An India synoptic:
3 weeks and I have literally dipped my finger in
and taken the tiniest dab of what's available. The entire South of the
country lies untouched and I am told that to visit India and not seeMumbai
, Goa, travel up to Nepal or Pakistan or see the Punjab are nothing
short of crimes. But this is always the problem with everywhere you go.
A lifetime isn't enough.

One term that I found used in reference to India was Freedom. On one of my first nights in Delhi, Kartik
and I sat discussing foreign affairs and Western politics. We were
talking about Britain's slide towards police state measures: ID cards,
CCTV and the rest.Kartik said "In India there is none of this. No one sees, no one cares, only in a developing country can you be free."
In
a sense he is right. The black and white of rules are surrounded on all
sides by large areas of grey, there is very little that some hefty
influence and cash-in-hand won't get you. But that is key. Money.
Careering around Delhi atHoli with Kartik and his friends was total freedom and abandonment. No one was going to stop us, the town was theirs.
Yesterday I met a girl of my age who worked in a shop. On hearing that I was travelling alone she said:
"You
are so lucky! You have so much freedom, the freedom to travel, on your
own! I would never be allowed to do such a thing. In India women are
not free. Perhaps if I marry a man who travels I will get to do so."
India
might mean freedom but it is expensive. The cast system is still firmly
in place. People are still shackled to servitude while others rise
higher and get richer. After a while you numb a little to the extreme
poverty that surrounds you. There are the children with young faces but
old eyes who tug at your sleeve as you sit in an auto at traffic
lights, gesturing to their mouths and groaning Or worse
those, approach you dressed forlornly
as a grubby clown, crude moustache painted on their lip, mechanically
going through their act, wobbling their heads, doing handstands while
their mother beats a drum. This is not freedom.
But India is a
developing country and a wonderful one for being so. It is on a brink,
it seems alive with anticipation and I can't wait to return. I have
been infected by the India bug. For all itsdisfunctionalities and horrific poverty it is impossible not to love it. The colours, the smells, the tastes, all senses are propelled into
overdrive. And of course the people, so polite, so generous and gracious (I speak generally).
Safe to say, I'm a convert and will be coming back for more. I am intrigued...