Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal of my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

  • In a change of plans, Ben and I went to England last week and stayed for around 10 days. It was really nice to catch up with all his family and friends in Tonbridge and London. It was just a family trip, so I don’t think I’ll have a blog post about it. Hopefully, you caught some photos on my Instagram Stories.
  • We moved our Kuala Lumpur trip to April, so that’s something to look forward to!
  • Today I boarded a flight from India to the USA! I’m going back for almost three weeks to see my brother’s new baby! I also have to get a visa renewal while I’m back.

Now your story,

I was sitting in the movie theater watching Star Wars: The Last Jedi when I thought “oh, there are some weird things about movies in India I could write about”.

The first good thing about movies in India is that the new theaters have awesome seats in the back for 450 Rs ($7) that recline and have food trays. They are really nice in the Porvorim theater.

The first bad thing about movies in India is how intense security is (in fact, security for everything in India is too intense, you can’t even go into a mall without getting searched). But, they search your bag for lights or any food. That means you cannot bring in snacks from the food court, which is annoying because inside the theater is just ice cream, popcorn, samosas, crappy cheese sandwiches, and some fried stuff (but that stall is never open).

Before the movie starts you have to watch the ads – which are usually terrible. There is a classic ad for no smoking that they play, video below:

One night was out and someone pointed to a guy and said “that’s the guy from the smoking ads” and it was, lol. I was drunk and couldn’t get over it because he was just a normal guy and the video is so old and funny.

Here’s another type of ad they make you watch, which is serious but oh so dramatic, about “mobile phone addiction”. I can’t find the video online, but it’s basically the same drama as above (like really serious and two minutes long). A guy is addicted to his phone chatting with his girlfriend, and he’s being annoying. A girl is walking down the street on her phone chatting to a guy, bumping into people being really annoying as well. The guy gets in his car and is driving while texting and the girl crosses the street – it’s his girlfriend who was also on her phone. She dies, and they zoom in on her face for like 30 seconds saying look what texting does!

Now, before the movie starts everyone must stand for the National Anthem. Indians have a LOT of national pride and actually have fought people who didn’t stand – and some will even stand when the anthem is played during the movie. The go back and forth in court about whether it’s mandatory or not.

This is India!