I’ve successfully made it to my 10-day mark here in India. Go me! Some of you may be wondering how I’m adjusting. I would say, I’m adjusting quite nicely. My sense of direction is still complete shit, but at least I know how to direct an auto driver to my current place of residence. The food is great, but I am highly considering googling names of dishes tonight, because I never know what to order. My knowledge of India, like names of places, etc, is underwhelming at best, so if any of your have book suggestions, I’m all ears.
As interesting as my bouts with pronouncing Indian states are, I’d actually like to talk about a different kind of “adjusting”. Last week I had an interesting discussion about a general disposition here in India. The word that is frequently used in place of “stop doing that”, “move”, “change”, “go around”, is simply, “adjust”. It’s actually quite a nice mentality, let me explain.
As you know, I moved from Los Angeles to Bangalore. What the cities have in common is traffic. Where the cities differ, is the general feeling about traffic (or any inconvenience for that matter).
In LA, when there’s traffic (which is always), people are pissed, sassy, enraged, frustrated, borderline tears. There is something in the way of their ultimate destination, and that seems like the end of the world. Trust me, I’ve been there. I would be lying to say I haven’t cried at the wheel in the face of a parking lot’d 405.
In Bangalore, traffic is equally horrible, if not worse. But instead of yelling profanities to the car next to you, the people here just “adjust”. If a truck is doing some back up maneuver in on a busy street, you just adjust. If a cow is in the middle of the road, again, just adjust. It’s a much easier way to live! Especially if traffic is somewhat inevitable (*cough* LA *cough*), why not just adjust?
I’ve had a fairly seamless first 10-days. I know there will be high highs and low lows in my next six months. But India is much bigger than me, so no matter what happens, I’m pretty much just planning to adjust.
Coming Soon: An update on my mosquito bites and how to heat up water for a shower.
*I reserve the right to generalize about the general sentiments of Angelenos and Bangaloreans*