The colors are strong, much stronger than the scent of pee. The traffic is wild and enchanting. The poverty is dark and grey, but made softer with the beautiful colors and happy smiles everywhere in New Delhi, India. I have now lived in New Delhi for over two months. I find myself feeling like New Delhi is my real new home, and I find myself trying to unwrap it’s complexities while commuting to and from work everyday.
The traffic is one of my favorite things about Delhi. Or rather being in the traffic and seeing new images every day. In the mornings I am met by the regular auto-rickshaw driver who drives me to work. He always greets me with a big happy smile on his face while singing the whole way to my workplace. On my way I learn and discover new things about India. I can see all the beautiful saris in bright happy colors, smiling children, mothers and children holding hands, men in jeans, men in traditional skirts, men holding hands and radical couples of the opposite sex holding hands. There are also the sad images of the colorfully wrapped bodies of a funeral procession walking along the highway while someone takes a piss off the road with another person sleeping a few meters away.
Indian society is very complex and the layers so many. My daily ride in the traffic shows all sides of it. I see the latest fashions from the runway on a stylish woman with tended hair and manicure next to a woman wearing a worn out sari with no top underneath. It’s hard to comprehend how such material wealth and poverty can live side by side.
Beggars are a daily challenge in the traffic, and worse when they are street children, with their big beautiful brown eyes staring, putting their hands to their stomach and up to their mouth. It’s heartbreaking, especially when I look over at the car right beside me with a child in well dressed clothing talking with his or her parents.
I’ve only just began un-pealing the surface of Indian society while trying to find my own place within it. One thing that really stands out to me, no matter how the inequalities are structured, is the striking level of happiness I see. People care about one another and seem to live in the present, and they smile.
Kathrine is a Truman alumna and has a blog chronicling her experiences that can be found at http://acrossplaces.blogspot.com/
