India: A Short Visit, A Long List of Contrasts and Nostalgia
My Hear-See-Laugh Trip!
India is always a diverse potpourri of experiences, much like the country itself. After living abroad for seven years and living in different states in India throughout my early life, I feel like I belong nowhere. This makes me starkly observant, as a lot catches my eye.
Whether it's people speaking on speakerphone or the different languages punctuated with English, it’s easy for me to parse what they are saying. I belong to the south of India. I have lived in central India majorly, had most of my friends from the east of India, and know many languages from the north of India. So, I am privy to many conversations when I am travelling alone.
Be it the father asking about kids, completely ignoring what the wife is asking, or the lady talking to her relative asking her to get healthy cookies made of bajra (a healthier grain substitute)- which thereby makes her sweet cravings healthy. Or the mum submitting her existence to the perpetual nagging of her young boy, who is immune to her lamenting about his fussy food habits. The husband takes business calls during breakfast while his wife resentfully picks on the gooey upma(a savoury breakfast dish), which is more mushy than their love life.
It’s amazing how cosmopolitan the states have become. Sitting in Hyderabad airport, I hear languages from all over the country. People switch languages mid-conversation like it’s second nature. Old aunties and uncles doomscrolling on full volume. The sodium from the chicken lollipop(a very popular appetiser) made my face swell like the puri(a type of deep-fried bread) in the morning buffet.
Globalization has taken over the country to the extent that I, the so-called aware erudite, rushed to try Tim Hortons because it’s well-known to me and not available in HK. But I completely missed a local plant-based gem because it’s not known to victims of big corporation marketing like me.
Despite choosing to be child-free, I am predestined to have kids around me whenever I am flying. But this one was quite an ego boost. Bald as a basketball, a twinkle in her eyes, she repeatedly called me didi (older sister- though I qualify as an auntie) until her mum burst my bubble, saying there was no didi there. But I choose to believe that children are innocent and call it as they see it. So, I shall take my youth certificate and be on my way. Nothing like meeting old colleagues who say you look younger than you did seven years back. All that active HK lifestyle is paying off.
People skills are an art, and I saw it in play when one of the air hostesses was playing by the rules when an entitled frequent flyer kept insisting on tea without buying a meal. Priyanka, another flight attendant, came and ironed out the situation, which was waiting to hurl into an ugly one. Picking your battles is an art, especially when it’s with strangers in such a setting. In contrast to auto-reply responses or blatant ignoring in the service industry in HK. This makes me wonder, is that what draws the fine line between anarchy and order in a country? But then again, people behave entitled in their own country or when their currency is stronger than the country they are in. The societal undercurrents always amaze me.
Observational writing is something I enjoy indulging in, and I used to do that a lot more blatantly and abrasively back in 2016. When I was reading my old articles, I was grinning ear to ear at how candid, unfiltered, and at times inappropriate I used to be. But if I see the comments from back then, it seems people enjoyed that more than my tailored, politically correct recent articulations. Read a more candid style of writing from 2016!
I have been watching a bit of Indian comedy lately, and there is this comedian who only cracks below-the-belt, inappropriate jokes. It got him a lot of backlash as well. But he persisted, and now everyone can’t get enough of how authentic, unfiltered, and impeccable his sense of humor is. I have seen this pattern in different mediums of expression, not just comedy. If you have the guts to persist, you will make it one day. If you keep trimming your hedges to keep a pretty garden for others to see, you will wilt like a delicate darling going out of season.
Now that’s a crash course in perspective in a matter of 5 days, India is truly quite the experience to be experienced! No wonder it’s a bucket list place for a lot of EAT-PRAY-LOVE trips!
You are amazing writer. I virtually traveled with you while reading about your encounters. Surreal!