The enormous importance Indians place on saving face can be difficult for Westerners to grasp, especially because many face-saving situations seem so extreme to Western eyes. It can be as if an elephant has been “hidden” behind a palm leaf, and everyone is pretending that the elephant is not there. If you point out the elephant— which everyone can plainly see— then the people involved lose face. But if you pretend there is no elephant, then there is no loss of face.
Jugarh is a word that means improvisation, finding alternative ways of doing things, making do with resources at hand, or taking adverse situations and finding a way to turn them around. This creative ability is an essential part of the national spirit and you find it everywhere....Get into the spirit of creative problem solving. Let yourself be entertained by this inventiveness, which you will encounter everywhere, but never ridicule it.
Most frustrating for non-Indians is the problem of understanding the subtleties that Indians use in communicating yes and no. Because the conventions are so different from those of most other cultures, non-Indians typically have trouble understanding the tendency of Indians to say yes when they really mean no. To Westerners who don’t understand the cultural context, this may seem really insincere, but it’s really just a different style of communicating. Someone may be saying the word yes, but simultaneously signaling no— and other Indians generally know perfectly well what is meant. Because the culture gives great importance to honor— for which reason it’s considered rude to cause someone to be uncomfortable, embarrassed or upset— Indians typically will do almost anything to avoid overtly saying no. The word no is considered harsh and even downright rude in many circumstances.
So this should be interesting, no?! Back at the computer, I've enjoyed researching restaurant choices for our dinners along the way. I'm not as concerned about liking the food as I was. But I still can't imagine Kenneth going 3 weeks without iced tea! Or either of us without salads (my Indian MD insisted on that). On the topic of medicine, I started my malaria pills today.
My other great planning effort in the last few days has been preparing a spreadsheet for tipping. One of the joys of traveling with a group has been that we never had to think about that. Apparently the expectation in India is that every person you come in contact with deserves a tip. It varies, of course, from driver to guide to bellboy to mahout to naturalist. (If we actually see a tiger, we double the expected tip.) And all meal tips must be in cash. My spreadsheet is 1-1/2 pages long and I have each function listed by day. I plan to get $500 worth of rupees and organize my tip envelope every morning. I don't want to have to think about it once we're there!
I'd like to practice inserting a photo again. Here's one from last Easter.
Now I'll try posting this - and emailing the link - and I'll hope it "works."
