Chapter 20: Into India (Part II)

Delhi, the capital of India, is actually divided into two cities, New Delhi and Old Delhi, Old Delhi is the ancient capital of India, as early as 1200 B.C., according to the famous Indian epic "Mahabharata", there have been ancient Indian states have built their capitals here. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Dynasty were also established here. New Delhi, the capital of modern India, is a new artificial city designed and constructed before the British evacuated, and it was an empty wasteland at the beginning of the twentieth century, until 1911, when construction began, and the famous India Gate, as well as the entire Indian central government institutions such as Parliament, the Presidential Palace, the Central Government Building, and a series of five-star hotels that received foreign tourists, are located here. In the middle of the twin cities of Old and New Delhi, separated by a Delhi Gate, and bounded by the famous Ramlila Square, New Delhi to the south and Old Delhi to the north.

Wang Qiu they get off the plane of Indira. Gandhi International Airport, located further south of New Delhi, was originally designed to provide direct access to the city centre of New Delhi without passing through the Old City of Delhi, but since a large block in front of it was blocked by demonstrations, it had to take a detour from Old Delhi.

So, in the midst of the scolding and scolding of Bai Quanyi, the health commissioner of the embassy, and the helpless rolling of the eyes of Wang Qiu, Li Wei and Shizuka Jukawa, the half-used Mazda car made a U-turn in the traffic with difficulty, slowly left the main road that was blocked by water, and began to drill into the path, preparing to drive to the suburbs first, and then find a way to go around the city...... Then, Wang Qiu saw more of the chaos of the Indian capital.

On the way out of the airport before, although the sides were a little dirty and there were more homeless people, they were all modern houses anyway. The road is a relatively spacious four-lane road, and there are streetlights and green belts on both sides of the road, and the software or anything is not mentioned for the time being, but it already has the appearance of a modern metropolis in terms of hardware (I later learned that it is already a wealthy and middle-class area in New Delhi).

However, in the suburban junction near Old Delhi, it is completely similar to the scene in the old photos of the Republic of China before the liberation of China - the roads are all narrow two-lane or even one-way streets, or simply dirt roads, and the roadside is two or three storey dilapidated buildings, and ox carts, bicycles, and electric vehicles are full of narrow alleys, crawling slowly like turtles, and even not as fast as pedestrians on the sidewalks next to them. The crowds of people and vehicles are almost overwhelming, and the roads are lined with small vendors selling things, directly blocking the door of other people's shops to do business. Hawkers, crowds, ox carts, horse-drawn carts, tricycles, and bicycles all move through the formation at will, completely ignoring the traffic rules.

The air is filled with countless disgusting smells such as car exhaust, vegetables, garbage, animals, and feces, which cannot be filtered out even if you are sitting in an air-conditioned car.

For Chinese drivers, the streets of this place can really make people collapse in minutes, everywhere is the sound of the horn, compare who is the loudest, motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, all kinds of strange cars, and the sacred cows are all crowded together, no traffic lights, no traffic police chengguan, no traffic rules, cars wipe and all solve their own problems...... It's a miracle that the roads are still passable.

Well, many urban villages in China seem to look similar because they are not planned. However, even in the most remote rural areas, it is estimated that there will not be so many kinds of vehicles full of pre-owned style in Delhi, India, and some of the models seem to be factory before World War II. What's even more amazing is that Indian cars are like trains, the roof and sides of the carriage are always full of people, and that kind of acrobatic talent really amazes the Chinese - Wang Qiu saw a small pickup truck carrying thirty Indians doing snail climbing.

Alas, this is India, ♂ rape is culture, laziness is tradition, motorcycle stacking arhats is spirit, and open defecation is the quintessence of the country......

Moreover, in addition to being five or six times overloaded with passengers, cattle, sheep or other goods, the cars of Indians also look as if they were picked from a car scraping factory, often going out into tatters on the streets without even a door or engine cover. Wang Qiu also encountered a "super lite version of the car" with only four wheels and an engine, not even a piece of iron sheet or glass left in the entire body, a plastic bench in the driver's seat, and a large Coke bottle filled with gasoline instead of the fuel tank -- I really don't know how this car inspection happened...... Sure enough, the people of India are much happier......

