网友回复：第一次去印度旅行的人会发现哪些出乎意料的东西？

回答一：
Liz Deacle, Its a Drama Travel Blog的创始人. (2017年至今)
回答于2018年11月5日 ·被 Aamna Siddique, 曾于印度居住(2002-2020) 和Shahreyar Yawar, 2000年以来一直在印度居住赞过。

India? We are going to India? For six weeks? WHY?

印度？我们要去印度？待六个星期？为什么？

My 13-year-old daughter when I broke the news to her that we would be donning our rucksacks to backpack the world for a year, and our third port of call would be India. Where we would stay for 6 weeks.

这是当我向十三岁的女儿说我们要收拾好行李在全世界旅行一整年，并且第三站将会是印度，会在那里待六个星期的时候，我女儿的回答。

Why do we even have to go travelling to Asia? It's weird. Why can't we just go to Los Angeles or Disney land Paris like other families?

为什么我们要去亚洲旅行？这也太怪了。为什么我们不能像其他的家庭一样去趟洛杉矶，或者巴黎迪士尼乐园之类的？

Hmm. I answered her in my best grown up voice: Because my strumpet, mummy is 47 and has waited all her bloody life to visit India. She wants to pretend that she's Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love. She wants to take off her bra and wear wooden bangles and get a henna tattoo. She can't do that in Disneyland Paris. They'd arrest her. Anyway, they only sell Turkey legs at Disneyland and they're fattening.

嗯。我用我最好的成年人声线向她解释：因为婊贝儿，妈妈今年已经47岁了，妈妈等了一辈子都想要去印度看一眼。妈妈想要假装自己是《美食，祈祷和恋爱》里的茱莉亚·罗伯茨。妈妈想要不穿胸罩，戴木头镯子，在身上纹海纳手绘。妈妈不能在巴黎迪士尼乐园干这些事情，警察会把妈妈抓起来的。再说了，迪士尼乐园只卖火鸡腿，吃了会发胖。

Here are 8 things I didn't expect when I visited India for the first time.

下面是我第一次去印度的时候，未曾期待的8件事。

The streets are pretty clean.

街道非常干净。

If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times; ‘India is full of rubbish. India is the dustbin of the world.’

我可能听过一千次别人说：“印度到处是垃圾。印度是世界的垃圾桶”。

By the time we were due to fly to India we had convinced ourselves that we would need to buy a pair of knee-length fisherman's boots so as to wade through the mounds of rubbish that lined the streets. White Wellington boots that would protect our delicate New Zealand feet from becoming infected with typhoid, or malaria or worse still, foot diarrhoea.

在订好了去印度的机票之后，我们坚信有必要买一双过膝的渔夫靴，来踏过街上的淤泥和垃圾堆。还有能保护我们娇贵的新西兰脚掌，免于被露营热，疟疾或者别的疾病感染的白色惠灵顿长靴。

Wrong. Yes, there are places in India that are dirty and stinky, of course there are, but on the whole, we only found this to be the case in one or two major cities and even then, only certain parts. Let's not get overdramatic and carried away with the whole India is full of rubbish and has open sewers story. It's just not true. Pity really. I reckon I would have suited a pair of white rubber boots.

我们错了。没错，印度确实有又脏又臭的地方，当然有，但大体上来说，我们只在一两座大城市里发现了这种情况，并且就算如此，也只是在这些城市的某些地方。让我们不要反应过度，回去之后讲那些印度到处都是垃圾和没井盖的下水道之类的故事。那不是真的。很可惜。我现在觉得要是穿一双白色的靴子还挺好看的。

How gorgeous India is.

印度有多么美丽。

People couldn't wait to tell me about how India was crawling with rats and that Indian men might use the gutter as a toilet. Not on my shift.

人们总是等不及要告诉我印度到处都是老鼠，印度人用路旁的排水沟当做厕所。至少在我去的这段时间里，没见到。

The only time I saw an Indian man's bum was when the wind blew his sarong up in the street and he wasn't wearing any underwear. He was far more embarrassed than I was, let me tell you.

我唯一一次见到一个印度男人的屁股，是他走在大街上的时候，强风把他的纱笼刮了起来，他没穿内裤。跟你讲，他其实比我还尴尬。

The mention of rats was what I was panicking about. I am terrified of rodents. Luckily, the only rat I encountered was in Gokarna in Karnataka. It lived on the roof of our beach hut. We came nose to nose one morning but when I told him about my secret desire to wear white rubber boots, he ran off to the hills screaming. I never saw him again.

