Thank you India

It ends as it began--in an airport waiting to board a plane. Homeward bound now, with a long flight ahead and, finally, a quiet space to contemplate my travels.

I will remember India as a crazy quilt of cultures and customs that inexplicably combines to form a pleasing and functional whole. The first impression is chaos--people everywhere, a storm of vehicles and foot traffic moving into and out of the roadways without a traffic signal in sight. The lack of stoplights, coupled with the Indian practice of driving on the left hand side of the road, makes driving risky, which helps explain why so many Indians have drivers. But the traffic moves and people go with the flow.

I will remember India as friendly. The country is a service economy and Indians have a long history of being eager to please. That's one of the reasons it was so easy for the British to colonize the area during the mid 1800's. Now India has its freedom, but it still provides service via call centers and IT shops.

I will remember India as enigmatic. Indians will often say one thing but mean another. "Shall we eat in today?" means that you likely will be going out to lunch. "Let's eat sandwiches" means you will order a full-course meal. And "non-veg" will result in eating vegetarian. After a while you learn that just because one thing is said doesn't mean it's necessarily true.

Thank you, India. Farewell.