Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Reflections on India By Sean Paul Kelley

Sean Paul Kelley is a travel writer, former radio host, and before that an asset manager for a Wall Street investment bank that is still (barely) alive. He recently left a fantastic job in Singapore working for Solar Winds, a software company based out of Austin to travel around the world for a year (or two). He founded The Agonist, in 2002, which is still considered the top international affairs, culture and news destination for progressives. He is also the Global Correspondent for The Young Turks, on satellite radio and Air America.

 
If you are Indian, or of Indian descent, I must preface this post with a clear warning: you are not going to like what I have to say. My criticisms may be very hard to stomach. But consider them as the hard words and loving advice of a good friend. Someone who’s being honest with you and wants nothing from you.  
These criticisms apply to all of India except Kerala and the places I didn’t visit, except that I have a feeling it applies to all of India, except as I mentioned before, Kerala.
 Lastly, before anyone accuses me of Western Cultural Imperialism, let me say this: if this is what India and Indians want, then hey, who am I to tell them differently. Take what you like and leave the rest. In the end it doesn’t really matter, as I get the sense that Indians, at least many upper class Indians, don’t seem to care and the lower classes just don’t know any better, what with Indian culture being so intense and pervasive on the sub-continent. But here goes, nonetheless.
 India is a mess. It’s that simple, but it’s also quite complicated. I’ll start with what I think are India’s four major problems–the four most preventing India from becoming a developing nation–and then move to some of the ancillary ones.
First, pollution. In my opinion the filth, squalor and all around pollution indicates a marked lack of respect for India by Indians. I don’t know how cultural the filth is, but it’s really beyond anything I have ever encountered.  At times the smells, trash, refuse and excrement are like a garbage dump.
Right next door to the Taj Mahal was a pile of trash that smelled so bad, was so foul as to almost ruin the entire Taj experience. Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai to a lesser degree were so very polluted as to make me physically ill. Sinus infections, ear infection, bowels churning was an all to common experience in India. Dung, be it goat, cow or human fecal matter was common on the streets. In major tourist areas filth was everywhere, littering the sidewalks, the roadways, you name it. Toilets in the middle of the road, men urinating and defecating anywhere, in broad daylight.
Whole villages are plastic bag wastelands. Roadsides are choked by it. Air quality that can hardly be called quality. Far too much coal and far to few unleaded vehicles on the road. The measure should be how dangerous the air is for one’s health, not how good it is. People casually throw trash in the streets, on the roads.
The only two cities that could be considered sanitary in my journey were Trivandrum–the capital of Kerala–and Calicut. I don’t know why this is. But I can assure you that at some point this pollution will cut into India’s productivity, if it already hasn’t. The pollution will hobble India’s growth path, if that indeed is what the country wants. (Which I personally doubt, as India is far too conservative a country, in the small ‘c’ sense.)
More after the jump..
The second issue, infrastructure, can be divided into four subcategories: roads, rails and ports and the electrical grid. The electrical grid is a joke. Load shedding is all too common, everywhere in India. Wide swaths of the country spend much of the day without the electricity they actually pay for. Without regular electricity, productivity, again, falls.
The ports are a joke. Antiquated, out of date, hardly even appropriate for the mechanized world of container ports, more in line with the days of longshoremen and the like. Roads are an equal disaster. I only saw one elevated highway that would be considered decent in Thailand, much less Western Europe or America. And I covered fully two thirds of the country during my visit.
There are so few dual carriage way roads as to be laughable. There are no traffic laws to speak of, and if there are, they are rarely obeyed, much less enforced. A drive that should take an hour takes three. A drive that should take three takes nine. The buses are at least thirty years old, if not older.
Everyone in India, or who travels in India raves about the railway system. Rubbish. It’s awful. Now, when I was there in 2003 and then late 2004 it was decent. But in the last five years the traffic on the rails has grown so quickly that once again, it is threatening productivity. Waiting in line just to ask a question now takes thirty minutes. Routes are routinely sold out three and four days in advance now, leaving travelers stranded with little option except to take the decrepit and dangerous buses.
At least fifty million people use the trains a day in India. 50 million people! Not surprising that waitlists of 500 or more people are common now.
The rails are affordable and comprehensive but they are overcrowded and what with budget airlines popping up in India like Sadhus in an ashram the middle and lowers classes are left to deal with the over utilized rails and quality suffers. No one seems to give a shit.
Seriously, I just never have the impression that the Indian government really cares. Too interested in buying weapons from Russia, Israel and the US I guess.

