It’s been five years since my last trip to India. Arriving at the new airport in Delhi rendered me speechless. I have read about the progress India has made in development, modernization, the rapid growth of middle class, most university educated, and an astounding quantity of millionaires. The Delhi International Airport was an eye opener, and I was feeling that India has made so many advances that the Old India I loved and remembered, having travelled to India on countless visits since late 1960s, including cycling Rajasthan, where I now headed, was gone forever.
After few hours of layover I boarded a flight to Jodhpur. The Jodhpur airport terminal building has not changed and was still the same Victorian-style edifice hence has not seen the transformation of Delhi airport. Driving across town I sensed the traditional India, though I did notice the presence of lot more billboards and advertising than I remembered, and many were pressing cell phones against their ears. Having entered the Jodhpur railway station and seeing the floor of the main hall covered in bodies, half asleep, most poor and possible homeless rather than travelers, although the impoverished certainly used rail transport as well, I assured myself the old, timeless India was still very much present.
While major tourist destinations such as Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur teemed in scores of tourists and the business activity suggested lot of money has trickled into local economy, the countryside of Rajasthan was a different story. The arid landscape was still offering not much better than basic survival, with few meager crops, camels and cattle the means to sustenance. Tourists drank beer more than chai, the Indian milk tea. The locals still drank chai but the price has risen astronomically. Now a five rupee cup of tea was the lowest price, eight in a local villages becoming the fixed price. On account of the higher costs I noted the natives were not drinking tea as often as I remembered!
As I traveled across Rajasthan I ran into many groups of mostly French tourists, most consisting of some 20 members, often even more, all at least 55 and older, among them very few young people. There were few other European travelers, all tour groups, Dutch, Austrians, Danish. Japanese were nowhere to be seen although in the past many used to travel India profusely. There were no Americans. But there were many Chinese, groups as well as independent travelers, and noticeably high count of South Koreans. The newly attained prosperity among the middle class in India was evident by the many Indian tourists touring Rajasthan themselves, more than ever was the case in the past.
Indian newspaper told of more crime, from rape to murder, and complained of ever widespread corruption. They reported that organized beggars frequented pilgrimage sites but locals professed they were outsiders, usually from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar, states known for lot more violence and organized crime rings, not from Rajasthan. The local folk was still riding on rooftops of busses as they had little choice to reach their destination otherwise, and though dangerous police was not trying to erradicate the practice. There were lot more motorcycle dealerships, even in relatively small villages, and there were lot more passenger cars, and many Indian tourists now toured in their own vehicles rather than hiring cars and drivers.
In many hotels, especially in Delhi and other the big cities in the north, the staff was visibly Nepalese and of all ethnic backgrounds, including high caste Brahmans and Chetris from the west of Nepal. Sherpas preferred to go to Ladakh and Manali where they work as cooks and guides. But the streets remain purely Indian, with the ever present wandering cow everywhere, mingling with the masses of humanity, roaming pigs and stray dogs. India is likely to remain timeless for centuries to come.