Hello, world! Writing from my new bedroom in Jaipur, a regal little city in the state of Rajasthan, India. Technically, I’m here with an SIT program studying sustainable development and social change, but let’s be real: this is all about soaking up the food, language, and lifestyle of an impossibly diverse country. Today marks a big milestone– after a week of stumbling around as a foreigner, I’ve finally got a home. Homestays begin today! Since this is my first evening as part of an Indian family (my host parents insist I call them mama and papa), I think it’s an appropriate occasion for an inaugural post. I’ll begin with some first impressions.
First: traffic regulations don’t matter. The fact that there are three lanes painted on the road gives no indication as to how many there will be in real life. Cars, trucks, mopeds, and whatever else weave willy-nilly all around each other with a minimum of six people clinging to the sides. And if you gotta pull a U-ey, driving 200 feet or so into oncoming traffic is a-okay. People may or may not stop for a red light, but everybody waits for cows. Horns aren’t so much used for getting someone’s attention as they are for echolocation.
Weird juxtapositions are commonplace. For instance, it’s not strange at all for a five-star hotel to be smack dab next to a posse of begging kids, or maybe a mother pig with a dozen piglets. As my host mother sits in the next room doing her puja (prayer) in front of a Hindu shrine, Bloodhound Gang’s little ditty “Let’s Do It Like They Do On the Discovery Channel” wafts through my window from somewhere across the street.
Chai rules. Everyone drinks it and everyone makes time for it. I’ve even seen people brewing it on the streets on makeshift stoves and pots. Here’s a typical chai schedule for me: class starts at nine at the SIT center, get a few learning formalities out of the way, then pretty much immediately a guy will swoop into the classroom with a platter full of chai cups and pass them around. Class continues. An hour or two later, we all break for chai and biscuits. Then language class (where we learn to say chai in Hindi), lunch, then home. Chai immediately. Since of course I already had a chai before heading to school that day, I’ve now consumed 4-5 chais.
I’ll leave it at that for now. Eye candy:
