India - Goodbye

I'm now back home, have found a new place to live, and begin work next week! Coming back to the US was anticlimactic. I was thankful for being back home, but because it was home, not because it was the US or something along those lines. My time spent in India was incredible, I had a great time and the friends I met and the things I learned about the different cultures was inspiring. There are parts of India I already miss, however there are parts that I would prefer never to see or hear again. The most notable was the noise (honking) of the cars in the cities - never ending. The cab ride from the airport here in the US was amazing because it was completely quiet! I could handle the dirt, and spending that much time in a 3rd World country, poverty is in the eye of the beholder. The people in India are in poverty if you compare them to us. However, they live full, complete, happy lives, and don't feel the need to go in debt to get the latest fashions or to put the pool in their yard because the neighbours did. They don't feel the need to compete with their friends and don't need the latest of whatever it may be. They are content with what they have.

While there I was reading a fiction book that was based around India and there was a paragraph in the book that I felt was perfect to explain India. It seemed like the right way to sum up my trip to India, and at the same time compare the two different worlds; ours and theirs.
"The US embodies for me what I have come to call the Western mindset, restless, driven, pushing toward some unknown future which is always assumed to be better than anything that has gone before. No one pauses even a moment to reflect on the usefulness of this ceaseless striving. India's cities are timeless, self-absorbed, rooted in a glorious past, long faded, that is presumed lost forever. Indian society paused to reflect on the process of striving and never got around to striving again. India engages in ceaseless introspection without effective action. Western society is linear, goal-oriented. Indian society is circular, inward-oriented. The West values the new, the young, the innovative. India treasures the very old, the traditional, the way things have been for millennia. Both perspectives have value. Neither in isolation adequately reflects the full potential of humanity."
This was the third time I have read this book and after being in India that paragraph couldn't have said it better - the differences between the two worlds. It took me being in India to really get what that paragraph was trying to say!

Two last adventures I would like to share. They say you always remember the first and last things you do either on a trip, or a meeting, etc. I will never forget the last few moments I was on the ground in India. We left Bangalore on schedule, Feb 20th. The airport in Bangalore is not very big, in fact is has 3 domestic gates and 1 international gate! For the most part, turbo props and planes the size of a 727 are normal there in Bangalore. We left as we arrived, on a 747-400. As the plane rolled town the taxi way I was watching outside thinking to myself, good bye for now. As the plane pulled out onto the runway, it didn't turn to face the length of the runway, but continued maybe another 100 feet to the very end of the runway, and then the pilot made a U turn! From my window, as I was on the outside of the U turn, we were at the very end, meaning dirt was under the wing as he turned that plane around. Image for a second, a 747 making a U turn. I'm almost sure if he could have put the plane in reverse he would have backed up to the edge of the pavement!
Once the plan was lined up with the runway again, with the brakes fully applied, he opened the engines up completely. This went on for about 10 seconds. So stop and count to ten. That is actually a long time to sit still and listen to the engines increase to full power. The the brakes were released. If you have ever been on a roller coaster that uses propulsion to get the train moving you know the feeling. We were all pressed back into our seats like we were headed for space. A 747 needs to be traveling about 170 mph to get off the ground. We were seated over the wing, therefore right over the back landing gear. Just as we felt the wheels lift off the ground I looked out the window and the runway ended! I am not a nervous flyer, but that was one take off I will never forget.

When I got home the last thing I wanted to do was eat at a restaurant. I didn't care what I was eating as long as it was at home and I cooked it. I would say that must have been the one thing I really longed for, was my own cooking. To just be able to eat something that was siting around and not having to go to a restaurant or order room service and wait for the food. I found it interesting during my stay in India the things that you think about most. How you compare things from the country you are in to the way it is done at home. If you have read the entire blog my comparisons seemed to follow a specific thought. I compared the taxi ride to one in New York vs Its A Small World. The rickshaws reminded me of the Doom Buggies at the Haunted Mansion, and the lights at the Mysore Palace of course reminded me of Main Street U.S.A. Once you get back from a trip of this size you want to tell the world everything, and at the same time you feel like you have nothing to say. The number one question I got from friends, family and even coworkers once I returned was; "Lance, you just spent two months in India, what are you going to do next?" ... and so I did! :)

"The Happiest Place On Earth!" is only a 3 1/2 hour drive from here, so maybe I did need a taste of good old America! Mickey says "Hi!"