Safety, Fashion, and Pollution in India: A Few Observations

I’d like to press pause on the daily trip chronicles and reflect for a moment on our immediate observations of India more broadly. As many former tourists from the United States have cited, this country can be “stimulation-overload” for newbies. It’s so completely different from home with its intense pace, dense population, pungent smells, flavorful foods, religious expression, and more. Matt and I spend much time discussing these new sights and sounds, and I want to record a handful of them here. I’ll caveat my reflections with the sincere acknowledgement that we have been in India for just two weeks, haven’t seen the vast majority of the country, and stick out like sore thumbs as foreigners, so our takeaways are all constrained by this context. Regardless, here are a few of them:

Safety. I’ll just put it out there plainly: Matt and I were very concerned about our personal safety in advance of our trip to India. Our worry stemmed from varying news reports, cautions in guidebooks, advice from family and friends, movies about India…the list goes on. We were especially worried about physical safety for women (me) and general issues related to scam artists, pick-pocketing, street harassment, begging, etc. Knock on wood, we haven’t had any serious issues so far–nothing beyond the typical city experiences that one would face in New York or Paris, for example. Traveling as a couple likely helps; men here may feel less willing to make direct contact with me while I am accompanied by Matt, for instance. We’ve also tried our best to be “street savvy”: not walking around late at night, locking our backpacks wherever we take them, staying firm with aggressive salespeople, etc. There have been relatively few people begging for money on the street (WAY fewer than we see in American cities), however a couple of small children have approached us aggressively requesting money and touching our clothes to try to pick-pocket us, which was extremely sad to see—especially when we noticed an nearby woman who was clearly watching the kids and orchestrating their behavior. If anything, people who have asked us for money have been very industrious, offering an array of products and services in exchange for cash: massages, tea, photographs, food, shoe shines, and more. Multiple men even asked for a few rupees in exchange for measuring our weight; they stand on a street corner with a scale on the ground in front of them! Overall, we attempt to carry out precautions typical of any trip to a new city and have had few issues. While our initial concerns were not unfounded, we have been pleasantly surprised by how welcoming and friendly the vast majority of Indians have been towards us throughout our journey.

Women’s Clothing. I’ve found clothing styles in India—especially women’s fashion—fascinating to observe given that the attire differs so drastically from that of Western countries and has also varied between states. In Chennai, almost every woman we saw wore either a beautiful, traditional sari or a long tunic over soft pants. It’s my understanding that saris are typically tailored for each individual woman, and Matt and I even walked through a textile market in Chennai where women were selecting unique fabrics to combine into new saris. Patterns and colors have been bold and bright, often incorporating shimmering gold strips of fabric and intricate beading or other embellishments. In south India women seemed to dress more conservatively, keeping shoulders and legs fully covered. This is somewhat confusing to me considering part of a woman’s stomach and back is exposed with most sari styles. It was extremely rare to see a woman wearing pants or a t-shirt in Chennai, and we didn’t see anyone wearing shorts. Making our way north, fashion began to diversify. The Goan friends we made wore loose, pastel-colored capri pants and blouses, and tourists in the beachy areas wore t-shirts and shorts without issue. Only a few saris sprinkled here and there! We learned that the international influence and beach party culture in the state had made traditional Indian garb less popular in the state. Mumbai has been a true mix. For the first time we are seeing a strong Muslim presence, so colorful hijabs and full-length, black chadors are very common. Young people attending the local arts festival wore t-shirts, jeans, dresses, and sneakers—almost indistinguishable from a group of “hipsters” you’d find in the US. Older, adult women don saris here as well, but again—no shorts! I have been sticking to lightweight pants, a long turquoise skirt, and a red tunic with tights that I bought in Chennai. We’ll see how Delhi and Kolkata compare as we continue our journey!

Pollution. The air pollution throughout India is seriously problematic, as you may have read in the news. My iPhone weather app lists Mumbai’s air quality as “Very Unhealthy,” clocking in at 168 on the air quality index compared to Washington DC’s 40 and Torrance, CA’s 18, to put things in perspective. We’ve yet to feel the physical effects on our lungs, but have instead focused on how horrifying the amount of trash has been throughout the country. Litter is absolutely everywhere—paper, plastic bottles, shreds of fabric, crumbled cement, food packaging—you name it. I have tried to capture images of the trash throughout our trip, but these pictures don’t do the situation justice. Some of the saddest moments were our outings in the beautiful mountains of Kerala—a state that is to India as Colorado is to the US—only to see heaps of garbage lining the lakes, backwaters, and roads. Litter was strewn across the beach near our hotel in Goa, which was also extremely disappointing. People tend not to recycle here and given that the tap water is undrinkable, plastic water bottles are sold at an alarming rate. This is part of the problem, but the government clearly does not have a handle on trash maintenance despite public campaigns (posters, TV commercials, billboards, public trashcans, etc.) that it has invested in. I truly hope there is a day of reckoning here in which the people and the government can work to turn things around. For now, it’s a clear, noticeable issue—especially through the eyes of a tourist.

I had hoped to describe in this post additional observations related to food, religious expression, sidewalks, traffic, and language, but I’m pretty pooped at this point and will have to get to those later! I’ll also be bringing us up to speed on the past few amazing days in Mumbai, our favorite Indian destination so far. Thanks for reading!