Habits - Customs

It has been mentioned previously that Gary is a creature of habit, so we thought it would be interesting to share what we have seen to be the general habits/customs of the people of India.

This is only a short summary of some things as we can't possibly cover everything in one story.

We will talk about them as they come to mind.  They are listed because they are not part of (or perhaps we don't want to admit it) our regular life.

Some have been mentioned in prior blogs. ie Incessant horn blowing when driving.  We would like to add that this need to announce that you are present is not limited to the roads.  Yesterday we took a two hour train ride to Chengalpattu or Chengalput depending on who you talk to. 

Amazingly we found that the train driver had a similar urge to car drivers so for two hours there and two hours back there was an incessant 'hooting' of the train horn/whistle.  This habit might be a delight to a four year old but is quite annoying.  Seeing the previous age reference some of Gary's children might wonder why he was annoyed at all. 

The people have an incredible ability to be patient with others.  Wherever we go we are confronted with people wanting to sell us things and the manner in which they go about it is not what we are used to.  As mentioned above, the train ride was two hours or twenty-eight stations long, but someone forgot to tell us that at every one of those stations a group of people would board the train and try to coerce us into buying something.  

We could have boarded the train stark naked (scary thought I know) and hungry but with some money, and by the end of the trip would have been fully clothed and fed, with a couple of bags filled with children's toys and books. We are not sure we would have needed money in some instances as these people seemed to have a generosity to share with others what they had.

Add to this the blind trio of male singers chanting and entertaining and there was not much time left to view the scenery.  We got this trip for the sum of 13 rupees each (39 cents).  (When we first boarded, we wondered how the Indian Railways made a profit until we were joined by 200,000 Indian friends on the journey).

When you arrive at the Chennai airport put all notions of personal space aside.  It seems that the personal space allocated to people in India is vastly different to the quota given to us when we were born in Australia.  We have tried to point this out to people in several different situations but have come to the conclusion that when we signed for our Indian Visas, we also signed to willingly surrender our Allocated Australian Personal Space.  This will be referred to as AAPS in future.

Expect people to touch you and press against you.  They will see that the 3cm edge of the seat you are obviously not using as theirs and squeeze their rear ends onto it and perch there precariously until you decide to slide over and further reduce your AAPS to allow their rear ends to invade a bit more of your seat.

Actually the whole concept of one person/one seat is invalid in India.  This was first witnessed early on when the school bus took us to Church with the girls.  The bus is a standard 3 X 2 seat config which in Australia would mean three on one side and two on the other.  This is negated in India by the exchange rate of the Rupee which dictates that you can get much more for your money here so a three seater can accommodate seven and a two seater, five.  Thus standard Australian 3 X 2 = Indian 7 X 5.

Your AAPS has no value when you queue for things.  From our observation the average length of line for twenty people to queue is about four metres.  You cannot reserve space using artificial means ie wearing a backpack.  They will not see this as an extension of you but simply press against it until all signs of AAPS are removed.

If you are a male, you may go to the toilet whenever the need arises exactly where you are.  For a modest people they have no problem stopping on the footpath of a main road and relieving themselves.  We have seen a few females fighting for equality, exercising this right also.  This adds to the rich aromas of India as we walk from shop to shop.

Similarly the custom of spitting wherever and whenever is common-place (for men) so caution needs to be exercised when walking and standing still.  There is usually an alert given before the expectoration occurs.  This takes the form of a harsh barking sound emanating from deep in the throat.  Gary can now mimic this sound perfectly.  We have found it handy when trying to get through crowds of people.

That is enough for one blog.  Wherever you are, treasure your AAPS but know that it has to be forcably surrendered when crossing certain borders.

PS Be careful when you find yourself holding on too tightly to certain aspects of your life.