When Uday picked me up from the airport he asked if I had ever been to India before. I said “No.” He asked where I had been. I said I had been to Cypress, UAE and Pakistan. He said, “India is same like Pakistan, only different culture” which made me smile.

A Pakistani would never say such a thing.

Culture includes a lot of stuff!

Saying, “India is like Pakistan, just a different culture.” is NOT like saying “The USA is like England, just a different culture.” It’s more like saying “The USA is like Russia, (during the Cold War) just a different culture.”

Let me compare:
Culture- different
subcategories:

Language- different, nearly all of them. Urdu and Hindi are really the same, but you wouldn't know to look at it, and since I don't know how to read either or how to speak any of it, it makes no difference to me.

Religion- different, I’ve seen a few Muslims, heard the call to prayer last night, saw a one Methodist church and a few Catholic churches/schools and one van that said, “Jesus Lives!” otherwise lots of Temples, Idols, cows, vegetarians and Hindus.

Food- different, all things come in veg and non-veg. This makes me happy. Eating methods are similar though, I went out to eat yesterday with some Indian folks from the company and the whole eating without silverware and not using my left hand was tricky, very tricky.

Clothes- different, in Islamabad if you saw someone wearing anything aside from a shawar kamis you were probably hallucinating. Here, western clothes, shawar kamis, saris, other things I don’t know the names of, everything seems okay by them. I was informed to avoid sleeveless, but I’ve seen plenty of Indian and Westerners wearing sleeveless, but not halter tops, tank tops or any short skirts or shorts.

Transportation- same, the traffic here is well, Asian. Hard to describe- there are lines on the road, but they seem to be there more for decoration. More than half the traffic is motorcycles, motor scooters, auto rickshaws or bikes. You then move up to tiny hatch backs, micro vans, standard sedans, SUVs, work trucks and busses. The streets are narrow, and half torn up and partially covered in garbage.

Driving standards- Honking for any and every reason!

Examples: you may sound your horn for any of the below reason, list not exhaustive.

“Here I come!”
“You’re in my way!”
“I’m going to get in your way!”
“I will soon be crossing an intersection!”
“Hi friend!”
“I like the sound of my horn, don’t you?”
“Get off the sidewalk, I need it!”
“You need a ride?”
“I’m done with this space now.”
“I know the light has changed, but I am going anyway, so watch out.”

Etc.

Stopping for pedestrians is not “the thing.”
The average driving speed is probably about 30mph max, it would be impossible to go faster on account of there are 8 million people also trying to get where ever you are.

(Curious) nationals- different, I have been warned twice now that Indians are very curious and that they stare and will ask any sort of questions, just because they want to know. Okay, so I was ready—the people who gave me these warnings are either extra sensitive or they have never been to places where men have the ability to stare at women as though they were transferring semen directly from their eyes (nearly everywhere else I’ve ever been, including my old neighborhood in Arlington, TX.) Sure, the Indians look at me, but it’s more like “Huh, there’s a white girl.” Not, “I will rape you with my eyes and you will have 10,000 of my babies!”

City animals- different, here I’ve seen cows and dogs. Islamabad was more concerned with sheep, goats and an occasional monkey or toothless bear.

Western Influence- different, I’ve found every kind of book, clothes, TV, movies, music, food etc. I’m surprised at the variety, but what is the same is the randomness of it all. Here’s an Usher CD and a New York Times Best Seller, but that’s it. You might find some other choices in another store on the other side of town, but you never know.
I’ve been told there is still some censoring of Western movies, but not to the same extent as what I saw in Pakistan.

Here the West is very popular, nearly as popular as the East is in the US.

I went into an “American Dollar Store” yesterday. Strangely everything costs the equivalent of $2.00. I bought a few things anyway. Some of the products were labeled both in English and Spanish. Now that is a little bit of home!

I haven’t ordered it yet, but I have a brochure for pizza. I can order a “Mexican” pizza which has jalapenos and an “exotic Mexican herb.” Fancy!

Popular Hollywood movies come out in world wide release here, for example, “The Da Vinci Code” and “X-3” are already showing. Less popular movies make it in their own time, “Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” I was told, just showed a few months ago. Movies are very popular and I’ve been told you should make reservations days or weeks in advance.

The Black Eyed Peas will come here in concert soon. Random, like I said.

There are a few Amazing malls here- like what you would expect in the US or in UAE. There is one called the Galleria, which puts the Galleria in Dallas to shame. The Galleria here is much smaller, but it is opulent. Everything from the rose petals in the fountains to the hall of polished marble pillars, everything sparkles and shines, it’s elegant and exotic and outrageously expensive, but maybe that adds to the allure.

Toilets- same, the guest apartment I’m staying in has two bedrooms, two bathrooms. One has a western toilet; the other has a squatty potty. Toilet paper is a partial mystery here. They have it, but I get the feeling they think the whole idea is kind of gross. They wash after every time, hose and/or bucket to be found in every restroom/bathroom. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to flush what I use or not. The showers are the same, not actually a shower, per say, more of a shower head sticking out of the wall and a drain in the floor. I kind of like it better, you don’t have to worry about scrubbing the shower, just squirt everything with the hose and move on.

All that to day, I’m going with everything is pretty dang different here than anywhere else I’ve been.