However, it is not these overloaded vehicles that lack arms and legs that are really frightening, but all kinds of animals crossing the road. Not only cows, but all kinds of animals roam freely, monkeys, horses, goats, sows can be seen everywhere, dogs are drilling under the wheels, hens and chicks are foraging under large trees, and occasionally a large flock of crows or pigeons suddenly land in the middle of the road. There are even camels and elephants!

Of course, the most abundant and arrogant nature is the cow, which is like a hooligan, often lying in the middle of the road, completely ignoring the traffic blocked by it, and sometimes hungry, even unceremoniously entering the store, eating the fruits and vegetables ready for sale. If the owner of the shop saw it, they would only dare to drive the cattle out with a mop or something, and they would not even dare to beat them too hard, let alone kill them.

No way, this cow is really noble in the eyes of Hindus. Because everyone in India worships the cow as a sacred animal, the number of cattle in India is quite close to the human population, as high as more than 230 million heads, almost every two to three Indians, an average of one cow. And most of the cattle are not confined to pastures or farms, but roam the towns like vagabonds......

In addition to the sacred cows on the streets, the rest of the animals are also staggering, and they are not afraid of people at all, which is very surprising to Chinese.

“…… This is the most interesting thing in India, where it's easy to spot wildlife as you walk, both in the city and in the suburbs. What cows, sheep, pigs, monkeys, all kinds of animals roaming the streets. These animals are wary of humans and not fearful, and if you have something to eat, they will come to you, otherwise they will go their own way without interfering with each other. Various travel guides advise tourists not to try to play self-driving. Because you don't just have to hide from people and cars. There are also all kinds of animals that can come out at any time, except for local drivers in India, we foreigners don't have the ability to do this......"

Pointing to a monkey that jumped onto the trunk of the car at some point, Bai Quanyi Health Commissioner smiled and said casually, "...... Many people in China only know that Indians worship cows, in fact, their concept is basically polytheistic worship, anything as long as it involves the gods in mythology, even if it is flowers, trees, livestock, can become idols to be worshipped. Therefore, Indians not only worship cows, but also elephants, monkeys, mice, cats, dogs, cobras and many other animals, which are also the objects of their worship. In short, India is definitely a paradise for animals. On several occasions I saw that the squirrels in the trees were so fat that they could not walk, but the poor, beggars, and ascetics under the trees were almost as thin as human workers......"

Hearing this, Wang Qiu turned his head to look at the blind beggars on the side of the road, and found that no matter whether they were old or young, male or female, everyone was skinny and unclothed, and only a rag was wrapped around their bodies.

“…… Well, if these poor Indians are starving like this, why don't they catch these animals and roast them? ”

Wang Qiu asked curiously, "...... I remember that at the end of the last century, the Chinese went to Australia to work, not only wanted to save as much as possible to save food and send money to their hometown, but also couldn't stay up and wanted to fight tooth sacrifices, and as a result, they secretly caught pigeons in Sydney's urban parks and ate them. I see them sleeping on the side of the road, looking like they are about to starve to death, and the animals here are not afraid of people at all, so it shouldn't be too difficult to catch! Will the police be in charge? Is there a police officer in such a place? ”

“…… No need to be police! Most Indians are extremely devout vegetarians! They would rather starve to death than eat meat! ”

Bai Quanyi pursed his lips, seemingly disdainful of this, "...... Everyone knows that Buddhism requires everyone not to kill and only eat vegetarianism, right? In fact, Hinduism is the same, and it is stricter! At most, Chinese monks don't eat meat, and devout Hindus don't even eat turnips and potatoes! ”

“…… Yes? Can't eat both radishes and potatoes? Wang Qiu was a little stupid when he heard it, "...... What is this precept? ”

“…… Because turnips and potatoes grow under the soil...... How so? It's a complex concept. ”

Bai Quanyi explained, "...... I have listened to lectures given by several religious figures, and I have found that the Hindu fasting and the opposition to killing are not exactly the same as our modern humanist concept, but are based on a primitive religious belief, or animism. In the thinking of the ancient Indians, all things must absorb the essence of heaven and earth, so everything in the world, from cattle and horses to plants and trees, to mountains and rivers, is life.

