Chapter *.*: European observations...

This did not happen at some particular instance of the trip. Rather, they were observations and lessons learned over the course of the trip as a part of various experiences.

European cities hold a very prestigious position in world history since European countries were the first economic and trade centres of the world before the American and the Japanese sub continents took over in mid-twentieth century. As such, these cities hold a very rich tradition and in most cases, these cities can be dated back a couple of centuries. Walking along a European avenue enables one to relive the times when the world was taking the economic shape that it has now transformed to. Yet in these times of the twenty-first century, these cities retain their old world charm.

This is not entirely unlike the situation back in the Indian sub-continent. Most Indian cities can find rich traditions dating back to the colonial British times and as such, one can see traits of the same in areas like South Bombay, Pune, Bangalore, Calcutta and the various other cantonments and hill stations set up during the colonial rule. As a result, both the Indian cities as well as the old European cities share attributes like mid-nineteenth century architectures, narrow streets and old-style eateries for grabbing that snack. However, its the European cities that have managed to hold onto this identity of theirs and even allowing them to thrive while the cities in India are losing their old world charm because of which the edifices are now being replaced by sky rising vanilla glass structures, the streets are crammed with endless traffic jams of slow moving traffic and the sense of life itself is of commotion as against the leisurely European paced life. So where did the plot go awry?

One must back up the European situation with a couple of advantages before one rolls on: The economies are backed up by a very powerful currency, they do not possess problems prevalent such as large scale illiteracy, infant mortality, population boom and access to health care.

Though these problems address the problems at grass roots, one cannot turn a blind eye to the chaotic situation one encounters in the Indian cities and blame the presence of the above mentioned factors as the sole causes. The biggest problems in the Indian cities can be attributed to causes like complete lack of public transport, unchecked growth in ownership of vehicles and the absence of a green culture.

Europe has, en masse, accepted the green way of life to such an extent that in cities like Amsterdam, the primary mode of personal travel is the bicycle. That is not to mention the presence of quite a comprehensive metro link in all major cities supported by regular bus/land routes for areas that are not covered by the metro. The cost effectiveness of a metro in an Indian city can and will be a topic of a separate post.

All said and done, the sheer pleasure of talking a walk down the cobbled streets made me realize what it is that one misses back in the daily traffic jams in India. But there is something that we share a lot in common with the Europeans: the civic attitude. One feels in India among the sidewalks littered with cola cans, cigarette butts and in the flowing river filled with refuse and rubble. Even though the levels might not match the levels we see in India, rampant dirtying of the type we observed in what are considered as the tourist capitals of the world quite shocked us.

I know what you are thinking: nope.. its not the (Indian) tourists responsible for the large scale despoiling of the European landscape.. Not yet, at least...