Zoo, Me? No!

Seriously people, do you think that I'm some sort of animal that lives in a zoo that you can just take photos of whenever you want?

This is the response that I had when earlier this week I was running some errands in Gariahat. I was walking down the street to go back home, and some idiot is trying to be inconspicuous about snapping a photo of me.

Dude, you have your cell phone held up to your side, with the camera pointed to the sidewalk, and then when I walk past, you push the snap button, and it makes a noise. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to not realize what you just did? Be grateful I just muttered to myself and kept walking on, because I was not in such a good mood.

Seriously, I DO NOT LIVE IN A ZOO FOR YOU PEOPLE TO GIVE YOU FREAKING VOYAGEUR PLEASURE!! KTHNXBAI

Dadu and snapping

When I'm at Gariahat and I want some cold water or a cold drink, I usually stop at this one little stall.

There's an old man, Dadu (meaning grandfather) who works there. He's a frail skinny, old man, who is a bit slow in his moves.

Normally I will bring back like 2 cokes, and 1 or 2 bottles of water. Normally if I just get 1 bottle of water he will end up bringing me 2 bottles of water and 1 coke, and I just laugh and ask him to switch it.

Now, the other day I had gone and was picking up my drinks, and there were 2 or 3 people behind me. They can all see that this guy is already helping me, and therefore busy, right?! Well, you would think so, but now, they kept calling to him.

Finally one guy behind me said, "Dadu, aapni ki korchhen?" (Grandfather, What are you doing?"

I snapped at their blatant disrespect of this gentleman, and said, "Kaaj korchhen. Ki aapni dekhte parchhen na?" (He is working. Can you not see that or what?" The guy looked at me, shocked and then shut up. :-)

I don't stand for disrespect of elders, maybe it's not disrespect in their eyes but to me it was, and I had had enough!

2 years and some change

Well, today is the 2 year mark of me being in India.

Looking back, it's been an adventure, a roller coaster, anything but what I expected.

I've started (and continue to) learn Bengali. I can read, write, speak (to a certain extent) and understand quite a bit. I never imagined I would be learning a new language so late in my life that would be essential for every day, well, maybe Spanish (or brushed up I would say...) if I had stayed in the US. It was hard, and still is...I still have problems trying to say exactly what I want to say in bangla. I either say things in direct translation from english to bangla, which doesn't work, or I say them wrong! It's a work in progress.

Plus...I've had lots of things to learn to deal with, such as the traffic, the stares, and the hardest, being dependent on someone, and living with the in-laws.

The traffic isn't so scary now, I can still remember the first day I arrived in Kolkata. We had taken the Rajdhani Express from Delhi to Howrah. It was an adventure. At Delhi, we had gotten a porter, which I had no experience with, and while we were waiting to board the train, some guy had come up to DH and asked if he wanted his ears cleaned. W-O-W!!! Talk about shocking! I had never taken a train ride before, we had taken over the right side of the train (the bigger part of the compartment) and we spent the night watching movies and just talking and watching the scenery. We had gotten off the train and went to wait in the pre-paid taxi stand to go home, we had numerous taxi drivers try to rip us off, and DH asked me if I wanted him to pay the extra or if we should wait. I said wait...I can still remember the feel of the sweat dripping down my back and face, bap re bap! It was so hot and humid.

The ride home...well, I was seeing things for the first time, and I was scared! The traffic was horrible, and scared the living daylights out of me!! But now I'm cool with it, and I joke with DH about waiting to see how my family deals with the traffic. hehe!

I've always been independent, I hate being dependent on others, and I **HATE** being treated like a child, and always having to tell someone where I am going and what I am going to be doing. I guess, that is just the Indian culture, and I have to deal with it, but having to tell my MIL where I am going and why I am going is getting old. I'm 27 years old, I need my independence, so I'm waiting with bated breath for the day we move out.

Also...the food, the adapting was not so bad...but there are some foods that I can't stand, but I still have to eat...like today...we're having gugni (chick peas)...which I can't stand...but I'll eat it for lunch, and maybe try to convince DH to take me out for a celebration dinner!

Yeah! 2 years!

trains, sardines, fish

 Well...it's that time of the year again. WEDDING SEASON!!!!


