Notes on India

Staring.
Indians love to stare. Often for a good 3-5 minutes of just standing or sitting, looking at you. They drive, stop their bikes and stare. Often their stare is accompanied with giggles or big surprised faces or picture taking. Most of the time no words are spoken while they stand and stare. i have recently decided to stare back. Its one of the more awkward feelings i have ever felt, i have to restrain my head from instinctively turning to look away, my skin crawls as the moments pass in excruciating slowness. Back home such a stare down would result in one of the two "whatchu looking at bud?" or "can i help you?". Often the result of staring in such a away results in fisticuffs. Not here, not India. You just stare. Sometime words are spoken once they build up the nerve to ask you a question or to tell you about a friend they have in California, New York or Florida, almost always those three states. when the inevitable question comes, "what state?" as in which one are you from. I say Vermont and they almost always ask again, confused about my answer. They never, not once, have heard of it. i end up saying "its next to New York" which makes me angry. Once the inquisitive gentleman, and they are always male, moves on, it takes about 20 second to find the next possible stare down. This can happen all day. there is always someone staring, trying to... well that's actually what i want to know, what is going on up there? what type of things are they thinking about, their faces give away no clues.

Lines.
There are no lines in India. There is not one orderly way to go about anything that requires waiting for a turn. It really makes no difference if you had been waiting for three hours, if someone can get a little elbow room in on you, your done. I have more appreciation for those who have the ability to take a large stance. Its not aggression or impatience, its simply that they just have never heard of a line. or waiting ones turn, i can imagine that in their mind the question arises "if i can get in front of this person, why would i not? i know i don't want to wait" When buying a ticket for the train or bus, there is a little hole in the class with which to speak to the attended  much in the same way that we have in the states. But if you don't have that little opening boxed off, sealed from all angles, somehow there will be three or four hands wedged in there right around you. If you want to get off a full bus you have to push through the people who are staying on and the 15 that are getting on or trying to get on. The idea that if they let you out first, there would be more room for them and also a whole heck of a lot easier on everyone, never comes to mind. Its just scramble, scramble for that open door or that small space in the ticket window hole. I was trying to get out of a bus the other day and i had of course two backpacks on and i am being pushed from behind and urged on by the hordes of eager Indian craving the outside to keep going. All the while an equal or greater force was repelling me, pushing me back into the bus. I felt like the rope in a tug of war. When the man behind exasperated by my lack of forward momentum, said "you just have to push!". I responded "i'm trying. if you could tell them in hindi to wait for us to get out that would help". "this is India" was the only response. i said "oh yeah? this is India huh, all right, look out, I'm crushing skulls" i pushed and wiggled, squeezed and prodded but it wasn't until all the new passengers where on that i was able to get off. I need practice and a more helpful coach.

The Head Wobble.
As in every country i have tons of questions. questions from "where is the bathroom" to "how much for the grass to feed the cow"? The universal response is the signature Indian head wobble. its a side to side motion. Ones head moves like a grandfather clock pendulum. it can mean many things, not all of which are apparent at its use. a) no problem or your welcome b)yes or its possible c) sorry or no d) OK, with reluctance. its often times very hard to understand and context is huge of course but even then often times i want to rip that pendulum off the grandfather clock and yell  at it "what the hell does that mean!? i asked you if you had a room"!! i don't, but i sure want to sometimes. Really as with the lines, it just really takes a deep breath and a new approach at the same questions, usually with hand signals.

Cows
Holy Cow. It was Gandhi who said that they were the mother of all man kind or something to that effect and they seem to agree. They do and go pretty much as they please. laying down in the middle of a large intersection is not only normal and excepted but i bet its happening in half of all the intersections in the whole of India at this very moment. they are just everywhere, hundreds of them, chewing cud, lazin around, or stampeding down the street on the rare occasion that something spooks them. cars, people and other animals seem to be ignored in uniformity by every cow on every street. Indians pay little mind to them or what they leave for us as presents to walk in, dodge or slip through. But they are beautiful beasts, the best fed lot in India. You can pay to feed them, which like half the things you do in India gives you good luck and Karma. i should have enough for a few rebirths worth at this point. The cows here eat pretty much anything, like goats and pigs which there are also lots off but king of the street animals is the cow. With its huge horns and often drool and or foam near the mouth its a formidable opponent on a street about as wide as the beast itself. There really is nothing left to do but move out of the way... god bless the cow.

I have only two more weeks left here and there is still so much to do. I head to the desert tomorrow morning, i have decided to ride a camel for a few days and see just how much they actually spit. Talk with you all soon. big hugs.