Look, I LIKE India – yet agree with Pizzagirl that poverty in NYC and in large Indian cities are two different planets. Incomparable.
Can we just agree that India is a nation of eye-popping contrasts, the kind you don’t see much anywhere else in the world? And that some people have a very hard time appreciating the richness of India because of the presence of the poverty? Because really, that’s what most people here are saying, if I’m reading the comments correctly.
Wherever your family is located you want to be with them and spend time with them no matter what the circumstances. People have come to this country and have been successful but all the comforts in the world doesn’t take away the feeling of missing family. You don’t forget where you came from and how your started out.
We all like what we are used to. Seeing anyone living a different way of life will feel foreign to us because it is so different than what we have experienced in the culture we live in.
Except some of us are not reacting to the “foreignness of the culture.” I am all about immersing in different cultures and learning the history, geography, political situation, art, music, literature, religion, etc. I am by no means the “ugly American” who expects the same stuff we have at home. And I’ve traveled enough to feel confident in that. We are talking specifically about sanitation, where it’s not just “different,” but worse. Again, the freaking prime minister ran on a pledge to improve sanitation. This is a major issue preventing them from taking full advantage of their natural resources and transforming into a First World nation. This isn’t just a minor cultural " hiccup."
Spoke to MIL today and she’s told her daughter and “Mike’s” mother that she and FIL won’t be joining them on their India trip. Whew… I am so relieved and she is grateful for the info I shared with her because it gave her the push she needed to say no to something that she didn’t want to do anyway. Just having the back pain she has is not conducive to such a long flight.
Thank you everyone for the info you shared! It really helped.
Yippee–always good to give folks ammo so they can decline to do things they don’t REALLY want to do.
Travel becomes more challenging as we have more medical issues, whatever our age. Personally, I prefer having medical care at home instead of when traveling.
P.S. Just found out that Mike’s family is from the Kerala region. Extreme south, west coast. Must be hot!
I am glad everything worked out and she was able to make a decision that she was comfortable with. I hope the rest of the family traveling has a safe journey.
I got really, really sick on the plane coming back from India. I assume it was the mosquitoes, which are nearly impossible to avoid.
An elderly friend of mine traveled the world, all the continents, yes including Antartica. Her last desired trip was to see the Taj Mahal. The overall nastiness of the country ruined the experience. She was truly dismayed. It reinforced what I already felt…not a place I’d like to see. Sorry, it is what it is. And Westerners simply cannot fathom why/how they live like that.
Actually, the well informed, educated Westerners can and do.