Final ramblings

Today was my last day and I spent it in Delhi. I got wet in the morning from rain and wet in the evening from water balloons, but had a great time. (The water balloons are for the start of Holi, a crazy holiday where people throw water and paint on each other and generally go nuts... I luckily only got water on me - took a balloon in the shoulder, one grazed my leg, and a third hit me squarely in the back of the neck. I just kept walking, there's not much else you can do! Yay for quick-dry clothing.)

Some final impressions of India (odds and ends from my journal that I forgot to post):

- The transport trucks in India are like no other. They are painted and decorated like it's a permanent cheesy holiday (kind of is, in India... each year contains over 100 Hindu festivals alone), with primary colours everywhere, pictures and portraits, gold embellishment, gold streamers, and more dangly bits (also preferrably gold). The horns are also obnoxious, playing piercing bits of 'music', i.e. annoying major thirds or other intervals, or half a scale at best. Oh, India. But where else in the world would a trucker have a scene of his favourite gods and goddesses painted on the side of his rig??

- There are poisonous snakes here. Small and green and cute looking (I saw one, right before Dhiren killed it with his flip flop), but definitely deadly. Thought I'd save that one until I was safely out of snake territory.

- Sugar cane is officially my favourite new snack. Not only is it sweet and juicy and dribbly and messy, but it's a good challenge to eat. I feel like such a fierce vegetarian, ripping off the bark with my canines and gnawing on the fibrey goodness, sugar cane juice dripping down my chin.

- Everyone's favourite line here is, "How do you feel?" How do I feel about India, about the people, about this state or that state, about the train, the bus, about leaving India, about staying in India and marrying so-and-so's son (yes, this proposition is common, and in everyone's opinion, is the obvious and best option for me). But sometimes I misinterpret this phrase, such as on a crowded uncomfortable train ("How do you feel?" "A little squished"), or when talking about stomach health problems ("How do you feel?" "Well, this morning in the bathroom...").

- Hindus have a set of somewhat strict rules to live by. I recently found out that this list includes restrictions on when you can and can't cut your nails. (I would be toast in this society; I'm a nailclipper addict.) Then again, one woman told me you can clip your nails on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday while another man told me it's only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Hmmm.

- My doctor made me promise not to eat street food while I was here. The other day I realized why: looking out the bus window, I was treated to a show of a local snack vendor picking his nose for about 10 minutes, then picking up his pail of snack mix and climbing onto the bus ahead to dish out portions to hungry travellers, using his bare hands.

And that's all folks. I'm out of material, I think because I'm actually used to daily life here now. I am no longer suprised by cows in the middle of the road, I have stopped snapping candid photos of old women in saris, and hassles from rickshaw drivers, shop-owners and random men on the street have become part of the routine. Most of all, I've long since forgotten that everyone around me is Indian and I'm not. I guess I'm ready for a change; I think I'm ready to come home. But somehow I'm already nostalgic for India, thinking of everything I'll miss once I leave here. Just means I'll have to come back in the future, I guess! (Himalaya trekking, anyone?)

Thanks for reading.

love
alyss.