When I"m not at a computer, I seem to have many great ideas about what to write; however, when I sit down, those ideas seem to evaporate.
Just for the record, Nathan blogged about telling the beggars they are Yogis, not me. I just smile at the beggars and shake my head, I don't try to give them my world view. I don't think that they would care, even if they could understand me.
Ah, I remember now.
Someone told us before we came to India that we would be shocked and dismayed, turned on our heads, etc for the first litte while. He said that India is so "in your face, it's all in your face". It's true that we suffered from some culture shock when we got here, and something shock us still, but the idea of everything being "in your face" is very true and came upon me one day when we were walking through the market looking at all the stalls.
Nothing in India is done behind closed doors. If you eat food, they make it in front of you. If you have some clothing made, they measure you out in the open. If you buy vegetables at the market, the stall is all there is. If you want to pee, there's a urinal for the men where there is no door, and honestly, I haven't needed to investigate the female public washrooms yet (ahem - thank god). The beggars are out there, the yogis, the sellers, the buyers - even if you just want to sit and relax, there is no privacy unless you go to your guesthouse or hotel and and put a sign up that says "Go Away". It's all out there, for the world to see. "In your face". It's very shocking for the westerner who has this very sterile view of the world. They clean in the night, they cook in the kitchen, if you want to transact business, you go to a private room. Nobody sees anything of how anybody else lives, because we are never given the opportunity. It seems to be honest, though, as honest as a place where everyone wants something from you can be.
And everybody wants something from you. The number of times that I have to say "No, thank you" in day can be measured in lahk, which is the Indian term for 100 000. They all start with "Excuse me, hello!" and it makes me feel so rude to just pass them by. But I know that it starts with "I just want to practice my English", but then it quickly degenerates to "I have a nice shop over here, will give you very good price". Nathan says that since there is a lot religion in India, they have a good line on what makes people feel guilty.
"No cost to look"
"Just come in for tea"
"Please, excuse me, my friends"
"What is your name?"
"What country are you from?"
I guess, if you don't put it out there, then definitely nobody will come to your shop, but honestly, I feel sometimes that i don't even want to look at anything or catch anyone's eye, so that I don't have to refuse again. And then the people who honestly want to help you, you look at with suspicion, because you're waiting for the "I have very good hotel, cheap price".
For instance, right now, we are in Pushkar, one of many pilgrimage sights where people come to bath in the Lake. There are 52 ghats, or steps/bathing areas, where people can take a holy dip. At the more popular ones, there are "priests" who offer you flowers and spices that you're supposed to dump in the lake so that your Karma is restored to some higher plane. The thing is, just a couple of weeks ago, 3000 fish floated up dead, probably because people have been dumping stuff in the lake for the last 100 years and now the lake has no oxygen and the lake is dying. So when one of the "priests" came up to us and started to talk about a "Pushkar passport" and offering us flowers to dump in the Lake, Nathan said that he felt that his Karma was pretty good, thank you very much, and that it would in fact be bad Karma to kill the lake by putting more flowers in it. I wish that I could say that this "priest" listened and said that our Karma was probably pretty good regardless of whether we put anything in the lake - we had to walk away so that we could have a little peace.
Anyway, it's all a learning experience, and just to let you know, this is much more fun than working on a Master's degree, in case you're wondering whether you should go back to school, or go traveling.
Overall, we are eating well, are not sick, have stopped using bottled water in favour of using our water filter, which is saving us a lot of money, considering we drink about 6 litres of water per day. We are slowly getting used to the heat, though it rained for the first time in October in Pushkar for the last 15 years and frankly, it was nice to feel a bit chilly. But winter is apparently coming, and then we will head south so as to avoid the potentially cold 20 degree weather that they might have in the middle of the country. We are barely buying anything other than food and occasionally soap. I was thinking when I got here that I would buy a sari, but they look complicated to keep on, and I honestly don't need more clothes to lug around. Despite the fact that I brought very little, I still am not wearing everything that I brought. The pictures will be very boring in terms of my wardrobe.
Hope everything is going well. Thanks again for keeping in touch - it's great to hear from friends and home.
