I've read stuff about India and I thought maybe most of them are over-generalization.  I kept on hearing and reading discouraging news about the country. Well, after our experience, I would have to say that, yes poverty and unhygienic lifestyle were apparent in the two places we have visited; New Delhi and Agra, but it was still tolerable.

It's not at all tourist friendly. There were touts and scammers everywhere. When you try to buy something and they'd think twice about the price it’s almost definite that they'd look at your color and overcharge you. They'd sometines act helpful and friendly and afterwards they'd say "anything  for me Madame?” Trusting in India was quite difficult for us. It is true that somehow one might turn paranoid when visiting India. Even the prepaid auto rickshaws and cabs were somehow controlled by outside forces (Drivers).

Entrance fees to tourist sites were extremely expensive for foreigners (a lot as compared to the price for locals). After paying expensive entrance fees, you would still need to pay for using the toilet inside the site. Even leaving the shoes outside a mosque or temple was made into an income generating prospect for locals. They'd just stand outside a tourist site, act fierce and tell  you that you need to pay something even if it's obviously free. For tourists, it feels like they're squeezing out every cents we have. Incredible!

Well, there were few honest and good hearts that we were able to meet in India and we really appreciate their honesty and sincerity. I think it would be a lot easier and safer if one can visit and walk around with a trusted local, which we didn’t have. There were things that we've proven right about India. It's indeed incredible both in a positive and negative ways.

The country is really beautiful but most of its people don't heed about maintaining its beauty. Well, I hope that the Indian government can do something about this. It's such a waste to see a historically and culturally rich country being abused overtly by its people:(

On the lighter side, people in India loves to take snaps with or of us, foreigners. I don’t exactly know for what purpose but I’ve been in few photo sessions with them.lol There was this one incident when I was walking along Humayun’s tomb when suddenly, a family approached me, handed me a baby and made me pose with the baby. Initially, I was having fun because I felt like a celebrity but after a while, I got tired of it but thinking about the baby incident still makes me smile though.

They tend to drive fast and won’t stop honking in the process. I think one may have temporary threshold shift after being exposed to the roads and streets of India. Lastly, contrary to everyone’s belief, sorry to dissappoint you guys, but Indians are not smelly.:)