How We Do

Let's talk logistics.

India is a really interesting place to live, and I think we have some really interesting solutions to logistical issues and how we do things, even the most mundane chore.

MEALS.

Our hostess Renee is currently in New York for her son's wedding (although some of her other family members are here), and since she's gone, we don't have access to her cook. So how are the fabulous people of the commune surviving? Tiffins. The tiffin service in India is widely used. A tiffin is a set of small stainless steel containers complete with a hot meal. Everyday we call our tiffin service provider, and for a small cost that Renee is supposedly taking care of, we have a hot Indian meal (daal, roti, rice, and a veggie) delivered hot in the evening at the time of our request. In the morning, we leave the tiffins outside for collection, and the process repeats itself. Millions of Indians use tiffins everyday as a means of getting a hot lunch or dinner delivered home or to their place of work.

I myself have been avoiding the tiffins because I'm not particularly fond of daal or roti. I am basically subsisting on muesli and mangoes. Not true. I've actually fallen madly in love with chicken sandwiches from the likes of KFC and McDonalds. I would never "crave" fastfood in the United States, but I can't tell you how good American fastfood tastes in India. Words cannot describe it....

LAUNDRY.

Laundry is done by our dolbiwallah (probably misspelled that) who charges 5 rupees per piece of clothing. For 5 rupees, your shalwaar (or whatever) gets washed, dried, and pressed. Not a bad deal when an American dollar is the equivalent of about 47-50 rupees.... It's cheaper and better quality than my options at an American dorm.

TRANSPORTATION.

Cycle rickshaws have become a staple of my existance in India. It's super cheap transporation, and it's generally pretty reliable. For about 10-20 rupees, a friend (or two) and I can get where we need to go. The ride is thrilling, fun, and sometimes a wee bit dangerous, but motorists and motorcyclists are generally cautious about the slow-moving rickshaws. The cyclist rickshaw drivers themselves are often sad sights--the one Aqilah and I used this morning to get to school was probably just 12 years old. Most are skin and bone with teeth stained by the remnants of cheap legal narcotics. If you're out and about early in the morning and late at night and traversing the city, it's not uncommon to see a dozen or so rickshaw drivers sleeping on their rickshaws throughout the city.

COMMUNICATION.

I have an Indian cell phone. I paid $20 for it, and it's just a basic cell phone--doesn't do anything cool whatsoever, and then I load money on to it. It's about 9 rupees a minute for an international call, 1 rupee a minute or so for a local call, and 1 rupee per text message.

Getting the phone, however, was the biggest hassle. A phonewallah came to the Institute to distribute phones and what-not, as this was supposed to be the quickest way to get everyone a mobile.

Not true.

The phonewallah was like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I was at the Institute, along with other students, every afternoon for THREE DAYS. On the first afternoon, I was able to start my paperwork, as they want photocopies of your passport, passport photos, proof of residency, etc. as part of your phone application. On the second afternoon, the same wallah came back to continue the phone process, and he wouldn't even let me get my hands on the paperwork to finish the process. On the third afternoon, I finally was able to complete the process. It was ridiculous.

PESTS.

My tolerance for rodents and insects right now is ridiculously high.
What have I seen running around our apartment, you ask?
Spiders, ants, mosquitos, and other insects? Check.
Cockroaches? Check.
Lizards? Check.
Rat? Check.
For the bugs and cockroaches, we've been using pesticides and what-not designed to keep them away. I found some pretty lethal cockroach/mosquito repellant at Big Bazaar (BTW: I HATE Big Bazaar) that has a list of side effects from inhalation listed on the side of the can.
As for the lizards, we let them be. They come. They go. But how do you kill a lizard? No idea. And they eat the bugs, which we certainly like, but they are apparently poisonous. Someone told me a story when I first arrived about a couple in India that had one of these lizards fall into their soup while it was cooking. Unaware of the mystery ingredient, they ate the soup and died of poisoning. So, we're mindful and careful about that, but you know, it's India.
As for the mouse, that attack is on our to do list. We just found the bugger the night before last, and we think he's hanging out in the kitchen....

CLEANING.

The home we live in has a house boy, who I estimate to be about 18-20 or so, who assists with the daily maintenance of the property. For us, this means that he does the cleaning. He periodically comes and washes the floors and otherwise tidies up the apartment. He also disposes of our trash if we place it outside. As the house boy, he lives in an apartment above us that I imagine to be of significantly lesser quality than ours.


If I think of other things that I find to work differently on a day-to-day basis than in the United States, I'll be sure to post them as well.