Day 1: Shedding Our Ethnocentrism
The air was thick. We took deep breathes as we rolled our luggage to the vans, stepping inside and noticing the lack of air conditioning. As the driver lugged our luggage on top of the car, we exchanged worried glances... wasn't the luggage going to fall off of the car? The driver's response was a gentle laugh and a nod, and off we went. Honking. Honking everywhere. Honking used as expressions of gratitude, anger, and frustration. The small cars were everywhere, flooding the highway. A strong stench filled the stuffy car air, and we looked forward to arriving at the retreat. Once we did, we were pleased with our successful arrival and for the chance to sleep.
Throughout the hour drive, we witnessed the large distinction between the United States and India. While asking our driver questions about India and its contemporary culture, all of the students and one teacher in the van looked outside of the window, observing just a small piece of what life was like for a citizen living in India. What we immediately saw was the loose interpretation of traffic lights and lines. Cars flooded the streets, and most of the time our taxi was merely a few inches away from the next car. We also noticed the extreme number of stray animals lingering around the streets of New Delhi, from cows eating a patch of grass on the side of the road to dogs running in the middle of the street. We even saw a police officer about to fall asleep at the post with his rifle pointing up towards his head. Yet, one scene that struck the students in our van the most were the large number of people that were sleeping on the side of the streets; some were living on the side, some were working, and others were taking simple walks around the city. By just looking out the window, we were able to analyze India and our country's cultural differences, which led us to sympathize and appreciate the cultural pluralism in the two worlds we lived in. This scene also makes us wonder about the growing similarity between these two countries; in the Bay Area, we are also witnessing a growing number of people sleeping off the side of the streets, which makes us wonder how the improvement of economic systems grew or lessened the number of problems in our society.
Written by: Mitsuka and Isabel
This picture was taken at the Lotus Temple, our first stop of the day!
