Whenever you leave your little world and visit another country for the first time, there are bound to be surprises. Inside your own little well, you do not realize how different the rest of the world can be. My first trip outside India and to the United States was filled with surprises, awe and a variety of other extreme emotions.
It was the first time I had flown on an airplane. Air travel was not that common within India at that time and it was my first trip outside the country. I still remember feeling like a child looking down at the houses and the streets and the cars getting smaller. I wanted to jump up and down and clap my hands. It still never fails to awe me. On the way back home, I was especially happy, because I was going home! I was traveling on Air France and had to make a stopover at Paris. In the flight, I was sitting next to a European guy who had no interest in striking a conversation. Neither did I because I was too busy looking out of my window. Then we flew over some snow clad mountains. I don't know which mountains they were but it was such an amazing view and I was so astounded by it that I had to share it with someone right then. Guess what I did - gestured the unfriendly guy next to me asking him to look outside the window. He looked at me like I had horns or something and went back to being unfriendly. It sounds a little juvenile now that I'm writing about it, but at that time, I didn't care. I was just too happy to care.
One thing that people usually notice when they come here for the first time is the large number of cars on the road but no people at all. Back home, you see all kinds of 'vehicles' on the roads - buses, trucks, cars, scooters and motor bikes, bicycles, pedestrians and even carts driven by bullocks, camels or horses depending on where you are. Not to mention the stray animals on the roads who make a driver's life even more interesting. If you don't know how to get somewhere, no worries - no GPS or google map required, you can stop anywhere, roll down your windows and ask the road-side vendors or anyone else and they will be happy to help. It's a lively place I tell you. So people visiting the US wonder initially why they cannot stop on the roadside or walk through a drive-through. I know someone who tried doing that. They did not have a car because they were just visiting for short term, and it was late at night and no eating places were open. So they tried to walk through a drive-through but were refused to be catered. The temperature was below freezing and the restaurant was closed except for the drive-through. I don't remember whether they found any food that night but we all found it pretty amusing how owning a car is crucial for a decent living especially in the Midwest.
Then there is also the thousands of varieties of every imaginable product in the superstores that boggle our minds. The amount of plastic products that are used in day to day life. The bottles, the cans, the ziplock bags, even the little stir-sticks by the coffee makers in the office. It took me some time to even understand the purpose of those things, and the first question that came to my mind was - why would you not use simple, stainless steel spoons for the purpose and just rinse them off when you're done? The amount of wastage I see happening around me is overwhelming sometimes. Some recent examples - I was helping out sorting, packing, disposing stuff for an office move not too long ago. In my desk drawer I found a whole bunch of unused stationary - writing pads etc, that were probably left there by the person who used that cube before. I took all that stuff to the office supplies area so that it could be used. One of the people who were coordinating that move was there. She saw me trying to put all that stuff back and immediately asked me to throw it away. I mean, that stuff was not even used yet and I had to throw it away? I'm the kind of person who writes on both sides of a sheet, even on the other side of a printed page, so these wastages bother me even more. Another example is when I went to a fast food place recently. I had ordered a veggie sandwich and they made me a salad by mistake. At the counter, I pointed out the mistake and the girl apologized and said my sandwich will be ready shortly. Then she took the salad box and threw it in the trash! Untouched, fresh food, in the trash. If I had known, I would probably have been happy eating the salad instead of sandwich.
Not trying to be self righteous or something, because I think a lot of this attitude comes from how you were brought up. When there is a scarcity of things, you learn how to appreciate them. Like a character in one of the Jodi Picoult books that I read. He was brought up in Alaska or some other very cold place that had water shortages. When his wife visited his home town with him, she understood why he would not run the dishwasher till it was brimming full of dishes. By the way, I do that too.
All these recycling efforts that I see happening around me are really good. But why not control the usage in the first place and reduce the waste that needs to be recycled. When I was growing up, the fast food culture had not yet arrived in India. The restaurants in my small hometown served food in steel platters (called 'thaali') and bowls. Even the road side vendors that sold junk food, fresh fruit juice etc. did the same. Now with all the McDonald's and Baristas and Cafe Coffee Day's, I'm sure people back home have also started enjoying the conveniences of to-go drinks and stir-sticks. The younger generation doesn't think the stainless steel utensils are cool enough for them. Unfortunately, with the all the modernization that's happening, I don't see anyone going back to the old ways any time soon. It's not long before we too will have those recycling bins everywhere in an effort to undo the damage that we did.
My son, the spoilsport, is telling me that it's not a very good day because we are just sitting on the couch! I will stop the rant now. Thanks for listening :)
