2013 Scouts in the Field

I’ve been lazy/busy and haven’t been writing this for a few days now, but figured I should get to this before I start traveling. I’ll be going to Kolkata, Taiwan, and Korea over the next couple weeks and am pretty excited for the prospects of being back at home. That being said, let’s run down my list of Top 10 Things I’ll Miss About India thus far:

10. Auto Rickshaws
9. American English vs. Indian English
8. Desserts
7. Animals everywhere!
6. Living in a developing country
5. Learning to communicate without words

Without further ado, my top 4!

4. CULTURAL IMMERSION

India is a country with such rich history and culture that has formed over so many years. In particular it amazed me the level of pride for country and yet regional individuality that pervades in society. Combined with the importance of religion in society and community, I found my time here to be extremely enriching. I feel blessed to have been included into this life and have been guided through the process by my friends. 

If I have a few takeaway about the culture that I’ve been lucky to be a part of the past few months, I’ll remember that it’s one where family extends beyond your household…

…things are made beautiful…

…and where this motley crew summons pride.

3. REAL INDIAN FOOD

No offense (actually yes offense) to Indian food in the U.S., but real Indian food totally beats what we get at home. I’ve enjoyed being exposed to other types of Indian cuisine from what I’ve learned is only Americanized North Indian food and am now sad that I will not be able to get the same quality when I go back. In particular, a few dishes have really stood out in comparison to their American counterparts. Now I know what they’re supposed to really taste like!

Mutton Biryani

Seekh Kebab

Gulab Jamun

2. CIIE and IIMA

I’ve been lucky to have worked at CIIE and lived at IIMA while I’ve been here. Being on a campus and having housing taken care of is a huge deal and it is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of Indian streets. The campus is actually quite beautiful and has offered me a chance to walk around, thus allowing me to walk off calories I consume from all the eating out we did!

I forget sometimes that some of India’s best and brightest come to study here, and I’ve been told time an time again by people not living on campus how nice I have it here. Just one picture of the campus:

1. FRIENDS!!

Not to be too cliche or anything, but what I’ll miss most about my time here is the time I spent hanging out with my friends here. For someone who felt completely lost in a new country, they took me in with open arms, joked around with me, and explained India to me with patience and a smile on their faces. I can say that I worked with some great people and I will definitely miss them when I return home. Without them, I would not have traveled as much, tried as many (and good) foods, have had as much fun in the office, or felt like that (at least for a short while) that I was living the Indian life.

Alas it is time for me to go home, but I hope to see everyone again in the future. Good things the world is becoming smaller though, yeah? 

Being a foreigner here, I realized for the first time how difficult things must be for anyone who decides to make the leap and immigrate to a new place. Things don’t quite make sense, and it’s honestly easier to simply fade away and stick with the one or two things you know. In particular, the inability to fully communicate yourself verbally can lead to a sense of helplessness and feeling a bit like you will never fully be a part of that world.

This definitely was the case with me. Armed with 8 words outside of names of food (counting 1-5, “more”, “stop”, and “okay”), I face an uphill battle when attempting to communicate with locals. What I realized is that without language, I found that I was still able to connect with people on a different level and communicate after all.

It’s pretty easy to start distrusting people who you can’t understand, but there is a certain basic humanity that I found I was tapping into when I was communicating. Making eye contact and giving a genuine smile, I was able to connect with people and know that the guy who I don’t know and can’t speak a word to has still got my back. Pointing, grunting, intonation, and perfecting the infamous Indian head bobble also served as huge helpers.

This really isn’t anything new — communicating through things outside of spoken language. However, with limited effectiveness in speaking, I enjoyed a sort of “speaking without speaking”. It made me feel more included and in touch with the culture, and while I can’t really ask them to be sure, I’m pretty sure the local shop owners kind of like “talking to me” too. 

Still far from perfect, but it’s been nice to tap back into that and realize that I can still connect with someone who comes from the other side of the world. My conversations with the chai-wala is limited to “Wassup Joony,” “Not much,” “Issa nice shirt,” “Thanks,” but I still feel like the guy is my buddy. The guy who runs the small snack Nescafe stand on campus doesn’t speak English to me, but the guy still chuckles when I deviate from my normal chicken puff order. It’s a connection that goes beyond words and reminds me that we’re all essentially the same species after all!