As the source of all life, the earth was given a feminine character by the Indians, called Dagala, which is the same concept as we call Mother Earth. In the mythological religion of India, everything that comes into contact with the ground is the hair and skin of Mother Earth, such as animals such as cows and sheep, as well as the rhizomes of plants, and to harm them is to hurt Mother Earth Dagara, and the more they are killed, the more Mother Earth loses its vitality, and finally everything will die, and the human beings who depend on them will also perish. To achieve this, human beings must be abstinent and temperate in order to achieve sustainable development.

The above logic is easy to understand! Following this logic, for strict Hindu vegetarians, not only cattle, sheep, fish and shrimp cannot be eaten, but also potatoes, carrots and other plants that grow underground cannot be eaten, because they are born under the 'skin' of Mother Earth, and in order to obtain these crops, they have to cut open the mother's skin, which is a great rebellion! ”

“…… This logic ...... It's amazing! Levi interjected, "...... But what should they eat if they can't move, what should they eat? ”

“…… According to the logic of these Hindu believers, humans can eat leaves and grains because they are not directly connected to Mother Earth, but are gifts that Mother Earth grew out to feed humans. However, it is still necessary to consider the stem that is connected to the earth. ”

Bai Quan Yi said with relish, "...... Therefore, according to their level of devotion to Hinduism, it can probably be divided into several levels. First of all, a very small number of Indians are influenced by modern thought, except for the frequent worship of temples, which is basically the same as us, and they eat wine and meat as usual. Next, most ordinary Indians just don't eat meat, but can eat eggs and drink milk. Buddha Shakyamuni was one such person, who was only saved by a bowl of milk after he was starved and fainted from enlightenment under the Bodhi tree - only the average vegetarian diet in all of India.

Indians, who are a little more religious than the Buddha Shakyamuni, do not eat meat and eggs, do not drink milk, and are completely vegetarians. And there are more devout Indians who are not only forbidden to eat meat, eggs and milk, but also potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots that grow in the ground.

If you want to be more religious, then instead of eating root crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, you should not eat even foods with strong tastes such as chili peppers and sweets, because the pungent taste brings desire ♂, whereas the purpose of Hinduism is abstinence...... But this is not the most devout believer, the most devout believer is not only strict with himself, but also educates sentient beings - not only does he not eat meat, but he also does not let others around him eat meat. If it's such a guy, once you see someone killing chickens and pigs, you have to dissuade it; Once it is discovered that the business partner is producing slaughtering equipment, then it is better to breach the contract and lose money than to do business with him; Once a friend goes to join the army and becomes a killer, you must quickly break off your friendship with him......"

“…… This, this, this...... Sounds like a fundamentalist on the Arab side! Wang Qiu said.

“…… That's right, that's the Hindu fundamentalists, but their mark is not a human dynamite package, but non-violent non-cooperation, which is what I just said. The most thorough implementation of the non-violent non-cooperation movement and vegetarianism is Jainism, a branch of Hinduism. And the place where the largest number of Jain believers is in the present-day Indian state of Gujarat. Mahatma Gandhi was born in Gujarat, and his mother was a Jain – so you can see why Gandhi started the non-violent non-cooperation movement......

Bai Quanyi raised his eyebrows, "...... Therefore, on the streets of India today, animals are fat to death, but people are thin to death......"

“…… But it's also ridiculous. Chinese also eat fasting and pray Buddha, but if they are really hungry, all birds and animals, bark and grass roots will be stuffed into the stomach, where can they care about what beliefs and precepts! Wang Qiu shook his head and sighed.

