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Published: January 12th 2008
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India is a strange strange place. Everything here seems to be extreme, and opposite of our western idea of normal. I'll try to explain with some examples. Here you eat with your hand, you can throw garbage on the ground, you clean yourself after going to the bathroom with your hand, you can hit people with your car but not a cow. If you kill a cow you go to prison for life because they are holy. They also help get rid of the garbage on the ground by eating it. In some towns it seems like there are more cows than people. There are too many opposites here to count. People nod their head left to right, or do a figure eight head wobble, wich means yes, no, maybe, or I don't know. I guess the main difference is people's logic they use. Its completely different than we have. Its such a different country than ours.
Everything is extreme also. Walking down the street we smell the most beautiful smells of food and flowers, we hear the most exotic music and then almost get hit by a car which warns us with an eardrum bursting horn, step in cow
crap, and narrowly escape being attacked by a pack of dogs. AAaagh! On a normal day at home a couple things will happen to you. On a normal day in India about 20 things will happen to you.
In India we've met some of the most hospitibal people ever, and have met the lowest slimeballs who try anything to squeeze a penny out of us. I think one of our favorite things about this country is the people. They're just SO interesting. We walk away from every interaction laughing, confused, or raging mad, but never never bored. The people here are very energetic, always on point, ready for action. And they always want to talk. It usually goes like this:
"Hey man which country"
"Canada."
"Oh Canada Canada very nice. How long you India?"
"A month."
"What your job man"
"I'm a carpenter. I build houses."
"Oh, carpenter very nice. What your salary?" So I tell him, and explain that in our culture that is a rude question to ask someone you've just met. And then I ask how much he makes, and its usually something like two to five dollars a day. Then I try to explain
delhi
buildings and smog about living expenses and how in my country I'm not rich but below average. And then comes this:
"This your sister?" pointing to Kim.
"No, she's my wife. We've been married for three years."
"How many sons you."
"No sons, or daughters." And then sometimes I get a look of pity or a concerned look. They usually ask "Why, she sick? Whats the problem?"
"No problems, we don't want to have any kids yet. We're travelling and busy having fun." And this is such a foreign concept, because in India its all about the sons. But this is a conversation that I've had about 50 times now, and its usually followed by the ritual cellphone camera picture taking. There was one guy named Swain who told me i was beautiful and memorized my face from the picture he took of me. Uh, okay.
A foreign concept in this country is privacy. There are so many people here its amazing. and there are people where you'd never expect to see people. So privacy is a luxury most people can't afford. So in India, your business is everybodys business. And there is a job for everything. Everything. At a hotel there
delhi
The most polluted city on Planet Earth. are five guys standing behind the front desk. At a restaurant two or three guys come to take your order. At a grocery store you have people following you around helping you shop. They take stuff off the shelf and ask if you want it. "How bout this, you want this?" No. I don't want that. Then after you've paid, theres a guy who opens the door and punches a hole in your receipt with a hole puncher. Don't ask why, its just his job. The most annoying job award goes to the ATM worker. Theres a guy who stands at the ATM machine to help. If money doesn't come out he tries to help and asks for you PIN number, you know the one that you're told not to give our to anyone?
Anyway this country is way too vast to try to explain. It has to be experienced. I would highly recommend it, but not for the faint of heart.
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sanjay r
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There is no such special law in India that if you kill a cow (intentionally or otherwise) you will be jailed for life. I don't know if someone told you this or you dreamed it up.FYI there are some states in India where cow slaughter is allowed and beef is sold.