我最怕的其实是老鼠。我非常害怕啮齿类动物。幸运的是，我只在卡纳塔克邦的戈卡尔纳见到过一只老鼠。它住在我们海滩小屋的屋檐上。有一天早上我们碰了个脸对脸，但是当我告诉他我想要穿上白靴子的隐秘欲望时，它尖叫着跑到了山坡里。我再也没看见过它。

India is gorgeous. The light, the smells, the colours, the air. Everything. Just beautiful.

印度非常的美。光线，气味，颜色，空气。所有事物。很美。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

India is nothing like 'that film’.

印度完全不像“那部电影”。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Although it's a fabulous movie, Slumdog Millionaire didn’t do India any favours. I live in New Zealand, another megamovie location. Although slightly different, we have a similar problem. People step off the plane looking for Bilbo Baggins and fields full of Anchor butter and gold rings. They go to cafes and get annoyed when they are offered a flat white coffee with a swirly chocolate design on top instead of a rusty tin mug filled with honey mead served by a goblin.

尽管是非常出色的电影，《贫民窟的百万富翁》并没把印度拍得很好。我住在新西兰，另一个超级大片取景地。尽管有点区别，但我们的问题差不多。人们一下飞机就到处找比尔博巴金斯，安佳黄油和金戒指。他们去咖啡厅，发现不是哥布林给他们送上来一杯用锈迹斑斑的锡杯子盛的蜂蜜酒而是普通的巧克力拉花的馥芮白的时候，还气得够呛。

India was the same. Only we were not looking for little elves in hobbit holes, we were looking for thieves and robbers and open street sewers. And we never found them, because…

印度也一样，只是我们找的不是霍比特洞里的小精灵，而是小偷，强盗和没有井盖的下水井。但是我们并没找到，因为……

India Feels Safe

印度让人感到安全

The whole time I was in India I never once felt threatened. I felt grubby but never threatened. I felt slightly conned sometimes - ripped off for paying too much for a pair of rubber boots, but I never felt unsafe.

我在印度度过的整段时光里，从来没曾感到过受到威胁。我觉得很脏，但从来没有人威胁我。有时候我觉得自己被骗了——因为花了太多钱买一双橡胶靴子而被人割了韭菜，但我从来没觉得不安全。

Indian People Are Nosey.

印度人很八卦。

I love finding out about other peoples lives. I reckon I should have been a chat show host or something. I like to call myself an inquisitive listener. Other people like to call me a nosey old bag.

我很喜欢了解其他人的生活。我后悔自己没当一个聊天秀主持人之类的。我喜欢说自己是一个喜欢提问的倾听者。别人喜欢说我是个八卦的老女人。

Whether they mean to be or not, Indian people are nosey. Almost everyone you meet -if they can speak English then you’d better be ready to answer some personal questions. On average, we were asked about twenty-seven times a day:

不管他们有意还是无意，印度人非常喜欢四处打听。你遇见的几乎每一个人，只要他们会讲英语，那你最好准备好回答一些个人问题。平均来说，我们每天要回答二十七次这些问题：

Where do you live? How much is your mortgage? What job do you have? Why are you wearing those hideous white boots and Does your son want to marry my daughter?

你住在哪？你的房贷多少？你做什么工作？你为什么穿着那双可笑的白靴子？你儿子愿不愿意娶我闺女？

Ok. I made that last bit up, but seriously, I have never been faced with such upfront questioning in all of my life. It was wonderful. Like going on holiday with Jimmy Fallon.

算了，我承认最后一句是自己编的。我一辈子都没被问过这种直白的问题。但这很有趣，就像是和吉米法伦一起度假。

6. Indian People Are Hygenic.

印度人讲卫生。

I didn’t expect there to be seperate hand washing facilities in every restaurant. It appears to be the norm in all the eateries in India. Even the street sellers will offer you a bottle of water to pour over your hands before you eat. Meaning that…

我预料之外的是，印度的每个餐馆都有独立的洗手设施。看起来印度的所有餐厅都会这么做。就算是街上的小贩也会给你一瓶水，供你在你吃东西之前洗手。这意味着……

7. You don’t always get ill.

你不一定会生病。

We’ve all heard the stories of the famous Dehli belly and leaving India four stone lighter than when you arrive. No, and annoyingly, no. I've had worse food poisoning eating oysters that I purchased from a posh supermarket in the U.K than I ever suffered while in India. The whole time I was there I didn't get ill once. Maybe a little loose around the bowels occasionally, but nothing that a Flagyl couldn’t sort out. Sorry. That was rather unladylike. And that's the other thing.

