The last time I came to India Naveen and I were engaged. Now it's been 5 years since we were here and nearly 5 years of marriage. That's 5 years of living with Naveen and learning all his strange quirks and differences from me. As we spend time here and I see him in action among the other Indians I start to understand some of the things he does so much better.
In the store for example if he needs something he'll go right to the front of the line and ask the cashier while the cashier is in the middle of helping someone else. I see that it's a necessity to do this in India. If you don't push yourself to the front of the line you'll never get helped. If it were up to me I think we'd never get our food ordered at the restaurant. I've had it so drilled into me to wait my turn and be patient that I would have a hard time pushing myself in among the people at the front counter and trying to get the attention of the servers to take my ticket. Also I've noticed when we go shopping if he doesn't know where something is right away he'll go ask someone before even really looking. I'm quite different in the aspect. I would spend forever looking for something before I asked someone to help me find it. In the stores here in India you don't go looking. You ask for something, and they bring you every variety they have.
Another thing I've wondered about Naveen is why he's never been bothered to share his pajamas with the world. When he works from home he'll be in his pajamas all day and will walk outside wave to the neighbors even talk to them and not seemed bothered. In my house growing up my parents never even opened the curtains until they were dressed and ready for the day. This thought came when the neighbor came across the hall hair uncombed and in her PJs to say hi to Leela yesterday. With such close shared living space I think it doesn't matter here too much how people appear to each other. They see the best and the worst and feel no need to try to look all put together like we do in America. There are people out on the street brushing their teeth everyday spitting and gargling for everyone else to see. There are others sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk on busy streets.
It's not only eye opening to understand my husband better, but to also realize there's no one way to do something and what works in one place won't always work in another.
I can't wait to see what other interesting things I'll understand better about my husband.
In the store for example if he needs something he'll go right to the front of the line and ask the cashier while the cashier is in the middle of helping someone else. I see that it's a necessity to do this in India. If you don't push yourself to the front of the line you'll never get helped. If it were up to me I think we'd never get our food ordered at the restaurant. I've had it so drilled into me to wait my turn and be patient that I would have a hard time pushing myself in among the people at the front counter and trying to get the attention of the servers to take my ticket. Also I've noticed when we go shopping if he doesn't know where something is right away he'll go ask someone before even really looking. I'm quite different in the aspect. I would spend forever looking for something before I asked someone to help me find it. In the stores here in India you don't go looking. You ask for something, and they bring you every variety they have.
Another thing I've wondered about Naveen is why he's never been bothered to share his pajamas with the world. When he works from home he'll be in his pajamas all day and will walk outside wave to the neighbors even talk to them and not seemed bothered. In my house growing up my parents never even opened the curtains until they were dressed and ready for the day. This thought came when the neighbor came across the hall hair uncombed and in her PJs to say hi to Leela yesterday. With such close shared living space I think it doesn't matter here too much how people appear to each other. They see the best and the worst and feel no need to try to look all put together like we do in America. There are people out on the street brushing their teeth everyday spitting and gargling for everyone else to see. There are others sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk on busy streets.
It's not only eye opening to understand my husband better, but to also realize there's no one way to do something and what works in one place won't always work in another.
I can't wait to see what other interesting things I'll understand better about my husband.
Love reading your blog :) Some things such as people coming over unannounced would be cool in some ways because it seems so welcoming and not so closed off and private like our culture often is. I always look up to my little sister Brittany because she is sorta like that opening herself up to neighbors like an open book. However she complains that some people in Washington look at her weird and are rude to her if she tries to talk to them on the bus or something. Like hey don't interrupt my life.
ReplyDeleteI do like planning so that part of the Indian culture would be "interesting" but I love the community aspect of it. So special.