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Sustainable Distribution of Abundance or Why I Don’t Haggle in the Third World

Holding Hands

I read somewhere recently that bloggers should be transparent to ensure authenticity. It made me think about my own writing and question whether or not I was being fully transparent with you, my readers.

I wondered, what does it mean for me to be more transparent? Since I’m traveling, does it mean writing about the little things that I generally avoiding talking about? Does it mean sharing my thoughts more often?

Perhaps I could write about my worries of running out of money or the several cases of mild travelers diarrhea that have started to get annoying. I could write about how I sometimes feel guilty for spending too much time in high-end cafes, enjoying the air conditioning and delicious coffee when I should be outside exploring the small local shops. (In my defense, it was a safe place to work on my laptop.)

What about writing how I felt for ignoring the handicapped guy with no legs who extended his hand and asked for money while I was in the beach town of Gokarna? If I help him, I thought, why shouldn’t I help all of them? How do I choose who receives help? Continue reading →

30 Interesting Things I Learned in India

My first day in India was quite interesting. Now that I’ve been in India for exactly 30 days, here are 30 interesting things that I have learned since I arrived.

A hotel is actually a restaurant. Ask for “residence” if you want a place to stay for the night.
If you’re at a restaurant (or “hotel”) and you want something “to go”, you say you want it “parcel”.
An “overpass” is more commonly referred to as a “flyover”.
Vehicles and bikes use horns liberally; they’re about as common as directionals (or “blinkers”) are in the USA.
Passing on the roads is a given, regardless of how dangerous a corner is or whether or not there is an oncoming vehicle.
A combination of flashing headlights and horns are often used to convey the message to oncoming cars that they need to slow down because you’re passing in the oncoming lane.
Riding a bus (or jeep for that matter) feels somewhat like riding a roller coaster.
When asking where I’m from, people guess the UK before the United States. (Maybe it’s more common to find someone from Europe here?)

Continue reading →

My First Jeep Ride in India

There I was, walking around the busy center of town in Ujire, India, sweating more than everyone else around me and clearly not looking or feeling like a local. But I was already used to that. I’ve been into town twice now and the strange stares and odd looks are practically expected. I’ve discovered that if you stop looking at everyone in the eyes, it’s easy to forget that they’re staring.

It was about twenty past four in the afternoon and I was headed back home; a remote farm nestled in the foothills of the Western Ghats about 10 miles from town. I had two options for getting there: Wait for the bus and be crammed in with students headed home from school, or look for one of the jeeps and ride like a real local.

I noticed a bus arriving and waited to ask if it was headed to Kukavu (pronounced “kokow”), the name of the area about two miles from the farmhouse. The ticket attendant on the bus gave me a disgusted look and shooed me away. Continue reading →

People & Culture

Sustainable Distribution of Abundance or Why I Don’t Haggle in the Third World

30 Interesting Things I Learned in India

My First Jeep Ride in India

Where in the world is Raam?

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