So now we have had some time to settle in to Indian life and I have to say.... it is not bad at all. The culture is so far away from anything I've seen before, but it is easy to adapt, so long as you are patient and accepting...... which I definitely am not, however it seems to be working ok so far... And it is really only when you step outside your 'norm' and experience something else that you can truly see that culture is a strange thing, no matter which culture you come from.
So I've been thinking about a lot of things since we arrived here and I'll explain a couple of them to you now....
One of them is 'age' and how it is defined externally. I mean in the UK (and perhaps the western world?) there are certain ettiquette that go along with 'getting older'. For example, it is deemed unacceptable by our western society for a 60 year old lady to wear a short skirt with a tight fitting top... you would be called 'mutton dressed as lamb' I believe. Usually in our society, as a lady ages she will generally cut her hair shorter and shorter, and she won't wear the same style of clothes as her 25 year old daughter, and will usually wear more conservative jewellery...... This all makes 'age' very external and easy to spot. Another comment regarding clothing is that in the UK, it is easy to spot where somebody is going according to what they are wearing. For example a girl in a short skirt, tight top and 4 inch stilettos is probably going out clubbing/dancing with her friends (or to work, but hopefully not). A girl wearing 3/4 length sweat pants, a t-shirt and asics trainers is probably off to the gym, and a lady in a skirt/suit with medium heeled court shoes is probably off to work (in a power job). In the western world we allow appearance to tell other people:
* what we are doing
* where we are going
* how old we are
* how much money we have
Here in India however, this is not the case. There are 2 types of dress for ladies and that is a sari and the salwar kameez (tunic and trousers with a scarf). These types of dress are worn by EVERYONE regardless of age, size, income and indeed what they are doing. For example, ladies often work on building sites here, and they wear the sari to build. Yesterday I was in the gym with a lady wearing the salwar kameez... And so it got me thinking.... Is it pure over indulgence in the western world that has led to us having different clothes for every occasion, each of them parading a statement?
With everyone wearing the same style of clothing and everyone having long hair, regardless of age, means that it is virtually impossible to put an age on Indian people. So 2 ladies walking down the street together may well be mother and daughter, and I thought they were friends. And 2 ladies may be walking down the street together and one may be going to the gym and another to a job interview, and I thought they were both going out to eat together. So do we give away too much in the western world just by our appearance?
Personally I think it's great to be able to own lots of clothes for every occasion.... but wouldn't life be so easy if you only had to choose the colour of dress in the morning rather than emptying your entire wardrobe and then wearing the first thing you tried on anyway? (Should I wear jeans, should I wear a skirt, should I wear a dress with tights.........??????)
And wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to think.... maybe I'm too old to wear this now... or maybe my arse got too big to get away with this style now?
I don't know the 'right' answer.... and for sure the weather plays a part in the UK... but I have to say, despite the fact they are all dressed in the same style in India, I have never seen 2 sari's the same.... and the colours are truly mesmerising.... far more so than the jeans, skirt or dress with tights you (and I) considered donning this morning.....
Some of the other things I have been thinking about I will share another time, in another blog... just to keep you reading ;)
So as you know we went to Goa at the weekend... on thursday Simone told me that our landlord (who is one of the Sir's at work) had told him the gas people would be delivering another bottle to us on friday. Of course we were not going to be here and so Simone told him this information.
That is as much as I heard about it, assuming they were going to deliver it another time.
When we arrived home last night there were 2 new gas bottles in the house. I asked Simone about it and he said
"yeah yeah, he said they may still deliver it"
"you didn't tell me that"
"yeah yeah I forgot"
Well had I known they were going to be coming round I would have at least made the place presentable.... especially as our washing was hanging directly in their path.... with my knickers on full display, and tampons dotted generally around the place..... but oh well, I guess I'll never have to see them so who cares... right??????
WRONG... I bumped in to 'Sir' (our landlord) today......
"Oh hi Lucy. I wanted to see either you or Simon tell you that I left the gas bottles on friday, one in the kitchen and one in the utility room"
OH LORD.....you left the bottles.................... I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.... HE SAW MY KNICKERS..... hanging everywhere........ aaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So when I saw Simone I could have killed him;
"But my knickers were hanging right there for him to see.... and tampons..."
