More things Indian...

There's a list of things I find uniquely Indian.  Some of it is funny, some of it is appalling, all of it is nuts.   Let me start with a few things that are new to me at home...

• I tend to clean up before the maid comes.  I am sometimes embarrassed at how lazy we've become with washing dishes and picking up our clothes.
• We dry our clothes on a clothesline outside.  In the US I'm used to having a large washer and a separate large dryer.  Here we had to buy a tiny washer that also has a dryer mode.  Glen says this is the type of unit he is used to back home.  But I still freak out that if I just want to dry something...I might start the 'wash' option on accident.  Stress.
• I've always liked cooking over a gas stove (it makes me feel like a professional chef, which I am no where near).  Only now it is a gas tank stove.  It's like camping.

There are funny things that we've noticed...

• Waiters will 'present' a beer bottle and even a water bottle much like they do a wine bottle.  We slowly figured out we are supposed to touch the bottle for the correct temperature.
• We will argue with a poor rickshaw-wallah if we feel he is ripping us off or if he stops and says he can't take us to our final destination.  We will argue over 50 feet or the equivalent of 30 cents (it's the principle mind you).
• Indian radio is bringing the 80's back.  It's been a long time since I've listened to so much classic rock.  Our driver loves it.
• There's something we've dubbed the 'Starbucks Phenomenon'.  Fact numero uno: Starbucks is no where to be found in India.  Fact numero dos: ask any Indian where the nearest Starbucks is and he will give you directions.  Rather than admitting he doesn't know, an Indian will always give you directions to save face.
• Indians do not know how to queue in line.  If there is a forced line, someone behind me is always jockeying for the small gap I've left in front of me.  I've gotten really good at positioning my body to prevent someone behind me from jumping in line.  It's all in the elbows. 

And there are some really fucked up things that still go on here...

• India may be economically striving but they are still socially backwards.  They are so sexually repressed.  I read about rapes in the paper every day.  It is still unacceptable to kiss in public.  They cut out parts in movies where there is any nudity or kissing.  It's just something they are so uncomfortable with.  I can't even wear tank tops on a hot day...I have to cover up because I will be stared at.  
• There are still arranged marriages.  But HOLD UP if you are immediately against this idea because I've learned a few things.  Basically a man or a woman's parents will start the hunt for a potential suitor.  This is done through social networking and taking out ads in the paper.  So in a sense, it's much like taking out a single's ad right?  Or you could think of it instead of Match.com doing the pairing, it is up to the parents.  AND a little known fact is that when a potential mate is selected, the couple meet, and after they meet they still get to decide if they think it will work out or not.  Still doesn't take the place of a beautiful, organic, love marriage but at least there is a little progress.  And love marriages, though rare, still happen.
• Dowry's are supposed to be illegal.  But they still occur.  The brides family is supposed to give the groom a car, or 3.  The groom's family is supposed to give money etc etc.  The cost of a wedding is usually 10% of the amount of the brides father's net worth...over his lifetime!  Cha-ching!  Still sad in this day where I read about a husband that sets his wife on fire for her family not coming up with enough dowry.  dIt's desperately heartbreaking.  No wonder family's don't want to have daughters.  Ugh.  There was a newborn girl dropped off at the orphanage last November because it was the couple's 7th daughter...they were trying for a boy.
• It is illegal to get a fetal ultrasound to detect the sex of a fetus for fear of increased abortion rates if it turns out to be a girl.  Female infanticide exists however.
• The bit in Slumdog Millionaire where there's a ringleader and they take kids and send them out on the street to beg for money?  True.  They even go so far as to steal newborn babies out of rural hospitals to use them for money.