Golfing in Delhi: Contrast in Culture

This week I had the opportunity to do what I did not expect to while in India - spend an afternoon golfing. I am not an avid golfer, but I did bring my clubs to India - more of a default occurrence than a conscious choice. Still, through an unlikely connection - a fellow named Siddarth that I met at our church recently - I was invited and graciously accepted. He is a great guy from a wealthy business family, and up until recently, an aspiring amateur/pro golfer (and he had a mean game!) It is hard to imagine a more stark contrast than to step off the streets of Delhi and on to the green paradise that is the Delhi Country Club. It may not be as immaculate as some exclusive clubs in the US, but it is very beautiful in its own right. It even has a few small Moghul-era (~500 years old) monuments on the course - something you won't find back in the States.

The course was also a haven for wild Peacocks, who routinely wandered across the greens and fairways, oblivious or even welcoming of our presence. The club house was filled with the well-heeled and well-connected of Delhi. Siddarth is a well-known fellow at the club, and one of his regular golfing friends spontaneously joined us for 9 holes. We had great caddies, with whom I spoke Hindi (making fast-friends). However when I spoke Hindi to my fellow golfers or club members, they complimented me politely but spoke to me only in English. They spoke to the caddies and course employees in Hindi, but to me - always in English. It is another example of the wide social and economic divides that exist in modern India, and the status indicator that speaking English represents in the upper classes.


I enjoyed my time on the links immensely (who wouldn't?), but after leaving the walled-in haven behind and returning to the streets and the pervasive poverty, the complexities and disparities of Indian culture seemed even more stark. I am coming to realize the profound insight in the oft-quoted phrase of the famous Cambridge Economist Joan Robinson: "Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true."