Of course Simone thinks this whole thing is hilarious..... oh and Simone's pearl of wisdom.. "he won't even know what they are... he will think they are bullets"
One word..........M O R T I F I E D.
So I've been thinking about a lot of things since we arrived here and I'll explain a couple of them to you now....
One of them is 'age' and how it is defined externally. I mean in the UK (and perhaps the western world?) there are certain ettiquette that go along with 'getting older'. For example, it is deemed unacceptable by our western society for a 60 year old lady to wear a short skirt with a tight fitting top... you would be called 'mutton dressed as lamb' I believe. Usually in our society, as a lady ages she will generally cut her hair shorter and shorter, and she won't wear the same style of clothes as her 25 year old daughter, and will usually wear more conservative jewellery...... This all makes 'age' very external and easy to spot. Another comment regarding clothing is that in the UK, it is easy to spot where somebody is going according to what they are wearing. For example a girl in a short skirt, tight top and 4 inch stilettos is probably going out clubbing/dancing with her friends (or to work, but hopefully not). A girl wearing 3/4 length sweat pants, a t-shirt and asics trainers is probably off to the gym, and a lady in a skirt/suit with medium heeled court shoes is probably off to work (in a power job). In the western world we allow appearance to tell other people:
* what we are doing
* where we are going
* how old we are
* how much money we have
Here in India however, this is not the case. There are 2 types of dress for ladies and that is a sari and the salwar kameez (tunic and trousers with a scarf). These types of dress are worn by EVERYONE regardless of age, size, income and indeed what they are doing. For example, ladies often work on building sites here, and they wear the sari to build. Yesterday I was in the gym with a lady wearing the salwar kameez... And so it got me thinking.... Is it pure over indulgence in the western world that has led to us having different clothes for every occasion, each of them parading a statement?
With everyone wearing the same style of clothing and everyone having long hair, regardless of age, means that it is virtually impossible to put an age on Indian people. So 2 ladies walking down the street together may well be mother and daughter, and I thought they were friends. And 2 ladies may be walking down the street together and one may be going to the gym and another to a job interview, and I thought they were both going out to eat together. So do we give away too much in the western world just by our appearance?
Personally I think it's great to be able to own lots of clothes for every occasion.... but wouldn't life be so easy if you only had to choose the colour of dress in the morning rather than emptying your entire wardrobe and then wearing the first thing you tried on anyway? (Should I wear jeans, should I wear a skirt, should I wear a dress with tights.........??????)
And wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to think.... maybe I'm too old to wear this now... or maybe my arse got too big to get away with this style now?
I don't know the 'right' answer.... and for sure the weather plays a part in the UK... but I have to say, despite the fact they are all dressed in the same style in India, I have never seen 2 sari's the same.... and the colours are truly mesmerising.... far more so than the jeans, skirt or dress with tights you (and I) considered donning this morning.....
Some of the other things I have been thinking about I will share another time, in another blog... just to keep you reading ;)
So as you know we went to Goa at the weekend... on thursday Simone told me that our landlord (who is one of the Sir's at work) had told him the gas people would be delivering another bottle to us on friday. Of course we were not going to be here and so Simone told him this information.
That is as much as I heard about it, assuming they were going to deliver it another time.
When we arrived home last night there were 2 new gas bottles in the house. I asked Simone about it and he said
"yeah yeah, he said they may still deliver it"
"you didn't tell me that"
"yeah yeah I forgot"
Well had I known they were going to be coming round I would have at least made the place presentable.... especially as our washing was hanging directly in their path.... with my knickers on full display, and tampons dotted generally around the place..... but oh well, I guess I'll never have to see them so who cares... right??????
WRONG... I bumped in to 'Sir' (our landlord) today......
"Oh hi Lucy. I wanted to see either you or Simon tell you that I left the gas bottles on friday, one in the kitchen and one in the utility room"
OH LORD.....you left the bottles.................... I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.... HE SAW MY KNICKERS..... hanging everywhere........ aaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So when I saw Simone I could have killed him;
"But my knickers were hanging right there for him to see.... and tampons..."
Of course Simone thinks this whole thing is hilarious..... oh and Simone's pearl of wisdom.. "he won't even know what they are... he will think they are bullets"
One word..........M O R T I F I E D.
I hope your going to tidy the tampons away before I come. Nick might think they are sweeties! Jody
ReplyDelete