Celebrity For All The Right/Left Reasons
In India it seems that if you are Western, the people here want to talk to you. Whether it be about politics “Obama! Handsome, good man”, or where you are from “America! Very powerful country”, or even if they cannot speak English, people will still try to talk to you in some way “You like Chai?”
While we were in Delhi, we went to visit Humayun’s Tomb. On the way out we spotted a huge group of school girls pouring into the complex. “Looks like we just missed the field trip” I told WS, anxious to avoid the crowd, but this was not to be the case.
As we walked toward the exit, the girls started coming up to me, practicing their English. “Hello! Where are you from? What is your name?” As they got responses and handshakes from me, more girls wanted to talk to me. Before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by middle school girls in their uniforms, all shaking hands and asking questions. And as WS shot photos I heard “Man photo!” as they then all wanted to be in WS’s photos. This is a progression of the mob that happened.
And there they go.
This is also one of my greatest memories of India thus far. I include one of WS as a celebrity, too, but notice my following is a lot larger than his.
In India we do not blend. Well, being Western there are few places we do blend, but in India we really stick out. People stare at us on trains, buses, walking, or in restaurants. And one of my traits has brought some extra attention.
We were eating in a restaurant and a woman there said to me “Are you left handed?”. Now if this was said anywhere in the West, it would be merely conversation. But in Asia, the left hand is reserved for unsavory things like putting on your shoes and wiping your butt. And try as I might, if I am not thinking consciously about it, I eat with my left hand. I told her yes, indeed I was left handed, but really tried to eat with my right hand. She smiled, but it was that kind of smile where the person is secretly grossed out by you. And I wanted to say “there is trash everywhere here. People blow their nose without tissues on the street and in the sink, poop on the train tracks, spit on the floors of the trains, and I am grossing you out by eating with my left hand!?” The streets are full of cows, pigs, camels, monkeys, and dogs. You are constantly stepping over landmines, avoiding garbage piles and dodging other nastiness-how can none of this gross you out, but my Western left hand is the epitome of grossness? I promise I use TP (sidenote:carry your own here!) and wash regularly.
I even had someone say to me “You write with that hand?” while I was filling out an invoice. Yup, I do. I can try to eat with my right, but cannot write with my right. I showed her my handwriting with my right hand just to prove the point. “But didn’t they try to teach you to write with your right hand?” Sigh. No, no catholic school in my past with nuns wacking my left hand knuckles. I am cursed now as an adult. Why oh why did my parents send me to public school?
I have now been stricken with some sort of bubonic plaque here in India. But I am sure it has nothing to do with the pollution, or filth. I am sure it is because of my left handedness. Or was it Typhoid Timmy?
Gillian said:
Ahhh…your 15 minutes of ‘fame’.
PS. The pics are not working on the site. Clicking on them does not enlarge them, nor is the album working.
NIna said:
Obama is left handed!
john said:
the last two posts were hilarious! i always wondered what i would say if i got caught using my left hand under those circumstances. maybe i would just flick them the old western bird-who knows! but i do know if i have the chance, i would bite my nails on my left hand like crazy in front of them, with my eyes bulging out!
Marianne said:
Oh wow, that was comical!! Thanks for the laugh Southpaw!
Charles Griffin said:
So, I see things haven’t changed much since I lived there in the mid-60s. Based on what you wrote, there are still piles of feces on the tracks where the trains stop? Even though there are signs telling people not to use the toilet while stopped, they ignored that.
Dirty, trashy–yet a fascinating country.
I was once at a rural bus stop–no facilities except an open field across from the bus top. Having to answer nature I went across the road like many other passengers, but being a Feranghi Umerican people continued to stare at me instead of ignoring me as they did all the other folks attending to their business. I was used to the left hand concept and used it–however, what got the crowd excited at first was when I lowered my shorts and my untouched-by-the-sun white behind came into view. Many comments could heard about the colorlessness of my butt. Then I started ripping up newspaper and using it with my left hand to do what what necessary–uproar on the roadside, never seen such a thing. When I returned to the road, a wide swatch opened before me because none of the bystanders wanted to accidentally touch such an unclean person.
Nomadic Matt said:
You two are just celebs no matter where you go. Dawn, next time someone asks you about ur left hand, just smell it and then start using it lol. really gross them out!! haha
Gretchen said:
You absolutely slayed me with your south paw story. I love how you pointed out that your gaggle of girls was way bigger then Seans menagerie of men! Keep up all the great posts it lightens my day. I feel like I am on the journey with you guys. P.s. if you find yourself in Korea, bring your own TP there too! I forgot what it was like to not even have Tp waiting for you in a stall, or for the fact if there are even stalls! LOL.. Gretch
WanderingWhy… » India–Done. said:
[...] endlessly curious, ancient, and yes-dirty. But don’t take advice from someone who eats with her left hand, see it for yourself. Bookmark To: Filled under: Uncategorized | You can follow any responses to [...]
WanderingWhy… » Why I Blog said:
[...] all want pretty much the same things out of life, even if we speak differently and eat differently (I apologize again for being left handed) and have different [...]