The real India

We are now in Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. The train ride here was more pleasant than last time when I was stuck on the train for 14 hours with dihorrea. Running to the toilet, or hole in the floor, multiple times during the ride was not my idea of fun. Also the idiots on the train used the opportunity once when I ran to the toilet and stole my baseball cap. It wasn't expensive but I had been looking for that kind of cap for a long time and I'm sure I won't find it again before returning to Europe where it will cost 15 times more than in Asia.

Apparently, if you don't look after your stuff all the time, it's just stolen. The local people who were on the train chained their luggage to their bunks and then slept on top of it as well. I chained my backpack also to the bunk and Anna slept on her backpack so the only thing they got this time was my cap, and yes a half empty water bottle that a homeless person snatched from us.

I'm not going to beat around the bush about it. 95% of the people I've spoken to here in India are just after my money and 90% of those will do almost anything to get more than they deserve. This has led me to be really rude to many of them and what's even worse, I've let them get on my nerves. On the other hand I've carefully reminded myself to give tips if we receive good service, which is not so easy if you're from Iceland where no one ever gives tips.

We took a taxi in Kolkata on several occations and they always tried to cheat us. Once they gave us a phoney price list which we noticed and asked for the right one but the others all drove us a far longer route than they had to. It didn't even matter if I had a map and could see what way they were supposed to drive and if I corrected them, they just said "yes, yes" and kept on going the long way. The money we are talking about are nothing compared to home but I just hate when people do that and on two occations I was shouting at the driver by the end of the ride and threw the money on the floor of the taxi before going out and slamming the door.
Then we had the people in Varanasi that came up to you and started telling you about the rituals and ceremonies of Hindus. It was nice the first time and afterwards we gave a lot of money compared to here (200 rupees) to the people there which said it would go to help with the burial of poor people (sure). Next time a man started telling us the same stuff but we told him that we had already heard it and we didn't give him any money. The third time we were on a boat when a man climed aboard and started telling us the same things. We told him that we had heard it twice before and didn't need the information. He kept on talking and talking and since I'm to tired of fighting off these people, I just let him talk in stead of wasting my energy on getting rid of him. Well the speach always ends in the same way, "burning is learning and cremation is education. Now you have a house, a car, a wife but in the end when you meet God, all that matters is good karma. If you decide to give me money/donate money for the cremation of the poor, you'll get good karma, the more you give, the better karma". I explained to him calmly that I respected his religion but that I didn't believe in karma, that I had already given money to the poor and I was not going to give him anything. The guy got angry and talked more about the karma but I just told him that I thought that most of the people in Varanasi didn't believe in anything but money. That's my oppinion now after being offered to take photographs of the cremation ritual for the right amount of money but otherwise it was forbidden. Also we were told that we could watch the ritual as long as we liked but when we had donated the money, It all of a sudden became rude to the families to watch for too long.
At least the guy left the boat but kept on saying that I would get bad karma because of this and added "remember my words". I just yelled back that all christians believed that he was worshiping the wrong God and would burn in hell because of that.

I'm really surpriced of myself that I'm getting into fights with people these days and if you know me, you're probably shocked of how I'm acting. I've been working in the service industry for very long now and I think I've never got into a fight with a difficult customer and I've dealt with many of them. I on top of that, reallize that I'm a guest in India and I should treat the locals here with respect and be tolerant of their culture. The way people are acting however is too much though and luckily I know that I have many Indians on my side. The people that I've met who don't want my money (like on the train yesterday) tell me not to trust anyone, don't listen to people who bullshit you, do not give money to the beggars, always take care of your belongings etc.

The situation here is not normal, I thought that I had gotten used to almost anything on my trip but I obviously haven't. The fact that I got dihorrea in the first days here in India, also makes me paranoid about the food. I thought I liked Indian food but these days I don't have an appetite for anything and pray that I'll find a McDonald's soon (haven't seen one yet). Before we came to India, we were disappointed that we only had three weeks here and thought that 3 months would have been better. I must say now that I'm glad I'm not spending more time here than 3 weeks. We've even decided not to go to Delhi because we've had enough of crowded, polluted cities and are planning on spending more time in Goa (a beautiful beach) before returning to Europe.

Maybe this place just has to grow on me, we'll see.

Take care
Valgeir

p.s. When Indians ask me how I feel about their country, I don't lie but I try not to tell the whole truth.