Judgements Made

Should I judge an entire country by our experience upon landing at New Delhi's airport? No. Am I going to anyway? Yes. You see, it all started with customs. We were in line for a while only to be told we were in the wrong line because we had e-visas. We were given attitude like this was an obvious mistake on our part, but the line for the e-visa was at the far end of the customs hall out of view from every passenger entering. But that was strike one. Then we continually kept getting cut off by people who don't believe in waiting in line. Strike two.



Then when our driver finally showed up to take us to our hotel, he was eager to wrench my backpack out of my hands even though I said no, but did not seem too concerned about the 30 lbs that Nicole was still carrying on her back. The trunk was almost shut with Nicole's bag still on her back. In the car, all questions were referred to me, even though Nicole had technically paid for the hotel and the driver. "How are you, sir?" Nobody cares how Nicole is. I knew there was certainly some sexism inherit in Indian society, but even I hadn't expected it to be so blatant. It took almost three hours from our plane landing to arriving at our hotel (which is only a mile or so from the airport). So far, I'm not particularly impressed with the efficiency, lack of respect for lines, and misogyny. But I guess that all comes with the territory. I hope our opinions can be shifted tomorrow, but I'm keeping my expectations low.