November 7 and 8 is Eid-ul-Azha in Bangladesh so I've taken advantage of the long weekend to visit Meghan, a good friend living in Delhi. When I told people I was moving to Bangladesh I often got a puzzled look and 'so. . a country like India, right?' At that time I had never been to India so I would usually say something to the effect of 'yes, a Muslim version of India' or 'well, there are differences but I'm sure they are similar.' I was wrong.
Landing in the Delhi airport I immediately realized this fact and continuously and pleasantly continued to identify difference through my first hours in the country. The Delhi airport is new, probably nicer than Dulles. Meghan's driver, Sonu, picks me up at the airport and the roads into the city are real roads free from potholes (mostly) with lanes, curbs, and sidewalks and they are plenty in number. There are proper bus stops and a metro system. Sure I got the occasional curious stare as a foreigner leaving the airport but for the most part people didn't do a double take and certainly didn't give me the 'Dhaka stare' - and I was wearing western clothes! Probably because many styles of dress are worn here in Delhi by foreigners and Indian women. In Dhaka every woman wears a salwar kameez. Every woman. So anything else really stands out, plus it is a less frequented destination. As the day goes on I have a salad for lunch, and beers with dinner (neither are available in Dhaka) at restaurants that would have fit right into DC's trendy areas. We were the only non-Indian clientele so the thought of "oh you must have been in the expat area' does not hold true. Of course this is not the norm across the city or country. Of course as soon as we drove out of Delhi the next day on the way to Agra I said to my self, ahhh, this feels more like Dhaka. Is India a developing country? Absolutely. Is it anything like Bangladesh? Now I'd say (after about 56 hours in the country I'm clearly an expert, right?) the things they have most in common are rice, dal, and a border.
The opinion of folks here is that Bangladesh today is what India was 20 years ago. In comparison, India has been independent since 1947, Bangladesh since 1971. Sonu's opinion is that India had to solve the two problems of corruption and population growth before they could get to where they are today. Bangladesh has brought its total fertility rate down to around 2.7 (this is a recent achievement) but still ranks high on the international corruption list. Working there for several years there are multiple examples I could point to to demonstrate this fact. But this is a conversation for another time and place.
Of course I could not come to Delhi without making the day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We spent more time in the car than we did at the actual Taj but it was worth it! 
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