Spying on my Neighbors and Indianisms

After sleeping off and recovering from my Singapore trip, I started noticing some changes to my next-door neighbors. The windows from my flat and from work face the same apartment building to the east. About ten feet from the entrance to my building was a small row of about seven slum shacks. Slums usually spring up where there is construction, as the families who work on the construction site move near the building for the duration of the construction. This row of slums has been here the whole time I’ve been here but I noticed one day that two of the shacks were empty. Then after returning from Singapore I noticed that the slum had been emptied out leaving behind their discarded belongings. I guess construction has finished.

One empty shack

Now they're all gone

I also noticed a lattice had been propped up against a building, and then there were two men just balancing on the horizontal beam. These guys are like thirty feet above concrete on a very flimsy plastic matrix held together with what I imagine to be strong string (twine?). And then here they are chipping away at the wall of the building, causing their support to wobble with every whack they take. I was nervous for them the whole work day as I would look over and see them climb up and down to continue hacking away at the wall. I was also thinking how this would absolutely never fly in the US. They would be breaking like hundreds of safety codes.

Chipping away at the wall

Moving to the next section of wall

Also while living here I’ve adjusted to Indian idioms in English.  These are a few of my favorites:

“Double #” Anytime there are number read off and two of the same number are in a row, like two 9’s as in my phone number, you say “double 9.” When numbers were read to me and someone would say “double #” I would begin to write down the word “double” because my brain was in strict regurgitation mode. I also noticed if I said “9, 9” then the person taking down the number would pause and convert it to “double 9” in his head. But I’m Indian now and everything is double #.

“Kindly” or “you are kindly requested to do the needful” This seems to be a vestige of British English. What is needful? Does that mean what is needed to be done? If you receive an email that requires action on your part you are “kindly requested to [action here].”  I guess that’s a very nice way of putting it, but in my American experience it’s more “please complete [action] by [date].” It almost sounds like they are asking you to RSVP for something.

“Prepone” You guessed it, prepone is the opposite of postpone, and is very logical. You can postpone a meeting but there is no equivalent word of moving up a meeting. Bravo to Indians for this one.

“I stay in [place]” In this case stay just means “live.” “I stay in Mumbai” means “I live in Mumbai.” To me “stay” as a much more temporary connotation, like you are staying somewhere for a few days, but you permanently “live” in your hometown.

“Are you leaving station?” This is asking if you are going out of town. This one really confuses me, why is your house your station? Or is station referring to your hometown? And why is it a station? I still haven’t wrapped my head around this one.

“My native place” Your native place is where you grew up. This is a reflection of the diversity of cultures and identities within India. Every state has a different language, and village culture is vastly different from urban culture. “Native” to me sounds very foundational, like at the root of your ancestral history your family is originally from [country]. But here it refers to the village or block (a form of municipal districting) where you grew up.  It’s the equivalent of saying “I stay in San Francisco, but my native place is San Diego.” To me it implies that San Diego is this completely foreign, wholly different culture and place than San Francisco (yes they are very different).

"A/C and non-AC" "Veg and non-veg" These are pretty self-explanatory. When booking a cab or a room you are asked if you want A/C or non-A/C. Predictably the A/C amenities cost more but depending on how sweltering the weather is, is totally worth it. All packaged food and menus indicate whether food is veg or non-veg (which is like a double negative for me) and the vegetarian food has a green dot while the non-vegetarian food is marked with red. Subliminal much?

Bring on the humidity, Mumbai!

After my first Indian railway experience and an overnight train from Delhi, I have arrived in Mumbai! My first impression: it is HUMID! Delhi has a relative humidity of 34% and Mumbai has a relative humidity of 80% and you can really feel the difference. Add that to 34 degree weather (about 85F) and you just sweat instantly. Just standing outside makes you sweat and sticky. It's gross. My employer is actually based in Navi Mumbai, which is a suburban train ride from Mumbai. I live at the employer's complex and it is pretty nice, which means I don't really have to go outside or have a commute. It takes me about 2 minutes to get to work as I live about 50ft from the office. I share a flat with another volunteer and we're definitely putting some effort into making it homey for the next year. We have done a little exploring and really lucked out with our neighborhood. In one direction we have a 3 story mall with a supermarket (!!!) and McDonalds. In another direction we have roads full of stores of the more traditional Indian fare where we can get good bargains on everything from fruits and vegetables to clothes.

I've also started my role with my employer and right now I'm just familiarizing myself with the organization, its history and its current projects. I have to say I'm impressed with how much the organization has accomplished at the local, state, and national levels. I can't wait to be a part of the change they are already causing.

I know that's not much for now, but I've been taking it easy trying to settle in and make my flat a home. I've also been eaten alive by mosquitoes in the three days I've been here so I'm trying to find a solution for that. Wish me luck!