This one’s a little different but is nonetheless a very important part of my experience in India, and the primary reason I ended up coming here in the first place. It’s something I both will and won’t miss at the same time, but hear me out.

In my pursuit of trying to do good and help people with my life, I realized that my privileged life in the U.S., for all of the wonderful blessings it provided me, also made it more difficult to understand what it meant to truly be in need. In order to serve people, I’m a believer that you need to be involved in that world. While I can’t say if having India-specific knowledge will necessarily help me in my career, it has been eye-opening to live in a country that is in a very different economic situation from what I am used to.

In terms of infrastructure, it just became apparent to me how much can happen before planning does. City planners would love to be able to map everything out and ensure that things are built properly, but when there are so many people with so much to do, it seems that sometimes it doesn’t always work out the way you hoped it would. Even in a planned business park area like Gurgaon outside of Delhi (seems a bit like Los Altos, CA), there are very nice office buildings but also a bunch of small shacks and slums that have sprung up around them. Surely this was not a part of the designer’s plans, but what can you do?

Slums do seem to spring up in random places, and sometimes how they’re dealt with can get iffy. This is an issue that isn’t as in your face in the U.S., though it does happen sometimes. From efforts like setting aside affordable housing for young professionals in historically dodgier neighborhoods to the gentrification that occurs around places like Nationals Park in DC, it’s a seemingly less messy “upscaling” that occurs in American cities (though I realize it’s probably still kind of messy..). In India, the poor are always around and continuously remind you that that segment of the population exists. To me at least, this forces you to think about how society and policy handles people who are lower on the economic food chain.

As much as I look forward to getting back Hulu+, access to Thai food, and a house with no ants, I am thankful for the exposure, as brief as it was, to a world where there are a whole different set of challenges that affect such a huge part of the world’s population. I’m hoping that this helps me be a more sympathetic person and have a better understanding of what a bit more of the world actually looks like.

Doing two again since I was out and traveling yesterday. Without further ado…

8. DESSERTS!!

So I really am not a dessert guy and more often than not find it to be a waste of money. I would much rather save the $5 that could be used on a dessert for a future $5 footlong at Subway.

But that was before India. Then it happened. Or more specifcally, The Chocolate Room happened. This place was our staple and we’d go there as our nightcap probably about every other night, consuming items like the “Chocolate Avalanche,” pictured here.

Then by a stroke of horrible luck, the Chocolate Room near campus closed down and got replaced with a subpar coffeeshop. Any ordinary person may have thrown in the towel and given up — but we are not just ordinary people! We took the change in stride, broadening our scope to ice cream, kulfi (indian ice cream), jalebi, gulab jamun, ladoo….you name it. Before I knew it I, Joony “dessert is a waste of time” Moon, found myself suggesting dessert after meals.

While I’ll probably go back to my old ways when I get back home, I will now have a soft spot for Indian treats and desserts. So heads up kulfi places in the U.S., I will find you!

7. ANIMALS

One of the most striking things for me when I first arrived in India was the number of animals that share the city with people. Stray dogs and cows make any road an obstacle course and help add to the distinct scent that makes Ahmedabad Ahmedabad.

Although I’m still wary of dogs on the street since they could still bite me, I’ve grown fond of the cows that essentially own these streets. There’s something about large lumbering mammals that make them so intriguing to watch and to poke (still working my courage up to do this). They get up, walk around, eat random stuff, walk home, sleep. Awesome life. You can honk all you want, but if a cow walks at you, you better dodge. 

I’ve also grown attached to the dog that used to live at CIIE. He was a weird dog, but he loved us. He now lives on the other side of campus, owning his corner of the school like a boss, but he still comes by to give us love once in a while. Here is Mohsin rubbing the dog’s belly with his foot / using the dog as a shoe cleaner:

Sleepy cat napping under our chairs at a restaurant in old city:

Looking forward to hanging out with my brother’s new cat when I get back home, but these guys have been keeping me company in the meantime. Gonna miss these fools!

Doing two again since I was out and traveling yesterday. Without further ado…

8. DESSERTS!!

So I really am not a dessert guy and more often than not find it to be a waste of money. I would much rather save the $5 that could be used on a dessert for a future $5 footlong at Subway.