We have been invited to...about 4 since February. We don't go to many weddings, DH is very uncomfortable at weddings for some reason. Well, we went to one Thursday, because the young man who was a good friend and ex-work colleague of DH's. We had been going back and forth about going because it was quite some distance from our house. Then DH was swamped with work, and all that.

Well, I had promised the young man that we would come, and I don't take lightly to breaking promises. So we ended up going.

I had previously told the boy that I would wear a sari. Well, stupid me, I didn't practice before, I thought, oh! how hard could it be. Well, even with this Youtube video showing how to wrap it, it didn't happen. I tried really hard to get it right, but the fabric was just fighting against me. *sigh* Instead I wore my salwar suit that I wore for our wedding.

So...we get ready to go and we catch a bus to Ultadanga, where DH tells me we are going to take a local train. No big deal, right?

Well...I was *WRONG*!!! It was insane! One train came, that wasn't ours, and people just pushed on, and packed that train so full, that people were freaking hanging out the doors. Oh, and someone freaking jumped off the train onto the platform and ran straight into me! So...I put my purse over my shoulders, and prepared to get on a train like that. Hmm! Then the next train comes, and we are trying to get on it, and people are pushing! We didn't manage to get on that one. We took the next one though, with DH pushing me so I would get on. Right before the train was about to leave DH was still outside, so I see him pushing himself onto the train. We push in and in. This train is packed to the brim like sardines.

A man sees me, and tells me to come inside. So I push myself past all the people and go into one of the aisles between 2 benches. The guy then told a younger man who was sitting down to "give their guest a seat" and then tells me to sit down. He asked me where I wanted to get off, I didn't know the station name, so I asked Indra. The guy seemed pleased to see that I wasn't alone, and then proceeded to fall asleep while standing up. LOL

Then, about 1 stop before we needed to get off, we got up. It was an adventure, now I'm kinda not wanting to visit Mumbai, as DH says I will face this all day, every day. Yeah!

So, really, we didn't go to the wedding, we went to the bou-bhaat, which is the reception for the groom's side of the family. We went, met the bride, who was gorgeous (although a bit too decked up for me...but traditional Bengali style)! Then...it was time to eat...well, it was a traditional Bengali meal, which meant fish! Fish fry, fish curry...lots of fish. Needless to say, I only ate a bit of rice, and some gravy. :-)

We had fun! :-) And the train on the way home was MUCH emptier, thank goodness!

10,000 views!!!

Yeah!! I've had 10,053 views!!

Thank you everyone.

Sorry for not posting lately, but I've been feeling under the weather so when I'm back to my old self again, I plan to post about some things. :-)

Out of the loop here

Sorry I've been out of the loop a bit with posting. DH and I went to Bangalore for 6 days and had fun with lots of our friends. Anyways, that's not what I planned to blog about.

A friend of ours had her baby a few days ago. Twins, a boy and a girl. Well, they are home...just came home today, and I want to buy them a gift. Well, seeing as how I've never bought a gift for a newborn baby in India I am sort of out of my element. I don't know what things are needed here, what sort of clothes I should purchase for the baby. I asked the mother, and she said, "Their aunty is buying them something, there is no need to ask. Whatever you want to buy." Well, as nice as that question is...it didn't answer my question. I don't know if they need anything, although I doubt it. So...what will I buy? It remains to be determined by what I find at the stores. I will post about that later.

This also brings me to think about the differences between India and in the US in regards to visiting after a new baby comes home. I remember when my friends and family had babies they wanted only immediate family to come the first few days to give the parents and the baby time to settle in to their new surroundings, and their new life. That's fine...that's what I'm used to. So, when I called today and asked and the father said, "chole esho" (come over) I was a bit shocked. I don't know why, I mean, here family is a big thing. So everything and anything is shared by family, and friends. So...this is just a culture thing.

But still...it remains to be determined is it a good thing?

I think, personally, that it might be a bad thing. The mother is probably worn out and wants some peace and quiet after being in the hospital, but this is their culture. :-) Lets see how it goes...hopefully DH and I will be going to visit the babies tonight!!

New layout...

I am having a friend make me a new header tonight...lets see how it turns out, oh, and I'm hoping I can get him to make the layout too! ;-)

Let me know what you think of this new layout, and what you want to see!