Part III The Culture

Local boy saying Hello as we passed by

Here it is the middle of October and I'm finally able to sit down and write a little about the culture of India. I tried when I first got home but found it too overwhelming and daunting a task. When I got back I had to report to work the next morning and every day it seems I'm making my way through lists, stressing out over something or struggling with exhaustion. This past Summer all the things I worry about and stress over evaporated as soon as I stepped off the plane in Mumbai. Partly due to the immense change of atmosphere but also the vastly different attitude of the people who lived, worked, loved and carried about their day to day existence around me. It would be fair to begin any discussion about India with the immense population and crowds. By the very nature of how many people are trying to get from point A to point B one has no choice but to slow down. I found myself slowing down and thinking more. At this point I'm supposed to say how refreshing and enlightening it was, but in truth, used to having everything in a Mcsecond, I struggled with my impatience and felt frustrated a lot. I wanted to do it quickly and be done with it. As time passed I was able to enjoy a slower pace and find peace in knowing I'll get there eventually. Unfortunately this feeling didn't last long. As soon as I got home it was time to ramp up. I've been finding it difficult to merge the slower pace of India with the frenetic steps of life in the States. I think I'm a little lost these days. That said here's some observations I made while in the land of Shiva. In the village and surrounding city nearly everyone gave a salute like the one the little fellow in the picture is giving my roommates and I. It may be a silent gesture or accompanied with a Hari Om which means God is All. This could be used as a greeting to say hello or goodbye. I loved that, if someone greeted me by saying God is all in the states I would probably cross the street and hope they didn't follow me but in India I found a giddy joyful happiness in the exchange.

The "can do" attitude was prevalent everywhere. It was always possible, and everyone was always willing to share information. The problem was it wasn't always possible and the information could well be totally inaccurate. Indians have a hard time saying I don't know and no that can't be done. This meant really needing a full understanding of all information from the beginning. I never heard the words I don't know or just plain... no. I would wait unbelievable amounts of time while people asked friends, neighbors and a passerby to find the answer. For example, "Excuse me madam do you know where Anands book shop is? Oh yes! Anands book shop. One moment please." At this point a long discussion in Hindi would commence via people passing in the street, the shop owner who's store you were standing in front of and someone on a cell phone saying, "Hindi Hindi Hindi Anand's book store.... tiga, one moment. Excuse me miss do you know the address of Anand's book store?" I shake my head no. "No... OK one moment." And so it would go, on and on. Eventually through discussion, consensus and just plain nosiness to find out why you wanted to go there, and what you wanted to buy with a suggestion to go to another place, you would finally get an answer. It may not be the answer you wanted or the information you needed but you would receive an answer. Satisfied, everyone would Hari Om and you were off usually in the wrong direction!

I have countless photos with people I don't know in them. Indians loved to have their photo taken. This crossed all barriers, age, socioeconomic classes and genders. Either people would ask you to take their photo, or they would gather in the photo when you were taking a picture of your travel companions People would see you were taking a group shot and just jump in. I have countless photos of my travel companions huddled together smiling brightly with three Indians behind them huddled together with equal bright, shiny smiles. Children would coming running down the road shouting, "One! one!" always wanting to see the digital photo they talked you into taking followed by hilarious giggles. On the day we took the photo of the little boy in the above picture we found a group of children playing. We all gathered for a good natured round of photos and fun. We were having a particularly great time taking pictures of one of our roommates posing with the kids when a woman with a large stick slowly and deliberately made her way toward us. She must have been................. really, really old, but brandished that stick like a swordsman. She was swinging in every direction lookin' to whoop some ass! There we were, six kids and four adults running from this woman and her flying stick. I thought "Wow! are you serious?" This would have been a 51a write up and a call to child services but in Tiwadi India it was just another day in the country. Young men wanted photos of you with them, which they would take from their cell phones. One of my fellow yogi students from Belgium had a friend who then found herself on the Internet, Sarah Palin style, in some compromising positions. After this, friendly boys who wanted photo's were polity refused. It also freaked me out that people would follow us when we walked around town. Not children, grown men. This happened to all the women when they were in town. This completely freaked me out and made me feel venerable and exposed. I never thought I would be one to understand how an entertainment star feels when they are stalked by the paparazzi walking in public but I do now, and I can honestly say its creepy.

Rickshaw drivers gave me a special delight. My roommate from Thailand and I would argue and argue and argue with the driver until we reached a fair price. I actually really enjoyed it. One day we had a particularly aggressive rickshaw driver. We argued and walked away. He followed us and we argued with him and a shopkeeper. We actually settled on a fair price , we all got in , he started up the rickshaw, exclaimed, "India is the best!" and we bounced down the road swinging to the sound of really good Indian music from his little sound system. Halfway through our journey he stopped at a gas station and refused to go any further till we paid him for the gas and a lot extra. An incredible argument followed. We were out of the rickshaw and in full force when Aom turned to to him and said, " can you take a picture." She gave him her camera and (three of us total) climbed back in and he snapped away. He smiled at the pictures and shared what he had taken with us and we all agreed they we very nice photos, smiles and and thank you all the way around. Aom then put the camera away and immediately what felt like an intermission passed and we started arguing again. Mind you this was an incredible fight we were having. In the end we came to a compromise with speculation based on the tunes played continuously during our journey. He even waited for us once we reached our destination and gave us a ride back to town. No hard feelings on any any one's part and of course before we parted , Hari Om, hope to do business with you again.

Welcome to India!