I have been in India a couple of times before, but India is fascinating every time, on so many levels. Why do I think so? Well, the Indian culture is so much different from my own and every time I come back, my horizon moves a bit more. Every time I go there, I come back with lots of thoughts and realizations. India is grounding me in a way.

Why? One aspect is the poverty in India. Many people don’t have homes, sleep on the streets, have not enough to eat. This makes me very sad. Especially when we are driving around in cabs, from the hotel to the office. And at the junctions, women with little children knock at the car window and ask for money because they are starving. Then I’ll try to help, but I can’t help them all. And I feel bad about myself because of that. I simply was lucky to be born into a rich and safe country. And people in India and other countries have to fight every day to survive. And I have a cab driving me into my hotel to have a big dinner. This feels not right at all.
And then I remember how many people in my home country behave. There is so much greediness, distrust, envy, jealousy and materialism, despite all the security, wealth and social safety nets. People are save and rich in average, many own a lot of stuff and still it is not enough. People are grumpy and unhappy. And even worse, people think they have deserved their status, money, safety. They start thinking that they are better than others, becoming arrogant, impolite and disrespectful. But actually they just have been lucky to be born into a safe and rich society. This is really sad, everything is taken for granted without thinking.

But actually it is not the poverty alone, what grounds me. It is rather the contradictions. Every country has rich and poor people, but in India the discrepancy couldn’t be more drastic. There are very poor people, living at the streets, having nothing to eat. And right next to that there is a big building with glass fronts, modern and shiny. On the streets you can find camel carts next to a Mercedes S500. Those drastic mismatches are everywhere. Might it be the modern building of a software company, right next to a hundred years old temple with praying monks. These discrepancies are something I have difficulties to accept.

But India is much more. I love the colors. India is so colorful, it is amazing. Especially if you come from a country like mine, which is rather dull and grey compared to India. You can find the complete spectrum of almost everything in India, not only the color spectrum. This is what makes India so fascinating for me.
Another aspect is the attitude of many people there. Despite the hard living conditions and besides all poverty, people appear happier. People appreciate what they have and are happy with their lives. Isn’t this great? I love that. especially since I am coming from a rich country. Back at home people own a lot of things, but nonetheless they are unhappy. There is so much envy and anger and frustration and isolation and materialism. And now think twice which of the two countries is richer.