Around the World with the Pattersons: First Impressions

When you think of India what do you think of? Palm trees, tropical fruit, elephants, basically Hawaii with a different culture right? Well not quite, you see India is much more populated, dirty, and not up to date. These are the things that surprised me most, and they are not present in the entire country just Mumbai.

India is the second most populated country in the world, right after china, so when you have a big city like Mumbai you have a BIG city. Mumbai is the most populated city and is 232.8 square miles. That's a lot of people. As a result you have no personal space wherever you go, you could not go outside without seeing someone else and there is a job for almost anything. You never have to pick up after yourself in a restaurant because that's some one's job. There is a person in charge of each kind of product at the electronic stores, there is someone to open the door for you at every single shop, and cooks and maids are very popular. With so many people so much could go wrong, so, security is everywhere, in front of every apartment complex, at the door of every mall, and before you get on each train. Girls and guys are separated in lines (the girls have a covered booth they are searched in while guys are searched out in the open. There's a "ladies only section on the train too.

Another thing that struck me in Mumbai was that they aren't quite so clean here. There can be piles of trash in some places and people brushing their teeth on the side of the road. so far I've seen 1 pig, 2 cows, 4 cats, 5 goats, and who knows how many dogs just wandering around. With no one closely watching them or claiming them there no one to clean up their "waste" so, no one does, resulting in absolute stank, everywhere, mixed with the trash piles and sweat of everyone can be almost unbearable at times. Luckily there is air conditioning and the modern technology of the air freshener on our side. Because of the heat Air conditioning is a staple in every house, elevator and shop.

India has these commercials talking about 4G data going nonstop. I thought it was weird they were talking about it like some newfangled thing thing, but here it is! Something else new is "commercial free television" or in America "Netflix". Cable hasn't come out yet either. Speaking of TV they have music video channels that we found while skimming through our options. They have videos that could have come straight from the 50's! The juxtapose from Ellie Goulding on the previous channel was comical to me.