Interesting Things

Eating Etiquette

The style of eating in India is nothing like what I’ve encountered in my life so far. In a traditional Indian meal, you can expect a large metal plate that has a few other mini bowls on it holding various sauces/fruits/chutneys/vegetable mixtures, a bit of rice, and some roti. This is quite an intimidating spread for any westerner, and I think I’m finally getting the hang of how to go about eating it. A truly skilled Indian will only use their right hand to eat (I’m not on this level yet, maybe a few weeks?). First, you break off a small piece of the roti, and then dip it in one of the sauces (it’s not really a sauce, but more like a gravy but I don’t really know how else to explain it). After this take the roti with sauce on it and pinch some of the vegetable mixture using the roti almost as a utensil. Finally, eat the whole entire roti/sauce/vegetable combo that’s in your hand, and repeat. When all of the roti is gone, take the remaining sauce and vegetable mixes and put them with the rice, and eat it up.

Man the food here is good, but there seems to be a lack of variety. Aside from changing around the vegetables or the sauces, it’s roti and this for lunch and dinner almost every day. I foresee myself getting bored of this fast, but maybe not.

Trash Troubles

God, there is trash everywhere. Like literally, everywhere that I go there is trash on the ground. I guess that by now the Indians have gotten used to it, but I can’t fathom how they live their everyday lives like this year after year. I’ve come to the conclusion that the problem stems from some sort of aversion in India to trash cans. In houses, on the street, nowhere can I ever find a trashcan to throw things away in. What this does is create a mentality among the Indians that it’s ok to throw things away anywhere. Nilay, one of the AIESEC’ers that I mentioned before, threw his trash over the top of one of the few trashcans that I remember seeing on the street, and onto the ground. This isn’t because he is a bad person who just likes littering, but because here, there is nothing wrong with doing this. Another time I saw someone complain about the trash in a lake, and then 3 minutes later, they threw their cigarette into it. I’ll never understand…

I think I am finally becoming accustomed to India, I’m developing a routine and even getting better at my miming skills! I can’t believe that I’ve only been here for two weeks; things like flagging down a rickshaw or sleeping in 90 degree heat seem like the norm now. I wonder what else I’ll become used to in the next month or so. Not the cows, that’s for sure… or the monkeys.