The way to Live

Always, there is a way of living. How you live. Told to not do this, to do this and to not do that. In a country where the caste system is supposedly exterminated, it still very much exists in the hearts of people here, sadly enough. Always referred to still. Then I wonder if any efforts of the Gandhi really took affect. Freedom is won, yes, but what are people doing with it? Some towns and cities are vitalizing that freedom while others still are stubborn with change. If the society doesn't like it and agree, then you confine in yourself and give in to not do anything.

It's very odd to find this here. Nobody speaks up to the majority. Life strolls along, and narrow-mindedness is apparent. Coming from a place like America, it's a bit of a shock. To realize that people WILL indefinitely judge you by the way you dress and act in public. If you want to be a real individual, go else where.

"We don't go there, that is where the Lower caste people go..."

I look at this girl in disbelief. Younger than me, and already, she is told that. Just really shocked me. Even the younger generation is taught to look down upon many. It's hard to change a country when the culture runs deep. Where the population is exploding.

I remember at school in America, I was asked to list some problems that face India. Overpopulation, deforestation, pollution, etc. These are the issues that I listed, but now that I am here, there is so much more. Corruption in the government, that is one I hear almost everyday. Greed of the government. Not all schools are given money from the government here. Corruption. The police are corrupt. I hear that one all the time too. But then I think of the burden that the non-corrupt government has in taking care of a country that is scaling it's way to be the country with the highest population in the world. It's not just one issue that can be extracted, it's all the issues working and intertwining to together that make up what this country has to face.

On another note: People here complain about how dirty it is all the time, trash everywhere, but then contribute to the mess by throwing trash on the ground as well. I find myself just picking up after my host parents when I can because they just throw things on the ground. I come from a very environmentally aware school in America, so habit is to clean up and be nice to the environment. I could only imagine what my biology teacher in America would do if he were here, seeing all this trash everywhere... I am going nuts seeing it.