A few thoughts......
on Jen's Indian Adventure (India), 07/Mar/2010 09:03, 34 days ago
Indiais a country (or at leastBhubaneswaris a city) of contradictions.For example it’s expected, even for foreigners, to keep legs and shoulders covered at all times, despite the heat, yet every day I walk past billboards with half-naked women advertising a Sony laptop or the local gym.The tag line of the local coffee chain is‘a lot can happen over coffee’ yet it is unacceptable for non-married persons of the opposite sex to hold hands while walking down the street.Homosexuality was illegal inIndiauntil May of last year and yet it is common to see men holding hands– although this is more the culture of getting lost in a crowd here, quite different to home.Everywhere I look there is rich and poor, and even sometimes very rich and very poor.The caste system is alive and well over here. Even today I saw a man leave his office and wave to his driver who was no more than 10 feet away from him, and waited for the car to come to him, not he walk over to the car.Personal space is not something that is understood. Only last week whilst browsing around a local supermarket shopping for a white t-shirt for Holi I was literally stalked, and yes I do mean stalked, by a young male shop assistant. I do understand that it is because it is his job to‘serve’ the customer, but it can be very annoying and frustrating when you’re not used to it. At least inIrelandwhen a shop assistant asks‘can I help you?’, at least you can say ‘no thanks’. Here they just follow your every step and even sometimes get so close they even step on you.I thought I was getting used to the‘staring’ thing – men staring at you as you walk by. And not being subtle about it in any way. Well, I’m not. I am learning to adapt to it, but don’t believe I’ll ever accept it. An Indian friend tried to teach me to say in Oriya ‘have you never seen a woman before?’ but I wasn’t really paying attention, so I think I’ll have to ask for lesson no 2.