India

We moved to India two months ago, after fourteen years of living in the United States.

There is a lot to write about, and I'm constantly writing it in my head. I always do. But it's all a jumble once I get to the computer and have to put it down. I have about half an hour before baby wakes up, if I'm lucky. But here I go trying.

There is the good and there is the bad. I would like to start with the good before I get to the complaining.

Nursing the baby is holy here. In the USA, people were nice about it. People here, are extra nice. I was worried about how I'd do once I was outside, but there is always a way. Even strangers around help to make sure it happens, nobody here can stand to see a hungry baby. And when the women find out I'm nursing, they give me a wide approving smile before helping.

Now quickly onto the complaining, only because this is fresh in my mind today. The caste system is very prevalent. Not the old kind, but the new capitalistic kind. The rich are royalty. I have the weird position of living in a temporary apartment that is very expensive (to me, anyway). People here are all smiles, they open doors, make a fuss over my children, bring me things I need.

But unlike most people who live here, I also get out on the street and walk. And there, with me as a nobody, the cars seem to be aiming to run me down, with my baby and all. The well-dressed people don't smile at me anymore, not even at the baby. But the non-rich, like the woman who sweeps the street, the vegetable vendor, and so on, they still have an easy smile.

Everybody bosses over somebody else. The people who stay here boss over the staff. The managing staff bosses over the wait staff. And I'm sure the wait staff go inside and boss over somebody else. So it goes down the food chain. People mostly mingle only with people of their own "class". Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it happens everywhere, not just in India. But it's much less subtle here, and much more jarring.

I realize I'm generalizing. Not everybody fits into my stereotypes. These are the impressions formed during my two months here, and maybe as time goes on, I'll see that I was wrong. Or maybe I'll blend in, and do as most others do.