everywhere, it is teeming with humanity trying to find some way to survive. The 8-year-old boy on the street, ekeing out a few rupees each day by selling safety pins. The dignified old man with an ancient sewing machine who has set up a tailoring shop on the sidewalk. Bright-eyed schoolchildren, in colorful uniforms and with hair neatly braided, who giggle and cover their smiles shyly with their hands. Inquisitive strangers who say hello on the street. Generous, caring friends who treat me like family. Intelligent, passionate, and vibrant work colleagues who make me look forward to each work day.

And it mesmerizes me.
Autorickshaws squeezing into spaces barely big enough for a bicycle. I catch my breath in wonder as motorcycles, pedestrians, and bicycles dart in and out of traffic. The thousands of people who gather at the beach every Sunday afternoon, staring off into the ocean. They stare at the ocean, and I stare at them: what are they all thinking/seeing? The soothing sound of the waves that lulls me to sleep each night. Lovely women in colorful saris who manage to look graceful riding sidesaddle on a motorcycle. The throngs of devotees congregating at temples each day.

And it makes me smile.
Where else would I see a goat squeezed in between two humans on a motorcycle? Or have a security guard at work greet me each morning with a snappy salute? Or see cows ambling down the street in between the cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians? Or have an entrepreneuring young man with a bubbly smile who delivers water, the newspaper, and my favorite pound cake to my door at 7 am every day, ask cheerfully each morning, when he sees me set off for work: "You are off to duty, then?"

Maybe this is what having a child is like? They're messy, and unruly, and they drive you crazy. They make you scream with frustration and wear you out. But every parent says they wouldn't have it any other way.

At this 9-month milestone (hmmm...there's that child theme again?) this is the India that is under my skin.

Temple

Beach vendors

Element K rowers

Comments

[Dale B.]

What a beautiful piece.

[Ramadas S]

Being a chennaiite(thats what we call ourselves) since birth, I could actually correlate you observation (Autorickshaws squeezing into spaces barely big enough for a bicycle) with a tamil slang "Cycle gapla auto ooturathu" which literally means "Trying to drive an autorickshaw through the gap given for a cycle". Through this piece, you have captured the spirit of chennai and indeed the spirit of India !! :-) Something that even we as Indians take for granted..Brilliant piece basia...has stirred a lurker like me to comment!! :-)
- Ramadas

[Sheila]

I agree--a lovely poetic statement!

[Shan]

Basia, I understand what u mean. Because 99% of Chennai people doesnt know how clean Rochester,NY is. We started our life with this and living with this as it is what granted.

We do have all rules and laws about keeping public place neatly. But we are following the rules what our parents, neighbours followed (becuase they never followed any). That is the reason why it is so messy. If you alone following those rules and cleaning the street and all.. we usually call them as MAD, lost his mind.

Another reason.. Every day chennai's population increase like anything. But no improvements in facilities. They are way behind it.

Simply.. YES, We got used to it. and Enjoying it (???!!!!!)

[StormOfChange]

Hello Shan,

Dont you have a personality of your own, apart from that feeble minded "follow-my-parent's-footsteps" one? Dont you have a brain of your own to think?

If your parents had shot a man and went to jail, would you do that too?

Our country, India, is messy because people like you just dont care.You dont have to clean the streets, you have a government machinary for that.Just dump the garbage that you generate in the dumping yards or the specified disposal location.Do your bit.Thats all what's expected of a citizen.

Facilities will be never enough if we dont make efficient use of it.People with your mindset,even if they are provided with a state of the art incinerating unit, will feel a cheap kind of satisfaction in dumping your garbage on road, spitting on the pavement and urinating in public.

People like you,who does not do your bit to make a difference, happens to be bane of India.

[Ryan]

hI Basia, feels really good to read your posts and know how much you love india. I was born and raised in India and have been living in Canada for the past two years. I can really connect with everything you are saying. India is like an uncut diamond. To recognize and see its beauty, you have to travel all over the world....Keep up the good work !!

[jenny]

I've been living in India (Hyderabad) for 18 months and writing my own blog. It's been a hard year and a half and I've struggled, both on paper and in my heart, to understand and say exactly what you have here. THANK YOU. It's a beautiful post. I'm printing this and taping it to my refrigerator so on days when I'm literally tearing out my hair, I'll be able to get a little perspective. Hope you don't mind, but I've linked another of your posts on my blog, www.karmainthecity.blogspot.com. I'd like more people to read what you have to say!

[Basia]

Hi Jenny, welcome to the blog. I'm glad to hear that my thoughts resonate with you. I'll be sure and check out your blog-

[Kevin]

Basia, I've read much of your blog today, but this post in particular was beautiful. You have captured so many of the contradictions that are India, and these are the reasons that made me fall in love with it [after first it drove me completely mental].

[May]

My eyes are misting over as I read this...As someone who is bound to move to Chennai (and dreading it), it gives me a different perspective. Thanks

[Basia]

May: Don't dread it - embrace it! My time in Chennai was an amazing adventure. That's one thing I have no regrets about-

[rhoda alex]

Maybe this is what having a child is like? They're messy, and unruly, and they drive you crazy. They make you scream with frustration and wear you out. But every parent says they wouldn't have it any other way.

You got it 200% right - about children and India!!