It’s not habitual for you…

Friday August 20th

Sarah with some delicious food

There are some things that are just going to take getting used to. Eating with my hands, for one thing. The left hand is considered impure as it generally used for toilet-related functions, and using it offer money, food or water is usually considered poor manners, if not downright offensive. The right hand should always be used when one eats with one’s hands (though the left can be used with utensils). At Durshet, the rural retreat village, we used forks and knives, but at the hostel tonight, we used our hands! It’s actually really fun and reminds me of being a play-dough obsessed kid.

with our Fergusson College buddy, Aditi

“Habitual” came from a conversation with our host’s friend Thursday evening when he was referencing how turning off the fan and light whenever we left the room was not “habitual” in America. I’ve also heard it used in reference to dressing modestly (here, I cannot where anything above the knee and must always have my shoulders covered. It’s no wonder people have certain connotations about Americans being messy or a little revealing, especially with the examples of ex-Pats in Goa sunning scantily or the popular media about American life informing their consciousness. Lots of other things are not yet habitual for me, which I’ll write about in posts throughout the semester. I’ll give a teaser for now: not smiling at passerby in the street, wearing scarves for conservatism and for pollution protection, having a super strict 9:30pm curfew, having rice at every meal, avoiding PDA, carrying TP and hand sanitizer with me all the time, and overall patience.
I’m so glad I’m stretching myself this semester. Once classes start Monday and I get rolling with Hindi, I think I’ll be more in a routine and hopefully communicate and navigate with greater ease.