Passenger Train

A few weeks ago when I was mid-breakdown, stressing about people and work, my host-sister gave me some words of wisdom. She said there's no need to worry about relationships... our lives are like passenger trains; we are going along on our track of life, we make stops, people come on and off, some staying on just for a few stops while others are on for the whole trip.

A nice sentiment, but I might take it a little further. It's more like our lives are crazy trips in India-- passenger trains for sure, but you can't forget the share-jeeps, the rickshaws, sleeper buses, and tiny airplanes. Our lives are more like the trip Sophia and I experienced from Darjeeling, trying to get back to Delhi for our flight home. After our flight from Bagdogra in West Bengal to Delhi was cancelled due to fog, we decided we would have a better chance of flying out of Calcutta with the weather to catch our flight back to America (which was scheduled for the next night). So we hopped on a bus to Calcutta-- don't worry, it should only take about 12 hours to get there... 15 hours max. You will definitely be able to catch your flight at 2 pm tomorrow.

False. 22 hours later, and a terrible bout of food poisoning that had me vomiting on the side of the road all night while the conductor just said "impossible" when I told him we had to make our flight home, we stumbled into the airport in Calcutta. Missed our flight by 5 hours. After hassling every airline agent, we got the last flight available to Delhi that night, still missing our flight to America by about 2 hours.

So basically, after every type of transportation, hours of weeping on the phone, weeping on the bus, weeping at the counter at the airport, flights were rescheduled and I am now sitting at the Cleveland airport, drinking a coffee that is absolutely absurd (in what world is this a medium sized coffee??? Oh right...). And the people who stuck with me on that journey, the people who refilled rupees on my phone, called the travel agents, and gave me moral support when I was ready to die on that God-forsaken bus, those people are on my passenger train for good.

In case you are feeling sorry for me, don't worry-- I thoroughly enjoyed myself stuffing my face with momos and drinking endless tea in Darjeeling.

There is no way this could cause food poisoning... too delicious

Food Etiquette

Once you’ve gotten used to eating Indian food all day every day, the next step is acclimating to the food culture. But wait, you may say, I can pull off a piece of roti using my thumb and fingers and scoop up some of that curry into my mouth without making a fool of myself. I can tell the difference between yellow daal and black daal and I know that naan and parathas are not the same thing.

You fool! There is so much more to learn.

First of all, you better be prepared to wait. Hungry now? Who cares. You will wait for your friends, your host siblings, your coworkers, that guy you just met, the people you don’t know but are sitting in the office so you better be cordial and wait for them too.

We learned how to share back on Chopatty Beach

Next, you better be prepared to share. And don’t just share your food, you need to offer it up to everyone around you. Oh, no, we won’t eat your food, they say. ASK AGAIN. No, I insist, you must have some. If they still won’t take any, don’t be deceived, they might still want some. Just take some and feed it to them yourself. My coworker and dear friend Malvika gives me endless trouble about how Americans don’t know how to share their food, recounting the tale of how, in my first week in the office, I had some biscuits and didn’t offer them to her. She sat there, wanting my biscuits, so she offered me some of her food in the hopes that I would return the kindness. No, thanks Malvika, I don’t want your food, I have my biscuits. I figured if she wanted one of my biscuits, she would ask. Cultural misunderstanding strikes again.

Some homemade pakoras... because this is a food blog and you
should be jealous of what I'm eating

So here I am, it’s about 3:00 pm, at the office, and I still haven’t eaten lunch. My tiffin (lunch box) is waiting for me in the kitchen, but I will certainly not be eating it now. Yes, I am starving. But I will wait for my friends and coworkers to come back so we can enjoy our food together, mixing all of our sabjis and rotis in a delicious mid day feast.