Skip to main content

Please honk

There is no doubt that living in India is a lot different than visiting India. 


Many things get unnoticed when you are sightseeing, enjoying the tasty foods, visiting temples, and going shopping. But actually staying put and blending (well, trying to) to the community you live in is another story. 

So, here is some of what I noticed during my 12+ months in India. And please, don't get me wrong, this is not a complaint or a comparison with the western world. India can harden your heart or break it open, the choice is yours. First things first, life in India is not easy. You have to have a strong will and a loud voice (literally and figuratively) to be heard. 



There are sounds here I have never heard before and at times it's difficult/impossible to detect the source. Drivers honk constantly and I've learned that there are different techniques. For instance, the "get out of my way" horn is long and fierce whereas the "I'm passing you on the right" is short and feeble. Personal space has no meaning, because there are so many people. Everywhere.

There are different prices for videshi (foreigners) and Indians. It helps speaking the language, especially when someone is trying to rip you off, although it often doesn't make a difference... what to do? Women are treated differently than men. Women hold a different place in society. Women cook and clean a lot. Having an alcoholic beverage is a big (and expensive) deal. If you go to a shop before the owner has done his/her puja (offering) you just have to wait until he/she is finished. You are not allowed to caress a cow with your feet, no matter how soft the fur is. If someone owes you money, do not ask for it (especially in the street!). Dogs are free to roam around. They have a special capability of avoiding cars, scooters, trucks. Some don't. A few (mainly males) get taken by humans; sometimes they end up being chained sometimes they don't. It is possible for a puppy to be taken by a tiger and manage to escape (not once, but TWICE)  before being eating: miracles do happen. Animal sterilization is often frowned upon. Rainy season is just that: rain nonstop. The heat is the hottest I have ever felt: I have no words to describe the feeling. The peace you find in an Indian temple is something magical that envelopes your whole being, like stepping into a giant box of glitter. The holy river Ganga is a source of incessant blessings: Her water changes sounds from season to season. 


Finding out the sex of your child while you are pregnant is illegal. Going to the hospital is a little like unwillingly be catapulted in Dante's purgatory, although blood tests' results are returned in 2 hours! Fresh salads are not easy to find. You kinda have to bribe the vegetables walla for some decent lettuce meant for western hotels... and it's not cheap.  Mangoes come in very many shapes and colors: sweet melting taste. The foreigners who come to Rishikesh for yoga or else don't seem to realize that wearing shorts and a tank top is not appropriate. No matter how hot it is. Masala Chai (tea) is an amazing drink that can be savored any moment during the day (and night)... The list could go on, but I'm stopping here... 




So, India... as our love story continues I thank you for being who/what you are. For testing my patience and my sense of humor. For keeping me strong. For teaching me things I would have never learned in any other way. For making me feel alive in every. single. part. of who I am as a human being. To remind me that the change I wish to see begins with me. I am grateful to be a part of you. 




  

Comments

  1. Unknown9/23/2017

    Thanks for sharing your views on India. I think you wrote exactly same thing what happened in India daily.but that's how we are. We like when people from other countries come and stay with us and trying to get know about our culture.
    We are very grateful that u like us.���� hariom ������

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Om Dairy9/24/2017

      Thank you for reading and for your comment. Hari Om

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time ~ by Naomi of Gratitude Vietnam

A year ago, I had six months left of a two year contract.  I had signed the contract to save for a new life, start a business and leave the safety of the institution of education I had been happily ensconced in since starting school at the age of five. Six months felt like a life-sentence, yet when they had passed, it felt as though the time had run away in a flash! The impact of this perplexingly contextual perception of time during this period has stayed with me, and got me thinking… For as long as beings have been conscious on this planet, there has been witness to the passing of time. Whether through observation of changing seasons, passing of day and night, tidal movement, interplanetary movement or stars, each and every civilisation has found a way to measure, record, navigate and ‘manage’ time. We divide days into hours, lives into years, history into eras, evolution into periods. Our own lives we ‘chapter’ and bookmark by pivotal moments, decisions made (for better or s
1 comment
Read more

The power of letting go

  Non-Attachment.  A term the world is becoming more and more familiar with if.  Have you ever found yourself saying “I want peace”, “I want to feel more connected” or “I want to be able to live in present moment”?  Letting go of things, situations that no longer serve you, projections, desire to control the future, and expectations are the best practices to live a mindful and healthy  lifestyle; the recipe to a fulfilled and stress-free life.  Let go and start living!  Let go of stuff .  Are you the type of person who acquires so many things because you believe that this new ... fill in the blanks...  or that .... fill in the blanks ...  will make you happy?  By continuing to search outside of yourself for comfort without a strong inner practice, you will always be hungry: your heart and bellies will never feel full.  What if you could come from a place of enough—how much stuff do you actually need? Have you ever asked yourself that? Let go of the story.   What stories about yourse
1 comment
Read more

Your new life is going to cost you your old one

Maybe the fact that i saw my first dead body floating in the Ganga today prompted me to write this. He was all curled up, face down, left leg missing from the knee down. Sadhu's orange clothes bundled up, back showing. His floating had come to a stop, the river's current being slow and we helped him going his way moving the water with our cupped hands to create waves. My first thought was to take a picture, and the second 'how insensitive of me to even think that'. i mean, it's not like i need a photo to remember the feelings, emotions, and thoughts this event brought up. It's an image i will never forget. Also possibly the fact that i was attacked by two stray cats in two days, in two separate occasions made me think about death and the brevity of human life. It is quite frightening, let me tell you! Without notice the cat shape-shifts into this crazy fast ball that you think is going to attack your hair or something. In both instances the mother cat was
2 comments
Read more