Greetings my fellow fellows. Today is the infamous Valentines Day as I'm sure all of you are aware. In India, the month of February seems to be a holiday for the young folk. There are several days that lead up to the "BIG DAY" that I have never heard of in the U.S. From what I can recall there is (in no particular order): promise day, teddy bear day, propose day, chocolate day, kiss day, hug day, and then Valentines Day! I partook in none of these except for chocolate day, which is just about every day for me. Oh, and of course, after Valentines Day, there is slap day. I can just imagine walking down the street and seeing tons of young Indian girls slapping their oblivious and confused boyfriends. I actually did celebrate Valentines Day by going to KFC, which I normally try not to eat American food, but today was an exception. For the first time in a century I had a mocha frappuccino, not a flimsy one at a coffee shop, but an American mocha frappuccino. It may have been the best 15 minutes of my life thus far abroad.
In my last blog I had forgot to mention that after the conference on nonviolence Saturday night, one of the members of the Rotary said to me, "You have a love for life, don't you?" Honestly, this was one of the best compliments I could have ever received in my life. I just absolutely love how it was phrased, and I like to think that I have a certain zest for life, but sometime while in Kolkata, I feel myself growing dry. I know that sounds weird, but sometimes I feel that I can get try and flaky. It's so good to know that others recognize that I do have energy and passion for every day life. I always need to remind myself of what this man said whenever I feel myself growing dry.
What's been most challenging for me lately, is getting cheated by the auto rickshaw drivers. I have grown accustomed to paying a certain fee for each route, and when I am told that more is owed, I become severely stubborn. My stubbornness is one of my weaknesses, I realize, and it is something that I still need to work on desperately. For me, it's not primarily about the money, but it's more about the fact that I simply don't like being lied to. However, it is not something that I should get in an argument with a driver over. It's happened to me at least three times, and each time I still argue. You think that I would learn to just let it go and give an extra rupee or two, but for some reason I become obstinate. I know that these drivers are probably not as fortunate as I am, and yet I still fight it. This is something I am not proud of, but I also wonder, "Is it right that they cheat me? How many times do I allow this to happen?" It just becomes so confusing as to who is in the wrong, because yes, I am better off, but is that a reason to take advantage of me? I'm still not sure what the answer to that is...
One last thing before I leave you all, Anima, our housekeeper is simply amazing. She is a hero and a boss who does so much work for Kaka and Kakima and all five of us, and I never want to take advantage of her. It took a while to be okay with someone doing work for us, since we typically prepare our own dinners and wash our own clothes and clean our own rooms, and I'm still not always comfortable with leaving so much work up to Anima and the other helpers, but I do realize that it is part of the culture. However, I never want to become so accustomed to it that I cease thanking Anima or ignore her when she hands me my toast and eggs every morning. We all love her so much, and I just can't imagine India without her. She's better at picking up English than we Americans are at picking up Bangla.
In my last blog I had forgot to mention that after the conference on nonviolence Saturday night, one of the members of the Rotary said to me, "You have a love for life, don't you?" Honestly, this was one of the best compliments I could have ever received in my life. I just absolutely love how it was phrased, and I like to think that I have a certain zest for life, but sometime while in Kolkata, I feel myself growing dry. I know that sounds weird, but sometimes I feel that I can get try and flaky. It's so good to know that others recognize that I do have energy and passion for every day life. I always need to remind myself of what this man said whenever I feel myself growing dry.
What's been most challenging for me lately, is getting cheated by the auto rickshaw drivers. I have grown accustomed to paying a certain fee for each route, and when I am told that more is owed, I become severely stubborn. My stubbornness is one of my weaknesses, I realize, and it is something that I still need to work on desperately. For me, it's not primarily about the money, but it's more about the fact that I simply don't like being lied to. However, it is not something that I should get in an argument with a driver over. It's happened to me at least three times, and each time I still argue. You think that I would learn to just let it go and give an extra rupee or two, but for some reason I become obstinate. I know that these drivers are probably not as fortunate as I am, and yet I still fight it. This is something I am not proud of, but I also wonder, "Is it right that they cheat me? How many times do I allow this to happen?" It just becomes so confusing as to who is in the wrong, because yes, I am better off, but is that a reason to take advantage of me? I'm still not sure what the answer to that is...
One last thing before I leave you all, Anima, our housekeeper is simply amazing. She is a hero and a boss who does so much work for Kaka and Kakima and all five of us, and I never want to take advantage of her. It took a while to be okay with someone doing work for us, since we typically prepare our own dinners and wash our own clothes and clean our own rooms, and I'm still not always comfortable with leaving so much work up to Anima and the other helpers, but I do realize that it is part of the culture. However, I never want to become so accustomed to it that I cease thanking Anima or ignore her when she hands me my toast and eggs every morning. We all love her so much, and I just can't imagine India without her. She's better at picking up English than we Americans are at picking up Bangla.
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