When anywhere new, what is often most difficult to adjust to is the way things are done in that new place. In America, for example, lawns are mowed and hedges are trimmed using powerful machinery, which affords their operators time to do the cutting and cleaning up with striking efficiency. In India, hedges are trimmed by hand, lawns cut either with a grass whip or else a push mower without a motor. This means that cuttings are left for a day or two once the work is done, until they are raked and picked up by hand.
In America, we self-organize into orderly and polite lines, and may loudly call out one who breaks the socially imposed laws of the line. In India, the line works to an extent, until one reaches the beginning, where about five people all attempt to serve themselves on top of one another.
Classes here are currently running on tentative schedules, which are subject to change next week. Students don’t know if they have housing in the hostel until they go through three interviews, the last of which happens after school has already started.
Perhaps the most striking difference between America and India is the manner in which we shop. For the first time, I went to Sarojini Market, and was not entirely overwhelmed by the masses of people, stuff, heat, and sounds around me. I went with my friend Moitreyee, and we shopped for cookies, cups, knives, and kurtas. I’ve decided that the kurta/leggings combination is probably the most comfortable outfit I’ve ever worn…well, aside from flannel shirts.
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