reflections / Holiday in Kerala

reflections:

"Culture is made visible by culture-shock, by subjecting oneself to situations beyond one's normal interpersonal competence and objectifying the discrepancy as an entity"
Roy Wagner: The Invention of Culture

It's been 9 weeks since I set foot in India and there's another 4 weeks to go, before I will finish my internship at Manipal University and start traveling. My project is going to finish as well, and for the first time I feel that there is something like a deadline and that I should obtain some results. At the same time I'm making plans about my trip after the internship finishes. Most likely my brother will come over and we will go around the tropical South India before I'll make my way to Nepal.
However, it's not only a time to look forward, but also to look back and reflect on what happened in the last two month. It has been a moving time for me, as I had to adapt and overthrow many of my believes and ideas.

I was naive when I came; very naive. I though I could just walk away from home, from Germany, from my social surrounding, and dip into a completely new live. I though I could reinvent myself without any relation to my previous experience. I had big plans on developing a new personality, that I somehow wanted to integrate into my previous existence, once returning home. That sounds like a childish and impossible idea now; and it seemed even worth just after I came here.
In my first week I was overwhelmed by "the culture". I felt insecure and deeply confused. Especially after being ripped of in a taxi, just an hour after my arrival in Mumbai, all my experience was biased by this frustrating experience. Traveling this country (alone) seemed exhausting, dangerous, impossible. I hadn't booked my return flight yet, and I was considering to shorten my internship and just go home again.
Fortunately I know myself well enough to be aware of the volatile nature of my emotions. So I stayed, I waited, and I tried to be open. It took me almost two weeks, but then I started feeling more comfortable. The painful sensation of loneliness ceased and I felt more stable, more capable, and more secure. After the initial culture-shock-confusion I found a place for myself within the new environment.
It took me another six weeks, but now, finally, I'm self-confident enough to actually look forward to traveling (alone).

I believe that self-confidence is increased by every new experience one makes. Whenever one copes with a situation (probably even if not successfully), one acquires knowledge on how to deal with such problems and is more capable in future. So, as I see it, one of the great things in traveling is making many new experiences and consequently increasing one's capabilities and self-confidence. From subjective experience I can say that - at least for me - this approach works quite well.

As said, on the way to regain self-confidence and comfort I had to adapt and overthrow many of my believes. Most notably, my plan to immerse deeply in the Indian community failed completely. In part I blame it on the circumstances (naturally that's nicer than blaming myself): I don't work with Indian people. In my project I'm working on my own or with the Japanese intern. I don't live with Indian people. In my flat I live with other interns from Europe. And that's just the circumstances. Additionally there is "the cultural thing", that let's me easily connect with "Western" people, while it makes it difficult to interact with Indians. And the difference between easy and difficult is very important here, because it results in a difference between pleasurable and boring. Maybe it's because their humor is different, or because we lack a common background, or just because we're in dissimilar situations; but whatever the reason I don't enjoy hanging out with Indian friends very much. It's interesting from an anthropological point of view, and it's "cool" to have international friends, but a relaxed and comforting conversation is something I only share with the other interns.

Let me give you an example: The other day the iaeste members (that the local students who organize my internship) organized a treasure hunt game. The game involved several teams of one intern and one Indian student each, and mostly comprised of running back and forth on campus to solve questionable riddles for 3 hours. The running in the heat of the sun was demanding, I was completely wet from sweat, in my view it was far beyond the funny. However what was most intriguing was the competitiveness the Indian students expressed. While to me (and us) a game of this kind is more about the fun of playing together, for them winning was the most important. Consequently the price is not sweets and drinks for everybody, as you might expect, but a voucher of Rs 500 each, for the winning team. 500 Rupees are a lot of money! And the relative value is comparable to 50 or 100 Euros. To me this game was more annoying than fun, and I participated because I didn't know and for politeness of course. I think this illustrates the differences in everyday culture and "having fun", that make it difficult for me to develop a deeper friendship with most Indians.

Holiday in Kerala:

Given those circumstances you might understand, why I enjoyed a week end trip just with some of the other interns. The last weekend we went to Kerala, the state south of Karnataka, where I live. Kerala is one of the most "developed" states in India, with high literacy rate, good infrastructure and the lowest infant mortality. You can actually see the meaning of those rankings. There are none or only few animals on the streets, the roads are in good condition, and there are book shops! The region we went to is characterized by a number of lakes and canals, called The Backwaters, and is a major tourist place, attracting foreigners and Indians alike. We set out for a house boat tour, driving through the lakes and canals and sleeping on the boar for one night. It's amazingly decadent. The three bed rooms on the boat had individual bathrooms and showers with hot water. A standard we usually don't get here. Furthermore the crew of six men included kitchen staff cooking for us and serving food on the boat. Experiencing this kind of luxury is an awkward feeling, but a nice experience ;) And while usually I don't enjoy touristy places, being on a boat we were somewhat secluded and just enjoying our own company in a truly beautiful scenery. Here are some pictures:

A "traditional" houseboat of the kind we were in. There are hundreds of these boats catering to tourists, but still the place doesn't loose it's tranquil atmosphere

I've also taken a short video clip from one of the ferries. The boat operates like a public bus and provides affordable transport for normal people. In the video there are also Hisashi and Sarah, two friends of mine.


Thanks for reading. I'm happy about any comments!