Love from Anne. Ohm.
Just for the record, Nathan blogged about telling the beggars they are Yogis, not me. I just smile at the beggars and shake my head, I don't try to give them my world view. I don't think that they would care, even if they could understand me.
Ah, I remember now.
Someone told us before we came to India that we would be shocked and dismayed, turned on our heads, etc for the first litte while. He said that India is so "in your face, it's all in your face". It's true that we suffered from some culture shock when we got here, and something shock us still, but the idea of everything being "in your face" is very true and came upon me one day when we were walking through the market looking at all the stalls.
Nothing in India is done behind closed doors. If you eat food, they make it in front of you. If you have some clothing made, they measure you out in the open. If you buy vegetables at the market, the stall is all there is. If you want to pee, there's a urinal for the men where there is no door, and honestly, I haven't needed to investigate the female public washrooms yet (ahem - thank god). The beggars are out there, the yogis, the sellers, the buyers - even if you just want to sit and relax, there is no privacy unless you go to your guesthouse or hotel and and put a sign up that says "Go Away". It's all out there, for the world to see. "In your face". It's very shocking for the westerner who has this very sterile view of the world. They clean in the night, they cook in the kitchen, if you want to transact business, you go to a private room. Nobody sees anything of how anybody else lives, because we are never given the opportunity. It seems to be honest, though, as honest as a place where everyone wants something from you can be.
And everybody wants something from you. The number of times that I have to say "No, thank you" in day can be measured in lahk, which is the Indian term for 100 000. They all start with "Excuse me, hello!" and it makes me feel so rude to just pass them by. But I know that it starts with "I just want to practice my English", but then it quickly degenerates to "I have a nice shop over here, will give you very good price". Nathan says that since there is a lot religion in India, they have a good line on what makes people feel guilty.
"No cost to look"
"Just come in for tea"
"Please, excuse me, my friends"
"What is your name?"
"What country are you from?"
I guess, if you don't put it out there, then definitely nobody will come to your shop, but honestly, I feel sometimes that i don't even want to look at anything or catch anyone's eye, so that I don't have to refuse again. And then the people who honestly want to help you, you look at with suspicion, because you're waiting for the "I have very good hotel, cheap price".
For instance, right now, we are in Pushkar, one of many pilgrimage sights where people come to bath in the Lake. There are 52 ghats, or steps/bathing areas, where people can take a holy dip. At the more popular ones, there are "priests" who offer you flowers and spices that you're supposed to dump in the lake so that your Karma is restored to some higher plane. The thing is, just a couple of weeks ago, 3000 fish floated up dead, probably because people have been dumping stuff in the lake for the last 100 years and now the lake has no oxygen and the lake is dying. So when one of the "priests" came up to us and started to talk about a "Pushkar passport" and offering us flowers to dump in the Lake, Nathan said that he felt that his Karma was pretty good, thank you very much, and that it would in fact be bad Karma to kill the lake by putting more flowers in it. I wish that I could say that this "priest" listened and said that our Karma was probably pretty good regardless of whether we put anything in the lake - we had to walk away so that we could have a little peace.
Anyway, it's all a learning experience, and just to let you know, this is much more fun than working on a Master's degree, in case you're wondering whether you should go back to school, or go traveling.
Overall, we are eating well, are not sick, have stopped using bottled water in favour of using our water filter, which is saving us a lot of money, considering we drink about 6 litres of water per day. We are slowly getting used to the heat, though it rained for the first time in October in Pushkar for the last 15 years and frankly, it was nice to feel a bit chilly. But winter is apparently coming, and then we will head south so as to avoid the potentially cold 20 degree weather that they might have in the middle of the country. We are barely buying anything other than food and occasionally soap. I was thinking when I got here that I would buy a sari, but they look complicated to keep on, and I honestly don't need more clothes to lug around. Despite the fact that I brought very little, I still am not wearing everything that I brought. The pictures will be very boring in terms of my wardrobe.
Hope everything is going well. Thanks again for keeping in touch - it's great to hear from friends and home.
Love from Anne. Ohm.
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