India Arrival & Bombay Tour

Our Impressions of India

A.M.S…
There were no countries on our trip which evoked so much anticipation as we left home as did the prospect of visiting India, Ceylon and Thailand. These three places, in our minds, were to be the highspots. We have just returned from our 6-day trip by train which took us approx. 1,000 miles around India, primarily to New Delhi, Agra and Banaras.

A Barometer for the Free World?

A.M.S…
What is our impression of India? One stands out in particular. It's the most thought-provoking, the most complex and most emotion-arousing place on this Earth we have ever visited or ever expect to visit. It seems to us that you can't see India, even for such a short time, and leave without feeling that much of the future of the free world may well hinge on what is to happen there in the next decade.

We tried to prepare ourselves for the India visit before we left home, and one thought impressed itself rather deeply from the preface of T. Walter Wallbank's book: “A Short History of India and Pakistan”, which said in part: “If India, the foremost nation of South West Asia, succeeds in making herself a great industrial power providing expanding economic horizons for her people, it will be a sign to all Asia that the good economic things of life need not be purchased at the cost of individual liberty.”

China, as we know, is purchasing “progress” at the sacrificial cost of all semblance of liberty. So with those thoughts in mind, with all we had heard of the prevalent abject destitution, with the further doubts as to whether the pacifist, religious belief of the Hindus would permit of progress, we travelled through India.

A Country Worthy of Western Aid

A.M.S…
Admittedly everything we saw and many of our reactions were coloured by these questions. Day by day and the farther we travelled the less we were certain of India's eventual future, but the more certain we became of the desperate urgency of India's problem and the more certain we became of the need for the U.S. and the rest of the free world to give every possible aid to India.

In this view, which we hold at the moment with an almost fanatical fervour, we find ourselves belonging to a minority among our fellow passengers, many of whom incline to the belief that “there is no use throwing more money into a rat hole”.

On this issue many of us feel so strongly pro and con that it's almost as dangerous to discuss it as it is to debate religion. Never have we visited any place as we remarked before (and do it again for emphasis) which is as deeply provocative!

Bombay

A Summary of Our Visit

A.M.S…
To get on with our trip - here is a thumbnail sketch of where we went and what we saw…
By the time we woke up on the morning of 09 March we were already docked at Ballard Pier, on another beautiful but rather hot, muggy day. We took a cab by ourselves and in a few hours saw many of the main points of interest.

Just Another City - We're Told

A.M.S…
The very first impression of India was indeed most favourable. We had been told that “it's just another city” and on that basis decided not to take the “regular tour”. I think our decision was correct but not for the reason we did it.

We drove to the famous “Gateway of India” at the entrance to the harbour where, we understand, H.M. Queen Elizabeth only recently entered Bombay. Thence along a beautiful four lane highway known as the Marine Drive, and which because of the beauty of the lights along it at night, is also called the “Queen's Necklace”.

This palm-tree lined highway led us past schools, colleges, very fine apartments facing the sea, to Malabar Hill where we saw nice homes with marvellous views; then to the Hanging Gardens and Kamala Nehru Park. So much of the drive seemed oddly colourful - bright saris of many shades worn by rather nice looking girls and women, flowers, gardens, all added to a picture we hadn't quite expected.

So Many People & So Much Colour!

A.M.S…
The cab driver was a rather handsome, well spoken, polite, turbanned Sikh, who with but a little alteration might well have played a movie role as a Maharajah. Everywhere - people, people, people - mostly on foot, mostly neat and clean (though not everywhere).

You might think it was a holiday, but it wasn't. The only situation we could think of having seen so many people, was at home in the Fall about half an hour before a big football game at one of our largest stadiums. Big red buses like the ones in London added to the colour.

No! Not Just Another City…

A.M.S…
Most signs on buildings and over the shops were in English; only an occasional sign in Hindi. The Taj Mahal Hotel where some of our groups went, was an elite place with a Victorian grandeur.

To us, Bombay didn't seem just “like any another city” It was a most pleasant surprise; an attractive, unique city. Our first impression of India was most favourable far, far better than of Cairo for example.

Joining Our Special Train

A.M.S…
There were many different tours from Bombay, all by air except for the one we'd selected. We had been told that we would see more of the real India by train, since India has 500,000 villages and 98% of its population is in the villages. We think it was good advice and a good decision, so later in the day, we joined our special train.