I just got another email from my wife and she is in India,How would you like to live here.
Hi All,
While we have a free afternoon I must write about our experience yesterday. Mere words won't be able to describe what we are seeing but I'll do my best. Our 3 PM tour took us "downtown". We walked among the people on the streets for well over 1/2 mile and were followed by several children asking us for rupees (money). They kept tugging at my arms and pestering us, just like flies on a hot day. While we can pity them we are told to not give them anything, it will only encourage them to keep doing this. With all the traffic zig zagging through the streets, cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes and horns constantly blowing, cows will alk right into it and the traffic goes around them. Nobody is ever upset, they just go with the flow. There is trash everywhere, sometimes in large piles on the streets. Some individuals will sweep in front of their place with homemade brooms made from reeds but it doesn't do much good as it will be the same way tomorrow. On the street you will see men standing up against the side of a building or wall relieving themselves. This is very common. Try to imagine you are in downtown NYC and you see cows, pigs, goats and monkeys on the streets. Open sewers are curbside. You have to watch where you step, not ony for the animal waste but also for broken concrete, holes and other hazards. Beyond the sidewalks, in the street is where cars park and men have their vegetable stalls. We walked through these obstacles yesteday. We had been told beforewe left home that India was dirty. We have traveled all over the world and seen some sights but India tops the list when it comes to unemployment (over 30%) and dirty streets. As I sad earler, words can't describe it, one would have to be here to understand. The people all seem to be happy, though, and we are glad we came. It is definitely an adventure!. The video we are making will tell a lot more than I can do here.
Anther thing we saw on the street was a "milk market". People bring their mile to sell. Buyers dip their fingers and hands into the mile to test it for the fat content, then wipe their hand on their clothes. Our doctor in Florida, from india, told us not to eat anything from street vendors because they don't wash their hands all the time and they don't use toilet paper, they use their left hand. This is their "dirty hand". Well, we saw with our own eyes, these people using their left hand to test the milk!. One good thing about this market, all the milk was in stainless steel containers. I imagine this must be for sanitation and cleanliness.
Our home hosted dinner was a success. The family whose home we visited had 24 people living there, the mother, 3 sons, their wives and their children. There were 8 apartments along with several other rooms. They all used a common kitchen. We just walked off the busy street onto a side street for a ways, then into an alley and beyond a wall and some high doors, here is a big complex of a house. A different world! They must be upper middle class. We had a good meal, goat meat, yams, lentils & peas, chicken mixed with something else and everything was very spicy and hot (to me anyway). For dessert we had a rice pudding made with milk. Miss J almost gagged at that but ate it anyway. She was thinking about the milk market.
We see fireworks every night. There are weddings all over the city and they celebrate these with fireworks, a band, the groom is riding either on a horse or elephant and all the people walking and dancing their way to the bride's home. WE could see one from our hotel room. Over 90% of all weddings in India are arranged. Our guide's wedding was arranged. He told us that he saw his wife twice before he married her, and then only briefly. He has been married 14 years. The divorce rate in India is not very high.
If you'd like to see exactly where we are, go to Google Earth. We are staying at the Country Inn & Suites, Khasa Kothi Circle, M I Road, Jaipur, India.
Every place of interest that we go to there are beggars and people trying to sell their wares. The beggars are usually chldren or women holding babies in their arms.Others might be men with badly disfigured bodies or missing a leg. None of these peoplelook like they have ever had a bath or washed their hair. Pretty sad and pitiful. There is no welfare in India. Thhe only way these people get help is from family or friends The minimum wage here is about $2.00 per day.
All of us in the group are glad that we came (doesn't soubnd that way though, does it?) It is a different culture and way of life. The people are happy and know nothing else. We will appreciate what we have a lot more. India has a lot of history and we are seeing this each day as we visit various points of interest. This morning we visited a museum and also went to a place where they make carpets. Some of our group bought some. I guess they are a lot more reasonable here than in the states.
This keyboard is sticking. Please excuse all the misspellings. Will write from the next place if we have time.