Boys, boys, boys...
on Honk if you Like Curry (India), 09/Aug/2010 15:04, 34 days ago
...as Sabrina once sang, she was looking for a good time but in India they are just looking and everywhere it seems.So I might sound a little paranoid but being stared at and being surrounded by men has become an everyday part of living in India. Let’s start with the facts, it’s been estimated (well Wikipedia reckons) that at birth there are 1.21 boys for every girl so the statistics back me up.My commute to work is the start of my daily stare off. I firstly go past a gang of mobile ice cream vendors. Their wheelie kiosks are being filled by the time I pass and many are chopping up large blocks of ice or having a wash in their y-fronts orlungis. It probably doesn’t help that most of my route to work follows a construction site for the new Metro and the Commonwealth Games. I firstly reach Construction Corner where there’s a regular posse of workmen having a good look and hanging around looking like they are auditioning for a Village People video. I then go down Grease Alley which is a strip of mechanics, so ignoring the stares I pretend I’m Sandy fromGreaseand they’re the T-Birds about to burst into song (but sadly I’m yet to hear a ‘wallah, wallah-uh’). Some women do stare, but it’s easy to ‘charm and disarm’ with a smile. The cycle rickshaw wallahs can take staring to a whole new level which involves driving up to within 5mm of you and shouting ‘Rickshaw madam’ whilst delightfully blocking your path and causing me to give a death stare back.So why the staring? Am I provocatively dressed or just the hottest thing in town? Hot, yes , but in a slightly sweaty betty sense from the monsoon humidity. I dress insalwaar kameez, hide behind my shades but guess it may just be my pale skin and the fact a blondie is walking rather than being driven around in an air conditioned pod. Some days I’m fine with it. I like to think I’m Claudia Schiffer and I must be having a good hair day despite the 90% humidity. Other days, it can make you go into meltdown. Being stuck in traffic causes the maximum staring as trying to hide out in the back of rickshaw from prying eyes in the terrible traffic and endless jams is pretty hard. I did have a Travis Bickle,Taxi Driver, moment the other day. I was most proud when I translated‘you starin’ at me’ by lamely shouting out ‘Kya?’ (“what” in Hindi) which caused much merriment to the five businessman crammed into the back of a Tata Nano.It’s best not to get stressed about it. So a few weeks I decided to retreat from the streets and treat myself to a pedicure. The beauty parlour, the perfect sanctuary for females where boys are firmly banished and a girl can just relax. Well not in India it seems. The pedicure team were all maleand for Rs200 a girl can’t really complain. I tried to enjoy the calf massage but it seemed to be wrong that so many men were applying lotions and potions and pampering away. It’s particularly wrong when you see women doing heavy construction work on the side of the road daily. But India never makes sense, with such a large amount of human capital there’s always jobs for the boys...Highlights:good food + great company– having returned from my travels and got to taste exotic delicacies (e.g. not eat curry everyday) my palette is having to adapt back to the spicy side of life so it was a real treat to go on a gastro tour of Delhi last week when some other volunteers came to town, pizza, sushi, real coffee, fishand chips- just heaven, when it rains it pours – being woken up by a clap of thunder and full monsoon storm last weekend, grey moody skies and water up to your knees on the streets it was cold enough to even have a hot shower, getting my ‘road legs’ back – I’ve had to retrain myself in the art of crossing road e.g. causing traffic to stop to have a chance of getting anywhere, so I was particularly pleased when I had my very own Moses/parting of the Red Sea moment and got 4 lanes of traffic to stop due to the power of sticking out my left arm and defiantly marching across the road -you have to love a bit of pedestrian power, free drinks + great company – it doesn’t take much to please a volunteer but getting a golden ticket to a book launch at the five star Taj Mahal hotel on Friday night made my week, great wine (chilled Pinot Grigio) and even greater company, the perfect way to start the weekend...