China + India : Food and Infrastructure
Since we returned from our trip to India a little over two weeks ago, I have really enjoyed hearing about the experience my classmates had in China. It seems that a very popular topic to share has been about the food we ate. Prior to traveling to India, I had had naan, tikka masala, and samosas before, but other than these few things, I was pretty much a novice Indian food-eater; however, I was ready to try new dishes and taste the many flavors and spices of traditional Indian cuisine.
Knowing that Indians do not eat beef and that a huge portion of the population is in fact vegetarian, I expected to be eating a lot of vegetables over the course of the two weeks. While I did eat a lot of vegetables, I also found myself eating a lot of chicken and mutton (adult sheep), which were both very tasty. For my vegetarian classmates though it was never an issue to get an entirely “veg” meal while we were out to eat. Vegetarianism is very much a part of the Indian culture and readily available. In fact, American fast-food establishments have adapted their menus to appeal to the local tastes and demands of the culture. We visited McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts in India and was interested to see that their menus consisted of entirely veg “burgers” and non-veg, which were always chicken sandwiches. Below is a picture of the menu at Dunkin Donuts where I tried the Tough Guy Chicken sandwich. Like true Indian cuisine, this sandwich was full of fiery spices. I have to say it was pretty darn good. Dunkin’ should consider offering it on the menus here in the States.
While I’ve mentioned that veg options were ubiquitous in India, I was surprised to learn that my vegetarian classmates in China had a much harder time getting such dishes. From the stories they shared, the restaurants often just simply did not understand their request not to eat meat. Almost every dish contained pork or chicken – even the plate of vegetables would be cooked with pork. I found this to be surprising especially because of the large Chinese Buddhist population that exists, and for many Chinese Buddhists beef and the consumption of large animals is avoided.
Another difference that we talked about was the difference in infrastructure. In India, I constantly needed to watch where I walked due to the uneven sidewalks and loose cobblestones. And the roads were terrible. Most roads were unevenly paved, if even paved at all, which made for longer, bumpier travel wherever we went. It was interesting to travel to Mindtree Ltd., a global IT services firm in Bangalore with a large, modern corporate campus, but the roads that we took to get there were absolutely awful. Also, surprising was the minimal number of large, modern skyscrapers in India. Bangalore had the most modern feel of the cities that we visited – perhaps attributed to it being the tech center of India – but as I mentioned, even there the infrastructure was quite poor. Talking to my classmates who went to China and seeing their photos, it is obvious that modern infrastructure has exploded in China especially in Shanghai. In addition to the skyscrapers, they spoke of extremely wide roads and a highly effective subway system. The subway systems in India were never even presented to us as a possible way to travel. I wish we had had a chance to experience the Delhi Metro however as it is India’s first modern public transportation system.
In Delhi, we traveled by train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I had been warned that the trains in India are nothing like we are used to in the US, which would obviously mean then that they are way behind the ultra modern, sleek bullet trains in China. As we arrived at the train station very early in the morning, total chaos ensued. We made our way through the crowds and waited on the platform to board. Walking through the car to find my seat, I instantly felt like I was living in a time that was at least 30 years ago. But aesthetics aside, it was when the train finally started moving that really made me realize that the technology and infrastructure of the rails was very far behind. The constant jerking movement of the train every couple of minutes and the uncertainty of platforms being available at the train stop also contributed to my feeling that I was living at least 30 years ago.
Our experience on the Indian rail definitely seems to be in stark contrast to the bullet trains in China. The bullet trains would travel at 180 miles/hour and provided in-train services which according to one classmate were better than what he had on his Air France flight!
It’s been extremely insightful and eye-opening to share our immersion experiences. I would honestly never have thought that vegetarians would have a hard time finding food options in China. While I have been very aware of the bullet trains in China, I never thought that the transportation infrastructure in India would be in such poor conditions nor as technologically far behind as I found it to be.