The Actual Nation of Contrasts: Our Unforgettable Journey to India

This essay is lengthy. I attempted to separate it into two components, however it was shedding its move. My recommendation to you is to put aside a while to learn it; don’t rush via it.

The Actual Nation of Contrasts: Our Unforgettable Journey to India

I need to preface this essay. My seventeen-year-old daughter Hannah and I spent lower than two weeks in India. We visited a small a part of this huge nation, essentially the most populous on this planet. There are numerous Indias; we solely noticed a restricted model of 1. Subsequently, I’m nicely conscious that my ideas right here could also be incomplete (and even incorrect) and that the extent of my ignorance about India is huge.

Our journey started in New Delhi, the place we have been for barely greater than a day. We spent most of our time in Rajasthan, primarily in two cities: Jodhpur (“the Blue Metropolis”) and Udaipur, with its enchanting Lake Pichola). We spent an evening in a tent within the Dhora Desert. We concluded our journey in Mumbai, the place I gave a speech on the CFA Society of India’s annual convention.

Observe, Don’t Decide

As Hannah and I stepped off the airplane in New Delhi, the three phrases “observing with out judgment” have been behind my thoughts. Our airplane landed at 2 AM, and the very first thing I observed was that it was troublesome to breathe. The day earlier than, I had caught a small chilly. My lungs have been already infected, and the polluted air didn’t assist. We checked the air high quality index and it was nicely over 300, which is extremely unhealthy. Denver’s air high quality index on the time confirmed 20.

As we drove from the airport on empty streets, we encountered a couple of cows taking their nightly stroll alongside the highway. All of the sudden, we occurred upon a cargo rickshaw (a three-wheeler) mendacity on its facet by the highway. Our driver stopped the automobile and we ran to the rickshaw to search out the driving force unhurt. Not solely was he okay, he was soundly asleep. He should have fallen asleep and his car hit the curb, inflicting it to flip. A couple of different vehicles pulled over, and we helped the driving force get out. Then 5 males flipped the rickshaw and the driving force was on his solution to wherever he was going.

Once we arrived on the lodge, the very first thing that stunned me was that our automobile was examined by safety guards as if we have been coming into a army facility. A guard motioned to the driving force to open the hood of the automobile, and he fastidiously examined the engine compartment; then he regarded via our trunk. Hannah and I have been waved via a steel detector. The safety guards who have been doing this smiled at us, held their palms collectively in entrance of their faces, and barely bowed, saying “Namaste” (a greeting to honor you). We encountered this practice in all places we went, and it by no means received previous. 

India continues to be reeling from the assaults by Pakistani terrorists in 2008, which resulted within the deaths of 168 individuals. Safety checks, which we encountered in each touristy location, appeared very superficial, as we walked via steel detectors with our cell telephones and the detectors have been buzzing, however no one appeared to care. Or maybe my Hannah didn’t match the profile of a Pakistani terrorist. Arguably, my scruffy beard and unsophisticated alternative of clothes made me extra intently resemble a garden-variety terrorist. The purpose nonetheless stands: It’s arduous to keep up the identical degree of alertness for many years.

Nation of Contrasts 

Once I moved to the US from the Soviet Union, my father advised me that the US was a rustic of contrasts. He was proper. Within the USSR, the predominant majority was equally poor. Since all companies have been owned by the federal government, rich individuals have been simply stealing from the federal government higher than others, or have been in positions of energy and thus had a second revenue from bribes. Total, we have been all equally poor – socialism is nice at equalizing poverty however not so good at creating wealth.

However the true nation of contrasts is fashionable India. 

The astonishing distinction between unbelievable opulence and large-scale poverty proper subsequent to one another was a shock to us in New Delhi. Our journey agent put us up within the Leela Resort, which might be the most effective lodge I’ve ever stayed in; it makes The 4 Seasons appear to be the three seasons. Nevertheless, once we left the gates of the lodge, we encountered poverty as we had by no means seen it earlier than – streets filled with trash, blocks upon blocks of slums (tiny homes manufactured from plywood), and beggars.

Leo Tolstoy’s first phrases in Anna Karenina have been, “Joyful households are all alike; each sad household is sad in its personal manner.” I felt the alternative once we encountered poverty in each metropolis we visited in India: Poverty in India is painted in a single colour, gray. The colour of filth, trash, damaged roads, concrete sticking jaggedly out of buildings, and animal excrement that we needed to step over on the streets. 

Gray is the colour of the air in New Delhi; town is enveloped in a fog of mud. We have been advised that there are two major causes for the poor air high quality: the big variety of vehicles, with 32 million individuals occupying town, and farmers burning their fields. It’s also not unusual to come across a small campfire manufactured from trash on the road by individuals merely making an attempt to remain heat and slums are usually not powered by pure fuel however by burning wooden.

