We’ve been into Hyderabad this morning in an auto, to find a shopping mall. We went into city central, after a brief tour round some traditional Indian craft shops. The driver was very nice and he only wanted 30 rupees….we tipped him well! Once in the shopping centre you wouldn’t have known it was in India! The marble floors, designer shops and McDonald’s!
When we first arrived two weeks ago Hyderabad seemed poor and it felt like we had arrived in India! Having been much further south into the tribal areas and the small villages you realise just how much poverty you have witnessed. Hyderabad is very westernised and there are lots of wealthy people around! Its still much poorer than us but….you realise how much of a rich poor divide there is in India. In tribal villages it is good money if too can earn £1 per day here people are spending Rs10000 (£140) on scarves!
It was interesting to hear that one of the guys who saw us off on the train last night, Satchan. He used to be a Hindu priest and became a Christian after working on Suvarna’s house! Satchan is around 50 and when we got to the station last night he qa hardly around. We found out that this was the first time he had been to a train station and he had never seen a train before! He was very excited…. This is an example of the divide that exists….unbelievable!
anyway, this doesn’t help my rant but we headed to McDonald’s for lunch! Unfortunately there was no sign on big Macs only chicken! But at Rs160 it was a cheap meal!
We are now at ACC to award some certificates…..to be honest I’m wishing the time away now and looking forward to tomorrow!
