With only 6 months left in India (what.the.heck.), I am trying to see things with fresh eyes. We've had volunteers here for the summer-- some for a few months, some we've met have only come for a week or so. It's been interesting hearing what they think about so many things that have become the norm for you.
This place has a way of "chewing you up and spitting you out", a friend so delicately put it about living in India. So, I wasn't exactly surprised by the response of, "You live HERE?!?... Wait. You LIVE here?!??" when we told the 'one-weekers' India was our home. I just kinda smiled, nodded and affirmed them when they were talking about the street children, or the dirtiness, or smells, or whatever it is that first strikes you when you arrive in country.
I feel like India is a place with adventure waiting to happen. You walk out of the door not knowing what will await you. Many days, honestly, I am not up for it. Some days, I am tired and I long for the normalcy, familiarity and quiet of my days in America. Other days, I greet the starers with a smile and I over pay the taxi drivers.
So, it is with these thoughts that I will tell you about my morning yesterday. There is nothing special about it, but as I began thinking about it, I realized-- that would never happen in my homeland. Ever.
We began our day needing to make copies of some documents for our university. We figured we'd go across the street to this little stand we always go to. Apparently, everyone else had the same thoughts yesterday morning. So, as we are waiting in the heat, I feel a little nudge on my thigh. I look down and big brown eyes meet my gaze. He has his palm open and says he wants a biscuit (a cookie). He hangs around for a little bit as an older Bengali man gets in "line" behind us. The man is talking loudly about something, per usual. (My new theory is that all the old men 'talk' so loud because they have lost their hearing due to the deafening horns everyone blows all the time, but I guess that's another blog post all together.)
After a few minutes, it becomes our "turn" to get what we need copied. We tell the woman what we need, and she goes to the back. She comes back without our stuff, but is now talking to the people behind us. While waiting, two people manage to get everything they need done and leave before we have seen anything of ours. I began to address the Bengali man who is in the process of skipping us in line. Our little conversation looked something like this:
Me: We were here first! You can wait your turn. (I think I then turned and made a motion of trying to block him in line-- I have no shame.)
Man: YES-- THERE IS NEED OF DISCIPLINE! (All caps denotes he's yelling.)
Me: But, YOU are participating in...
Man: NO, I AM NOT. DISCIPLINE IS NEEDED.
Me: But when you are participating, you are doing the same...
Man: NO, SHE IS DOING THIS THING.
Seeing that he will not accept responsibility or let me finish my sentences, I turn back to the front and am now certain I can block every attempt of anyone trying to skip us in line.
A minute later, the man talks to us again-- trying to make friendly conversation as he probably doesn't consider anything he has just done to be rude or slightly aggravating.
Man: FROM WHICH COUNTRY DO YOU COME?
Continuing in the same fashion of not letting us get a word in he begins to rattle off a list of countries...
Man: ENGLAND??
Me: no
Man: CZECHOSLOVAKIA? (which of course is the next obvious choice.) ......FRANCE? ....GERMANY??
Me(kinda laughing now): "No, we're from America."
He nods, shakes our hand, and then trots off to probably go skip someone else in line to get done what he needs for the day.
Finally, she comes back with our papers we need, we pay her 10 rups and head out. We jump on a bus after waiting a few minutes for an auto. The bus is crowded, but it's nothing I haven't seen before. On the bus, I'm standing in the entryway, holding on to a pole deciding how I'm going to smash my way though the crowd to get to some free space. Seconds later, I feel an entire body pressed up against mine. I look back to see it's a woman who just jumped on the bus. I'm beginning to get drenched in sweat because of the humidity and lack of ventilation on the bus-- the last thing I want is another person pressed up against me. But, if you hop on a bus, that is to be expected.
I begin to stand on my tip toes as that usually puts me heads and shoulders above the rest of everyone and I feel like the air is fresher up there. Deodorant hasn't really caught on and the smells of the city aren't the most pleasant, so fresh air is usually a commodity. After that, I notice some free space at the front of the bus. I push my way to the front and try not to slam people in the face with my bags, which I'm pretty sure I was unsuccessful at. A minute or two later, the bus stops at light and groans are heard throughout. What little air was able to circulate throughout the bus when we were driving has now ceased and we are forced to cope with the reality of "85 but feels like 105". I consider getting off and walking as we aren't far from our destination, but as I began moving to the door to get off, my friend tells me that traffic is moving again. Welp, the bus driver was soon to have a bus load of angry people because he couldn't get the thing to start again! I took it as a sign. I hopped off and began walking.
With ominous clouds threatening a downpour at any minute, we hopped into auto needing him to take us the rest of the way. An auto is like a 3 wheeler with a roof on it. Kinda. Anyway, to get ready for the rain, he unravels a plastic curtain that I am to hold down to use as a shield. As we are waiting the light to turn green, the bottom fell out. Thankfully, we are only minutes away from where we need to be. I was only slightly soaked as I got out from the auto and ran under a covering.
From there, I waited about 10 minutes and then began jogging through the campus in the rain to the place I needed to go. I figured everyone will stare anyway, might as well give them a reason to.
We arrived at the office and were able to "do the needful" as they say here and began to head back out to the craziness off to our next destination. All this before 12 o'clock!
That just gives you a glimpse into what could possibly happen on any random day. Needless to say, I was exhausted when I fell into bed last night.
