Surprises/Observations

1. No hugs. What, no hugs? That’s right. Girls may give a fake cheek kiss when they greet. Some people use western hand shakes and some green you respectfully with, “namaste” but nooo hugs. That is, among women. Among men, it's a different story. Men are free to walk down the street holding hands or with their arms over each others shoulders. Overt displays of affection among women and men are rare except at night clubs, where a couple may take advantage of being out of the house. And I’m not talking about teeny boppers. These are grown adults, most of whom live with their parents until they are married. Because dating is discouraged, parents are often ignorant that their son or daughter is dating anyone at all, much less at a club making out on the dance floor. I have yet to see any woman to woman displays of affection. Sometimes, Karly and I walk down the street holding hands to rebel.
2. Snoop city. Pepole are sooo nosey here. I thought Roey was a snoop, but she’s nothing compared to these folks. And they have not qualms about it. For example, I’m writing down places I’ve been recommended to visit in my journal, and this dude next to me on the train, starts making his own recommendations. Thanks but no thanks, Rishi. Geez!
3. “Rush to do nothing.” When Karly and I first arrived, we were obviously very anxious to please those we were with. So when we were told to do something, we would make sure to do it, even if there had been no previous mention or planning of the activity at hand. We would often be told that we were leaving for somewhere presently and to get ready, in a very hurried tone, no less. So we would drop everything, get ready, and sit for two hours, often to find that we were never going anywhere, or perhaps our destination had changed. This pattern developed over a few days and we developed the phrase “rush to do nothing,” to describe the phenomenon. Now, we respond more appropriately. That is, how everyone else responds: continue with whatever you were doing and make your own plans. This issue is part of the greater issue of communication here. It’s a joke. You say: "Rainbow, you speak a different language, of course there’s a communication issue." True, but this goes deeper. There are times when I don’t understand someone—this is a language issue. But the communicaiton problem is ridiculous. For example, we showed up for work last Thursday and the office is closed. Holiday? No. It’s just been really busy lately so the office is closed for a day. No phone call, just closed. It’s possible we’re not so high on the priority list, too. I take that back, highly probable.
4. Women’s and girl’s respect. The degree of respect a man has for women can be observed from how much personal space he gives them. When a man is has respect, there is absolutely no touching whatsoever. In the company of less respectful men (on the bus, for example), they brush shoulders, play footsie, and seemingly inadvertently touch breasts.
5. All Indians I’ve met delight in the fact that I’m interested in learning Hindi and even moreso in my name. In Hindi, my name is “Indra danush,” which means the goddess Indra’s bow. Naming people after gods and godesses is very common and so for the first time, I have a common name when I go by Indra. I have also been given the name, “Naina” by friends at Navdanya, which means eyes.
6. People are sooo industrious here. I was walking down the street the other day with my 2-week old sandals and the strap broke. I simply went to the market and there on the corner was the shoe repair man, making his way through a pile of shoes with his well-aged tools. He fixed my shoe in 5 minutes and charged me 5 rupees (equal to about 15 cents). So, if the quality of some goods here suffer (in the case that it was made by a hungry, sleep-deprived child), people don’t throw anything away. Even things that are thrown away are garnered from the garbage to be used or sold. The remaining garbage is eaten by the cows on the neighborhood cow, chillin by the side of the road. All except for the plastic, which is indigestible and wreaks havock on these holy creatures.
   
7. Men love to dance! Unlike many men in the states, men rock the dance floor here, uninhibited. Forgive the stereotype, my dance-loving brothers.