1 post tagged “india”
Just a few more days in India left. It is once again, bizarre to think that I'm leaving and heading back to what sometimes seems like another universe from here. Since I don't know what to write about, I think I'll write about some of my favorite things about India (apart from the people, of course).
1). The Bookstores. I think I've browsed through every bookstore in this city (and a few in Delhi too!) I love the crowded little stalls that you find all over the place, and I especially love that books here cost about half as much as in the US. That's still not that cheap, but I somehow have convinced myself that its worth the splurge. I think I've collected like 15 books now and I'm afraid that I'll have to pay a ridiculous charge because my bags will be overweight! But still, the access to books is, by far, one of the best parts of this country.
Side note-- I get made fun of constantly for my accent here. And no, I have not let everyone in on my secret Indian accent that I use with the schoolkids and rickshaw drivers when no one else is around. But one time in a bookstore, I wanted to buy a copy of "Lolita," but I had forgotten the author's name. I asked one of the guys if he had it-- "Do you have Lo-lee-dah?" He shook his head confused, I laughed, and rephrased. "Do you have Lo-lee-TAH!?" And of course, then he knew what I was talking about.
2). INDIAN FILTER COFFEE. It's milky, strong and addictive. I am already hopelessly addicted to coffee anyways, and the abundance of filter coffee in South India does not help. When we traveled North, it was ridiculous how the coffee got progressively worse and the tea progressively better. But after drinking sugary tea for 2 weeks I was very happy to return to my filter coffee. I have 4 cups a day and get plenty of flack for it. But it's worth it.
3). Chapatis. Chapatis with bananas. Chapatis with anything.
4). Humor. This will be really hard to describe, but there is something about the sense of humor among the people that I've spent time with here that is nothing like what we are like at home. Even if you take out references to other languages in the way people speak, the manipulation of the English language is completely different from anywhere else in the world. I can't replicate it the same way though. You'll have to come here to experience it.
5). Painted Platters--relatively inexpensive, beautiful edible artful desserts. Enough said.
So far, 3/5 of this list is related to food. Hmm..
6). Everything contradicts itself. There is no majority opinion. You can barely make a statement about anything in this country without fifteen counterexamples popping up. It's actually really impossible to deal with, especially when you try to write, but that's India (hah).
7). Hindustani Classical Music. It fits with everything, particularly with long train journeys. There is something about the rhythm of the train and the pulse of the music that blends perfectly every time.
8). India forces you to be adaptable. Well maybe it doesn't force everyone, but I feel that its forced me, in so many ways, to adapt. The train journeys are a classic example. You kind of just learn to manage with a certain level of filth and sweat and discomfort that in any other environment at home would seem impossible to deal with. But here you somehow manage when necessary. Apart from physical discomforts, you just have to learn how to make do with how confusing it is to live here sometimes. Within the same square mile you'll find such dramatic examples of traditional and super-modern, conservative and liberal, poverty and richness. This country is progressing in such a way that some people are being thrust forward while others are left behind in conditions that First-Worlders would consider archaic. But every varying degree of life is present here, coexisting peacefully, indifferently, and violently together.
That's all for now. India has, once again, treated me very well.
