Sidewalks arent for walking

The most homesick I’ve been I think. Its hard to say why really. A tiring day, maybe, or my headache, dealing with a few of the more annoying of my groupmates, or perhaps its just about that time. I feel a bit disillusioned somehow. In some sense it’s the feeling that I’m not ‘seeing the real India’ but talking to my group and walking from one tourist site to another. But its not just that. I mean, I am living with a ‘real’ Indian lady, walking the same bazaars Indians shop at, and dealing with the same poverty.
But in coming here for such an extended period of time, I somehow felt I could fit-in more. I’m not exactly what I was looking for—maybe a sense of true understanding of what its like to live here or be Indian or simply walk down the street and understand and be at ease with all that’s going on. But the longer I stay, I instead feel more and more my connection to my own home. When you first travel, you tend to miss the creature comforts and the straight familiarity and ease of home. The hot showers, your own bed, your own car, your own streets. And I do miss those, believe me (esp. when I step out of my bucket shower into the 50 degree room without heating!)
But what has depressed me is the realization that I’m dealing fine with the lack of creature comforts. It’s the growing certainty that perhaps I can never care about this place or these people as much those of the Western land, even if I were to stay here for years. Its too foreign. Maybe this is just the language barrier speaking. If I really believed I could somehow accomplish conversational Hindi I might feel more at home.

On to more exciting things. Today we again went up to the Amber Fort. My 3rd time up which I justified by the elephant ride, but by the time we got up and got the cars and saw the elephants loading up, I decided to cut my losses and spend as little money as possible. Some of us just walked alongside the giant painted beasts rather than ride them. I pet one’s nose as well. Otherwise, little was new aside from wandering a bit more extensively around Jaguar Fort and marveling at its view.
After we returned, I picked my salwar from the sikh shop. Unfortunately while the design is just as I wanted, I think the tailored waist is a little off and lays funny. Which I will have to through the painful process of going back to him and asking him to fix it. Sigh. I also had the most embarrassing experience. When I went to try it on in the shop on top of my shirt it was rather snug (naturally, its tailored to fit not over another shirt). But as I went to pull it off, both shirts came up past my bra! Oh dear. The man was gentlemanly as simply assisted me in helping to take it off, but the embarrassment pains.
We are actually invited officially to a wedding of one of the other girl’s families. Apparently it’s a love match between two castes—highly scandalous—so less people are coming than standard and we are all invited. We get to eat at everything. The ceremony is to take place at 7:00. Naturally, we are advised not to arrive at 8:30 if we want to be sure not miss anything.

Snapshot: Sidewalks aren’t for Walking
They are for many things, certainly. They are put to full use for the efficient placement of fruit stands, for trash dumpsters, for small temples, for dog-naps, for urinating, for sweeping off, or for general loitering. What they are not for is the pathway of the pedestrian. In a country where there are far less vehicles to a person as in the US, sidewalks simply aren’t designed for walking. Instead, the walkers of world make their way on the edge of the street, a designated lane of traffic as much as the rest.
I’ve been told that in wealthy Indian society, walking is simply not done. Those who can afford it will never choose to walk if they can get a ride in some fashion. In fact, choosing to ‘go for a walk’ is likely to cause confusion from your acquaintances and multiple rickshawvalas who are entirely unconvinced that you, as a rich angrezi, should prefer to walk if an amicable price can offered. This is likely the explanation for this bizarre design habit. As with most public amenities (all things, who are we kidding) if its isn’t a priority for the wealthy it probably isn’t gonna happen, even if many millions of Indians must walk the dangerous streets every day to get where they need to go. As a side note, it’s a good thing that there’s cricket, futbol, classical dance, and yoga because no one (middle class) takes their 14,000 steps a day around here for exercise.

written by

Drie on January 27, 2008 from Jaipur, India

from the travel blog: Adventures in Hindustan

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hug* I'm sorry you're feeling homesick! I think I can understand what you mean. At some point, home is home and thats just always the case. I'm not sure you should feel like you have to care more about India than home =) Anyway, just be happy that you're learning new things and seeing some amazing sites! I'm at home... and it dull!

written by Della on January 29, 2008

I bed in time you'll feel a stronger sense of belonging, Dana. I remember even at Rice as a freshman having that feeling that I would never belong. The Hindi will start to feel more comfortable too, although, I've come to accept that fact that learning a foreign language is always going to be one of the most humbling experiences on Earth.

You petted an elephant! How amazing!

written by Margeux Clemmons on January 30, 2008

I think home will always be home and that is definitely a feeling that can't be avoided-- I don't think there's anyway to avoid some sense of alienation while living in a foreign country, and probably that's partly what makes it so exciting. That said, I think after your first big hump of homesickness you will find yourself unconsciously starting to fit in more. I remember my first realization of this when I discovered (very much to my surprise) that I could walk down the street in Raja Park without paying much attention at all. Also, you begin to come across differently as an unconscious factor of having lived there for a while. Your physical sensibility must somehow change because after about two months, rickshaw wallahs would stop piling over themselves to get me a ride while I was happily walking the street. Actually, this began to backfire...by the end of my program, I couldn't get an auto to stop if my life depended on it!

On another random note, I am so jealous that you get to be around all the Jaipuris in their adorably ridiculous winter clothes. Every time I saw some woman in a fuzzy sweater vest over her salwar or an autowallah cocooned in a Lawrence-of-Arabia-style blanket I wanted to run up and hug them.

written by Josh on January 30, 2008

I love the literary work in the sidewalks aren't for walking section of this post. That's it exactly--very much like your prior blog section on cows. The black and white ones are Holsteins by the way and are overtaking the world (because they produce 12 times as much milk in one day) and this is a big genetic problem.

Dad

written by Wayne Hoffman on January 30, 2008

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