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Comment by deanCommie | Hacker News Reader

India overall is a very fragrant country. That's the word I would choose that is more neutral/positive compared to "pungent".

It sounds like you have a very sensitive sense of smell and you would not do well in India.

But for others - if the point of travel is to have new and novel experiences, and your senses being the primary entry point for experiences, India is the most intense sensory experience I've ever had - the smells, the sounds, and the sights all combine to overwhelm.

As would be expected with a developing country of over a billion people, not all sensory interactions are positive, but with the bad comes far more good, and a worthwhile distinct experience.

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> But for others - if the point of travel is to have new and novel experiences, and your senses being the primary entry point for experiences, India is the most intense sensory experience I've ever had - the smells, the sounds, and the sights all combine to overwhelm.

Sounds like something a westerner visiting India would say. For people from there (my family is from nearby Bangladesh), a train is just a way to get to a business meeting or to visit family. I don't imagine Indian commuters--in general--appreciate the food smells any more than American commuters do (it's always the vacationers who bring smelly food onto the Amtrak, not the regular commuters or business travelers).

In fact I'd wager that's why the "rich food culture" of the trains has "vanished." What the author sees as the lamentable loss of some cultural phenomenon, most Indians probably see as a laudable step toward modern comforts.

> In fact I'd wager that's why the "rich food culture" of the trains has "vanished."

Not by a long shot. Reduced? Certainly. Vanished? Certainly not. I think the author of the OP is writing based on her limited experience, with the Mumbai chef also chiming in under a similar condition.

> most Indians probably see as a laudable step toward modern comforts.

I don't think so. Some? May be. Most? Doubtful.

"...most Indians probably see this as a laudable step toward modern comforts...", a comment from someone who is not an Indian, while I see a few following comments by Indians (seemingly) who fondly reminisced about the experience. Its funny, the conviction that over a billion people of a different country/culture would see the world like you would.

Besides, "modern comforts" are there for the taking if one wants it. One can always travel first class in these trains, where you have multiple tiers to choose from ranging from air conditioned private cabins to A/C car coaches. Otherwise, you can travel the other classes and tiers where you get a chance to explore what is talked about in the article. To each his/her own.

Edit: I think the author is speaking about the experience in the cheapest 2 classes of Indian railways. Here are the fare class codes in Indian Railways [0]. There are at least 6-7 other tiers of fare classes above these.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways_coaching_stock...

> a comment from someone who is not an Indian

I have fond memories of my aunts making dried fish curry (my dad is from a part of Bangladesh that makes this: http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/lotiya-shutki). It's delicious, but you can smell it cooking in an apartment building from outside.

> Its funny, the conviction that over a billion people of a different country/culture would see the world like you would.

I think there is a tendency for people, often westerners but also Indian elites (and the author of this article is definitely one of those), to romanticize aspects of life there that I don't think ordinary people will be sad to see go.

Looks delicious. Most westerners won't touch fish sauce or shrimp paste, even though it is delicious.

I keep a huge bottle of fish sauce around . . . for reasons. My parents lived in Thailand for several years and learned of its magic.

ha! small world, I am from Bangladesh too!

anyway, the fish dish that you mentioned ( i.e. "Shutki")is kinda on the extreme/fringe side of Bengali cuisine. its not adored by many people. heck even my own parents do not like it. although me & my siblings love it!

Soo.. as an Indian who has traveled a lot in Indian trains, the smell of food never bothered me. There is something to be said about Indian food though - by very nature it smells different compared to say western food.

Spices - oh boy tons of spices. They mask lot of smells that you would otherwise find pungent - like garlic or onion. I have been stuck in Mumbai metro where someone was carrying a sack of peeled garlic - boy was that horrible.

So while I obviously can't speak for everyone - smell of food is last thing that will bother me while travelling in Indian railways. Sweat, dirty toilets etc though... they are something else.

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