Customary Service
Delhi, bustling capitol of the Jewel of the East. By day a flowing fabric of culture and commerce. By night a mystical blue dream world where nature and artifice sleep silently under the crescent moon.
Bah!!!
I have, with some regret reached the point in my stay where the demands of the average work day begin to include those less commonly looked for in the exotic. As a kind of therapy I have created a list of things that I took for granted and now really want back. they were upon reflection, not what I had expected to miss.
1. A desk or table or chair with a back support. Apparently everyone works, eats and plays standing up and then just falls over after dinner.
2. Breakfast. Here they do serve food in the morning but it is mind-bendingly similar to food served at all other times of the day. Give your Rice Krispies a hug tonight because they are blessed things. (this is purely a Delhi phenomenon)
3. A standardized format for all computer media. It seems we are in at least five different corporately imposed restriction zones, making it near impossible to rely on any thing that reads or contains digital information.
4. Ant poison and spray kit. I love insects as much as the next bleeding heart compassion mad only child, but they have taken ants to a whole new level. (coffee comes out of vending machines with ants in it.
5. Ear plugs...for the daytime. Noise pollution does not exist as a problem but rather as a constant accepted universal reality.
6. A baseball bat. Cricket bats are much less effective on Punjabi radios.
7. Stressed out service industry employees. Though I once berated the western work ethic for being too hectic. I found my views begin to change during a 2 hour stint standing up in a coffee shop surrounded by employees with napkins and Gameboys in their hands. The visit reached critical mass when I received my un-solicited cup of Mango juice instead of my very laboriously described and fully prepaid Cappuccino.
8. Toilet paper
9. Gay men/Unmarried women: Men hold hands here, they casually move very close during conversation, often comment on your physical appearance as a matter of polite introduction yet unilaterally deny the existence of homosexual leanings in Indian society. I just miss relying on my own eyes to know where everybody stands. Every girl, young woman, old woman and some female babies seem to be adorned with the matrimonial warning dot between the eyes. Whether they have met their husbands yet or not it really cuts down on the opportunity for casual banter.
10. Dead Cow. I am passed the point of prefering a particularly culinary form. It's like trying to find a lentil in Texas.
Bah!!!
I have, with some regret reached the point in my stay where the demands of the average work day begin to include those less commonly looked for in the exotic. As a kind of therapy I have created a list of things that I took for granted and now really want back. they were upon reflection, not what I had expected to miss.
1. A desk or table or chair with a back support. Apparently everyone works, eats and plays standing up and then just falls over after dinner.
2. Breakfast. Here they do serve food in the morning but it is mind-bendingly similar to food served at all other times of the day. Give your Rice Krispies a hug tonight because they are blessed things. (this is purely a Delhi phenomenon)
3. A standardized format for all computer media. It seems we are in at least five different corporately imposed restriction zones, making it near impossible to rely on any thing that reads or contains digital information.
4. Ant poison and spray kit. I love insects as much as the next bleeding heart compassion mad only child, but they have taken ants to a whole new level. (coffee comes out of vending machines with ants in it.
5. Ear plugs...for the daytime. Noise pollution does not exist as a problem but rather as a constant accepted universal reality.
6. A baseball bat. Cricket bats are much less effective on Punjabi radios.
7. Stressed out service industry employees. Though I once berated the western work ethic for being too hectic. I found my views begin to change during a 2 hour stint standing up in a coffee shop surrounded by employees with napkins and Gameboys in their hands. The visit reached critical mass when I received my un-solicited cup of Mango juice instead of my very laboriously described and fully prepaid Cappuccino.
8. Toilet paper
9. Gay men/Unmarried women: Men hold hands here, they casually move very close during conversation, often comment on your physical appearance as a matter of polite introduction yet unilaterally deny the existence of homosexual leanings in Indian society. I just miss relying on my own eyes to know where everybody stands. Every girl, young woman, old woman and some female babies seem to be adorned with the matrimonial warning dot between the eyes. Whether they have met their husbands yet or not it really cuts down on the opportunity for casual banter.
10. Dead Cow. I am passed the point of prefering a particularly culinary form. It's like trying to find a lentil in Texas.
posted by Chris and Nilu at 2:10 AM
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