The last major problem in India is an old problem and can be divided into two parts that’ve been two sides of the same coin since government was invented: bureaucracy and corruption.
It take triplicates to register into a hotel. To get a SIM card for one’s phone is like wading into a jungle of red-tape and photocopies one is not likely to emerge from in a good mood, much less satisfied with customer service.
Getting train tickets is a terrible ordeal, first you have to find the train number, which takes 30 minutes, then you have to fill in the form, which is far from easy, then you have to wait in line to try and make a reservation, which takes 30 minutes at least and if you made a single mistake on the form back you go to the end of the queue, or what passes for a queue in India.
The government is notoriously uninterested in the problems of the commoners, too busy fleecing the rich, or trying to get rich themselves in some way shape or form. Take the trash for example, civil rubbish collection authorities are too busy taking kickbacks from the wealthy to keep their areas clean that they don’t have the time, manpower, money or interest in doing their job.
Rural hospitals are perennially understaffed as doctors pocket the fees the government pays them, never show up at the rural hospitals and practice in the cities instead.
I could go on for quite some time about my perception of India and its problems, but in all seriousness, I don’t think anyone in India really cares. And that, to me, is the biggest problem. India is too conservative a society to want to change in any way.
Mumbai, India’s financial capital is about as filthy, polluted and poor as the worst city imaginable in Vietnam, or Indonesia–and being more polluted than Medan, in Sumatra is no easy task. The biggest rats I have ever seen were in Medan!
One would expect a certain amount of, yes, I am going to use this word, backwardness, in a country that hasn’t produced so many Nobel Laureates, nuclear physicists, imminent economists and entrepreneurs. But India has all these things and what have they brought back to India with them? Nothing.
The rich still have their servants, the lower castes are still there to do the dirty work and so the country remains in status. It’s a shame. Indians and India have many wonderful things to offer the world, but I’m far from sanguine that India will amount to much in my lifetime.
Now, have at it, call me a cultural imperialist, a spoiled child of the West and all that.  But remember, I’ve been there. I’ve done it. And I’ve seen 50 other countries on this planet and none, not even Ethiopia, have as long and gargantuan a laundry list of problems as India does.
And the bottom line is, I don’t think India really cares. Too complacent and too conservative.

16 comments:

ZB said...

Thanks for posting it....this is a great piece of article, and the fatcs about India are all correct. We need to get out of our complacent mode and do something radical.

Why is India so dirty and polluted? Population and poverty? I dont think so. Ifeel its more to do with our mindset.

Rashmi said...

After a long long time i actually sat and finished reading a post.

Everything you mentioned was point blank truth, but one question, what are you doing about it apart from listing down the already existing problems since the time people like you and me together started noticing that there is a PROBLEM indeed.

Good to see you back though, not that i am too regular anyway but its always good to see old friends resurfacing :)
Cheers!

The Panorama said...

I wrote a long reply on ZB's blog to this post.
I think it is a pity that Sean Kelly didn't understand India. The real India is full of contrasts. India is going forward on so many fronts but I guess mr Kelly is more concerned about garbage disposal and railway lines. I agree with Rashmi, the real point is what are we going to do about it.
I visited India in 2008 and I saw how much it had changed and it is still changing. I think he is forgetting India is still a developing nation. And saying even poverty ridden Ethopia is better!! That is ridiculous!! It depends what sort of measuring stick you use to make such an assessment. Pity it was only through the holes of broomstick he saw India!

The Holy Lama said...

Read JRD's In Memorium today. It quoted him something amounting to I don't want India to become a superpower but want it to be a happy country.
And that's what we are- we are happy and going on at our pace and the world can't but take notice of us as we make inroads everywhere. Indian scientists, medics and engineers are spread across the world to help, to progress countries in these streams and our gurus are bringing peace to many with Yoga, meditation and love.
True, we need a lot more civic sense and hygiene in public places but that is not the yardstick of progress. What this guy, Sean Paul Kelley think is just a viewpoint that needs no comments.

ZB said...

@Reshmi: Even i have posted the same on my blog, and regarding what i have done about it, well, I have changed since i became aware of my surroundings.......I have never bribed, never thrown garbage in public, never shown religious or caste based bias, made a point to vote a candidate who deserves to be in power, made sure i pay Taxes,financially supported NGOs who take up a cause, and i plan to start my company 2 years from now, thus providing employment to few fellow citizens.....

I feel the first step is the awareness. And this post does that.

ZB said...

I dont think people need to jump into politics or start a revolution....I feel every citizen of this country should able to position himself along with other humans, living in a well off corner of the world.We should compare ourselves and know our shortcomings, rather than ignore them and live in denials...

The Unsure Ascetic said...

@ reshmi: I agree with ZB. We dont have to be in t he army or politics or civil service to contribute to the welfare of the country. I have tried to be a good citizien of this country by trying to do things that could better the society in India. I pay my taxes, do not waste natural resources, plant trees, be environment conscious, dont honk, don't litter and so on..I do agree there are many things that are beyond our control. However we shouldn't let it discourage us from living life fully.

After seeing some Western countries I do realise what we miss. However there is hope in the innovative leaders of today to take India to a better/more liveable place on earth!

R. Ramesh said...

India is too big to worry about such comments..india worst than ethiopia? why compare? who actually plundered africa? the writer can read thomas freidman...india may not be heaven..but 1 billion people with all the diversity of region, religion, caste, colour standing together and progressing despite the hardships at every step? india deserves a salute..v can get it from loving people, v dont stop cynics from barking..

wise donkey said...

India would change if the soaps stopped showing the glitzy homes and made their stars walk on the streets once in a while.

i think this is slightly biased. its not as bleak as it sounds, but the core is correct.

Rajlakshmi said...

he just wrote whatever we already know... whatever we every single day crib about... nothing new... and ya we really don't care no matter how concerned we sound.

Anonymous said...

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Oh and the site ist this http://lnkgt.com/9

Best regards, Ashley

RiĆ  said...

Although i agree most of what is written here is true...but the comparisons are a bit too much...comparing India with Ethiopia was ridiculous for sure!!

Anonymous said...

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EM said...

good morning AFP!

hope this day finds you well :)

em

ayush said...

Good is supposed to be good and should get better with time. Concerns highlighted above, even though being negative and subjective are not false. There isn't really a need to get emotionally carried away, especially in instances like these. Same person would have published a positive writing had his experience been better or if he had not faced struggles at every level as articulated.

Whatever is not working, is actually not working. Instead of being defensive, lets just get things right.

ayush said...
This comment has been removed by the author.