Culture tickles
Ever since I threw away my culture baggages, I consider myself to be free from culture shocks.
Since I arrived in India, once again I find myself having to adjust to a totally different environment, experiencing all these differences, the sensations I got are not shocks, but somewhat more like tickles, that makes me smile, amused, curious, or become mindful.
- Rain
People here really like rains! In contrast to most people in NZ who complain when it rains, in here people smiles.
There's no such a thing as a light shower here, every time it rains, it pours like cats & dogs, and always accompanied with thunders and lightnings. Then the city's power supply will be shut down.
Marcus told me that not a single drop of rain fell since last September, but since I arrived, the week that followed rained every afternoon/evening.
People at the studio were really happy to see the rain, everyone would go out to the balcony to watch the rainfall, play in the water.
They said that I brought the rain from NZ, as I tried to tell them it's not my fault~
One afternoon we even had a halestorm, which had not happen here for 9 years. We automatically had a break from work (the power was out anyway), and played in the back garden.
But now, after having a few extremely hot, sweaty & sleepless nights, I too prefer rains. The cool breeze after the rain makes sleeping at night so much more comfortable.
- Power cuts
Power cuts happen more frequently than traffic accidents (from my observations anyway). For my first two weeks, it was pretty much a daily occurrence.
At the studio we have our own power generator, but it was not unusual that we have to shut down our computer because the power is out.
- Traffic
The traffic rule here is best described as "none existent". There's a cross-road near our studio, every time I cross through it (by car or on someone's motorbike), the traffic literally comes from all directions~
Cars, motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, pedestrians...etc, everyone's crossing the intersection at the same time without any rules or directions (traffic lights too are none existent in most places), despite this, since I've been here I have not yet seen a traffic accident!
It makes you see that somehow there's a natural order governing everything here, laws in India....more or less are just for references.
- Arranged marriages
The Sunday paper has several pages for matrimonial match makings.
They're very similar to the dating advertisements in other countries, except here its for finding suitable marriage partners.
So what are the most desirable qualities?
Guys: 172cm+, Engineering degree, working in Engineering or IT.
Girls: slim, fair looking, university degree (BA...etc), coming from well cultured families.
According to Marcus & Kiki (my Brazilian & German friends who's email invitation brought me here to Hyderabad), matrimonial match making is a huge business in India, the largest website here is devoted to such purposes.
My Indian friends told me that about 70~80% of marriages in India are arranged marriages, and they are meant to last for a lifetime. (I haven't done the research so I have no idea what's the divorce rate in India)
- Head shakes
People shake their heads side to side when they're indicating "yes", "OK", or "I'm listening".
When I first arrived I was confused, because when I asked someone a question, they'll shake their heads, and I though they meant "No", when actually they're saying "OK".
- Food
Lonely Planet mentioned that on average an Indian eats 2kg of rice weekly, as I found out it is no exaggeration. The portion of food you get in restaurants are HUGE. No matter what I order - Biryanis, curry with rice, fried rice...etc, at most I can only finish half the amount.
Soon I begin to share meals with my room-mate (from New Delhi who doesn't eat as much as the locals), we split the food and cost, and it works out perfectly.
Its a wonder to see how the locals are so skinny when they eat so much.
- Public obscenity?
Richard Gere got an arrest warrant from an Indian court for kissing Shilpa Shetty on the cheek in a public televised event. The reason? It's public obscenity, according to the court.
That's not all, there are people who took to the street and protested, burning Gere & Shetty's effigies!
Looks like no matter where you are, there are always lots of people in the public who like to blow things out of proportion. Only the subject matter's different.
- Contrasts
LIke every other country India has a lot of contrasts, the major difference I find isi that everything here is packed together, living side by side.
Looking down from the balcony of my apartment, its a slum area, people living in simple houses, with dusty narrow streets too small for cars to travel, and you can see buffaloes walking around from time to time.
A little bit further, at the border of the slum, right across the street there's a band new, villa-styled, fenced housing complex with a nice swimming pool, looks extremely alluring to us in the summer heat.
Looking even further, about 4 km away is the ancient Golconda fort & Hyderabad's Muslim kings' tombs, which had been there for hundreds of years.
I have more to say about the contrasts I've observed & experienced, but I'll leave that for later.