But that was before India. Then it happened. Or more specifcally, The Chocolate Room happened. This place was our staple and we’d go there as our nightcap probably about every other night, consuming items like the “Chocolate Avalanche,” pictured here.

Then by a stroke of horrible luck, the Chocolate Room near campus closed down and got replaced with a subpar coffeeshop. Any ordinary person may have thrown in the towel and given up — but we are not just ordinary people! We took the change in stride, broadening our scope to ice cream, kulfi (indian ice cream), jalebi, gulab jamun, ladoo….you name it. Before I knew it I, Joony “dessert is a waste of time” Moon, found myself suggesting dessert after meals.

While I’ll probably go back to my old ways when I get back home, I will now have a soft spot for Indian treats and desserts. So heads up kulfi places in the U.S., I will find you!

7. ANIMALS

One of the most striking things for me when I first arrived in India was the number of animals that share the city with people. Stray dogs and cows make any road an obstacle course and help add to the distinct scent that makes Ahmedabad Ahmedabad.

Although I’m still wary of dogs on the street since they could still bite me, I’ve grown fond of the cows that essentially own these streets. There’s something about large lumbering mammals that make them so intriguing to watch and to poke (still working my courage up to do this). They get up, walk around, eat random stuff, walk home, sleep. Awesome life. You can honk all you want, but if a cow walks at you, you better dodge. 

I’ve also grown attached to the dog that used to live at CIIE. He was a weird dog, but he loved us. He now lives on the other side of campus, owning his corner of the school like a boss, but he still comes by to give us love once in a while. Here is Mohsin rubbing the dog’s belly with his foot / using the dog as a shoe cleaner:

Sleepy cat napping under our chairs at a restaurant in old city:

Looking forward to hanging out with my brother’s new cat when I get back home, but these guys have been keeping me company in the meantime. Gonna miss these fools!

Ten Things I’ll Miss About India: #10 & #9:

joonymoon11:

So it’s gotten down to my last 10 days of being in India and while I’m obviously excited to return home to friends, family, and the lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to, I’m feeling a little sad to leave after my time here. I think I’m going to do a countdown of sorts to commemorate what I’ll miss…

So it’s gotten down to my last 10 days of being in India and while I’m obviously excited to return home to friends, family, and the lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to, I’m feeling a little sad to leave after my time here. I think I’m going to do a countdown of sorts to commemorate what I’ll miss most about India, and since I’m traveling a little this weekend, I’l start with the first two today.

10. AUTO RICKSHAWS

For those who aren’t familiar with auto rickshaws, they’re these small three-wheeled vehicles that are nearly as ubiquitous as cars and essentially serve as my transportation everywhere. Most places I go to range anywhere from 20-50 rupees ($0.30-$0.80) and the fee is divided amongst the three people that it typically can carry (though I think I’ve done up to 6 “illegally”).

Despite the near death experiences I have with traffic every other day, these guys get the job done. Luckily in Ahmedabad, they don’t try to cheat you as often and are pretty flexible with your requests, e.g. waiting for you run inside a cupcake shop and come out with your afternoon snack. 

You end up enjoying the wind in your face and a chance to explore the city outside of just the neighborhood of the office, and I’ve learned to enjoy these times. Yes, they’re dinky and dangerous by Western standards, but I’ll miss them.

9. AMERICAN ENGLISH VS. INDIAN ENGLISH

The British colonized both the US and India, and the form of English that is used in the countries has diverged as a result. Although India keeps pace with American culture through movies and TV shows, there are definitely still some differences in the language that took some while getting used to. Now that I’m accustomed to them, I chuckle a little bit to myself every time I hear some of these differences highlighted.

Pronunciation: It’s well known that Americans created the harsh “A” sound that we use for words like “cat,” and that vowel has been picked up in only certain circumstances here. This one never ceases to make me stop laughing:

Me: Naaaasty….

Indian: You mean naaahhhhsty?

Same words, different usage:

Example 1 –
Me: Man that food was really good!
Indian: That food was yum!

Example 2 –
Me: I have a couple questions about your program.
Indian: I have some doubts about your program 

Example 3 –
Me: There were a bunch of old ladies at the gym today. Not a pretty sight.
Indian: There were a bunch of aunties at the gym today. It was yuck.