Old Habits Die Hard
(vero;2016-March-10)
We have now been in India four times — in 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2015 and over the years, we have the feeling that things are slowly changing in terms of behaviours being of social or environmental nature. We became particularly aware of it during our last trip.
Plastic bags:
As in the West, plastic bags are a nuisance for the environment. In Mumbai and Goa, they are not free of charge anymore, customers have to pay for them and we were amazed to discover in the Western Ghats that most resorts have succeeded in completely banning plastic bags from the shops and market stalls. Instead, the vendors provide some biodegradable bags made from starch which seem quite sturdy and well accepted. We were quite impressed and have read that they are being introduced in many places over the country. Could we have them in Europe too?
Tobacco and paan:
In cities, there are now many boards and posters campaigning against smoking. Smoking is forbidden in public spaces and in buses, but it proves sometimes hard to enforce when the bus driver himself is one of the chain smoking sort, which is very often the case!
In South India, we were surprised to notice that many people seem to have given up on paan chewing. In hotel rooms, there was none of those telling red traces on the walls or on the floor, no spitting bowls, and we hardly saw anybody chewing on the road or in markets. We wonder if this is specific of southern India or whether it is a national phenomenon which we doubt. We definitely need to go back to northern India to check on this!
Urinating in open spaces:
Unfortunately, this is one problem which is not likely to change soon. However, we have noticed that some efforts are being made in providing public loos and pissoirs. There are clean facilities in each bus/railway stations, but those can cost up to 5 Rs, which could be a deterrent for some people (although pissoirs, are often free of charge, men only pay for the cubicle loos). But even so, it seems a very hard job to get people to use them: how often have we observed men in stations or markets pissing along a wall, where the pissoirs were just a few steps away, and this, even when they were free of charge... Worst of what we saw (or smelt for that matter) was the long wall in front of Vizag's railway station: it was a disguting stench, which made walking alongside (or worse, waiting for a bus in front of it) a feat of bravery.
Spitting, snorting and other strange habits:
Things are moving on that front as well. We saw a student demonstration in Mumbai with quite aggressive slogans such as EACH SPITTING DESERVES A BEATING.
And we laughed at some funny signs in restaurants too, such as the ones below. To understand the one about DO NOT WASH HAND IN PLATE, you have to remember that Indians eat with their fingers (right hand only) and although all restaurants or joints have a sink somewhere in a corner where you can wash your hands after your meal, some people (often women) prefer to take a glass of water in their left hand and pour the water slowly over their right hand, rubbing their fingers to rinse them as the water drips into the plate below. Often quite a messy affair...
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$updated from: Blog.htxt Mon 04 Mar 2024 16:04:41 trvl2 (By Vero and Thomas Lauer)$