INDIAN CULTURE (by Nancy)
- Everyday is prom day. Little girls to older ladies exit austere homes into trash-littered streets dressed in a colorful array of India’s finest linen and silk dresses. Their hair is smooth with the scent of coconut oil, adorned with fresh flowers and jewelry. Breathtaking!
- There are no trashcans in most homes or public receptacles because every space is a receptacle.
- Fingernail polish is only worn on the left hand. They use their right hand to eat and apparently the polish will come off.
- Hotel breakfast includes cooked vegetables (carrots and gran beans or corn). They are not served at other meals.
-non spicy mashed potatoes are called “hash browns”
-yesterday they had an American style cold macaroni salad. Tasty!
-fruit milk shakes and pure fruit juices are on the table. Super yummy. Mango milkshakes are my favorite!
-a variety of flat breads are made fresh daily with oil (my second favorite)
-our hotel restaurant has one CD they play all day every day every year we’ve been here! It is an American smooth jazz artist. It has become “Our song” – “Before This Night Is Over.”
-chicken items always include the bones – caution required.
- We passed a “D-Mart” (think Indian K-Mart).
- Despite the abundance of tasty buffalo milk, cow’s milk and goat’s milk, cheese is not common. If you ask for cheese you get butter.
- Restaurants servers, male and female, dress formally in black and white with ties and often suit jackets.
- Like in the USA, hotels and Dunkin’ Donuts are owned by Indians.
- Life feels “civilized” when I slowly sip on a cup of tea, one of the few non-rushed moments of my day. It is a little oasis of British/American life to start the day. Here chai is offered late morning and mid afternoon. Often it tastes more like bitter coffee, however the sweet chai is creamy with high fat buffalo milk and sugar – great for the afternoon sugar pick-me-up with a hit of caffeine. (by Nancy Schmoyer) (February 2, 2018 Hyderabad, India)