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Published: January 6th 2010
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Even in India...
The Harrison names lives on! And this is in our market (Defence Colony) So I doubt it will surprise any of you when I tell you: "India is a little ... unconventional". Yes, yes I think we all expected the obvious and I have not been let down in my assumption. While I'm on this point, the concept of "assumption" is something Rob has quickly taught me to forget while living in Delhi. It appears that it's a very dangerous idea as we should NEVER assume anything! For example, when the lady down the street comes on Monday to collect our ironing - she uses hot coals, not electricity - and says she will be back on Thursday to collect the next load, one might assume she would come on Thursday .... Nope, not true! When she says she will come on Thursday this actually means she might come tomorrow, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday. And this is the Indian way. Another AWESOME example is the "assumption" that when one buys a vase, that this vessel is in fact waterproof... again, assumption is the mother of all disappointment!!! I have found this out the hard way.
There are MANY cultural differences, again, no surprise there. One of the rituals I have now become used
Dogs life
It actually really sucks for them and they are everywhere to seeing and hearing is the VERY regular throat clearing and loogy hawking. We have to close our en suite bathroom door each night so as to prevent being woken by the sound of General Bak's (the landlord) early morning "GA POO" while he chucks a massive ball of gob down the drain. And it’s not just the ol' General who participates in this delightful past-time... Most of the men do it: the auto drivers, the shop owners, the men on the street etc etc. This means we also have to watch where we are walking - gotta dodge the chunks of spit lining the streets of Delhi!
While dancing in the streets to avoid spitballs, we're also trying to avoid fresh and crusty piles of pooh. Mostly dog pooh I'm told, but I will not assume that it doesn’t belong to the average man on the street. YUK!!!!! There are also signs all over the show reading: "No person should urinate here" but I can tell you for a fact that either these people (mostly men) cannot read this sign as it is in English (again, Indian logic, given that Hindi id the mother tongue) or choose not
Everyone has a price
These little dudes have a good business going.... 1 photo = 5 rupees to because the smell of stale urine is almost as common as the smell of exhaust fumes.
It’s these fumes, and the smoke from the fires, combined with the fog that causes Delhi to be drowned in smog. The colder it is the worse the smog is. This again is unsurprising since Delhi is the most polluted and possibly one of the more densely populated cities in the world. This smog brings with it black dust, it’s like magic dust. Even with all the windows and doors shut this dust manages to drown our furniture and linen. Given that it’s so cold, we are often blowing our noses and I was initially appalled at the amount of black crap that came out of my face! Its bloody everywhere! I've now taken to carrying tissues, wet wipes, hand cream and alcohol sanitizer in my bag as a way of at least cleaning the initial layer of dirt off when getting out of the auto or taxi - doesn't always work, my shower water generally runs a little black too .... Anyone wanna come visit? Am really painting a fab picture! Ha!
It’s not all bad, it’s just different. Like
Ja, whatever!
This is around the corner from our flat... mmm! when one moves into a new house or starts a new job, a different routine will inevitably develop. Part of my new routine includes playing more of a "housewife-type" role. I see the boy off to work at 9ish and let the maid in. She's here for 2 hours four days a week. Initially I thought we would NEVER have enough for her to do (especially since the ironing is done on a Thursday or is that Saturday?!?) but with all this bloody black magic dust, she is super busy!
Another part of my routine often includes popping to our local market. Here, a market is a series of shops either lining a street or surrounding a square. Ours is a 5 min walk away, so nice and close. Here one does not find a 'supermarket' per say, rather it’s a lot more old school. If you want fruit or veggies, you pop into the green grocer; for bread you swing past the bakery; for electrical equipment or you need to book a trip you pull into the electrical store. Yup, that’s right! Our local travel agent is also our local electrical expert.... the Indian way! So, once home
Traditonal get up
Two ladies at the Dillli Haat market from the market I then spend the next 20-30 minutes washing, soaking and drying our fruit & veggies using mineral water and "Veggie Wash". This is the only way of washing off pesticides and avoiding cholera and diarrhoea! Mmmm!
I have found the whole "shopping" experience quite fun, I love the old school way of things. There are a number of familiarities, which surprised me! We can get our hands on Nesquick, Marmite and Nandos sauces. Who knew??? Of course, we pay through the nose for these but they are worth every Rupee! The one thing I could do without on my way back from the market is the onslaught of bicycle rickshaw drivers insisting that they take you home. We've even got one little dude, can't be more than 17, who quotes our address to us... VERY weird since we've never actually used him to catch a lift home! But then being the only blonde on the block, I guess I don't really blend in!
Our market is relatively tame compared to some of the others we’ve visited. Normally, at the Defence Colony market (ours) we are only sold what we want and shown a couple of
Locksmith
All keys done by hand things we don’t but they are not too pushy with the crap we don’t want. At some of the other markets however, we are generally “assaulted” (but in a nice enough way) especially when we show the slightest interest in their store. In this case we then literally have to walk away while they shout prices at us trying to convince us to buy their genuine fakes. I have learnt, thanks to Rob, that this is the norm and it’s also the best way to get our “best price”. EVERYTHING has a price, a best price and then a sale price! Generally varying between 100 and 600 rupees! LOVE that!
All in all, I have to say that the 2 weeks and 4 days that I have been here have been a blast and I have enjoyed learning the way of things! I have TONS more to learn I am sure but so far, so good. We had an awesome New Year - subject of the next blog! So keep reading….
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Des
non-member comment
Hectic!
wow guys, seems like quite an experience! Good to hear ur still laughing even with the black smog and dirty streets! Guess u gotta take the bad with the good :) Sure there are plenty more exciting adventures to come!