Caution: the following views of the author are not indicative of anything other than a general frustration at how India has changed for her, and are probably highly effected by the fact she travels alone and thus has to endure many stares from unenlightened (am I allowed to say that? cause I'm gonna...)Indian men. Anyway, here's my rant.
I used to love India. Somehow all the stuff that frustrates me so much now just went over the top of my head - I overlooked the rubbish. I LOVED the families on the trains! I entered into the same old conversations about my education, family and marital history willingly and practised my Hindi every chance I got. So what changed? Well, I'm getting closer to realising it, but it has to do with a loss of innocence.
I always saw India as such an innocent country, which is why I could laugh indulgently at the overexcited young men jumping out of their skins to talk to a white chick, or put up with middle aged men on the train looking out for me like over-protective fathers. But, with five years away from this country of contradictions, this innocence is slowly but surely disappearing.
As I walked to this internet cafe tonight, I saw yet another stupid slogan on a t-shirt hugging the figure of a suave young buck. What did it say? 'Girlfriends are like groceries - they come with expiry dates'. Along with 'God created women - his only mistake', these must seem so hilarious to the men wearing them, although the boy wearing the latter shirt, way back in Varanasi two months ago, had no idea what it meant. Sweet young Guru, a skinny long haired hippy-in-training and called Guru because he was the Guru of joints, just shrugged when I tried to explain how ridiculous it was.
Yeah, I'm aware I'm being over-precious about this. But after being requested to 'give me one fuck' by a particularly despicable young cretin a few weeks ago on the banks of the sacred Ganga (at 10 a.m one sunny morning!!) I'm appalled at how crass the young men have become. To my memory. India always deplored swearing and such language - others have asked in other ways for example, like 'Do you want to make relations with me?" I mean, that's almost even more ridiculous but at least it's a bit more polite!!! And it annoys me doubly because I know how little freedom women have here; how they are chained to the house most of the time and forced to wear whatever clothes her husband's family decides she should wear. So any little hint of misogynism such as these t-shirts and I'm on it like a fiery eyed feminist.
Then there's the so-called 'holy-towns'. I was offered drugs and/or alcohol every single night I was in the holy town of Pushkar, which also bans meat and eggs due to it being the sole place to house a Brahma temple. The young men there seem to think it the thing to do to drink, and I tell you what, they are terrible at it... after one Kingfisher they are loud and obnoxious, full of bromance with their arms wrapped around each other and subject to such behaviour as ripping their shirts off in public or whooping in excitement to the 'I'm a Barbie girl' song. I'd laugh, but it's just too annoying, particularly cause they think they are sure to score in their oh-so-attractive inebriated state.
Even Rishikesh sells beer and basically whatever else you want in Tapovan, a small village just out of Lakshman Jhula. And look, I'm not saying I'll never join in - I actually tried to drink a glass of whiskey and soda the other night because I'd met some reggae playing Australians that were loving my accent and the night was ripe for a party - but I don't think I'll ever develop a taste for whiskey, urrgghhh....
And meat. India was always mostly vegetarian but it seems even this is changing. There is more chicken on the menu now than ever before, and eggs, which were always banned in Rishikesh, are everywhere. Not that I'd eat eggs from Indian chickens, whose lives are equally as bad as battery hens from developed countries. Crammed into tiny cages, they have no room to move around and sit on top of each other until the moment they pop their pale yellow yolked eggs. Gross.
SO, can we call these Western influences? Possibly. I definitely think the internet has a lot to do with it - I heard somewhere that 50% of everything on the internet is some form of pornography! That's just madness, and I don't even want to think about what that's done to Indian mens' view of Western women. And I don't think I'll travel in this country alone again - certainly not for an extended period of time. Even in beautiful Bhag Su from where I write it is Indian tourist season and there are endless sets of eyes and seemingly innocent 'Namastes' which I just ignore now. I used to think this was rude, but now I don't care. Somehow my lifetime of being nice has changed in just a few months because in India it just gets you into situations you'd rather not be in. Sure, I still pose for the odd photograph with complete strangers, especially where there are cute kids involved, but I feel more than okay about saying NO and walking away as well. Damn it!
Okay, rant over. I actually have plenty of happy and wonderful experiences to write about next time, but such things are always better once expressed, don't you agree? It's dinner time, and as my stomach bug is slowly but surely passing I may even branch out tonight in search of a salad... hopefully these are not famous last words....
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