It's time for a round of Only in India!
These are just some things i've noticed and adjustments i've had to make that i think will tickle your fancy:
- In India, my height is average. Maybe even above average! I was walking around Kingsway Camp today, searching the storefronts for a zucchini (which doesn't exist in its normal form here, which you'd need to know if you ever tried to make zucchini bread for a girls' gathering that same night). I looked up from my cobblestone-dodging to see I was surrounded by mostly men. More surprising than that, though, was that I was taller than about half of them! One in particular was especially small, even compared to my five feet and one inch. Who knows - maybe the meters are holding them back.
- Only in India can I step into my living room and see a man fanning the bottom of his laptop with the plate that recently contained his dinner.
- Only in India will someone be upset, incredulous even, that the same street meal varies 15 rupees in price (30 cents) from the vendors in the good part of town to the bad part of town.
- Only in India are plastic bags so precious. I save them from the carry out we get from restaurants, from the grocery stores, and from the vendors. I need them constantly!
- Only in India - or maybe Mayberry - can I still have a running tab with the neighborhood storefront. The owner orders me cream that comes in a bag (and which, after opening, I seal with a hairpin... what else can i do?) and I buy it from him every other day. Some days I have change, some days he does, and some days neither of us do. If it happens that we can't get our finances square, I take the milk and I pay him the next time, or I overpay him, and he remembers how much he owes me. After all, I know where he works, and he knows where I live! I really appreciate him because many Indians will take advantage of my ignorance, but even one time when I gave him 20 rupees for an item that I didn't know was 15, he discounted my purchase the next day. He's an honest guy - and even if it's only 10 cents, it means a great deal to me. It means integrity, it means sacrificial kindness, and it means respect: respect for a woman, a foreigner, and a newcomer.
Praise was talking to me about how it makes her angry the way Indians often take advantage of white people here. "We're all the same, we're all human!" she said, "What do you think, that because someone is a different color than you, that they're not as valuable as you are?"
I was honestly a little dumbfounded. I've never known a spectrum that puts white people on the receiving end of the negative effects of racism. I've never thought of fighting for my right to value despite my ethnicity. Praise will often scold rickshaw-wallas and shop owners, "She is your sister!"
The fact that this shop owner, this neighbor, cares about my rights and confirms my value by not trying to cheat me and by treating me the same way he treats anyone else honestly gives me hope for India. All it takes is a few good souls.
Beyond that, as far as the tab thing goes, I'm just a big fan of the system for whatever reason. It's a trust thing, it's a comfort thing, it's an India thing.
- Only in India can i pay a man to fix my leaking A/C and come home to find a ball of clay slathered over the corners of the unit. Seriously, I just smile and shake my head. It works -- for now :)
- Not only in India, actually, do I have such trouble with time differences. This is especially wretched, though, since I'm constantly calculating California time to talk to Andrew and then adding an hour to get Texas time and subtracting 9.5 from me to get Ohio time -- seriously. We'll skype when we catch each other online at the same time... haha, i'm constantly wrong in my calculations. A blanket apology to all who are stood up.
- Only in India can I buy two (2) individual AAA batteries. It's amazing to me how convenient Indians need so many things to be, but how inconvenienced we all are by the shortcuts and shoddy work of others. Their day-to-day mentality is expressed even in the way they buy their goods! No one stocks up on anything. In some ways, this IS incredibly convenient. But it speaks volumes to me of the Indian way: when something is broken, fix it; but don't go out of your way to make sure it won't break in the first place.
Only in India, my friends. only in the home of my heart.
Enjoy your bulk items from Sam's and your wires concealed in your walls and your ovens that don't sit on the floor in your bedroom!
I'll take my chai along with the clay on my air conditioner.
Love from Delhi,
Julie at home.
These are just some things i've noticed and adjustments i've had to make that i think will tickle your fancy:
- In India, my height is average. Maybe even above average! I was walking around Kingsway Camp today, searching the storefronts for a zucchini (which doesn't exist in its normal form here, which you'd need to know if you ever tried to make zucchini bread for a girls' gathering that same night). I looked up from my cobblestone-dodging to see I was surrounded by mostly men. More surprising than that, though, was that I was taller than about half of them! One in particular was especially small, even compared to my five feet and one inch. Who knows - maybe the meters are holding them back.
- Only in India can I step into my living room and see a man fanning the bottom of his laptop with the plate that recently contained his dinner.
- Only in India will someone be upset, incredulous even, that the same street meal varies 15 rupees in price (30 cents) from the vendors in the good part of town to the bad part of town.
- Only in India are plastic bags so precious. I save them from the carry out we get from restaurants, from the grocery stores, and from the vendors. I need them constantly!
- Only in India - or maybe Mayberry - can I still have a running tab with the neighborhood storefront. The owner orders me cream that comes in a bag (and which, after opening, I seal with a hairpin... what else can i do?) and I buy it from him every other day. Some days I have change, some days he does, and some days neither of us do. If it happens that we can't get our finances square, I take the milk and I pay him the next time, or I overpay him, and he remembers how much he owes me. After all, I know where he works, and he knows where I live! I really appreciate him because many Indians will take advantage of my ignorance, but even one time when I gave him 20 rupees for an item that I didn't know was 15, he discounted my purchase the next day. He's an honest guy - and even if it's only 10 cents, it means a great deal to me. It means integrity, it means sacrificial kindness, and it means respect: respect for a woman, a foreigner, and a newcomer.
Praise was talking to me about how it makes her angry the way Indians often take advantage of white people here. "We're all the same, we're all human!" she said, "What do you think, that because someone is a different color than you, that they're not as valuable as you are?"
I was honestly a little dumbfounded. I've never known a spectrum that puts white people on the receiving end of the negative effects of racism. I've never thought of fighting for my right to value despite my ethnicity. Praise will often scold rickshaw-wallas and shop owners, "She is your sister!"
The fact that this shop owner, this neighbor, cares about my rights and confirms my value by not trying to cheat me and by treating me the same way he treats anyone else honestly gives me hope for India. All it takes is a few good souls.
Beyond that, as far as the tab thing goes, I'm just a big fan of the system for whatever reason. It's a trust thing, it's a comfort thing, it's an India thing.
- Only in India can i pay a man to fix my leaking A/C and come home to find a ball of clay slathered over the corners of the unit. Seriously, I just smile and shake my head. It works -- for now :)
- Not only in India, actually, do I have such trouble with time differences. This is especially wretched, though, since I'm constantly calculating California time to talk to Andrew and then adding an hour to get Texas time and subtracting 9.5 from me to get Ohio time -- seriously. We'll skype when we catch each other online at the same time... haha, i'm constantly wrong in my calculations. A blanket apology to all who are stood up.
- Only in India can I buy two (2) individual AAA batteries. It's amazing to me how convenient Indians need so many things to be, but how inconvenienced we all are by the shortcuts and shoddy work of others. Their day-to-day mentality is expressed even in the way they buy their goods! No one stocks up on anything. In some ways, this IS incredibly convenient. But it speaks volumes to me of the Indian way: when something is broken, fix it; but don't go out of your way to make sure it won't break in the first place.
Only in India, my friends. only in the home of my heart.
Enjoy your bulk items from Sam's and your wires concealed in your walls and your ovens that don't sit on the floor in your bedroom!
I'll take my chai along with the clay on my air conditioner.
Love from Delhi,
Julie at home.
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