India

We docked in Chennai in southeastern India in the state of Tamil Nadu. I didn’t travel farther than 100mi from Chennai, so I saw a very different India than those who flew up north. The cities I went to in southern India seemed relatively well off. It was definitely dirty and poor, but I didn’t see the extreme poverty that I was expecting. The places I saw were poorer than Saigon, but not as poor as Pnom Penh in Cambodia. India is an extremely diverse place, and I can’t really claim to have ‘traveled’ India. You can go to ten different places and see ten completely different India’s. What I experienced is just one small part of this huge and complex place.

The first thing that you notice when arriving in India is the garbage. People throw trash on the ground wherever they go. Even on nice beaches and picnic spots, there is garbage strewn everywhere. My buddy Tyler was on a train, and he said that the attendant collected everyone’s trash and then opened a window and chucked it outside. The blatant disregard for the landscape is just part of the culture. Trash goes on the ground, and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

One thing that I didn’t really understand when I left India was the caste system. Caste is the Hindu social structure. You are born into your particular caste, it has nothing to do with where you live or what your job is. Currently in India they reserve spots in universities and certain jobs for lower castes. It is a kind of affirmative action to help the lower castes better themselves. Persons from different castes can live next door, and work the same job. I don’t really see the purpose of the castes, and the division based on birth seems completely arbitrary to me. I didn’t get to understand the system fully and I need to learn a lot more before I can say anything intelligent on the subject, but it doesn’t seem to be congruent with India’s title as the world’s biggest democracy.

In previous ports I had left each country with a completely different picture than I went in with. India did not shock me like that. This was the first port that was more or less what I expected. That being said, I enjoyed India. The people were extremely friendly and the food was amazing. Almost everybody spoke English which made things really easy. This country felt very unique among the other places we have been to. It filled me with a strange intrigue that I couldn’t really put my finger on.