Cultural Differences

I find enjoyment here in India in the freedom to do things that I was never allowed to growing up. For example, I can walk barefoot wherever I want. (Oh, how I wanted that!) Indians are barefoot on the street and in shops, and, of course, always in the house. You take your shoes off when you travel on the bus or train. It's required to go barefoot before you enter the temple. I likewise needed to take my shoes off to enter a church. I'm pretty sure that some villagers never wear shoes.

As another example, I bought a yogurt drink in a glass bottle from a wallah (seller) on the train. As he came down the aisle again, I lifted it for him to take it back. Glass bottles are generally recycled here. You drink your soda before you leave the vicinity of the shop where you purchased it, and leave the bottle.

But, this time, the wallah brushed me off when I tried to hand back the bottle, and made a dismissive hand motion. My seatmate next to the window motioned to me to give him the bottle. He took it, inserted his arm through the bars of the window until the bottle was a hand-width and a half from the train, and let it go. Very unexpected. Someone will find it alongside the track, and bring it to be recycled. Much fun.

We are staying with relatives again after flying from Chennai to Mumbai, and, then, taking a train to Surat which is in Gujarat province. Things are great: we are well-fed and have hot water for baths. I was happy to see Mumbai again; it has a cosmopolitan busyness that felt familiar. I was surprised to realize that Mumbai didn't feel quite so crazy as it did initally; after being in India for a month now, I suspect that I've acclimated so that cows in the road and the distempered horns of rickshaw drivers seem - almost - normal.

---

---