70 years of independence and they seem to have made the place worse.
Also, it is just too bloody hot. I can cope in the South where it is a bit wetter but the heat in Delhi in unbearable.
Street shítting is a cultural oddity and is something that the Indian government and vast swathes of the population are actually addressing now. On the other hand I'm not sure we ought to be saying anything about it. If Johnny Indian wants to shít in the street and consider his chakras, who the hell are we to tell him what to do?
None of which is relevant to my point, which is that 'different' does not mean the same as 'wrong. I find these places where things are 'different' interesting. This, apparently, makes me weird.
Could I make you happy by only going on holiday to Magaluf and only eating in English restaurants?
At one point, she appeared to be trying to blame us for the fact that, as a society, it is one of the most profoundly corrupt on earth. I pointed out that that was pretty much entirely down to them. She claimed that our colonialism had infantilised the Indian character to a point where no-one could possibly expect them not to rob each other blind. :rolleyes:
Fascinating isn't it. They can make anything fit the same pattern but it ultimately comes down to the same point- a reluctance or outright inability to assume responsibility for anything or to accept accountability for it. Everything, including one's own mistakes, are actually somebody else's fault.
Its the modern day religion.
Basically, her point boiled down to the fact that she felt entitled to exploit us and deride us because her ancestors had suffered colonial oppression, but that despite my ancestors also having suffered colonial oppression, I was excluded from doing so because I was white.
This seemed both unfair to me and - dare I say it - not a little racist. :-(