Reality Check

I recently let it slip in a conversation that we have to go through regular security checks to get into malls, movie theatres, hotels, and pretty much all public places. The past seven months I have reported the truth, but a slightly sugar coated version of the truth. However, I think the time has come to open a few eyeballs to the reality of Indian life. Every mall has a metal detector, bag check, and body scanner at all entrances. The attached picture was taken this evening as I was leaving the Ambiance Mall, which is also where my gym is located. I felt like a terrorrist taking this picture, but it is for your benefit. As you can see there is a metal detector on the outside and then upon entrance the men go right and the women left. Women always get a little cubicle to get frisked in where the men get it out in the open. It is frustrating because it looks like high security, but it is actually worthless in most expat's opinions. If their scanner beeps they don't seem to do much about it. The government has run bomb tests/drills on certain malls and they were able to get right past security. A real safe feeling!

If you want to know India reality unplugged you can read the daily paper and learn a great deal. The Times of India or Hinduism Times give all the details of the gang rapes, suicides, villages of prostitutes, and the corrupt government. I stopped reading the paper for a bit as it got too depressing. Now I read the front page, world news, and Bollywood/Hollywood gossip sections.

So now you know a few more details into what I have fabricated to be a fairytale lifestyle in India. The world around us is not pretty and it is very difficult to avoid or ignore it. Every traffic light is full of beggers tapping on your car window asking for food for their baby that is dangling off their hip bone half dead looking. Sometimes, when I'm outside of a mall, shop, or grocery store they come right up in your face (or my belly button) asking for money. Poverty is not a pretty thing and something that I am thankful for not having to endure everyday. I often times laugh and think about how South Dakotan's call themselves poor dirt farmers, but the reality is they are loaded compared to this drama.