INDIA, the new player on the world stage

by Carole Herdegen

all in a day's play. Image courtesy: Ann Raets

From the time I was a little girl, I remember having my nose in travel books or reading the popular travel magazines of the day. During those early years, I never ventured further with my parents from our home in Chicago to the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.  Never did I think I would marry a man whose career would take us outside the United States for 18 years.   As a couple and as a family, we travelled far and wide, from Europe to Egypt to Iran.  When we returned to the States in the 80’s, I still found myself passionately in need of discovering more of the world, even if it meant as a solo traveler. Fortunately, my husband not only had the confidence in my ability to travel on my own, but he endorsed my desire to do so.  The first trip on my own was to India which turned out to be the beginning of a twenty five year fascination with the country and its culture.  

Over the years, I have watched in amazement the growing of a country.  In fact, its growth, by leaps and bounds has taken it to where it is now perched, on the precipice of becoming one of the top economies of the world.  With a population of 1.21 billion people, it ranks second in the world's population, which means 1 out of 6 people live in India.   Can you imagine?  India has more than two thousand ethnic groups, a multitude of languages and representation of virtually every major religion.  India is often referred to as the largest democracy in the world. 

among the mountains of Zanskar

Dr. Samuel Johnson, the 18th century English author, once said: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”.  I personally feel the same about India.  There is so very, very much to see along with a multitude of surprises on one’s journey.   From the Himalayas in the north to the tea and spice plantations of the south, from the tribal areas of Gujarat in the west to the coral islands of the Andaman in the southeast and, let’s not forget the Tiger Reserves found throughout Central India, there are ample reasons for wanting to return again and again.       

When flying to India, one enters either through the amazing metropolises of Mumbai or Delhi. Both are full of the spirit of youth because over 50% of India’s population is under 25 years.

just another day in Delhi

Delhi is really a tale of two cities.  There is the capital, New Delhi, a planned city with wide tree-lined boulevards and the stately homes of embassies from around the world.  By contrast, there is Old Delhi, the city born as the Mogul capital in 1638.

On a recent trip, I took a ride by rickshaw in the famous Chandni Chowk market in Old Delhi.  In this web of bazaars, one can make some interesting discoveries such as I did when I found the Rikhi Ram Musical Instrument store where the Beatles bought their Sitar, Tanpura, Sarod and Tabla in 1966.  It was fun looking at the old photos on the walls of the shop.

Even though Delhi has populations of nearly 16 million, large parts of the city are beautified by gardens, parks, and woodlands. Getting around this big city with its enormous population is the task for the excellent Delhi Metro, the underground transportation system which had its world premiere at the 2010 Commonwealth Games last October. 

Raj Ghat

Another rewarding experience for me was when I visited the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation.  I have often returned and have come away with a feeling of reverence not only for the man but for the early history of his country and the hard times both went through to win India’s independence.

Crossing over the country to the west, Mumbai is India’s largest city with a population of 21 million.  Just outside the Churchgate Railway Station, I discovered it to be a most interesting place in the morning.  Young men called, “Dabbawalas”, or lunchbox carriers are dressed in white kurtas and Nehru caps carry 200,000 lunch boxes to the city’s multitude of offices.  Millions of Mumbai office workers leave their homes very early in the morning traveling by train in order to be at their desks by 8 o’clock.  The Dabbawalas show up two hours later at the office workers homes, pick up boxes of home cooked food, and then hop on trains to deliver these lunch boxes to the office workers at their desks.  Sounds simple enough; however, most amazing logistic is each lunch box has its own code number. Mistakes are seldom made.  No technology is involved.  The Dabbawalas memorize the codes and run their boxes through the streets of Mumbai making sure every worker gets his lunch on time.  Later, the empty boxes are collected and returned to the homes of the office workers.  It costs very little to participate in this service. As India’s middle classes continues to increase and better standards of living are acquired, I hope there will still be time and place to preserve the wonderful Dabbawalas of Mumbai. 

Throughout India, fairs and festivals are celebrated throughout the year.  There are festivals for each and every season, or to celebrate great historical figures and events while other festivities express devotion to not only the deities of different religions but also to wind, rain, and fire.   An unusual festival called Teej, is the festival of the monsoon.  When the temperature reaches the 90’s to 100’s Fahrenheit for week after week, the welcome relieve of the monsoons brings everyone outdoors to run and splash in the rains.

of Friday releases

If you are a fan of cinema, you most certainly have heard of Bollywood, the Indian, Hindi-language film industry equivalent to our Hollywood.  It is interesting to note that Bollywood, founded in 1899, is older than Hollywood by 11 years.

I became interested in Indian movies after watching “Monsoon Wedding” (2001) and “Bride and Prejudice” (2004).  Both movies are about Indian weddings featuring modern music and dancing.  In 2005 after some research, I visited the film studios of AVM in Chennai to learn how Indian movies are produced. 
In comparative terms, Bollywood produces approximately 1000 movies per year which are watched by a worldwide audience of 3 billion people compared to Hollywood’s 500 movies annually watched by 2.6 billion viewers. 
India offers its visitors such a wide variety and multitude of interests.  I know it will never cease to excite me.