(Part of a letter typed on actual paper with a typewriter by my wife during the first month of our stay in Bombay.)<\/p>\n
March 22, 1998<\/p>\n
Dear Family,<\/p>\n
One of the things I\u2019ve been wanting to do is write down my impressions of India based on the sights, sounds, smells, feel and taste.<\/p>\n
The sights:<\/p>\n
Now the sounds:<\/p>\n
Yesterday, while Gary was dealing with Mutayeh’s death, he heard this haunting flute music. There was a seller on the street playing a sample of what he sold…wooden flutes.\u00a0 Then there’s the traffic….honk, HONK, honk…that’s constant.\u00a0 (Trucks have painted on the back, “Please honk.”\u00a0 It’s the polite thing to do here.)\u00a0 And the dogs barking, though actually not as often as you would expect. The stray dogs on the streets are the same as you’d see squirrels in the U.S., plentiful and ignoring you as they go about their existence. And the cat fights (again, lots of stray cats, but they probably keep the rat population under control, so we won’t complain.)\u00a0 The calls of the vegetable seller that carries for blocks (they know how to project).\u00a0 The whistle of our guards here at the apartments (they don’t let anyone stop or park in front of the building).\u00a0 And yesterday, shopping downtown in the Muslim section, the calls to prayer from the loudspeakers mounted high up in the mosques.<\/p>\n
The smells:<\/p>\n
Yes, lots of smells here in India.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the memorable ones aren’t good.\u00a0 When we were in Matheran, I was pulled up the mountain in a rickshaw.\u00a0 If my eyes had been closed my nose would have told me it was being pulled by horses, but it wasn’t.\u00a0 (Get my drift?)\u00a0 But we’ve also smelled incense, even in the taxi where the driver had a stick burning in front of his little shrine.\u00a0 And the food, yes the food smells pretty good.\u00a0 Lots of garlic, onions, curry and other spices.<\/p>\n
The tastes:<\/p>\n
The food, while we’re at it, tastes pretty good, too.\u00a0 Can’t say I like it all, or that I love it, but it’s pretty good.\u00a0 I prefer the fruits…papaya, cantaloupe, bananas, and soon mangoes.\u00a0 And the Domino’s pizza is good, especially when we’re in need of that western fix.\u00a0 This is also one place where you can enjoy going to a potluck.\u00a0 Everyone brings such different things, usually made by their cooks.\u00a0 So you end up with Chinese food, Thai., Italian, German, American, and of course, Indian.\u00a0 And I also enjoy the tea, good British or Indian tea.\u00a0 The only thing we don’t drink is the coffee.\u00a0 Even at fancy receptions, they serve instant with hot water!<\/p>\n
And finally, the feel:<\/p>\n
India is a hardship assignment, and that’s sometimes how it feels…hard.\u00a0 Especially the beds, like what we slept on (or tried to sleep on) in Matheran.\u00a0 And the taxis are hard, especially with their bad suspension and the bad roads (they like speed bumps here).\u00a0 One feel that will stick with me (excuse the pun) is all the immunizations we have gotten and still will get here.\u00a0 I’ve lost count, but I think we’ve had about ten shots already, and we’re due to have more in two weeks, and again more in another five months.\u00a0 You name it, we could get it here: hepatitis A and B, rabies, typhoid, cholera, etc.\u00a0 But maybe even harder to feel here in India are the emotions.\u00a0 So often it feels surreal, like we’re in a painting, or a book, or a movie.\u00a0 Some expatriates, fellow foreigners, have told us it can take as much as six months to get over the feeling of not really being here!\u00a0 Though dealing with death, and beggars, and riding in taxis where it looks like the drivers are playing chicken with each other, and so much more, can do a lot to jolt you into reality.<\/p>\n
I will close for now.\u00a0 We feel distant from you all, and are sorry that communication has been so difficult.\u00a0 Getting on the Internet from our own place will do a lot to strengthen the lines of communication.\u00a0 Please know that the lines of love and affection between us are not at all diminished by this distance but maybe even strengthened.\u00a0 God’s blessings.<\/p>\n
Anita and the Redheads<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Part of a letter typed on actual paper with a typewriter by my wife during the first month of our stay in Bombay.) March 22, 1998 Dear Family, One of the things I\u2019ve been wanting to do is write down … Continue reading