Gonpati continues, Megan is still not Indian.

So I've been writing down lists in my moleskine recently about things I need to blog about/weird things about India/reasons why I'm still not Indian (but am seeing the light). I'll move through what I've thought of so far, and hopefully have some things in the future.

1. I think I've figured out why India is such a strange country to foreigners, especially in the west.
I haven't been to the rest of Asia, so for those of you who have visited China or Japan, you'll have to tell me if this is true for you as well. But what I think is vaguely unsettling about India to a lot of visitors is that it is oddly, oddly similar to some things in West, but so radically different in some ways. It's strange, it's almost like a not-quite-real immitation of an American or European city. There are too many trees and too much trash, the buildings aren't quite high enough and the sidewalks are in disrepair. The traffic is heavy but filled with motorbikes and rickshaws, the storefronts are open but there are too many colors, too much shiny tinsel, too many fake flowers in electric colors. It creates an effect that is purely Indian--but once in a while I will get glimpses of home that remind me of how loud traffic used to sound, before I spent two weeks in this city where people honk instead of use turn signals...

2. S.T.D. - Sexually Transmitted Disease? Nope. A phone booth for calling internationally.

3. Please and Thank You - Though I can't speak for all Indian dialects, one of our first Marathi lessons was that in Marathi, there is no word for please or thank you. They use the English words, in a heavy Indian accent of course. This is probably the hardest part of my homestay. Sucheta warned us that using please and thank you too often in our homestay would come across as stiff and formal. Just try to go a single day without saying either of these phrases in the United States and you'll come across as rude and cold. Strange, strange cultural difference. I don't know how to act when my Ahi (mother) brings me something at the table or helps me with my homework. I don't know how to ask for something to be passed across the table without interjecting a "please."
More interesting Marathi facts: we learned today that in Marathi, there is no verb, "to have," or "to own," or "to possess." Instead, you say that something is near you or with you. The effect is interesting and I plan to consider the effects of this simple linguistic difference. Linguists often study cultural differences like this, and there are often a lot of very interesting studies done on cultures that, for example, have no past tense. These two features of Marathi are already making for an interesting experience. Add the "head bobble" to that, and learning to "speak" like an Indian is difficult just in English.

4. The beds, insofar as I have tested, are hard as ROCKS. The first few nights I hardly slept at all, and now I am finally adjusting. I don't think I'll ever get used to the pillows though, which feel like I'm sleeping on books. Apparently there is a Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Pune somewhere, and sometime soon I plan on fully succumbing to this one American luxury. It's just uncomfortable to sleep and I wake up with aches in my neck and shoulders.

5. TV is about 10x as interesting as American TV. The shows are incredibly cheesy and dramatic, and since I can't understand a single word, highly enjoyable. I guess at what they're talking or arguing about. The best is the soap operas on in the evenings that everyone's Ahis watch. They feature sinister looking men with moustaches and pretty, distressed women. Last night we watched the Indian version of American Idol. To be honest, I have absolutely NO conception of what's good Indian singing versus what's bad Indian singing, so I was happy that my Ahi laughed at the bad ones that featured sad or comical music at people's apparently poor attempts to sing. They honestly sounded almost identical to me, except for one guy who was clearly just yelling. I fully intend on watching this show again, even though I have no interest in American Idol in the US.

6. Squat toilets/commodes. Probably the biggest and strangest difference to the United States, there are squat toilets everywhere! When I first saw one, I didn't understand it at all, but now that I've seen more (and practiced), they make much more sense. I can't shake the feeling of peeing in the woods every time I use it though, and it just reminds me of how unlike India is from camping. Oh, well. At least they have that in common. Most Indians seem to call western toilets "commodes," which may or may not be the funniest phrase of all time. Oh, and if you're ever in India, don't forget to toss the toilet paper instead of putting it in the toilet... it clogs the toilet because nobody uses it here! Instead there are things a bit like bidets in Europe or simply faucets with little plastic cups you fill with water. If this is getting to graphic for you, I apologize... but I'm actually enjoying the transitition to not using toilet paper. One less way I'm generating needless waste, right?

7. Trash. There is one trash can in my entire flat, and it is the size most American households reserve for the bathroom. I have no idea how this continues to work for an entire family for more than a day, but it does. The Indian people are incredibly resourceful and waste very little in their own households. We turn off electrical outlets when something isn't plugged in because needless electricity is generated to power the outlet for no reason. No toilet paper, etc. etc. I'm generating enough waste by myself that I feel embarassed to throw it away in the house; I've been hoarding it in an empty ziploc bag in my room so I can throw it out somewhere outside the house. But then there are piles and piles of trash on the streets and in the slums, hundreds of thousands of water bottles in the oceans.... I'm considering changing my Independent Study Project to something about the people's attitudes about trash and waste. I don't see how they can waste so little and yet still litter and ignore dirty streets in the public sphere. This is something to explore further.

Just to finish up, as a side note, I was going to take Sociology while I was here, but I've been talked into the Environmental Science course! The teacher seems engaging and interesting and it has a TON of field trips!! I'm really excited to travel around Maharasthra to see a variety of wildlife refuges and different environmental aspects.

Also of note, I've decided on my travel plans for my fall break. My friends Nate, Sydney, Logan and I are going to Kerala's backwaters, a national park where we can ride elephants, the very southernmost tip of India (where the beaches from three different seas meet with different colors of sand), Madurai where there are some amazing Hindu temples, Bangalore and Mysore. Wikipedia it! There are some cool places. I'm glad to be going South for the break and then in December, we head North to the more famous destinations like Varanasi, Delhi, Agra, etc.

All my love!