I spent all day on the bus in Uttar Pradesh. It was pretty bad. I meant to see the rice harvest, which is occurring now as summer comes to a close. Next they will plant wheat for the winter. They use the same land for two different crops throughout the year. That’s productive, and it must be with a billion mouths to feed. Although India lies in the northern hemisphere, it seems more like Southern hemisphere climate, with a rainy summer and dry winter. I have noticed that a lot of flowers and plants are in bloom right now, and it’s the mating season for animals. Also, my allergies have been making my eyes itch. But it doesn’t help that dust here is unrelenting; I always get dust in my eyes and they get irritated. Even wearing glasses (which somewhat act as an eye cover), not wearing contacts (It’s so dusty that I can’t), and being Asian (meaning Asian eyes), I still always get dust in my eyes. Meanwhile, Indians seem not to mind. I don’t see many wearing glasses, and I’m sure contacts are too expensive for the masses. Either everyone has naturally good eyesight, or I’m really scared to ride in vehicles now. I thought there would be good views of farms in the heart of Uttar Pradesh. So I had to take a city bus from the nearby bus station to Anand Vihar, across the Yamuna River. I sat there for a while, while hawkers tried to sell watches, water, and fruit. One even made an "As Seen on TV" presentation while the bus was moving. It’s hard to explain to the conductors that you don’t have a specific destination, so I had to settle for one going to Moradabad, on the main road to Rampur, Bareilly, and Lucknow. It was a very well-paved road. Getting out of Delhi took forever. Delhi sprawls for miles and miles. Delhi is so polluted that there’s not a cloud in the sky, but it looks overcast. There is so much smog you can look at the sun without it hurting your eyes. All that is carbon monoxide from automobile emissions, burning trash, burning coal for power, and cows. Delhi is neither coastal nor windy. It’s dropped from “most polluted” to “second most polluted” to Mexico City. This is because the city recently required that all public buses and rickshaws use compressed natural gas, a nice change from the leaded fuel they were using before. Delhi is the capital city of the largest democracy in the world. Situated on the Yamuna River at the center of the east-west axis of Northern India, it has ancient roots but is definitely modern. This is because it is a conglomeration of neighborhoods, like Los Angeles. Delhi has world-class hotels, hospitals, universities, companies, and communications and transport systems. Juxtaposed, there are still millions living in Delhi’s slums and streets, working in the informal sector, and working as laborers, peddlers, beggars, and priests. Seven different rulers from the Aryans to the Mughals to the British to the post-colonial Indians founded cities in the site of present Delhi, but every one except for the current one has lost the city to invaders. It is said Delhi is cursed to any who try and set up a city here. Today, it is mostly a city of immigrants. Peoples of tribal and other backward castes come here to fill reservation quotas in government, colleges, and corporations. Oppressed low-caste peasants flood the city to escape persecution, for the anonymity of urban life. Poor migrants pour into the city at a rate of thousands per day, hoping to elevate their standard of living (incomes in Delhi are twice as high as the Indian average). International businessmen, politicians, diplomats, tourists, and University of California students come to conduct business in a rapidly-growing economy, to manage international affairs, to study, and as a starting point to the wealth of tourist destinations found in India. After partition, many non-Muslim West Punjabis were forced out of their homes in Pakistan, and most settled in Delhi. Today, Delhi is mostly run by Punjabis, as are the hotel, gas station, and IT businesses in America. The 12 million people living in cosmopolitan Delhi represents the tolerance of multicultural India. Delhi is fast-paced, modern, and concerned with money and status, compared to the rest of the country where caste and family is most important. I’ve come to really love it for all it has to offer. But, getting out of Delhi was nice, and the road to Uttar Pradesh was flanked by roadside restaurants, farms, eucalyptus trees, gas stations, rest stops. If you live in Uttar Pradesh, congratulations, you’re one of 200 million people in the state known as the cow belt of India. It is also known as the Hindu heartland or cow belt of India, although I saw a lot of Muslims with veils, skullcaps, and Mohammed-style beards. Maybe I just think there are a lot of Muslims and Sikhs in Northern India because they’re more noticeable than the 85% majority Hindus. I saw some harvesting and a lot of fields. However, it was a main road, so the views were not spectacular. It’s definitely rural, but has many modern buildings and industry. And even though it’s rural, there are people everywhere. It is very densely-populated, as with anywhere in this country. In India, there is no escaping people, no privacy anywhere. We stopped at a dhaba to eat, and I was going to but for some reason opted out. I’m glad I did, because I saw a rat run across the counter of the kitchen. I got to Moradabad, a small dirty smelly town, as with everywhere in Uttar Pradesh. The extent of my travels here was: I walked a half a block, avoiding bicycle rickshaws, and I bought a bottle of water and drank it. Then I hopped on an Uttar Pradesh Transportation bus to Delhi so new it had plastic still on the seats. Or it could just be because we’re in Asia, and Asians love covering seats in plastic. Along the way, there were fairs set up in the dark night for Navratri festivals, with food, Ferris wheels, dancing, music, and blinking lights everywhere. To get home, I had to catch a city bus. It's almost a requirement to run and jump onto the moving bus. The conductor told me to come, and ran towards the bus, and I had to pull an Indiana Jones move. I got home late, and didn’t study for my Hindi final that’s tomorrow. Apparently I missed another in-house drama episode. Mariel, Kim, and Alix told the Jains they are moving out. Since we don’t have an official lease signed, they can kick us out at any time, and now I’m scared they could poison our water or do anything they really want. What sucks even more is this whole situation is none of our faults. And I wasn’t even here for any of it. So people are looking into alternative living situations, as the Jains probably don’t want us here anymore.
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