It is when you drive around on hushed roads and taxis in Singapore that it hits you: motorists in India honk way too much. It is when you're in a three member team from Singapore ready for a con call ten minutes before schedule, that a twelve-strong India team calling in late, laughing and garrulous, becomes unbearable.
Living outside your home country is a bit like an out-of-body experience. You're yanked back from your blurred, zoomed-in existence in familiar surroundings among similar people, and you hover around watching from above. Suddenly you get a perspective. You see Indians, the way they are, as part of a larger global community - and that often presents some hilarious pictures, precious ones, that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
I had one of these moments just a couple of days ago while reading a list of Indianisms. If it wasn't for the multi-cultural team at the office I used to work at, I wouldn't have realised how absurd "Do one thing" (something I have found myself using very often) sounds. More importantly, I wouldn't have found it half as amusing, leave alone taken notice of it, if I was living a zoomed-in existence.
Jugaad, of course, is our life breath. It comes with us wherever we go. We are like hyenas in queues for taxis. When there's a shortage, we are the first to leap and try our luck with a taxi uncle looking for his last passenger on the way home.
Another peculiar one: slipping out of footwear the moment we are at a desk or table. My theory: Indians feel restricted in footwear. Looking around at work desks and restaurant tables, I see feet abandoning the d'orsays they were in, or a pair propped on flip-flops stroking each other therapeutically, and I find mostly Indians above them. Among humans we seem to be the least hesitant in honouring the urge to take shoes off. The liberation of the foot is essential for relaxation and for carrying on most of our activities.
A couple of months ago, a young Oriya couple moved in next door. They cook at home. Every evening, masala laiden fumes from their home slip out into the courtyard and humour the building with a little performance. I'm probably the only audience, because Singapore mostly eats out.
There's probably a reason why Indian expats "change" upon leaving their country. Zooming out brings out the beauty and the ugliness of being Indian. It could draw you closer, or repel you.
7 comments:
Something I thought of when reading this - We have renovation going on, a week or two earlier the supervisors came by to inspect, tell me what to take out of the way etc. All of them would remove their shoes at the door and then step in. This really puzzled me (they weren't Indian).
I wonder if they did it out of respect, knowing I'm Indian or whether this is the done thing in liberal San Francisco
It actually hits you often when you return to your home country (e.g. noisy news channels, lively debates and cars honking).
We are also selective with the Indian things we want to be associated with once we leave the country and those that seem passe.
hey,
nice post! Its been a while since i visited ur blog. 'so basically' is nice name for it (gives it a kind of poised to jump into an indianism, feel almost unwillingly!). Which i may think is the general theme of your new blogs content. (being pro indian, but poking fun at the idiosynchracies at the same time). Being zoomed out was always the stand i thought, even before u left the shores anyway. i feel that u're borderline with respect to both cultures, maybe if u were to live in singapore for a while longer, you'd be able to spot more indianism, which is at a cost of being next to boring back home in India. I think u must just people watch. U'll surely have one fan in me.
Nice post dost.
We are like this only!:D
Come to Australia - Ozzies are bare foot most of the time! In fact, in my office we walk around with no shoes on mostly and have to scramble to look appropriate when clients visit :) I feel at home!
beautifully written. as always, sharp and a good read. also a refreshing peek into NRIs compared to the drivel that we get in the papers.
i've been grazing on your blog a bit now, is there anyway i can send you a mail?
oh....and thanks for the change in the colour....love it~
thanks~
ananth
Sure thanks Ananth. You can drop me a note at vysh dot doss at gmail
Post a Comment