10 Observations

G'day all,

It's becoming increasingly obvious that I'm quite unable to write a short, concise blog post. To the chagrin of many social science professors, I'm sure, the artsy-fartsy side of me seems to have subconciously shunned the idea of precis, and clearly this tendency has not been restricted to essays. I just can't help it! As a result, my reflections probably bring greater joy to insomniacs than they do to blog readers - to the members of the latter group who have hung on this far, I salute and thank you.

(In a comment on one of my earlier blogs, Silas wrote that in order to make my blogs even better, I should stop talking about my blogs in them. Seems like a good rule of thumb; however, it also seems like something I can't resist doing. Probably a result of my habits of constant self-analysis).

In addition to causing readers to waste 15+ minutes of their lives, my blogs also typically cut pretty deep into my own day. For that reason, I'm going to impose a type of "glass ceiling" on some of my blogs, that I think should save a bit of time for everyone. I think I shall simply call it "10 Observations". Once a week, I will write 10 short points on interesting things that I have noted about this country during the week. I know that I'm hardly re-inventing the blogging wheel here, but I think it's something that will allow at least one of my weekly blogs to be a predictable length. As I just thought of this idea on my walk over from the residence, I don't really have any good ones right now, but I'll do my best. Here goes:

1) People laugh/stare at you when you're not wearing long pants (if you're a guy). I was told that this was the case, as little boys are typically the only ones who wear shorts, but I didn't really believe it. But, sure enough, as I was making the 2 minute walk to the campus up from the residence the other day wearing shorts, everyone from upper-middle aged women to rough-and-tumble construction workers looked at me like I didn't have any clothes on at all!

2) Contrary to my expectations, trips to the washroom are NOT a near-death experience. Numerous people / travel guides / etc. gave me this notion, and I actually haven't experienced many public facilities that are worse off than their average Canadian counterparts. I guess to me, it's hard for a loo to not look beautiful after you've been holding it on a bus for 3 hours.

3) Privacy is not nearly as much of a concern here than in Canada, and that is a very good thing. Although it can be initially disconcerting to have people staring down at you from a window, or looking over your shoulder while you're typing out a blog post or an e-mail, it ceases to be annoying after you get used to it, and I've grown to appreciate the openness and lack of obsession with "personal space" that characterize the Indians that I've interacted with.

4) Somewhat related: people are generally far more hospitable here than in Canada. I think I mentioned in my last blog post that a guy recently randomly invited me off the street to his house for a meal, just to get to know me. Other members of my group boast of very similar experiences. The people here seem very eager to learn more about my part of the world (which they already know a surprising amount about - more on this in a later blog), and seek to give me the best possible impressions about their country that they can. So far, they've succeeded.

5) Most of the workings of everyday life here can be seperated into two general categories: 1) appearing chaotic, but turning out to work surprisingly effeciently, 2) appearing chaotic, and are. An example of the former is the transportation infrastructure: although it is far from standardized, and there seems to be a total neglect of any road laws (probably because of the violation penalties themselves: I read that the fine for running a red was 100 rs, the equivalent of $2.50), people generally get to where they need to go. An instance of the latter is the internet connections. The network at the school I'm at rarely works, and neither does the wireless network that we're told has been set up in our residence. The web cafe's, despite being economically convenient, are only slightly less frustrating to use.

That's it - I'm spent. I'm either going to have to make my points shorter, or reduce it to 5 every time. Adios.

- Tom