Littering

To rightfully honor my time at Luxury Homestays (my guest house), I need to introduce the people I lived with for the past month. The main staff is comprised of five men, (RK Sharma [far left], Sangram [right of me], Rudra, Dilip [far right] and Harish). They always call me “sir” and have really taken me in. They have no relation to each other. They simply all work at the guest house for a man named AK Mishra.


About three weeks ago, I was taking a taxi into Delhi and was sharing it with RK Sharma who was going to see his brother that day. Mr. Sharma is incredibly kind and gentle soul who shared a number of memorable conversations with me on a variety of “life topics”. Well, on this taxi trip to Delhi he mentioned that he had heard that in the United States if you throw something out the window (here he imitates tossing something out the open window with his fingers) you get fined. Now remember, in Delhi and especially in Gurgaon, there is garbage everywhere – on the streets, in the fields, on the ground in the markets. It’s incredibly difficult to find a garbage can (which is probably one the main reason culprits), so the idea of it being illegal to throw something on the ground is quite outrageous.

At this point, I did the math in my head and told him that the fine is around 4,000 Rps (a little less than $90) at which point the taxi driver and him burst out laughing uncontrollably. This was not “ha ha” laughter. This was laughter that accompanies the amazing, the ridiculous, the “I-can’t-believe-I-just-heard/saw-that”. You see, most Indians make less than 2,700 Rps./month, roughly $60. The annual per capita income in India is $720. In the United States, it is $42,000. (Source: International Monetary Fund, 2005)

Adios Mr. Sharma…

Quiz question #1: Do you know the country with the highest per capita income in the world, by far?

Homework: Learn about the Human Development Index, which is part of the United Nations Development Program´s annual Human Development Report. Many see this formula as a much more complete look at the quality of life amongst people in countries around the world. (i.e. The country with the highest per capita income is ranked 12th in the Human Development Index).

http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indices/default.cfm