The beggars had the largest influence on Hannah and me. We have been at a streetlight when a girl in her twenties, carrying her ten-month-old child, approached us begging for cash. We had simply completed breakfast, which had been served by 4 waiters (extra on this a bit later), and this girl was begging as a result of she mentioned she couldn’t feed her child. Our response was not rational – Hannah and I had not triggered her scenario, however we have been overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. We encountered beggars knocking on the home windows of our automobile at each main intersection in New Delhi.

These have been the emotional experiences that engulfed Hannah and me in our first few hours visiting New Delhi. 

We arrived at our lodge at 4 AM. We slept for a couple of hours, had breakfast and launched into our tour of town, which began with a Sikh temple. To enter, we needed to take off our footwear and even our socks (as we realized, a typical requirement in coming into any Sikh or Hindu temple). I don’t bear in mind being impressed by the temple a lot as by its kitchen, which feeds 50,000 individuals each single day, completely free. 

Our subsequent cease was Akshardham, a Hindu temple that rivals in magnificence the Taj Mahal. I’m basing this not on private expertise however on conversations with pals who visited each. The Taj Mahal is situated in Agra, about 4 hours from New Delhi, and we determined to not go to, as we solely had in the future for New Delhi. 

Akshardham is a brand new temple; it opened its doorways in 2005. For safety causes, they don’t enable any digital units on the grounds, not even cell telephones. This is the reason I believe it’s a less-known monument than the Taj Mahal. I’ve to admit, I’ve been to temples all over the world, from the Sistine Chapel within the Vatican to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and none of them had the identical influence on me as Akshardham. The mix of its huge measurement, consideration to detailed craftsmanship, and fantastic thing about the Indian arts displayed make it an architectural masterpiece. 

Although not with the ability to usher in cell telephones is dangerous for Akshardham’s publicity, Hannah and I discovered that it truly enhanced our expertise. We have been extra current, specializing in taking footage with our eyes.

A Nation and Tradition Formed by Faith

Beginning our journey by visiting a Sikh temple and Akshardham was the correct solution to start, because it launched us to the function faith performs in India. Faith is deeply embedded on this nation, way more so than within the West. This may be seen of their remedy of animals. Hindus imagine in reincarnation, so a cow crossing the road or a pigeon alighting at your toes for a handout could also be a relative of yours. Karma is a big think about each particular person choice; good intent and choices will influence the result of your rebirth. We noticed this out there in Jodhpur, the place on the finish of the day a retailer proprietor introduced out seeds and water containers for the pigeons. 

All of the cities we visited have been filled with stray canine. These armies of strays have been fed like relations by individuals who possible lived on a couple of {dollars} a day. Cows are sacred animals in India, and the consumption of beef is taboo. Even McDonald’s in India is usually vegetarian, identical to many of the nation’s inhabitants. The one meat they serve is hen. Cows wandering in the midst of the streets have been as widespread as streetlights. We have been advised that these cows are privately owned. Their house owners allow them to wander via town throughout the day, and the cows discover their manner house within the night. Cows occur to favor busy streets as a result of there are not any flies, so that is the place they spend their days. 

The Indian obsession with Karma permeates their day by day habits. At first, the cynic in me attributed the kindness we encountered to the high-quality customer support of the accommodations we stayed in. However as our interactions prolonged to random individuals we encountered on our journey, I observed this tradition of giving in all places, from a taxi driver taking us to the airport to a shopkeeper I requested for instructions to our lodge early within the morning. 

At virtually each restaurant we went to, we have been served by three or 4 individuals without delay. What would usually be a job for one particular person within the US or Europe was usually carried out by a number of. On the convention in Mumbai, it received to a comical degree after I requested for tea. One particular person opened a tea bag, one other poured water, one other added honey, and the final one stirred it. The availability and abundance of low-skilled labor is so massive, and the price of labor so low (wages may be as little as $8 a day) that there isn’t a must attempt for effectivity. 

What was wonderful was that these individuals had little or no pores and skin within the sport, but they made us really feel that they cared. Hannah joked that that they had soul within the sport. I believe she is correct; extra exactly, that they had soul in our sport; that they had a want to assist and to make the lives of random strangers barely higher.

This “how can I make your life a bit higher” habits was touching and disarming and had an excellent greater influence on us than the magnificence of Akshardham.

India is a rustic with tens of millions of gods (in response to our tour guides), they usually hold discovering new gods on a regular basis. On our manner from Jodhpur to Udaipur, we stopped by a temple the place they worshiped a motorbike. This isn’t a publicity gimmick; it’s a actual temple, and we needed to take off our footwear to enter. 

