Okra = Ladyfingers
Envelope = Cover
Tutoring = Tuition
Bike = Cycle
Coffee/Tea = Hot Milk and Sugar
No more please, I'm full = Yes, thank you, I would like a fourth serving
90+ Degrees = Winter
$1 = 50 rupees (1 coconut = 10 rs, 1 coffe = 7 rs, a full meal = 40 rs)
Shower = Bath
Bath = Cold Water in a Bucket
Conditioner = Coconut Oil
Deodorant = Unavailable
Shoes = Optional, if not Prohibited
The Only Good Mosquito is a Dead Mosquito =
Cetta Kocu Mattum Nalla Kocu (in Tamil)
Honking Horn/Dinging Bell = "I am a vehicle that is much
bigger than you and am going to pass you on the right.
Move to the left or I will hit you.)
Man Skirt = Lunghi
Men Wearing Lunghis = Everywhere
Women Wearing Anything That Shows Their Ankles = Nowhere
Yoga Mat = Straw Mat
There is nothing funnier than a white girl on a bike. Unless, of course, there are multiple white girls on bikes. Gets 'em every time.
When I went to Kerala for the weekend with my host family we listened to nothing but Akon, Taylor Swift, and The Bee Gees. The car ride was eight hours long. Each way.
My yoga instructor is not some cute 20-something girl or a house wife with too much time on her hands that reads you some ridiculous quote during samsara and burns incense. He is a drill sergeant who can manipulate his body into positions that are frighteningly unnatural.
I'm volunteering with an NGO that is concerned with Dalit rights. Dalits are the "untouchable" or scheduled caste and they basically get shit on (figuratively, and literally sometimes) because of an arbitrary label that makes them "impure" and "inferior" to just about everyone else. The organization I'm working with seeks out instances of human rights atrocities, specifically against Dalits, and offers counseling and legal representation to the victims. I'm currently reading up on their most recent cases which include instances of murder, assault with pitchforks and various other weapons, stoning, molestation, kidnapping, forced consumption of human shit, upper caste women who are forced to have abortions because they have been impregnated by a Dalit man and "bound labor" ie slave labor. Almost 20% of India's population is Dalit.
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