“…… But Indians are not Chinese, and their religious devotion is not comparable to that of Chinese. Let's put it this way! Chinese culture has been centered on the secular world since ancient times, treating ghosts and gods or other supernatural existences, and when you have spare energy, you naturally have to worship them, if the living are dying of starvation, then no one can care about burning incense in the temple. Indian culture, on the other hand, is centered on the afterlife, believing that the present world is false and that the destination of the soul after death is real. Man lives to endure the trials of all kinds of suffering, and death is happiness and liberation......"

Bai Quanyi replied, "...... So, since ancient times, Indians have been very religious, very docile, and very easy to rule. Moreover, they regard starvation as a kind of spiritual practice, which they consider to be a very decent and honorable thing. The first emperor of the Mauryan Empire, the great emperor who had competed with Alexander the Great, took the initiative to starve himself to death for the sake of his pious faith. Modern Indian peasants have not paid their land rent, and they have committed suicide by hundreds and thousands, instead of hunting birds and beasts to fill their stomachs, and even fewer have rebelled in the mountains......"

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On the other hand, despite being so disciplined and desireless when it comes to eating, Indians don't seem to lack the toughness to drive. Unless the car is overloaded too much, you can't get up fast if you want to. Otherwise, even Indian drivers, who have always been lazy and unpunctual, will often race against time with great courage as soon as they get behind the wheel - compared to the traffic on the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital of India, traffic in almost any part of China can be said to be "orderly"! The cars with mirrors here are all new Japanese and Korean cars, and the ones that are a little older have either had their mirrors removed or never seem to have been installed! Because the mirror is almost useless on this side of the road!

As long as it is in a place where the traffic police are not visible, the traffic laws are useless. When Indian drivers are driving, they change lanes when they want to, and when someone honks the horn in the back, they change back, and when no one presses it, they change to the past! The distance between the car when stopping and changing lanes is surprisingly small, and it is almost the door to the door, and the bumper to the bumper. In such road conditions, the Indians can still drive two lanes out of six lanes and run at a speed of more than 60 kilometers at the same time on the road with a speed limit of 40!

-- When the Indian driver drove the Mazda in the embassy and had to speed at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour in the midst of a group of large trucks, Wang Qiu and the others in the car were all so nervous that they couldn't help but tremble their legs......

However, despite the low-caste driver's pace, the destination was still far away - after more than an hour of driving, it seemed that he was still circling the suburbs...... In the end, under the bearded glare of the health commissioner of Bai Quanyi, the dark-skinned driver young man admitted with a sincere smile: he himself didn't know where he drove, that is, now he is lost!

-- This young driver is not a native of New Delhi, but only ran from his rural hometown in West Bengal to the capital New Delhi more than half a year ago. Today, he is familiar with the roads of New Delhi, but Old Delhi can only look at the map...... What's more, because he didn't expect to go to Old Delhi today, he didn't have a map of Old Delhi with him, and there was no GPS navigation installed in the car...... The results are predictable......

This discovery made Wang Qiu and others, who were numb in the car, almost collapse, but the matter had come to this point, and they had to try their best to remedy it - at first, the health commissioner of Bai Quanyi instructed the Indian driver to find a way to ask for directions by himself, but he encountered an unbelievable trouble: the language barrier!

Wait, Indian drivers can actually have a language barrier in their own capital? Make no mistake, right? Is he Indian or not?

But the fact is that although the official language of India is Hindi, about 60% of the country's population does not speak it!

Because there are more than thirty states in India, each of which has its own official language. This is not a dialect like Cantonese and Shanghainese in China, but a completely different language in terms of writing and grammar! Indian banknotes are printed in 23 major languages to indicate denominations. And that's not even counting the fact that there are many minor languages in each state, but when added up, there are more than 300 languages spoken throughout India.

Of course, there are different dialects within various languages, even Hindi, which is the official language, and there are five main dialects in India, and the differences between them are no less than Cantonese and Mandarin, and it is not easy to understand each other.

