You can travel most places on Earth without having your basic values being challenged... but a few days in India will have you questioning every concepts of happiness... law and order... modesty and faith. And when you think you have it all figured out... another circumstance will confront your senses to have you scratching your head and starting once again to try to make sense of it all.
Let's take a few alternative theories that our early Indian experience suggests:
Happiness
Let's test this hypothesis... Indian people are happier than Australians. Take a simple measure of happiness... the count of people with smiles on their faces. The tourist hotspots of India collect many people who are not representative of the country. The street merchants... the beggars... the tuktuk drivers... are often people in transition who have abandoned traditional practices in search of some 'get-rich-quick' opportunity. Generally, they are as confused as the tourists in understanding what is going on.
Those of you who have toured the villages still unspoilt by tourism will see a lot of physical hardship... but you will also have seen a lot of happy people. Last night... on the way back from visiting the old palace at Karauli, we were sitting on a cart pulled by a camel. We were brushing past people... close to their place of work... close to the doors of their houses. Nearly every eye we made contact with, offered us some type of welcome... the kids waving with excitement... the young men giving us a nod. We were adding to the congestion of their narrow streets... and we were expecting some signs of exasperation... not a bit of it... they were happy to have us visit.
From my untrained observations, Indian villages don't have great variations in wealth between its citizens... all the rich people go to the cities. Perhaps, villages are happier because the large majority of village folk experience similar levels of wealth... we may despair at how little they have... but they are happy because they see life treating them fairly... and they feel connected to their community. Perhaps, Australia would be a happier place with a reduction in difference between the incomes of the rich and poor.
Law and Order
We have driven for two days... covered about 600 klms. In that time, we have seen one police car... and it was in a garage having tyres replaced. We have been driving 6 hours each day on roads that appear to be completely chaotic. Pigs, cattle and dogs wandering across national highways... holding up peak hour traffic... oncoming traffic swerving into our lane to overtake, or avoid a pot-hole... broken down vehicles left in the middle of the road... and from the size of the camp built by the vehicle's driver... the accident must have happened a week ago. Animals, pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, car and trucks of all sizes share a congested roadway... that is little more than a perpetual string of potholes, incomplete bridges, no lane markings and no signs to help drivers navigate the complex network of roads.
Lack of policing, lack of good infrastructure, poor vehicles, over-congestion of roads, half the drivers appearing to be under-aged.... gives everyone an excuse to do whatever they would like to do on the road. And yet, the fatality rate per capita on Indian roads compares favourably with Australia's experience. People expect ridiculous circumstances to confront them at any moment... and take appropriate precautions.
We saw one-thousand near accidents... but only one minor event. Watching the road ahead, I saw the sacred cows crossing the road. A swarm of motorbikes peeled their way around the obstacle. One of the cows lost concentration... and suddenly turned back. There was a screech brakes from the bike most affected by the cow's erratic behaviour. Rather than hit the sacred cow, he slid his bike onto the road... and just as he was coming to a stop, the bike hit a pothole that caused the rider to be thrown in the air... and he landed on his shoulder. The cow was untouched... the herd continued meandering across the road. The man stood up and started to wipe the dust of the road off his clothes. Every vehicle (including our bus) stopped... to check the welfare of the rider... to take his bike off the road... and to take him to the next village. No sirens... no flashing lights... no ambulance... no insurance paperwork. That is how India works!
Arguably, civilisation does not need complex laws... battalions of police to apply the law... bevies of lawyers to argue the law... and hundreds of politicians to plug the holes in existing laws. Arguably, there are alternatives to our litigious way of relating the person to their community.
Faith and Welfare
Last night we attended the 5.30 pm service at the Hindu temple at the old palace in Karauli. This service is held eight times each day... every day... because this temple is a special place of pilgrimage. The purpose of the service is to rejoice in the blessings given by the god... the son of Krishna.
The locals flooded into the temple... started singing... some prostrating themselves on the floor... singing and waving their arms in hypnotic ecstasy. After a while, the clergy came out and threw holy water in the direction of the congregation. A number of hymns were sung... a number of different parts of the temple were used for different parts of the service... all this happening without leadership from the clergy or anyone in the congregation. After a time, the men sat down for a breather... while the women sat in a circle and sang more holy songs... all with no visible leadership. We were invited to join in the celebrations... but joining in would have made us look more silly... so we opted to just gork.
In incredible India, I found the enthusiasm of the congregation incredible! Such energy... such happiness... such lack of self-awareness... such devotion. I guess Christian services may have had the same energy before becoming laden with ritual and hierarchy. Religion for these Hindi was all about showing their gods how they felt... not about listening to a cleric tell them how to behave.
One last comment. We are seeing India before cigarettes and before carbohydrates. Some 5% of the men smoke... we have yet to see a woman smoking. Only some 5% of the population are overweight... we have yet to see an obese person. No doubt, in another decade, this favourable health issue may have changed.
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