I have lived in India for more than 9 months, and it is not so much life as an adventure, I have been pitted, robbed, I am not used to eating, I am not used to drinking, but I still persevered.
In 2017, I embarked on a journey to India due to my work schedule, living in New Delhi for most of the time, but also visiting other cities such as Mumbai.
Everywhere I went, I was amazed by the scenes, and it was from this series of experiences that I really got to see the real face of the country of India.
Fresh off the plane from Beijing, I arrived in New Delhi, India's capital, which is said to be India's best developed city, rivaling mainland Shanghai.
But as soon as I stepped out of the airport, I was greeted by a sweltering heatwave, which was different from the heat, and it made people feel sweaty and a little sticky, as if the air had become dense.
Outside the airport, I stood at the bus stop and I saw an unbelievable scene: the bus didn't stop at all and docked at the service platform, but just slowed down slightly, and the passengers had to follow the bus for a while and then hop on the bus while it was still moving.
While this way of getting on the bus sounds very challenging, the bigger problem is that I can't catch up with the car with my heavy luggage... I'm devastated.
In desperation, I had no choice but to look for a taxi, and the taxi driver showed excessive enthusiasm and offered to help me with my luggage.
However, as soon as I got into the car, he started asking for the fare... In the face of this "no rabbit, no eagle" trading method, I had to pay obediently.
Looking out the window, what I saw was very different from what I had imagined of the Indian capital!
Most of them are old, low, dilapidated houses, with haphazard billboards and wires intertwined like cobwebs.
Although the streets are paved with asphalt, they are clearly in disrepair, dusty, and potholes punctuate vehicles from time to time.
What's even more incredible is that the traffic here is chaotic to the extreme.
Most of the vehicles are tuk-tuks and rickshaws, which completely ignore the traffic rules and weave through the congested streets at will.
The most difficult thing for me to get used to was the cattle that roamed the road with impunity, which had severely blocked the flow of traffic, but no one drove them.
Along the way, the crowded roads are lined with small shops full of life, small restaurants, snack bars and kiosks.
Behind this excitement, there are some unpleasant experiences.
When I finally arrived at my booked hotel, the taxi driver suddenly claimed that I hadn't given him the fare yet?
When I couldn't prove that I had given it, I had to give him money again in the face of his intimidation, and my heart was full of helplessness and dissatisfaction, and this experience made my first impression of the city very disappointed.
I stayed in a local hotel with a good reputation, and the room environment was okay, but when I walked to the window, I was shocked by the sight!
On one side are the city's high-rise buildings, though not ornate, but neat;
On one side were the messy dilapidated buildings and tents, and at this moment, I realized that the boundary between rich and poor might only be just one street away.
After a hard day's work, I was exhausted from arriving in India, and I was lying in bed and wanted to rest.
At this time, the battery of the mobile phone was urgent, and when I was about to charge the mobile phone, I found that the socket in India was a round hole, which was different from the domestic standard, and the charger I brought could not be used at all.
In desperation, I had to go out to find a suitable charger, and I happened to be a little hungry, so I bought something to eat by the way.
There are many food stalls around the hotel, but the sanitary conditions there are unacceptable to me, and I was scared when I saw it, so I gave up my original plan and continued to look for a mobile phone store that sells chargers.
Here, I found that Chinese brands of mobile phones are very popular, whether it is OPPO, VIVO or Xiaomi, and you can see the signboards of these brands everywhere.
I finally found the charger I needed in a Xiaomi store, and after buying the charger, I was about to go back to the hotel, but I met two little beggars on the way.
They were dark-skinned and ragged, apparently having escaped from a nearby slum.
When they saw me, they immediately shouted "Daddy" in English, hoping to get my help, and I also gave each of them a bill out of sympathy.
I had just turned around to go back to the hotel, but I was stopped by a group of children, who had brought them by the two beggars.
These slum kids, all disheveled, gathered around me and demanded money.
Faced with this large group of children, I couldn't cope with it alone, so I had to find a way to get rid of them.
However, the group of children suddenly became agitated and began to try to dig into my pockets and try to grab my things, and I tried to protect myself, and at this time, fortunately, the patrolling police appeared in time, and they dispersed the children who were besieging me with wooden sticks.
Afterwards, the police warned me that these slum kids are insatiable and that once you show generosity, they will take it endlessly.
I felt helpless and blamed for this, and I didn't know what to do. With the help of the police, I was able to return to the hotel safely.
India, a South Asian country with considerable weight on the international stage, has an economic output of 3.22 trillion US dollars, ranking fifth in the world!
Second only to economic powerhouses such as the United States, China, Japan and Germany, this economic size shows its considerable economic strength.
