Daily life in India

(posted by janine)

Here are some small interesting or remarkable things of daily life …

- In all the busses (or in the classrooms, or in the temples) the women/girls sit on one side and the men on the other side.

- A few weeks ago, we got introduced to the Indian movie-scene: we earned 12 euros by ‘playing background foreign tourists’ for a full day in a hotel which was the scene for a new Tamil movie, featuring the local version of Brad Pitt .

- About 70% of the time we buy something here, or have it fixed (trousers, a key, shoes etc), it doesn’t work!

- In the office of a Big Director (e.g. some of the Directors of School Education that I visited to get permission for visiting schools) there are piles and piles of paper on the desk, but no computer. While the IT sector is booming in India, the department of education works with typewriters and written paper…

- Although it is officially forbidden, the caste system is still prevalent over the whole of India in the year 2007. At some schools, the girls from the lowest caste/outcaste (still) have to clean the schools and wash the toilets, and are not supposed to sit with the others to eat… (not at the schools that I visited though – this is what we have seen in a documentary)

- A role of toilet paper costs more than a lunch meal for the both of us (=rice, vegetables, sauces and bread) and the same as a three-hour bus ride.

- As I’m writing this, it’s thundering and raining and…the power cuts once in a while, leaving us in total silence and darkness (we keep forgetting to buy those candles)

- There are many small habits that are hard to know as a non-Indian. When I am visiting an older/’important’ person for my research, I may not sit with one leg over the other, in order to show respect. This is quite difficult when you are used to that and when you have to sit waiting in front of the directors desk for more than an hour!

- Arranged marriage is still common practice here, also in ‘the city’. Young people look strangely upon the idea of a ‘love’ marriage – it is not seen as a good thing! Many parents nowadays find the suitable partner for their son/daughter through the internet. One of the most important characteristics to search for is… caste.

- At one of the schools I visited, there were 1700 students and 27 teachers. Some teachers had up to 110 children in their class! Can you imagine teaching about AIDS, puberty and other sensitive subjects in an overcrowded classroom?

- Getting into town by bus takes half an hour. But once you are ‘in’ there, it may take between one or two hours to get to another spot ‘in town’. When we’re lucky, there is a seat available…(each on our own side of the bus of course)

- Indians are very good at ‘hiding’ things. We thought that alcoholism would not be one of the major problems in society here, since we didn’t ever see anyone holding or drinking a bottle. But it turns out that there are small ‘wine shops’ with bars behind it. And yes, many men go there once the night has fallen! I don’t know about the women though.

- Apparently we have a guard in our little village, who blows on his whistle every three seconds for half an hour each night around 23 o’clock, just to let people know that…he is there!

- The amount of people speaking (good) English has become less and less since India’s Independence 60 years ago. I’m glad I have a translator, and I sometimes even need her to explain their English…

- We are creating employment in our village: one women does our washing and another one cooks for us whenever we ask for it! (yes yes it’s decadent, especially since we DO have a kitchen now; but hey: how could we ever beat those mouthwatering curries and veggies of the Indians?) In other words: there are no legitimate household-related reasons that can distract Mikkel from writing his thesis!

- …but as you may imagine, he still manages to find enough other distractions: his favourite occupation is planning trips and dreaming about ‘curry powder’ in the mountains of the Himalaya and specifically: how to arrange to go skiing there…