You Know You've Been in India . . . Part 2

Here it is, the sequel to my first list of things that are getting pretty normal for our family.  Some are great, some are still frustrating, all are getting to be part of everyday life in a real way:

• RULES DON'T NECESSARILY MATTER:  For example, look at the previous blog and my comments about driving on the roads.  Also, open hours for places of business are really just suggestions.  Then, there's the rules posted in public places about littering -- right next to the garbage strewn on the ground.  Or a new rule that the University here put in place that all vehicles must have a pass to drive on their roads.  Unless of course, you go through one of the many smaller gates on campus where no one is checking these passes.  Or the rules about regulated goods here -- like gas tanks for stoves -- which end up leading to a booming black market.  So, we have discovered that as long as you act like you belong or know what you're doing, you can work with the system and get along much easier.  This leads to the next item:
• WAITING IN LINE CLUSTER:  There are no lines here.  Everyone just crowds around the person who's getting the job done.  Be it a shop owner, bank teller, repair guy, check-out guy, chai stand person, etc.  The only rule of thumb is that you must act more important and impatient than the people around you or you will never get served!  My preschool teacher self cringes at a whole nation of people who were never taught to wait their turn!  You may have finagled your way to the front of the check-out line toting your purchases and dragging your distracted and disgruntled brood only to have a teenage boy trying to sport a mustache shove his candy bar and AXE-type body spray on the counter in front of you.  There's no use trying to tell him you've been trying to get up there for the last 10 minutes and one to three of the kids are about to have a meltdown.  He will just look at you and give you the head-bobble, "So sorry, Big Sister!  My Auntie is waiting outside."  Then he bolts out the door to his 2 friends crammed on a scooter and zooms away.  Speaking of the bobble:
• THE BOBBLE:  Anyone who's watched a Bollywood movie or had a friend from South Asia can attest to the sideways head-bobble.  It is a gesture that isn't used much where I'm from, but if it is, it means, "Not really, but whatever."  Here it can mean any manner of things:

1. Yes
2. No
3. Maybe
4. Sometimes
5. I'm don't have a good answer and I just want you to leave me alone
6. My head says yes, but my heart says not in a million years

• INSTANT HOSPITALITY: At any reasonable time of day, I can drop in on a neighbor completely unannounced.  I can remember when I was younger that this would happen in the farm country where I'm from.  But today, with cell phones and everything, we always check in with someone before visiting.  Even here, it's happening less often, but there is still an unspoken rule that if someone comes to your door, you invite them in, give them water, chai, biscuits, namkeen, and any other snacks you may have around.  Then, you sit and ask about each others' families, laugh at the kids, and try to muddle through a real conversation in Urdu -- or a mix of Urdu and English depending on the family.  The family will go out of its way to make you feel welcome.  Even bringing you into the master bedroom to relax on a bed in the AC (if the family is blessed enough to have one).  Or fanning you with a hand fan!  Seriously! on the hottest of days.  I have even been walking nonchalantly through a neighborhood on multiple occasions when I meet a new neighbor who immediately invites me in for chai.  Don't mind if I do!
• CHILDREN ARE WELCOME:  If I ever stop at a neighbor's house without bringing my children, I'm immediately admonished.  In my head, they can be a bit crazy and distracting.  I love them, but I don't expect everyone to want every sentence interrupted or their nice furniture jumped on or chai spilled on the bedspread or, well you get the idea.  But I have discovered that people here truly love having children around and do not see them as a nuisance, but a blessing.  It's great to see my children loved on and forgiven even as they stumble through learning about this new culture.  Sometimes it's to the extreme and we have had to teach our kids that no matter what Auntie says, 5 cookies are way too many and you can't run up to her and slap her leg for a game.  But, we are thankful that wherever we go, we can bring our crazy brood and are encouraged to do it.
• WE ARE FAMOUS: Didn't you know?  I'm getting used to the constant stares that our family receives as we balance on our motorcycle and weave around our city.  No, it's not because we're a family of five on a motorcycle.  That happens all the time.  It's because we're famous.  We're the family with blonde, blue-eyed kids.  We're the family from the west.  Quite a few of the people we meet have never met a westerner in person before.  So, everyone stares.  Jed hates this.  I don't blame him.  It must be disconcerting for a kid to have everyone looking at you all the time.  I'm not naturally shy and sometimes it's disconcerting for me.  Abe is oblivious.  He just assumes everyone loves him and wants to meet him.  We get stopped and people ask to take the kids' pictures.  We always ask Jed and Abe if they want their pic taken and are firm with people if they say no.  Even if we do, though, people may take out their phones and pretend they're texting when they're really taking our picture.  They stop and practice their English with us -- we've had guys on a scooter follow our rickshaw down a road just so they can chat us up while we dodge potholes and ox-carts.  Not sure what will happen when we get back to the U.S. and we're average ordinary people again.

And with that, we'll close out the second installment of 'You Know You've Been in India'.  Probably some of these things will get even more normal as we go.  Hopefully we can learn lessons from them, too.  Things that challenge us to emulate and bring back to our families. Also, things that God wants us to challenge our neighbors here about.  Pray with us as we try not to judge too quickly and try to remain humble to learn new ways of doing things.

A day at the park!  The park was closed, but when the policeman told us, Chris told him, "That's okay, just 3 minutes."  And kept walking.  No one stopped us and we had a great time.  Thanks, India!