It doesn’t look like anything I have seen before…
It is very complicated to describe what I see everyday. Lot of people everywhere. Lot of cars, motorbikes and rickshaws (tuk tuk) on the street.
The Indian life-style is surprising me; Everything is so different here. I can’t compare it to anything else. Moreover, I don’t know how I should explain or describe what I am living as it doesn’t look like anything I have seen before !
Something will always shock you
When people talk about « India », they have in mind the famous movie « Slumdog Millionaire ». Famous movies about India show streets full of beggars, people knocking on car windows to ask for money, young children in the streets,…
I won’t compare India to these movies but it is true that something will always shock you.
« And so ? You were expecting a proper street like in a proper city ? » – my friend asked me on my first day.
Well, I had never imagined streets without pavement, zebras crossing or traffic light. Would you?
A country of contradiction
India is an emerging global market, which means that some Indian people are very healthy (much more than you and I together), while others are very poor. And that’s all about India.
India is…
the place where you can see a 5 stars hotel located just next to a slum;
the place where you can drive a big American car, while others won’t even have a motorbike;
the place where you can buy an Indian dress for 1000$ or you can buy one for 1$;
the place where you can meet the richer person and the poorest one at the same location;
the place where you can pay a beer 10$ but you pay your cleaning house maid 20$ a month…
India is a country of contradiction.
But the biggest contradiction, in my opinion, is that this situation will never change because everyone is happy that way.
A life-changing experience
Travel can change your life. It doesn’t really matter if you travel for one month or for one year. Some places, some people, some experiences can transform you totaly.
A single place or a single person can heavily influence a life decision.
India was much more than a life-changing experience. It opened my mind over some issues that I had never thought before.
For the first time of my life I was “the” foreigner. I was the “expat”. For the first time of my life I was different from the people around me. I had to adapt. This made me realise how difficult it can be, sometimes, for the foreigners who live in Belgium. This made me realise how an Indian would feel if she/he lives in Belgium. How it feels to be looked at just because of the “difference”.
Eventually, I don’t take life for granted anymore…
