Just a few from my most recent trip to Old Delhi

Totally American

I was staring at my closet I grabbed at comfortable day off clothes. Knowing that I was going for a walk and a coffee shop I grabbed my huge book and my backpack...normal right, well it is if you are American. Here no one older than 5 uses a backpack and wearing one screams "I'm not from here."

As I was bounding down the stairs I yell to my flatmate, "Alex, should I wear my backpack? If I do, everyone is going to REALLY know that I am not Indian!" Don't worry, I said this sarcastically as I recognized my ponytail and looked down at my running shoes and sweatshirt.

I left the house feeling overly Patriotic and knowing that no one was going to ask if I was Russian or German that day.

I Have to Belong to a Man

I finally got my PAN card this week. This little card ensures my residency and saves me 100 rupees($2) to tourist sites in Delhi while only asking that in return I pay taxes...that's fair, right? It was supposed to be a 3 week process that lasted 5 months and after the 3rd rejection was what I suspect, pushed along with a healthy reward. On this card it has my squished Smirf-like picture, some holigrams, my full name, and then my Father's full name.

Interesting...On all of my formal documents, registration, lease, bank enrollment they all ask, "name of your father."

Alison and I were discussing this at work and then she calls over Mohit for some clarification:

"So, Mohit, what happens in the case that there is no father...I mean, what if a woman gets pregnant and there is no father, what do you put on the application?"

"What do you mean there is no father? That doesn't happen in India. You either put your father or husbands name."

"Okay, well what if you are not married and you don't have a husband?"

"Like if your father passed away? You would just put N/A or late."

"Well, let me put it this way, your wife has to put your name on her information correct? Saying she belongs to you?"

"Yes"

"Do you have to put your wife's name saying you belong to her?

"No, I would put my father."

"Okay, so she has to belong to you but you don't belong to her...Do I have to belong to a man"

Very definitely..."Yes."

Okay.

So it's just another one of those things that I don't quite get, but I go along with to make life easier. Hopefully some of these older patriarchal rules will diminish with time and eventually men will have to belong to their women as well.

Post from Shantaram

I am on page 388 of my book and I am not even half way through. It is amazing so far and I recommend it to everyone. Currently my Mom and Dad, Jeff, Jeff's Dad, and I are all reading it. I hope that they are enjoying it as much as I am! I also hope that the rumors are true and that Johnny Depp is going to play Lin in the Movie. We will have to wait and see!

I couldn't have found p275 more true:

"A German cab driver might be pleased that a foreigner had learned to speak German. He might even say that he was pleased. Or say nothing at all. The same might be true of a French cab driver, or an American, or an Australian. But and Indian will be so pleased that if he likes something else about you -- your eyes, or your smile, or the way you react to a beggar at the window of his cab --he'll feel bonded to you instantly. He'll be prepared to do things for you, go out of his way, put himself at risk, and even do dangerous or illegal things. If you've given him an address he doesn't like, such as the Palace, he'll be prepared to wait for you, just to be sure that your safe. You could come out an hour later, and ignore him completely, and he would smile and drive away, happy to know that no harm has come to you."

This is something that is special about India. If you make someone happy and show them that you are trying to learn and understand their culture it will take you a long way. Because I asked the price of the ride in Hindi, the price was lower and he smiled the whole way home. I asked him to stop at the subzi wala so I could get some veggies on the way home, and he waited until I was finished, pulled a U turn so I didn't have to walk more than 2 feet with my bags, U turned again and took me home. I have had many people stop and wait, or ensure that I get to the place that I need to go by asking for directions 30 times on the way. The service in India is incomparable to anything else I have ever experienced.

Hinglish

There is something endearing to the broken Hinglish that I speak to my maid. She once told my landlady and my roommate that I confuse here, but I think we are working through that. Seeing as I am usually the only person home when she comes to cook, I have learned all my veggies and numbers enough to say that I would like bhindi and chaar roti for dinner.

I love the way that she gets disappointed and scolds me when I put my water bottles in the fridge because she believes that cold water will make me sick. I also love that when food has gone off she shakes her hand, and then her head while gesturing to the trash and saying, "no, crap-o." I want to ask her where she learned that word.

This Is India

The longer that I live here, the more I have come to love a saying commonly used among locals and expats equally, "This Is India" It is used to express, the love/hate experiences occur on a daily basis, well knowing that if you were anywhere else in the world you would not be dealing with, that you just have to shake your head at and laugh.

I spent the day today doing the laundry and cleaning my room. I washed my sheets, hung them out to dry, a pigeon shat on them - I am currently washing them for a second time... This is India.