End of Chapter 1 - Blogabond

Here endeth the first lesson. We rolled into Chennai this morning on another very wet day, and that marks the end of this leg of the truck's circumnavigation of India, and also the end of my stay here. There is absolutely nothing of interest to say about Chennai (even the ever-optimistic Lonely Planet says it's dull as ditchwater) so I'll save my musings for the whole Indian experience instead.

A few people told me before I arrived that India was like Marmite - you either love it or hate it. I wouldn't say that I was at either end of those extremes, but it is a difficult country to enjoy, especially if like me, you're not religiously or spiritually inclined. The infrastructure is poor, there appears to be no semblance of order to anything, and yet in spite of that the bureaucracy is overwhelming. Perhaps most frustratingly they don't seem to attach any great value to their culture and history. I'm sure they do, and I'm just measuring it by Western standards, but it's a shame to see so much litter, pollution, sewage and the like everywhere. One of their major problems is that the population is growing faster than the country can support (half a billion more people in the last 50 years) and it's hard to see them becoming a global superpower (as seems to be frequently predicted) until they can address that.

On the plus side, the food has been great, the prices are fantastic if you're a Westerner, and the people are unfailingly friendly, generous and optimistic. It won't be a country I'll rush back to, but I'm glad I came. Now to tackle the other emerging superpower, China.

written by

phileasdogg on October 22, 2008 from Chennai, India

from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

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