Here Comes India, again!

Have been back from this "filthily annoying yet ridiculously incredible" country for almost 3 months, but I am just like many of the people who suffered from intensive nostalgia, this time it's India-wise. Randomly viewing FB and found an interesting note from Maria, so I have decided to posted it here. It's still unknown why people can be so annoyed in India yet they still love it, but it is sure that whoever survive in that country can easily survive in 90% of other countries, yay!!

Here comes the note:

When I came to India, I never thought I would:

1. Lose two debit cards in less than six months and have to make friends with Western Union
2. Realise that ‘What’s up?’ is one of the most nonsensical ways of greeting anyone ever
3. Develop an intense dislike for the word ‘random’
4. Not iron any of my clothes even once
5. Wee in the desert or in fact…
6. Go for a one or a two anywhere that didn’t classify as a ‘Western style’ toilet and definitely that didn’t involve toilet paper
7. Become even more addicted to tea than I was in England
8. Up my sugar intake per cup from 1.5 to 3.5 teaspoons (uh oh...)
9. Not learn to cook anything Indian (unless ginger tea counts)
10. Suffer for non-too-extensive but testing periods without running water, light, gas and a working fridge (luckily not all at once)
11. Only blow-dry and straighten my hair once in five months
12. Break my camera and be able to blame it on a camel
13. Have to melt buckets and risk mild electrocution just to heat water for a bath
14. Have to shower in the company of cockroaches (hardly 'Joe's Apartment')
15. Miss plastic bags so much (they are banned in Chandigarh) – the thrill I get when I see one now may cause problems when I get back home…
16. Actually feel happy when it starts to rain
17. Have to live in a house where things ‘go bump in the night’
18. Come to know a club with a cheesy name like ‘Score’ – makes for lots of one-liners (Are you going to score tonight etc…)
19. Be preached at to convert to Christianity by an Indian whilst traveling in a rickshaw (or indeed at all!)
20. Find out that it’s possible to have fantastic arguments with rickshaw drivers, even when they don’t speak English and my Hindi is pitiful – largely with the help of mime and dramatic tones of voice – and WIN
21. Live in a house that had a genuine cat burglar

But I’m so glad that I did:


1. Name and love a stray dog that now lives on our doorstep (I’d bring her home but Dad told me if I did he’d call me ‘Rabies Girl’)
2. Manage to have a full leg wax for only 120 rupees (less than two pounds!)
3. Find the best cakes and pancakes and tasty stuff in a café run by an Indian who studied European pastry-making methods in Australia and consequently…
4. Discover Nik’s ‘Special Power Breakfast’
5. Ride a camel
6. Start a personal project I’ve been wanting to do for a long time
7. Actually realize I could interact with and actually be loved by small children (small children were previously a phobia – I could often be heard saying, ‘I’d rather have a puppy any day’)
8. Meet more than one person who is similar to and understands me, regardless of age and the British/Indian difference
9. Realize that being British and especially having a British accent may not actually be that bad :D
10. Eat lots of chicken but also realize that vegetables can be quite tasty (and this from the girl who once said a meal could not be complete unless it contained meat!)
11. Manage (thanks Facebook!) to keep in regular enough contact with my best friend, who despite the distance, was still able to make me laugh and feel loved and comfort me on a bad day
12. Find out that I’m a lot tougher than I thought I was
13. Go to the cinema for about one twelfth of the price of the cinema in England
14. Finally throw my Converse away and get new ones! I think everyone I know in England will cheer if they’d seen the state they were in even before I left…
15. Realize what I want and what makes me happy
16. Have a dream and make it come true and…
17. Celebrate the New Year on a rooftop in Jodhpur realizing just this – that I was in my dream… and knowing now that maybe my other dreams are not as out of reach as I think…