Hair Saloon

Sunday, January 21st, gave me a free day to explore Gurgaon on foot, relax, and entertain myself without having to pay for a taxi. Taxis are very expensive in Gurgaon. Normally, you must pay for four hours/40 km or eight hours/80 kms. Further, Gurgaon has very few auto rickshaws and no public transportation, so if you don't have a car and don't want to pay for a taxi you're either walking or saying prayers in the back of a bicycle rickshaw as cars zoom past you. I chose to walk on Sunday.



















About half way through my walk I found a nice stylist at the Hair Saloon to cut my hair. What I didn't learn until I was face-to-face with my stylist was that he was probably 12-13 years old and spoke hardly any English. So I thought, since I can't really explain what I kind of haircut I want, we'll just see what he gives me. It'll be a fun story at the least.

Well, first off my hair was never wettened throughout the haircut. Further, my young stylist had a style of his own. That of Edward Scissorhands. The finished product was great, but the method was not what I'm used to. He would open and close his scissors very rapidly each time before cutting any hair. So I would hear the scissors slicing through the air and then the hair would be cut. I was tense at first, but quickly realized this guy knew what he was doing. I wasn't his first haircut. He finished the job with what I learned later is common in some parts of India...the most intense face, head, neck and shoulder massage I've probably ever received. He was literally doing the "hand-chop" on my scalp :)

Reenz, I think you've found some competition ~



















His friends, who were stuffing and sewing bed comforters next to the saloon were fascinated by the digital camera and glad to take and appear in a few photos. The guy, second from the left below, was even nice enough to give me a piece of birthday cake from the party he had just come from, as I went on my way.



















This is the norm in east Gurgaon. Cows walking about with high rise condos or commercial buildings serving as their backdrop.

"Illegal Lane Change"

My friend, Annie, from college once was ticketed for an "illegal lane change." She was actually on the freeway around very few cars and was trying to move from one lane to the other without hitting the bumps in between, supposedly on a dare from a friend (it wasn't me). Unfortunately, a police officer saw her slick move and pulled her over.

Well, on page 6 of The Times of India today was an article entitled "Time to make lane driving a must: HC". The "HC" stands for High Court and yes, that's right, in the near future drivers in New Delhi may have to begin driving within the marked lanes on the road. "Absurd!" you may say. "Drive within the lanes?! What if there's a car in front of me, an auto rickshaw on my left (see photo), and a bicyclist riding on the shoulder and plenty of room for me to squeeze between the them? You're saying I can't honk and zip between them real quick?"

In fact, that's exactly what the High Court is saying, following a report by The Times in November that detailed the rising number of road accidents in New Delhi. "It is time to introduce lane driving in the city and it should be made mandatory" said the High Court. They go on to suggest, "The government should construct a separate cycle lane for their (bicyclists) safety." Hoo ah!

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On a much more personal note, today is the day we get to celebrate someone who continues to inspire me with her unconditional love and warmth. You're a blessing to everyone who has you in their life...Happy Birthday Mom!

Ever the looker :)

First Impressions

I spoke with a number of family and friends before I set off on this journey about whether I was going to keep a blog during my time in India. I was doubtful then. However, the other night I was coming back from seeing the "old" part of Gurgaon, the city I am staying in currently and will be working in for at least the next 12 months, and realized that I have so much more to share than just my fun, personal experiences.

You see, Gurgaon is one of India's fastest growing cities. In the area of my guest house and office, huge high-rise condominiums sprout up out of nowhere. Beautiful, state-of-the art office buildings, bearing names the like of Nestle, IBM, Convergys, Tata and Ericsson, now dot the landscape of east Gurgaon. In fact, Gurgaon has a growing reputation for being the "city of malls" also. Several, multi-story, western-style shopping malls are now becoming common place. However, to talk only of those things in describing Gurgaon would be terribly misleading. Most of Gurgaon for that matter, is still very poor. It may be described as "Delhi's wealthiest satellite city," but the truth is that the majority of Gurgaon's residents live very simple lives, focused solely on providing the basic necessities of life.

This is why I came to India. The visible change of an evolving society. Modernization vs. tradition. Commercialization vs. a very old, rich culture. You see it in high-rises and tin shacks, fancy cars and horse drawn carts, all right next to each other. In the United States, we often read of India's emerging economy and new place on the world stage (usually referring to the telecommunication industry's new presence here). Take into account though, 70% of India's economy is agrarian-based and it's society as a whole has the third most cases of malnutrition in the world.

I am learning so much every day that I feel you might be interested in knowing also. To be honest, I'm still unsure what form this blog is going to take, but I do know that it's worth starting and seeing where it goes.

~ I will leave you today with something I found in the newspaper this morning: the Matrimonials section. An Indian friend of mine told me before I left that arranged marriages still account for about 80% of all Indian marriages. However, I did learn last week that dowries, "a gift of money or valuables given by the bride's family to the groom's at the time of their marriage", a custom that has a long history in India, were outlawed in recent years (even though I hear they are still pretty common)."Love marriages", as they are called here, are becoming more common, but still are not the norm.

The Matrimonials section looks and reads no different than the classifieds, containing catchy titles such as "For tall, handsome Punjabi" and ads full of acronyms. "Grooms Wanted For" is A1-4 and "Brides Wanted For" are pages A5-8. One ad reads:

"A well reputed Business Family invites alliance for their Beautiful, Elegant, Slim, Intelligent Daughter, 1971 Born (looks younger), 160 cm, 45 kg., doing her own Business. Looking for well settled educated boy from a decent business/professional family. Excellent marriage. Caste no bar."