Name of the Volunteer:  Ms. Joana                          Name of the country:  Germany

The duration of the stay:   8 months (April 2014 to October 2014) in Chennai

Welcome to Incredible India!

„Incredible India!“ that’s what they say everywhere all over the country, sparkling in capital letters in an airplane advertisement, written on the shuttle busses at the Bangalore Airport.

And that’s how it is. “Incredible”, there is no better word to describe all what’s going on in this big country. You really cannot define India in a simple way. It is a country of differences, contradictions, diversity. Fast and slow, sweet and spicy, dry and rainy, hot and cold. Cities so big with buildings so high, you cannot even imagine and villages so small and quiet and only one little temple in its center.

 

I am experiencing India for almost 7 months now, and I still don’t know how to feel about this place. There is too much going on here and I think it actually takes you at least a lifetime to understand India, when you did not grew up here.

You get so mixed up and all your senses  are totally driving on a roller coaster already when you are leaving the airport.  It sometimes felt like I have been throwing into a bowl of chaos.  Cars, busses, bikes, bicycles rickshaws and people, people, people everywhere, so many of them, so many different smells and noises. It took me and Mary around a week to understand that if you wanna cross the street you just have to go, don’t stop, don’t look back, stay calm and try to hide your fear of death. Crossing a street is only one small challenge of a grand collection of challenges you are facing while staying in India for a while. But even if I don’t understand most of the things, I kind of get used to them.

 

 

Back in Germany I did not really had the desire to drink hot tea three times a day when we have 40 degrees outside. Now though I am so happy every time our host mother is calling us for it and I could actually start crying when the sugary drink is finished.

It is funny that the biggest differences are actually to be recognized in the smallest things. Like how awesome it is to eat with your hands! Who in the world needs a fork?! It is so much more fun and you don’t even burn your tongue because when you use your hands you have to wait until the food is cold enough to touch it.

Also, I think it is so great that people, instead of asking you how you are, are first putting up the question “saptacha?” (“have you already eaten?”). First, it was a little bizarre for me, talking about if I ate and what I ate, before even knowing a person’s name but now I understand. I mean, the knowledge about the fact if a person has already had his lunch or not can be essential for the rest of the conversation. I never thought that the topic “food” can be the number one topic until I landed in India.

And well, the food is perfect! No matter how bad my day might have been, when I come home to my Chennai family, the rest of the day is to be forgotten. I could eat the whole day long. Everything my host mother Vasanthi is presenting tastes like haven. Actually all over India the food is great. After I gave my stomach a little time to get used to the spiciness, I finally came to know that “the Indian Magic happens on the plate!” (or the banana leaf).  Masala Dosa with Coconut Chutney,  Idly,  Grassam Sadam, Sambar Sadam, Uppuma, Poongal, Parotta, Chappatti…I can’t tell what’s my favorite.

 

In our host family in Chennai, Mary and I had the chance to experience the Indian culture on all levels. We’ve been asked to help preparing the food sometimes, supporting our little host brother with his homework and taking care of our host sister. We went to an Indian marriage function and recognized that how really different they are from the marriages we had seen before and that I want to use Henna color on my marriage day! Neighbors showed us how to wear a saree properly and how to style like a “Real Indian Girl”.

Our Mother took us to temples and to her native place where we enjoyed the opportunity to see a totally different India, much more traditional than the one we get to know in the Tamil Nadu Capital Chennai.

Talking about the family, I think my character and my way of thinking and seeing things is changing already but actually I do not notice any big differences myself yet. Except the fact that I am feeling the desire to spend much more time with my family at home once I am back. I always spended time with them but not in the way Indian families spend time together. When arriving in the host family it was new for me that all family members are sleeping in one room while in my home everyone has his own room and we barely see each other during the day except on the weekends or for dinner. My host family showed me that it is a great thing, spending time with the family as much as one can. Even if I enjoy my privacy, I think I am not only going to miss my Project/Host family partner Mary in my room  all the time but also the feeling of never being alone anywhere, because there are always family members or neighbors around.

Besides my lovely host family, the tea and the great food, one more thing that I am willing to take with me to Europe is the RIKSHAW! Driving in a little three wheeled yellow privet taxi is a splash and when you learn to insist on putting on the meter you can enjoy a ride for almost no money!

I had many experiences yet, great ones and annoying ones. I cannot count them. Every day something new (whether good or bad) happens, but wouldn’t it be boring otherwise?

India can be very stressful, sometimes “too fast” and “too slow” at the same time, “much too complicated” and a little bit “too easy” as well.  It is indeed “Incredible” and indescribable, its own cosmos and it takes time to find your place here, but if you give India a chance it shows you how incredibly beautiful it is and how incredibly warm hearted its people are! I am so happy that I had the chance to stay with this amazing family in which Mary and me could exchange and talk about all kinds of differences between our and the Indian culture. I already learned a lot and I still got 4 more months to collect experiences….