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 about 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:
- This week was spent recovering from our big adventures in Toronto, and glamping with my mom in Hocking Hills. Now, I have only one week left in the US. Doing all kinds of last minute things before getting back to Goa, Ben, Shanti dog and Kit Kat where I’m going to start a brand new secret project!
- Hippie in Heels stayed on this list of top 50 travel bloggers, which gets updated 4x a year (and I hold my breath hoping to stay on it!). It’s based on traffic and social media engagement. I bumped up 17 spots to number 33! So pretty stoked!
Now your story,
While on the train back from Ratnagiri with Ben’s brother Josh we had quite a funny conversation with the family across from us (Ben had to stay in Ratnagiri longer). One thing I love about Indian trains is talking to the people sitting near me and sometimes they’ll even share delicious food with me! Actually what I love even more is if someone wants to watch what I’m watching on my laptop so I give them an ear bud, and it’s the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and the woman watching is like lol’ing can’t believe what she’s seeing…. ahh the hilarious memories! Ok back to the story…
Josh and I were chit chatting about what he needed to buy in Goa when he decided he wanted a “Indian shirt” like the one the guy across us was wearing. We asked what it was called and where to buy it, which started us into a conversation.
They were from Kerala and expressed how much they wished we would go to Kerala as it’s “God’s own country”. I told them I spent a lot of time in Kerala, since my boyfriend used to work there. They got really excited thinking that my boyfriend was Keralan, and were less excited to eventually understand I was living in sin with a British guy.
They wanted to know why we weren’t married and I saw I was too young, 25… which they laughed hard about! Then I said my parents would kill me if I got married! That shocked them. They decided they were done talking to me, ha ha. They moved on to Josh.
He was from London… so how could he not have a girlfriend? He said girls give him a headache. The guy from Kerala said, but you live in LONDON!!! You should get a girlfriend. It would be so easy!!” He was seriously flabbergasted.
The very cute mother of the family told him to come visit her. She knew a woman who was good, “educated”, and would take very good care of him.
We ended up taking a picture with them because Josh wanted a photo of the guys’ shirt. It was an interesting journey, as always on an Indian train.
This is India!
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feature image: monsoon
Hi Hippi in heels,
I see you had a fun time, though you should be more careful when people offer you something edible.. especially in trains. Indians are not that funny you see..
Take care :)
Avi
I didn’t understand your comment “indians are not that funny” but if a family is eating the same thing, I will share if offered.
Hey, I understand your point. What I meant is being a tourist (you are not a tourist in India anymore) or a foriegner you’ve to careful while travelling in trains especially sleeper class. Foriegners end up being the easy target usually, the guy/girl/ family sitting next to offer you something to eat you and you wake-up with all your valuables lost.
A piece of advice thats all..
thanks for the advice :)
oh how i love the personal questions about how much you earn and when you are getting married. it’s so funny which questions are considered appropriate between different countries.
enjoy your last week in the states! eat lots of taco bell for me :)
xx
I am eating so many quesadillas !! lol
Conversation on Train Journeys … Nostalgic… They are something else…
Yes, we talk during travels with unknown people and few times we share tea/food too.
This is too funny. In Indonesia people were also really shocked that my boyfriend and I weren’t married. His students would always ask me when the wedding was going to be, and they were always quick to inform me that I need to have kids “right away.” It was so hilarious. They simply could not wrap their heads around the fact that we weren’t married!
hahah that’s great. you definitely need to have a baby asap.
Haha so funny, it’s fun to see how different it is there and what is totally normal there isn’t normal somewhere else. :)
I love learning funny things about other countries.
Sometimes is better to wait a little longer to get the necessary maturity for the long term marriage life.
Ahahahahaha story of my life!!! In Pakistan, the question is “How many girlfriends do you have?”
I think it comes from an idea that no-one would (or at least should) do “that” before marriage, so it’s ok to have a lot of girls who are just friends – flirting, but no more. That’s a girlfriend, right?!
I always answer that I don’t have one, which provokes the response “but…. why not?”. You know, because Australia is an open country, so it must be easy and all…
*sigh*
hahahah , we always have the same experiences!
I am born and brought up in pune, a relatively progressive city and education capital of India. For my first corporate job , I moved to Hyderabad and met people from all over India.. All of whom were just out of college.. Similar to myself.
Many colleagues from smaller cities in central and northern India were puzzled as how I never had a girl friend in my college days although I studied in pune.. ..