Thursday, January 07, 2010

Back from India



India is a very interesting place with catchy advertisements all over.

" Grave problems resurrected here ". A funeral parlour.

" Honk. OK ". No idea who started this tradition because from my hotel room, I hear the honks non-stop.

I was equipped with a camera all day and there are just so many things I would like to capture but I
just didn't dare to. I just didn't think it was right to do so as some of the things I wanted to capture
were not pretty things but the sad sight of India.

Many people learnt a lot about the poverty and plight of India through newspapers and most recently from
Slumdog Millionaire but it is just so different when you see it with your own eyes. Children sleeping on
the streets and family of seven make homes out of canvas sheets.

Children run around barefooted and young adults play cricket across the roads. Yes. They bowl and bat
across roads. This is where their passion is. Cricket.

This country has lots of potential to build its economy and possibly can be a super power if resources were
used in the right way. They have human capital, natural resources and frankly geographically well positioned
between the Eastern and Western world. I guess there are many internal and external factors which slows down the
growth of the country.

The traffic condition here is pretty much congested and with the addition of the world's cheapest car on
the roads here will likely cause more honks to sound out. Don't get me wrong. I am very supportive of the
gift for India - the Nano. It is true there are many families who ride a motorbike with three or even four
children doing balancing acts in the midst of heavy traffic. Utterly dangerous.

Had my share of taking the auto-rickshaw and it sure was hell lots of excitement for us all. We swerved in and out of traffic and squeezing between cars. Again I stress that should F1 not have rules, Force India will surely win the F1 title because no one can be as skilful as the Indians in terms of driving. Give me a car and I will have it knocked numerous times before reaching the destination and if lucky, losing only the side mirrors. : )
 

 

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