How to be indian for dummies: Lessons From my host family
Blonde hair, blue eyes, and obnoxious American accent aside, I embarking on my adventures in India with the goal of becoming as Indian as possible. I have to credit my amazing host family for helping me immensely with this endeavor. My host brother Raunak and host sister Princi spent hours helping me learn Hindi script, while my host mother, Lalita, taught me to make chapati and dressed me for the Indian weddings we attended. Daulat, my host father, refrained from laughing while teaching me how to eat all manner of Indian cuisine with my hands. Writing this makes me miss them so much. They truly made my experience, and I owe all of my fond memories to them. Throughout my time in India, I struggled with the fact that my white skin and ability to speak English set me apart, and oftentimes above, the rest of Jodhpur's citizens. My host family helped me come to terms with being an outsider. They taught me to laugh at myself. In anthropology, we often study laugher in terms of its ability to serve as a coping mechanism. In India, laughing was so much more than that. It was my connection to India. I was always making a fool of myself, and my host family laughed with me. I think this little anecdote sums it all up: Once, while receiving help from Princi while writing a letter to one of the Self-Help Group ladies, I accidentally wrote, "Everytime I wear this dupata, I will think of you and fart." I meant to say, "Everytime I wear this dupata I will think of you and smile." We laughed for so long afterwards, I was giddy by the time we could articulate ourselves enough to tell my host parents and brother. This page is for them- India did not change my life so much as my host family did.
Check out this blog post for more about lessons my host family taught me during my time in India!
Check out this blog post for more about lessons my host family taught me during my time in India!