What kind of trouble will this kind of language barrier cause? The first is that it will be difficult for the Indian government to eradicate illiteracy. An Indian can finally write in his own state, but he is still illiterate in the next state! Secondly, it creates a lot of obstacles for Indians to migrate and travel within the country. Some people don't even leave their villages for the rest of their lives, because the language he speaks is different from the one around them!

Delhi, as the capital of India, naturally speaks the official Hindi language. The young man who was from West Bengal and spoke Bengali was naturally very distressing to communicate...... Fortunately, Indians still have English left over from the British colonial era, which can connect the whole country. And the young man from West Bengal, who was sitting in front of Wang Qiu, came to the capital to make a living by speaking Indian English.

The problem is that in a country with a very high illiteracy rate, Indians who can speak English make up only a tiny fraction of the population. The driver shouted for more than a dozen people in a row, either pretending not to hear it, or really not understanding it...... It's hard to find a guy who can communicate in English, who knows that this guy who wears glasses and looks like an intellectual is as unreliable as the driver, and actually takes the trouble to point fingers - no way, most Indians are so unreliable, what do you say to him, and then ask him if he understands, will he be, they will shake their heads and say that they know, or they are very confident that it is no problem. Then the driver drove out and got lost, and the food was served incorrectly, and the wait waited for hours......

In the end, the health commissioner Bai Quanyi, who was already impatient, got out of the car and went to the roadside newsstand to buy a map, and found a pot-bellied Indian policeman, and after some gesture communication, he finally found the general direction to the embassy area.

However, the rest of the road was still full of bumps - to strangers, all the roads in Delhi looked more or less the same, in a circle, with a large meadow in the middle, where many people sat to sleep, eat or play cards, and then four roads stretched straight out of the grass; If you drive on one of these roads, you will soon see circles one by one, and in the middle of it is a large meadow, and there are many people sitting on the grass sleeping, eating, or playing cards. Therefore, Wang Qiu's car kept getting lost, lost, and lost in Delhi......

Compared to the wildlife parks in the suburbs, the urban area has far fewer animals, but it is a little less troublesome because there are thousands of homeless people living on the roads of Delhi. Emaciated, filthy-faced, huddled in the bushes of the green belt, and under bridges or overpasses. Cars whizzed past them, and there they lit fires to cook, fetch water, do laundry, and catch lice in their hair.

These homeless people are a big nuisance for drivers. They never waited for the red light, and always rushed across the road as they wanted, forcing the driver to brake sharply again and again to avoid them, and also making Wang Qiu and other passengers choke enough.

In short, when the car finally drove to Ramlila Square, which divided the old and new Delhi, and looked at the bustling tourists on the square, as well as the Delhi Gate as a landmark, Wang Qiu and the others couldn't help but burst into tears - when they arrived here, the driver and young man were finally familiar with the road ahead. However, Wang Qiu and the others were already hungry, so they decided to find a place to eat nearby first...... In such road conditions, Indians can still drive two lanes out of six lanes, and at the same time run on the road with a speed limit of 40 at a speed of more than 60 kilometers!

-- When the Indian driver drove the Mazda in the embassy and had to speed at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour in the midst of a group of large trucks, Wang Qiu and the others in the car were all so nervous that they couldn't help but tremble their legs......

However, despite the low-caste driver's pace, the destination was still far away - after more than an hour of driving, it seemed that he was still circling the suburbs...... In the end, under the bearded glare of the health commissioner of Bai Quanyi, the dark-skinned driver young man admitted with a sincere smile: he himself didn't know where he drove, that is, now he is lost!

-- This young driver is not a native of New Delhi, but only ran from his rural hometown in West Bengal to the capital New Delhi more than half a year ago. Today, he is familiar with the roads of New Delhi, but Old Delhi can only look at the map...... What's more, because he didn't expect to go to Old Delhi today, he didn't have a map of Old Delhi with him, and there was no GPS navigation installed in the car...... The results are predictable......

