A whole different India

After seven months in one place, you start to feel comfortable with your surroundings, your knowledge of the area, and your expectations of people. That is the feeling I had before going on our tour of the entire country of India. I now realize that there is so much diversity from region to region, and Aluva, Kerala does not represent the entire nation. Rajasthan, located in the northwest, is a hot, desert climate, with colorful dresses and turbans, all signifying something of caste, religion, or status.

Delhi, the capital of India, was again a completely different world. In the city lies a number of contradictions. While there is undoubtedly greater technology and amenities available, the poverty is more acute than what I have experienced so far. As the train entered through the outskirts, small cubicles of scrap metal formed dwellings that most in the western world would deam uninhabitable. But within the city proper, it is easy to see how those with money may never lay eyes on this destitution. Near the embassy the green grounds are lush, and there are a number of beautiful, spacious gardens. Shopping malls with imported brand names rise up out of the pavement.

North of Delhi lie the beautiful Himalayas. Small villages are still prevalent in this area, where the climate is cool enough to wear wool sweaters and caps. Trekking in the foothills of the snowcapped mountains was exhilirating, but it was easy to feel a sense of peace. Dharamasala was our next stop; the place of the Tibetan refugees. While I knew a little about the struggle of Tibet, I learned infinitely more here. A cooking lesson with Sangye, a Tibetan who escaped in 1998, was certainly a highlight of the trip. He told of how he walked for 28 days through the mountains to Nepal, while people were dying from the snow and cold. Several lost their limbs from frostbite. This struggle was something I hadn't thought of before. A demonstration of Tibetan monks and refugees passed us, shouting "Free Tibet! Stop the killing! Death to China!" How powerful words and shouts can be!

Our final destination was Goa, a small state full of beaches once occupied by the Portuguese, where we met up with some friends from a globalization conference we attended earlier in the year. They were from a village fighting against a port being built in their area. The proposed construction, given by a corporate organization, would destroy all of the fishing and collection of oysters and mussels from that area, which the villagers depend upon. There truly is struggle everywhere.

As I returned to my site, and to a sense of normalcy, I come to the realization that India truly is both one and many: "The land of unity and diversity". Different cultures, different religions, different food, different dress. Yet, there are similar problems everywhere. Poverty, caste, sectarianism, gender discrimination. These are universal.