(Culture) CHOK

After an entire day of traveling we finally landed in Delhi Airport. From the moment we left the airport we were struck by the first cultural difference between our world and the eastern world. Even though it was 5.00 in the morning there was hundreds of people outside the airport, including a little kind man who greeted us with necklesses made of flowers.

Everything we had been told about India for the past year is true. As we drove through Delhi in the early morning we learned it is a city that never sleeps and we got a taste of the poverty that defines all of India. Or so we thought…

Chaos

The extraordinary chaos, which rules during the day, is impossible to describe. Especially the traffic seemed totally unsystematic and even dangerous to us. The rules are: “There are no rules when it comes to the traffic, no exceptions.”

Contrasts

In the middle of the chaos in Delhi is a memorial of Mahatma Gandhi. This place is a complete contrast to what we had experienced so far. The place is wonderfully quiet and clean it makes you relax and reflect about the historical events that led to Indian independence in the previous century. It is incredible to see how much respect an honour one man can obtain, we can’t think of any Dane who has the same status and importance in the society that Gandhi has in India.

 

The crazy differences have been flooding over us all day long. The Indian people have no moral towards white tourists. There exists no such thing as discretion when it comes to their fascination of blond hair and white skin. We learned it wasn’t to respect the locals that we have been told not to wear revealing clothes. It was to make us (especially girls) feel as comfortable as possible in a society where it is expected for women to conceal her body.

Gender roles

We were aware that the difference between men and women are greater in India than in Denmark before we left, but none of us had imagined the difference would be as big as it indeed is. Men and women are never seen together in the street. Men are seen with other men working or walking down the street, and women are most likely seen with their children, some begging or selling others shopping.

The metro system is a good example of the relation between men and women. A part of the metro is women-only - shockingly this separation has appeared in a lot of different places that we visited for example, in the lines to the Indiria museum and on the train station.

              

 

Ready for new adventures

After a long day of new impressions and a meeting with a different part of the world we look forward to get a good night's sleep. It has an indescribable day in both good and bad ways. We hope to wake up tomorrow well rested and ready for more adventures.   

Clara T, Freja og Julie