Rules of walking
Despite the lack of sidewalks, dust, distances and insane traffic I still enjoy walking here. But should you approach any market, tourist place or so, you soon get to know that your name is … “hei mam” (with variations “hello mam”, “excuse me mam”, “yes mam”)… You (meaning girl what by no means could be taken for Indian) will be approached by …
· rickshaw drives – velo - rickshaw would shout – Madam, 10 rupees…Madam 5 rupees,
· shop-guys – hei mam, would you like to have a look at my shop.
· tour-agents – “hei mam, the temple is there”, “there everything is closed. It is there”
· kids with their moms – reaching out their tiny hands to you and saying “hi”
· beggars following you, touching you and persistently asking for money.
On the top the comments come… those that are made in front of your face. By men passing by. Especially by male teens. I am happy at this point I do not get a single word in Hindi otherwise I would have felt humiliated every time. Motocylists (again, younger guys) would try to crash into you if you walk by some lane and there is enough space even for two cars to pass one another.
This is not to mention stares that would follow you your whole way. People even do not hide the fact they really stare at you. And this is not particularly the kind of attention you’d enjoy. Not a catwalk you’d wanna make.
What strickes me most in this situation is a controversy. Those dirty comments to you vs those doormen at some western branded stores who open door for you with worship-like attitude. At the end of the day, one is left… to figure out how advantageous and disadvantageous it is to be foreigner in India.
Therefore, you put on kurta to hide your amazing bottom, you wrap yourself in a big shawl so that your breast would be carefully hiden, you put on sun-glasses, you place your backpack in front of you, cross the arms so that year elbows would help you to walk through. Without looking anywhere but straight. With this face you hate it all and heading to a better place. Something like that… Indeed, it’s always stressful to be always stressed, so I try to take it easy.
In fact, this is all very hard to handle since after 2,5 years in Scandinavia it seems natural to me to smile at people in the streets and to establish eye-contact with strangers. I feel that here this is not only inappropriate, but at times even dangerous.
In fact, as I read somewhere Indian women have got strong sense of sisterhood and this could be easily seen. If I need some directions I’d ask a woman that is likely to speak English. They are really helpful – doing their best when answering. This would be a women I can smile to and to establish eye-contact with – and now and then my effort would be reciprocal. This really helps a lot.
· rickshaw drives – velo - rickshaw would shout – Madam, 10 rupees…Madam 5 rupees,
· shop-guys – hei mam, would you like to have a look at my shop.
· tour-agents – “hei mam, the temple is there”, “there everything is closed. It is there”
· kids with their moms – reaching out their tiny hands to you and saying “hi”
· beggars following you, touching you and persistently asking for money.
On the top the comments come… those that are made in front of your face. By men passing by. Especially by male teens. I am happy at this point I do not get a single word in Hindi otherwise I would have felt humiliated every time. Motocylists (again, younger guys) would try to crash into you if you walk by some lane and there is enough space even for two cars to pass one another.
This is not to mention stares that would follow you your whole way. People even do not hide the fact they really stare at you. And this is not particularly the kind of attention you’d enjoy. Not a catwalk you’d wanna make.
What strickes me most in this situation is a controversy. Those dirty comments to you vs those doormen at some western branded stores who open door for you with worship-like attitude. At the end of the day, one is left… to figure out how advantageous and disadvantageous it is to be foreigner in India.
Therefore, you put on kurta to hide your amazing bottom, you wrap yourself in a big shawl so that your breast would be carefully hiden, you put on sun-glasses, you place your backpack in front of you, cross the arms so that year elbows would help you to walk through. Without looking anywhere but straight. With this face you hate it all and heading to a better place. Something like that… Indeed, it’s always stressful to be always stressed, so I try to take it easy.
In fact, this is all very hard to handle since after 2,5 years in Scandinavia it seems natural to me to smile at people in the streets and to establish eye-contact with strangers. I feel that here this is not only inappropriate, but at times even dangerous.
In fact, as I read somewhere Indian women have got strong sense of sisterhood and this could be easily seen. If I need some directions I’d ask a woman that is likely to speak English. They are really helpful – doing their best when answering. This would be a women I can smile to and to establish eye-contact with – and now and then my effort would be reciprocal. This really helps a lot.
posted by Olga Tikhonova | 10:52 am
1 Comments:
when I stayed in Norway, all the visiting students used to make so many comments about Norwegians. Funny, teasing, sometimes - very offensive comments. The longer you stay, the more you've got to say. but basically, Norwegians are not any worse than any others, very nice people after all.
I mean, there is always some dissatisfaction with locals wherever you go.
back to India, though...and no nature so far either ;o( dull and dusty city urbain (well, sometimes not urbain at all) landscape.
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