Random Observations

Oh The People We’ll Meet

The kids have been in social withdrawal since we’ve arrived in India as there haven’t been any children in the hotels where we have stayed.  Luckily our beach resort is stocked full of kids for Nicholas and Nora to play with.  So they have been able to meet Indian children from such exotic locations as Summit, New Jersey; San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon. 

 

The Official Language of India

Contrary to popular belief the official language isn’t Hindi or even one of the twelve or so other languages commonly spoken.  The official language of India by all appearances is what Nicholas calls Hinglish which is a mix of Hindi and English where sentences are made up of both Hindu and English phrases ie   xxxxxx  xxxxx I told her xxxxxx xxxxx   and then she xxxx xxxx xxxx.  (Obviously the Xs represent Hindi word).  We’ve heard Hinglish spoken on the TV, in the airport and while walking around town.  I have no idea how a Hinglish speaker chooses which phrases should be in English and which should be in Hindi or whether the same sentence repeated twice would be composed the same way each time but its clear to me that Hinglish is the predominant language spoken in India. 

 

Cows walking in the streets. 

Much like the fact that everyone knows that Jews don’t eat pork, the treatment of cows in India is famous.  But I wasn’t expecting the ubiquity of cows walking through the street.  I haven’t been on a single road or highway that doesn’t have traffic being diverted around a cow.  I have even seen a calf sleeping in the middle of a busy road.  Even in the poshest neighborhoods, cows wander around unimpeded. 

 

Indian’s fascination with my children.

Wherever we go, Indians are fascinated by my blond children.  Even in a big city like Delhi, people fee comfortable asking Nick & Nora for photos and it isn’t uncommon for a woman to pinch Nora’s cheeks.  The kids have taken to ignoring everyone around them so that they aren’t constantly distracted.  One would think that having grown up in New York they would already have the ability turn on their tunnel vision but it really has taken this trip for them to develop this defense mechanism.

 

Education in India

While we have seen plenty of street children along side the roadways, I’ve been terribly impressed with the focus on education here.  One out of four signs is advertising some school from nursery schools through graduate degrees.  Even in a town that we happened upon in Rajastan where the residents were literally living in mud huts, there was a school for the local children.  Walking though a larger town, you will see innumerable kids in school uniforms reminiscent of British schools.   English is widely spoken and there is the clear belief that education is the best route to upward mobility.