This discovery made Wang Qiu and others, who were numb in the car, almost collapse, but the matter had come to this point, and they had to try their best to remedy it - at first, the health commissioner of Bai Quanyi instructed the Indian driver to find a way to ask for directions by himself, but he encountered an unbelievable trouble: the language barrier!

Wait, Indian drivers can actually have a language barrier in their own capital? Make no mistake, right? Is he Indian or not?

But the fact is that although the official language of India is Hindi, about 60% of the country's population does not speak it!

Because there are more than thirty states in India, each of which has its own official language. This is not a dialect like Cantonese and Shanghainese in China, but a completely different language in terms of writing and grammar! Indian banknotes are printed in 23 major languages to indicate denominations. And that's not even counting the fact that there are many minor languages in each state, but when added up, there are more than 300 languages spoken throughout India.

Of course, there are different dialects within various languages, even Hindi, which is the official language, and there are five main dialects in India, and the differences between them are no less than Cantonese and Mandarin, and it is not easy to understand each other.

What kind of trouble will this kind of language barrier cause? The first is that it will be difficult for the Indian government to eradicate illiteracy. An Indian can finally write in his own state, but he is still illiterate in the next state! Secondly, it creates a lot of obstacles for Indians to migrate and travel within the country. Some people don't even leave their villages for the rest of their lives, because the language he speaks is different from the one around them!

Delhi, as the capital of India, naturally speaks the official Hindi language. The young man who was from West Bengal and spoke Bengali was naturally very distressing to communicate...... Fortunately, Indians still have English left over from the British colonial era, which can connect the whole country. And the young man from West Bengal, who was sitting in front of Wang Qiu, came to the capital to make a living by speaking Indian English.

The problem is that in a country with a very high illiteracy rate, Indians who can speak English make up only a tiny fraction of the population. The driver shouted for more than a dozen people in a row, either pretending not to hear it, or really not understanding it...... It's hard to find a guy who can communicate in English, who knows that this guy who wears glasses and looks like an intellectual is as unreliable as the driver, and actually takes the trouble to point fingers - no way, most Indians are so unreliable, what do you say to him, and then ask him if he understands, will he be, they will shake their heads and say that they know, or they are very confident that it is no problem. Then the driver drove out and got lost, and the food was served incorrectly, and the wait waited for hours......

In the end, the health commissioner Bai Quanyi, who was already impatient, got out of the car and went to the roadside newsstand to buy a map, and found a pot-bellied Indian policeman, and after some gesture communication, he finally found the general direction to the embassy area.

However, the rest of the road was still full of bumps - to strangers, all the roads in Delhi looked more or less the same, in a circle, with a large meadow in the middle, where many people sat to sleep, eat or play cards, and then four roads stretched straight out of the grass; If you drive on one of these roads, you will soon see circles one by one, and in the middle of it is a large meadow, and there are many people sitting on the grass sleeping, eating, or playing cards. Therefore, Wang Qiu's car kept getting lost, lost, and lost in Delhi......

Compared to the wildlife parks in the suburbs, the urban area has far fewer animals, but it is a little less troublesome because there are thousands of homeless people living on the roads of Delhi. Emaciated, filthy-faced, huddled in the bushes of the green belt, and under bridges or overpasses. Cars whizzed past them, and there they lit fires to cook, fetch water, do laundry, and catch lice in their hair.

These homeless people are a big nuisance for drivers. They never waited for the red light, and always rushed across the road as they wanted, forcing the driver to brake sharply again and again to avoid them, and also making Wang Qiu and other passengers choke enough.

In short, when the car finally drove to Ramlila Square, which divided the old and new Delhi, and looked at the bustling tourists on the square, as well as the Delhi Gate as a landmark, Wang Qiu and the others couldn't help but burst into tears - when they arrived here, the driver and young man were finally familiar with the road ahead. However, Wang Qiu and the others were already hungry, so they decided to find a place to eat nearby first......