Random thoughts and observations

As of today it has been one week since I left the U.S.  As I reflect on the last week there are many thoughts going through my brain.  This has been a difficult trip with the exhausting travel but also in that it is so fundamentally different than the US.  However it doesn't mean that I am not enjoying myself, I am, but it takes time to adapt to a new situation and at times it is hard to do so.  Some of my thoughts and observations are as follows:

• Indians are very friendly, hospitable people.  I feel like everyone has gone out of there way to help us from the hotel staff to the people we have met at the schools and our host Mala. For example, when I arrived at the hotel at Bangalore I had the wrong adaptor and the one the hotel sells didn't fit the laptop cord.  One of the staff was sent to the store to buy me one that would fit as it was too far for me to walk and then brought it to my room, all for a nominal fee! 
• Driving here is crazy!  I think if you can drive here you can drive anywhere.  It appears that lanes are optional and the horn is used constantly to get people to move out of your lane of traffic or to go faster.
• If driving is different then crossing the road is an artform.  Crosswalks are used occasionally and it just seems you have to cross when you can.  Our guide in Bangalore told us it is their way to go around you as it is our way to cross the road, do not run just walk and make eye contact. 
• My carbon foot print must be huge here as I have drunk A LOT of bottles of water.  The first thing you read and hear about in travelling to India is to not drink the water even when brushing your teeth.  Therefore I am going through anywhere from 3-8  bottles of water a day depending on size.  As far as I can tell this is no recycling.  If a company were to come here and create a recycling facility they could make a fortune....and provide a lot of jobs even if they just started with hotels in a major city they could do very well.
• There does not seem to be one type of Indian food, they serve very different things throughout the country.  The state I am in Guajart is a dry state (no alcohol) and there are others like it.  In general I find the food not only spicy but just generally different than what I am used to. 
• Indians are not dirty people but the cities and towns are dirty outside.  There is trash everywhere and from what I understand people do not clean up after themselves as this was a job traditional seen as "dirty" and done by the lowest caste, what is commonly known as the untouchables.  Therefore there are some streets or areas that are smelly, and those who know my supersniffer can understand the challenges that poses for me.!
• There truly are cows everywhere!  Just in our drive today we must have seen easily over 30 cows.  Much of the food waste in the street is eaten by the cows therefore "cleaning" some of the street. 
• You can not classify Indian by that I have found that there are so many regional differences that there is no one way to describe Indians.  Language, food, religion etc... are all so different.  Due to these differences Indians appear to be very accepting of others points of views, opinions and ideas.  As our guide in Bangalore told us, what is your way or ideas may not be the same for someone else but that is ok, as that is part of your dharma.