In 1988, Om Banna, a neighborhood resident, misplaced management of his bike and was tragically killed. His bike plunged right into a ditch, the place the police retrieved it and locked it up within the precinct. Nevertheless, the bike mysteriously confirmed up the subsequent morning on the website of the accident. The police took it again and locked it up once more, however it nonetheless reappeared the place its proprietor had died. This occurred sufficient instances that the bike turned a topic of worship. Folks cease by there daily to wish for a protected journey.

Whereas we’re on the subject of driving. I’ve been driving for nearly 30 years, however I need to admit I might not be capable of drive in India. I’m positive there’s order within the chaos, however I couldn’t discover it. Drivers are magically in a position to create three or 4 lanes of visitors from a single lane, they usually calmly navigate via it, albeit with quite a lot of honking. On these roads, you aren’t solely competing for area with different vehicles but additionally with auto-rickshaws (three-wheeled taxis) buzzing in all places, cows and canine randomly crossing the road, a person pushing a fruit cart, and incoming visitors out of the blue displaying up in your facet of the lane.

Within the West, we use the horn sparingly – normally when the driving force forward of us is simply too preoccupied tweeting whereas at a stoplight. Utilizing the horn has a unfavorable connotation within the West. Not in India. They use it virtually nonstop, telling different drivers “I’m right here.” Honking horns are a relentless sound (virtually like a serenade) you hear in New Delhi, Jaipur, and Udaipur. (There’s a bit much less of it in Mumbai.)

Is India the Subsequent China?

The investor in me was taking a look at India and pondering, “Is India the subsequent China?” It’s now essentially the most populous nation. In contrast to China, whose demographics are poised on the fringe of an unavoidable cliff, India has a younger and rising inhabitants. It’s a democracy that respects property rights and is pleasant to the West. It must be on the receiving facet of the West’s deglobalization from China. 

To my shock, we encountered a residue of the caste system in Jodhpur. (I’ve a sense it’s nonetheless current in rural cities.) The 4 varnas (social lessons) nonetheless exist: Brahmins (students, academics), Kshatriyas (rulers, warriors), Vaishyas (farmers, retailers), and Shudras (retailers, servants). After which there are the Dalits, or “untouchables,” who fall exterior the caste system. Every social class has its personal traditions, cultural innuendos, dietary restrictions. Whereas discrimination primarily based on the caste system is against the law, individuals nonetheless usually marry and socialize inside their caste. Although it’s unlawful to not rent as a health care provider somebody born into the service provider caste, I’ve to marvel how a lot the affect of their dad and mom and tradition influence the private improvement and social development of Indian kids. And the way a lot has the caste system impacted the event of the nation?

Regardless of India having two dozen native languages and over 100 dialects, a really massive a part of the inhabitants speaks English. No less than, that is the official line. Our expertise with English in India was very spotty. We discovered that in smaller cities, English was hit and miss (largely miss). Nevertheless, the CFA convention in Mumbai was carried out in English. I’ve a really massive readership in India. My ebook Soul within the Recreation has been printed in Marathi, the language spoken in Maharashtra (the state of which Mumbai is the capital). Nevertheless, out of the 30 readers I met at my reader meetup in Mumbai, just one learn in Marathi; everybody else most well-liked English.

I believe that is the place the a number of Indias psychological mannequin turns into helpful. Sure, it’s a nation the place it takes seven hours to journey 150 miles (our journey from Jodhpur to Udaipur), and in case you are a Western driver like myself, you want quite a lot of assist from the bike god to make this journey in a single piece. 

I remind myself that India is a growing nation that’s nonetheless constructing out its freeway system. In contrast to China, India is a democracy, a system that tends to be gradual and inefficient, and is much more so in India’s case. I’ve a great buddy in America who was born in India and lately got here into an inheritance. He spent the final eleven months in India making an attempt to say what’s legally his, which isn’t an uncommon story. 

Autocracies are environment friendly, although usually very corrupt, which is why China can construct highways and airports seemingly in a single day. Authorities doesn’t have to fret about property rights. Nevertheless, there isn’t a shortcut to greatness. Chinese language effectivity comes on the expense of the long-term robustness of its system. Democracies and free-market economies are normally slower, however they’re much less oppressive in the direction of their residents and normally extra sturdy in the long term. I’ve written many essays on China; however to sum up, I don’t belief the standard and robustness of excessive, straight-line, uninterrupted development mandated by a central planning committee and fueled by mountains of debt.

China has a greater training system than India. For instance, it has a literacy fee of 92% in comparison with India’s 60%. But when I needed to wager on both India or China over the subsequent twenty years, I might cautiously place my wager on India.

India is the nation the place you’ll discover fashionable buying malls and supermarkets in Mumbai, whereas Jodhpur, the second largest metropolis in Rajasthan and residential to 1.3 million individuals, has just a few supermarkets. Most individuals nonetheless store for groceries in bazaars, the place they’ve been searching for centuries, and the pharmacies resemble tobacco shops within the US.

