I have finished my first week in India. The culture shock is intense. India will attack all your senses and never let go. My physical and mental capabilities are stretched and will remain so. Coming from Philadelphia where the usual low temperature this time of year is in the upper 30s to lower 50s the hear here is a shock. The lowest recorded temperature in Chennai is 49F. I'm sweltering constantly. The only relief I've had so far was the two day rain spell that rained out my weekend and brought the temperature down to 79F overnight on Sunday. But, of course it's not simply the heat and humidity the oppresses. Everywhere you turn there is an olfactory attack! The smells are fetid, pungent, sweet, malodorous, and simply overwhelming in every possible way. The constant smell of garbage and human waste pervades everything and everywhere. Just to mask the odors one will smell sweet incense, millions of tons of flowers used for offering at the thousands of shrines. Sweet chai and coffee, curries, fresh fruits, decaying fruits, dust, debris, mold, animal waste, car exhaust, autorickshaw exhaust, human body odor, these all shine through at every turn. My nose is already desensitizing.
The people here are extra friendly and the service can't be beat. The problem for me is seeing how hard people work for next to nothing. When I arrived I brought with me, one bookbag and two suitcases. They contained my worldly possessions. When I was taken to my apartment the institute sent a small guy to ride with us so that he could carry my bags. The guy although probably 18-20 is only 5'5" at most. My bag must have weighed as much as he does. But yet he was too proud to carry the smaller bag. He insisted on carrying my bag for me. When I tried to tip him I was refused. The universal breakthrough for me has been saying things in each persons native tongue. For the vast majority here (in Chennai) it's Tamil. For many at my work place it's Bengali. The smiles are radiant and the flash of recognition that you are welcome here even if you're not accepted is comforting to me.
All the attitudes toward people and other living creatures I have ever known in the west are completely irrelevant here. Slum dwellers are to be ignored. They do not count as people. Their only use is the provide manual labor. I have seen stray animals everywhere. They are all starving, very much like the people that surround them. Animals however garner great respect due to the Hindu religion. At least here cows won't charge you, because they don't expect to be killed for their meat. In fact cows are completely peaceful. They eat garbage off the street and lie down next to the road. I saw a dog yesterday with a hole in its leg which it had produced by chewing on its own bug bites. Another dog had chewed a hold in its testicle. My heart strings have been stripped down. I've seen dead dogs, starving dogs, starving humans, strong and healthy cows, and healthy strong people. All I know is that India does everything with such intensity;good and bad.
Somehow, a country less than a third the size of America with more than triple the population finds a way to go forward. I am beginning to suspect that India does things in such a way because it is a necessity. I don't believe that America could handle a density of population nearly ten times what it currently has.
What I know from being here a week is that India is its own bizarre little world. I am full of hope and excitement that I will learn more as the weeks go marching on. I also know that I will be heartbroken everyday by the same things that bring me so much joy.
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