France and me
The astrologers I consulted before leaving for France, said that I could stay there for three years. I had apparently done some good deeds in this part of world in past lives. Had I fought for the French Revolution? He he! :)
When I first returned from France, I was glanced at curiously that said “how are they?” from family and friends. It’s only then does one realize that meeting with a culture different from one’s own is no trivial task. My memory was pressed, faculties of thinking set into motion and exhausted and yet it remained an arduous task to explain another culture. In one of my urgent pronouncements, I had simply said, “They have big, powerful washing machines that one can use to wash a week’s full of clothes.”
And friends in France were no less surprised about the Indian girl. They would ask with utter horror, “you don’t drink, how do you celebrate?!”, and were promptly met with answers that revealed that “drinking was a major taboo in middle-class India”. If you were looking for a groom, first thing would be to check against the “bad habits”, drinking being first on that list. “We are a warm country remember!” I would try and reason, but their surprise and curiosity was always more than I could ever satisfy.
At the other times we discussed India population would always come up as the demon in India that needed to slay. At which I would say, perhaps more people are settled in India because they wanted to avoid six months of cold weather a year? Perhaps it is just us who cut up lines on the earth and declared the “nations” so as to end up how we are today? He he, kidding again!
When I first returned from France, I was glanced at curiously that said “how are they?” from family and friends. It’s only then does one realize that meeting with a culture different from one’s own is no trivial task. My memory was pressed, faculties of thinking set into motion and exhausted and yet it remained an arduous task to explain another culture. In one of my urgent pronouncements, I had simply said, “They have big, powerful washing machines that one can use to wash a week’s full of clothes.”
And friends in France were no less surprised about the Indian girl. They would ask with utter horror, “you don’t drink, how do you celebrate?!”, and were promptly met with answers that revealed that “drinking was a major taboo in middle-class India”. If you were looking for a groom, first thing would be to check against the “bad habits”, drinking being first on that list. “We are a warm country remember!” I would try and reason, but their surprise and curiosity was always more than I could ever satisfy.
At the other times we discussed India population would always come up as the demon in India that needed to slay. At which I would say, perhaps more people are settled in India because they wanted to avoid six months of cold weather a year? Perhaps it is just us who cut up lines on the earth and declared the “nations” so as to end up how we are today? He he, kidding again!
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