However, with a huge population of more than 1.3 billion, India's GDP per capita is only $1,900, which is among the lowest in the world.
By comparison, the mainland, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, has a total GDP of $15.55 trillion, five times that of India.
This makes the continent's per capita GDP as high as $11,400, almost six times that of India.
Although GDP per capita is not directly equivalent to personal wages, there is a certain positive relationship between the two.
Low GDP per capita often means low per capita income, which is particularly evident in India.
According to statistics, the average monthly salary in India is about 13,500 rupees, or about 1,200 yuan.
However, this figure does not tell the whole picture of the income of all Indians.
In fact, the gap between the rich and the poor in India is extremely serious, with a very small number of wealthy people holding most of the country's wealth, while the vast majority of ordinary people do not even have a monthly income of 1,200 yuan.
Take laundry workers, for example, a profession that is prevalent in India, where they usually need to be done manually and work more than 12 hours a day, sometimes as much as 16 hours.
Despite all their hard work, their monthly income is usually only about 800 yuan, and very few can reach 1,000 yuan through hard work.
Obviously, for the average person in India, there are serious problems in life.
In everyday life, the frugality of Indians can be seen.
For example, many people take water directly from the Ganges River to save money on water bills, and many families choose to pull the power lines privately because they are unwilling to pay for electricity.
Therefore, the intertwined wires like spider webs on the streets of India are forced out of this kind of life.
In terms of social status, Indian women are in a difficult situation.
Their status in the family is usually very low, and even if they are born a woman, they may be dissatisfied with their families.
In marriage, not only does the woman not have the right to ask for a bride price, but she needs to prepare a rich dowry, otherwise she may suffer a lot of money in her married life.
There have been many misunderstandings and exaggerations about the traffic phenomenon in India.
Although there are old images circulating on the Internet of Indians who like to crowd trains and pickpocket, these are scenes from decades ago.
Today's Indian train technology is not advanced, but old things like trailers no longer exist.
At present, the biggest problem faced by Indian trains is delays, and the degree of this delay is much greater than in China, and it can often be delayed for a whole day.
Cattle have a very high status in India, some people marry cows, some people worship cows as gods, but no one dares to provoke cows, even if it walks on the road, or even excretes on the road, Indians will only think that it is a blessing, and will not drive away at all.
In order to better protect the cattle, they also made an ID card for the cattle, with a photo and a number, and they were extremely careful.
Indians have clear rules when it comes to table manners: the left hand is used to clean the individual, and the right hand is used to eat.
This division of labor stems from their strict distinction between cleanliness and pollution, so you hardly see anyone eating with their left hand in India.
This habit was particularly inconvenient for me when I first arrived, especially in the restaurant, where I found that there were no napkins or chopsticks, and everyone was using their right hand to grab the food, which I couldn't accept at first.
In Indian cuisine, strong condiments such as cinnamon, cloves and pepper are often added to their dishes, and this is evident in their masala milk tea.
Even onions and green onions may be added to yogurt, and such a combination of flavors is more exciting than ever before for me.
In particular, many of the water sources used for street food come from the Ganges River, and they often stop pulling after eating from roadside stalls.
When it comes to the Ganges, this river, which is regarded as a holy river, has an extraordinary place in the hearts of Indians.
The Ganges River is heavily polluted, with all kinds of household and industrial waste floating on the water, as well as water burial customs, which cannot but make the Ganges even dirtier.
But the Indians still regard the Ganges as holy, and they will not hesitate to drink it even if it is covered with a thick white foam.
On the streets of India, garbage cans are rarely seen. Once a small amount of garbage appears somewhere, it quickly turns into a makeshift dump, and before long, the entire area will be filled with waste.
The garbage emits an unpleasant smell on hot days, and the rain washes the garbage onto the streets, making it difficult to walk.
The entertainment life of Indians is more distinctive. Many TV shows are mainly singing and dancing performances, and the content is very simple.
People who are better off in the economy usually choose to go to the cinema to watch a movie, which is more than three hours long, rich in content, and can enjoy the air-conditioned environment of the cinema, which is a great treat in India.
Walking in Indian shopping malls, it is common to see lavishly decorated Indian women, who are covered with gold and silver jewelry, which makes people think that Indians are very rich.
It's just that this is actually related to the purity of Indian gold, which is relatively cheap, so even ordinary people can wear gold and silver.
Finally: the self-confidence of Indians is also a major feature of them.
They always believe that Mumbai has far surpassed Shanghai in terms of development, and even believes that Made in India has surpassed Made in China.
Although this self-confidence is not the same as the actual situation, this pride and pride are closely related to their daily lives.
This is my vision of India, a country of ambivalence and self-confidence.
What do you think of India?