A taxi driver has a small, pink, plastic elephant wearing purple jewelry on his dashboard. This is the god Ganesh and just one of the many manifestations of the one god Brahman. As we travel we pass a twenty foot high plastic version of the pink elephant Ganesh at the side of the freeway, again all decorated with cheap looking purple jewelry.
As we left Greece behind it was Egypt that began to get us into the Eastern mood of bright colours and percussive dance music but it’s in India where the difference between East and West becomes unmistakable. The shopping malls play non-stop vibrant dance music and they are running some sort of game show where contestants answer questions for prizes-that’s also simultaneously broadcast over the loudspeakers. Everything is colorful, vibrantly so, particularly the clothing which is also very beautiful. Easterners must think that a lot of the West is grey- with our suits and white shirts and pastel Starbucks interiors. If there were a Starbucks here it would have a purple fluorescent light playing on a bright yellow wall. Even the food is more colorful than ours at home. Not everything is attractive-to our eyes at least. We pass a wedding chapel which Westerners would call garish or gaudy and so much stuff here seems like that to us. We are trying.
Like the Egyptians the Indians overall seem a happy lot and have a ready smile for you. That’s also really different to Greece and particularly Crete. The Indians, around Bangalore at least, and unlike the Egyptians, seem to have a serious tone as well, however, and are clearly busy making a living.
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