Survival guide for a dinner invitation
Trip Start
Unknown
1
5
10
Trip End
Ongoing
Jaipur,
Rajasthan,
India
Thursday, June 18, 2009
'Living in a golden cage' describes the lives of many western expats working in development in third world countries: guarded houses, international schools for the children and expat-parties
at night. I try not to be judgmental here (you see the ‘but’ coming) and security is definitely an issue in many places but many development workers remain strangely out of touch with the country they are living in. At the risk of sounding self-righteous, I found it not that difficult to get to know locals – after all, India is an extremely hospitable country. Just make sure to follow these basic survival tips:
1. You are the funny white guy and people laugh at you - get over it! …because let’s face it, it is funny if you put the dessert sauce on your chicken curry or walk around town in your pajamas in an attempt to blend in with the locals
total assimilation - guess who's the Indian
.2. When invited for a meal, say you are vegetarian. (However, this may not work, since people in many developing countries don’t get the concept of not eating meat if you can afford it.) This week, Suraj invited me for dinner at his house. Having dinner means you are the only one eating and 12 people stand around you, critically observing every move and gesture. Chewing on whatever animal it was they were serving me with a happy smile took some will power, but I’ve been through worse (the chicken head I had to chew on in Mindanao still haunts me at night.)
3. Bring your digital camera. My 12 year old sister may know more about technical gadgets than me, but in third world countries I can still make an impression on children with my 4 year old camera.
4. Pile up on drugs. I was not only introduced to the entire extended family but also to every animal. The savvy traveler has a little hand sanitizer in his pocket that he secretly uses before eating dinner with his hands. And then there is the water issue: I simply can’t get myself to reject tap water. I will spare you the details but be prepared to pay a price for being polite.
I could probably come up with more advice on how to blend in with the local culture, but this Starbucks is about to close. You may want to print this blog and pull it out 20 years from now as a proof of my naïve juvenile idealism. But give me some credit here - "The harder a man works the thinner becomes his idealism" and I have had the privilege of never having a real job at the age of 27.
