The Mother Land

Finally a post from India!  We have now been experiencing India for four full days (oops, make that a week now).  There are a lot of little stories to write and there is the experience of traveling on the plane with a two year old, but I thought I would write about first impressions of the country first, then back track to catch up chronologically.

It has not been easy to blog.  The obvious reasons are we have been busy touring, shopping, visiting and making sure my parents and niece are okay.  Then there is waiting till we can find a surge protector for the laptop so the unpredictable current doesn’t fry our hard drive.  But the main reason is we are in the city of Salem where Hub’s mother lives and Hubs refers to as “The black hole”.  I have to admit, it is like a ginormous small village, but I think Hub’s real disdain comes from spending 5 months here about 6 years ago.  North America accustomed him to high speed interned and everything at his disposal, so he’s put out here and not afraid to voice it.  Me, the “princess” from Canada, isn’t really bothered by all this.  I feel bad for my readers that are anxiously awaiting pictures I have yet to take and posts I have yet to write.  I guess I just accepted before we left that everything would be an inconvenience compared to my “normal” life.

As for my impressions of India, I like it.  I don’t think I would want to live here all the time, and I will admit I much preferred the city (Chennai) to Salem, but I still like it.  India is all those things that people complain about, but in some ways that is its charm.  I like how things are not so sterile here.  You see life all around you, the good the bad, the pretty the ugly, the stinky.  In North America we are so uptight (me included) about everything.  Everything has to be cleaned to death, all the bad things in life swept aside, old and unproductive people are hidden from our everyday life.  This country is alive, it is colourful, and people seem to be thankful for the little they do have.  Here I don’t feel the sense of entitlement that is suffocating in North America.

I am amazed at how use to the noise you get.  Here the honking is constant, people honk just to say “I’m hear and I’m passing you so watch out!” which seems like noise pollution but actually makes sense.  And people actually get out of the way!  The buses have more pull here, if they honk, you move or die!

The food is amazing!  We haven’t eaten crazy amounts and actually half of it has been “Chinese”, but it’s good.  The first meal was breakfast and we were still jet lagged and trying to explain food to our white bread counterparts so they didn’t starve when I took a mouthful of Dosa soaked in Sambar and stopped mid-sentence to proclaim to Hubs “This is SOOOOOOOOOOO good!”.  My mother-in-law is now fattening me up like a pig for the kill, but it is so hard to say no when it’s so good.  I think Hubs will need bigger pants.  I should have saved my maternity pants….