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Neutron Bomb
Oct. 16th, 2007 09:27 amI'm weirded out. At the beginning and ending our trip, we woke up in our little hotel in Pahar Ganj, an intense market area in Delhi. You left the door and stepped into immediate chaos: tight streets full of vendors, pedestrians, cows, motorbikes all vying for space. You put your sensors on maximum to wend your way through the hazards and opportunities and it was exhilarating and sweaty.
This morning, my third back in Toronto, I walked through our neighbourhood to the subway and it looked like a neutron bomb had hit the city. The population density was dizzyingly low, the air cool, the streets wide and the populace deliberately oblivious.
If I were forced to name the most crucial difference between India and Canada, I would say that here we do everything we can to avoid personal interactions and codify those we are forced into to make them as rule-bound and pattern-oriented as possible.
In India, on the other hand, you are constantly swimming in a sea of humanity and you must negotiate constantly. It can be exhausting, but it is not alienating.
arrgggggh. I hate 9.5 hour jet lag.
This morning, my third back in Toronto, I walked through our neighbourhood to the subway and it looked like a neutron bomb had hit the city. The population density was dizzyingly low, the air cool, the streets wide and the populace deliberately oblivious.
If I were forced to name the most crucial difference between India and Canada, I would say that here we do everything we can to avoid personal interactions and codify those we are forced into to make them as rule-bound and pattern-oriented as possible.
In India, on the other hand, you are constantly swimming in a sea of humanity and you must negotiate constantly. It can be exhausting, but it is not alienating.
arrgggggh. I hate 9.5 hour jet lag.
