Relocating & adjusting to life in India again ... PART 2

My learning curve so far has been steep and steady.

Once a friend at work had just joined from India and I had the pleasure of being one of the three people enjoying a ride to lunch in his new car. He skipped a 4 way stop and a yield sign and when asked why, he said he though traffic rules are just guidelines – not mandatory to follow. It freaked the rest of us out. Now I understand why. Rules are meant to be broken here and when I stop at a red light, a couple of times people have actually yelled at me to either break the signal and keep going or get out of the way.

Most of you in North America are aware of wind chill and I don’t have to mention that wind chill is more un-bearable than the actual cold. Humidity factor in India is analogous to wind chill. Soaring temperatures are bearable but rising humidity sucks.

Food here is very different. I have been eating very less spice over the last 6 – 7 years. It was very difficult to eat normal Indian food initially. I would sweat and turn red. It initially scared my mom, as food at my home is NOT spicy and the drama at the sight of me eating gave my mom doubts about the Chilli factor in her cooking. It is not possible to eat the kind of heavy and rich food that I ate in the US - eggs / meat / quantity of cheese etc.

That being said, the notion of being healthy is measured by a slightly different set of metrics - a decent tummy and chubby cheeks are qualifications of a healthy person. Pumping iron / running few km / walking / cycling / sports / dance ... well - sorry you're disqualified.

People drink a lot more Tea and Coffee here – in terms of frequency and not quantity. The smallest serving of Starbucks coffee / chai is the total quantity of coffee / tea that we drink in the whole day (4-5 times).

Next interesting thing is rollover minutes. This is not to be confused with the cellphone plan monthly rollover minutes. When a person says something will be done in 5 minutes, you’ll be lucky if it gets done in an hour. I got a dose of this when I went to get my motorcycle. I was told that I would have to wait 5 minutes to test-drive the bike. After 15 minutes, I was told that it would take 5 more minutes. And after 45 minutes, I was told to wait 5 more minutes. I was fed up by then and I asked the sales dude – why did you not tell me that it would take an hour before hand. The sales douche just grinned silly and scratched his head.

SUPER BOOT

I'll break my once a year posting jinx with a lame one - as a warning to readers, I should say this post is a by-product of slacker-dom and the crazy hot chennai weather (100°F and 70% humidity) forcing me to stay indoors all the time.

I was visiting Alaska (from Kentucky) at the end of winter. It sounded crazy when I told everyone that I was going at this time of the year to see the Northern Lights – Aurora Borealis. Actually I was. I decided to travel light to Alaska. And in the quest to travel light, I decided fit all my gear into cabin baggage. I did not have room for sandals so had to make do with just the SUPER BOOT – which meant, without choice, I had to wear it at all times. These BOOTS are meant to be worn ONLY in fiercely cold regions – they have thermal insulation + water proof + heat retention + all the Science and Technology known to man to keep his feet warm. And it takes about 2 - 3 minutes to get it on / off - which just adds to the pleasure factor of getting it on / off every time.

The day I started to Alaska, it was a moderately cold spring morning in Kentucky and at 5AM and when I wore my boot, I did not realize what I was getting into. My first flight was from Kentucky to Texas (2^nd – Texas - Seattle & 3^rd from Seattle - Alaska) and I could not sleep in the plane (despite staying awake all night) or breathe (after sometime). I also started to sweat a little (which is very very rare and odd). I was not having a heart attack. It was my SUPER BOOT in showing its muscle. Normally, when people get off a plane in a hurry, they run to use the restroom / catch a connecting flight / a meet their better half … etc etc. I ran faster than all of them to find a seat and take off my SUPER BOOT. A few minutes without it – things returned to normal.

After seeing the above warning, I think the super boot could also use one - Wearing it at inappropriate places (Chennai - India) could be fatal.