我们都听说过著名的“德里肚子”，离开印度之后比到那的时候轻上将近六十磅。不，虽然有点难受，但不是这样。我在印度拉过的肚子，还没有在英国遭受过的，吃了从高端超市里买的生蚝导致的食物中毒严重。在那从头到尾我都没生过病，或许有时会拉肚子，但没有甲硝唑解决不了的。抱歉，可能有点不那么淑女。这是我要讲的另一件事。

8. You Don’t Need A Prescxtion To Buy Antibiotics.

在印度买抗生素不需要处方。

Pharmaceutical stands are everywhere in India, and they are cheap. Incredibly cheap. Meaning that even if there is anything wrong with your stomach , you can whizz it past Google to see what you need, and then be out of your bed, down the street to the medicine seller and back under the mosquito net again clutching the medicine in your clammy little hands, quicker than you can say 'can I make an appointment to see the doctor please'.

印度到处都是药店，药卖的很便宜。便宜得难以置信。意味着就算你的胃肠出了点什么问题，你也可以谷歌一下该吃什么药，然后跳下床，去街上的药店里一趟，回到床上的蚊帐里，手里攥着你要吃的药，这么短的时间放在其他地方，可能你还没能把“我可以预约看一下医生吗”说出口。

So, there you have it. Lots of things that I wasn't expecting from the wonderful country that is India. I loved India. Every single minute of it. Even my daughter coped.

我要说的就是这么多。有很多出乎意料的事情在印度发生。我爱印度，我爱在那里的每一分钟。就算我的女儿觉得很难对付。
回答二：
Kevin Hayler, 野生动物艺术家 www.wildlifeartstore.com (1998至今)
回答于2018年10月1日

They say that you either love or you hate India but as far as I'm concerned I love hating India. There's so much to bitch about, its an endless source of outrage and entertainment. Both tragic and comic. It's never dull.

他们说你要么喜欢印度，要么恨印度。但是据我所知，我喜欢的就是恨印度。这儿有太多事情可以骂娘了，印度就是一个愤怒和娱乐的无尽源泉。既像悲剧又像漫画。从来不会让你觉得无聊。

I visited India the first time after listening to the tales of an old India hand. Two stories I remember well. The first concerned this old-hand arriving in the old Delhi Airport with his brother-in-law who had never been out of England. They left the airport to find the bus into town and after getting past the touts and taxi drivers the brother-in-law noticed something moving in some bushes. Overcome with curiosity he investigated and parted the bush. There on the other side was a woman giving birth! That was his introduction to India.

我第一次去印度，是在听了一个老印度通讲了两段故事之后。我记得很清楚。第一个故事是他和他从没离开过英格兰的姐夫到旧德里机场的故事。他们从机场里出来，想要找一辆去市区的公交，在路过了一群票贩子和出租车司机之后，他的姐夫看见灌木丛里有什么玩意儿在动。在好奇心的驱使下，他走过去把灌木丛分开想要看个究竟。里头是个女人在生孩子！这就是他来到印度的欢迎仪式。

The other tale was set in Varanasi, the pilgrimage city on the Ganges. The old India-hand described how he was sat in a small Chai shop watching the world go by when in came a stray dog with something in it's mouth It was human arm! I went to India the following year.

另一个故事是在恒河圣城瓦拉纳西。那个印度通说自己正坐在一个小茶店里看着岁月静好，忽然有只也狗叼着什么东西走进店里来。是个人的胳膊！我听完这些故事，第二年就去了趟印度。

I've been 16 times in total over the years and even though I'm glad to arrive, I'm always equally happy to leave. I remember sitting in a group of backpackers in a New Delhi guest house and we were all swapping stories of our time in India. One guy had many more tales of woe than the rest of us. He'd been coming and going for 20 years and had the stories to match. Eventually a young chap asked him why he kept returning if he hated it so much? The other chap paused then answered, ‘I'll keep coming back to this place until I learn to bloody like it.’ Says it all.

在过去的几年里，我一共去了16趟印度。尽管我在抵达的时候很开心，在离开的时候我也同样开心。我还记得在新德里的一个客房里，一群背包客坐在一块儿交换在印度的故事。里面有一个人悲伤的故事比起我们剩下的都要多。他已经来来回回20年了，有很多的故事可以讲。最终有一个年轻人问他，为什么他这么恨印度，还要一趟一趟地来呢？那个人停了一下，回答说：“我会一直再回来，直到我他妈的学会喜欢上这个地方。”这句话就够了。