Satirically, that is the place the upside lies for India. In time, Jodhpur will come to extra intently resemble Mumbai, and the standard of lifetime of its individuals will enhance, as will the value-added duties they carry out, which is able to make society and its residents wealthier.

As I write this, I’m combating a thought that was behind Hannah’s and my minds the entire journey: Would improvement make them happier? Hannah and I strived to watch India with out judgment on this journey, consistently reminding one another to “observe, don’t decide.” 

Poverty = Unhappiness? 

Once we walked the streets of Jodhpur, we noticed goal poverty, however we didn’t see any fewer smiles on the individuals’s faces than we see on the streets of Denver. These individuals dwell on a couple of {dollars} a day, in dwellings the dimensions of a one-car storage, and their life seems to us in a single shade of gray. However are they any much less joyful than the common American, who lives the lifetime of a potentate by comparability? I noticed that the colour gray that I assigned to poverty was the filter via which I noticed their lives. 

Right here is one other manner to take a look at it.

I grew up in Murmansk, a metropolis situated above the Arctic Circle, which has lengthy, chilly winters with little or no daylight for months. I by no means considered my childhood as notably troublesome or disadvantaged, as I used to be born into it and didn’t know any higher. In the event you despatched a mean Denverite (Denver has 300 days of sunshine) or considered one of my youngsters to Murmansk, at first they might really feel as if that they had been despatched to a gulag. Nevertheless, after a 12 months or two, they might adapt and study to understand the fantastic thing about crisp snow on the bottom, tobogganing down the native hillsides, and the enjoyment of ingesting scorching chocolate after they received house and out of the chilly. 

Writing that is making me a bit nostalgic for my childhood! 

People adapt. The variation course of is way simpler if you find yourself born into an setting and don’t expertise the alternate options. Sure, buying in supermarkets is extra environment friendly and doubtless cheaper than in Jodhpur’s bazaar. However some might discover worth in strolling via the busy bazaar, bumping into previous pals, shopping for tomatoes from a service provider whose household you’ve recognized for many years. My youngsters would have a look at my forcing them to make use of $100 Android telephones as a substitute of iPhones as baby abuse, whereas India appears to be “surviving” on low-cost Android telephones. There are numerous ranges of poverty, I do know. 

In Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts discusses two years he spent residing within the slums of Mumbai. He tailored and located magnificence and which means in that have. Once we have been coming house, Hannah advised me she needed to maneuver again in along with her nine-year-old sister, Mia Sarah. Hannah and Mia Sarah used to share a room. Then, when my son Jonah moved out to go to school, Hannah moved into his room. Hannah mentioned that, though she appreciated having her personal room, she missed the time she spent with Mia Sarah after they shared a room. Mia Sarah’s room just isn’t fairly a Mumbai slum, however I’m very pleased with Hannah’s choice. 

Throughout this journey, in our conversations, Hannah and I stored coming again to the great previous Stoic thinker Epictetus: “Wealth consists not in having nice possessions however in having few needs.”

Studying this from a “cash man” who runs an funding agency, whose day by day job is to make cash for others by discovering undervalued issues to purchase, it is probably not the message you’d anticipate to listen to. And no, I’m not about to promote my home and transfer my household into my neighbor’s one-car storage. However there’s positively worth in studying to need what you might have. What we actually want just isn’t practically as a lot as we predict we would like. This journey jogged my memory of this time and again. 

(FYI: I wrote an essay in regards to the worth of shortage, which is included within the bonus chapters of Soul within the Recreation. Discover ways to get this essay and different chapters right here.)

Many pals requested if I might advocate this journey to them. I mentioned completely, particularly if they create their youngsters. Nevertheless, this isn’t your conventional sightseeing journey to Europe or a soothing journey to Hawaii. Although the cheapness of the rupee allowed us to remain in five-star accommodations and have a driver and a information in all places we went, I might not let Hannah enterprise exterior the lodge alone. India continues to be a growing nation with usually nonexistent sidewalks and streets usually filled with stray canine that will or is probably not innocent. 

This journey widened the Western lens via which Hannah and I have a look at the world; it expanded our myopic circles. (I wrote in regards to the myopic circles psychological mannequin right here.) I’m not simply speaking about poverty. To expertise that I may have taken Hannah to many nations south of the border which might be just a few hours away. India is not only one other nation; it’s a vastly completely different world with an historical tradition and wealthy traditions, usually gorgeous structure, meals to die for, potent smells (they take their spices severely), and people who find themselves the warmest and most welcoming now we have ever encountered. This journey stirred many deep conversations that Hannah and I might not have had in any other case. We’ll bear in mind this expertise for the remainder of our lives.

Right here is my favourite image from the journey: Dawn in Dhora Desert.

As I used to be touring, I took footage and shared them with my Twitter followers. I collapsed all my tweets into one tweet in your comfort – you may learn it right here.