I guess i got really bad at updating this, but I'd rather spend time exploring than trying to get internet time, so there. ;)
I went to a Jewelry store the other day, one with a guard at the door who is there to decide whether or not you look like you should be allowed in. I was not dressed up, had this been the same kind of situation in the US I would probably have been refused entrance...I almost expected them to refuse me, but I'm white, and so even if I had gone in pajamas they would have let me in. I don't deserve the attention I get because of my skin color. I say it over and over, I'm just like everyone else, I just look funny.
This week I went two places with a woman who spoke no English. Seriously, none. The first trip we went to Kanyakumari which is the tip of India, Jhansi said i had to see it, but she didn't want to go so she sent me with a good friend of hers. At first, we didn't understand each other. at all. but by the end of the day we figured out how to communicate. We went to 3 memorials and on a boat. In line for the boat tickets I talked to two little girls who wanted to practice English. After the boat ride i took pictures with a man and his wife, and then with 2 children. I wasn't really sure what to do when some woman handed my her crying baby, but I took him and we took pictures.
The second trip was to a herbal waterfall. The buses weren't running like they were supposed to so we ended up sharing an auto with a couple who spoke a little English. They took me to the waterfall and we all talked for a while and then took pictures of each other (because thats what you do). And I talked to, well, everyone who knew any English and then we came back. The woman later made me promise to go to her house before I left, and said that I HAVE to come back to India next year.
I've also now been to two wedding receptions, one down the road, and one with Jhansi's family. We shook hands with the couple, took pictures, and ate. It isn't very often that you find yourself sitting in a dinning hall wearing a silk sari eating off a banana leaf with your hands. Definitely one of those "only in India" things.
On another note, the amount of "skin whitening" lotions and creams drives me nuts. White skin is not better. I am not better than anyone here because I have lighter skin, it doesn't make me richer or smarter, or anything, I'm exactly the same as everyone here, I am a person. Sometimes I just want to scream that at the top of my lungs. (The movie star type status is a little much for me sometimes) Last night a girl I was with goes "I don't want to go to America India is much better" I love it when people say that, because so often its, "but America must be better than India" I think they are all equal I love India and America the same amount, I am equally comfortable in both of them, though I do think India has more character... Also, Indian men need to stop watching American movies, it gives the wrong impression. Ok I'm done rambling about skin color and culture now...
I think its been to long I can't remember anything else right now. But I'll go through my pictures later and come up with some more stories. :)
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You sat in a place you were not born near and ate it's food and drank it's drink. You walked on ground that you were not born on and saw their falls and held their children. You laughed with people you were not born with and spoke their language and shared their love. And while it all was happening you learned we are all the same- just a different packaging and way of accomplishing the same needs. Then you went back to where you were born. Welcome back to one of the places you call home.
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