Exploring India; experiences of six months
India and Germany – In the last six months I could experience so many differences, but also some similarities between both of the countries, which are so unsimilar to each other. Sometimes they are really hard to compare, and when I am asked, which country I like better, I always have to pass. While in Germany I am living in a small town with fresh air, green landscapes and a population of just 45000 called Bad Kreuznach, my stay in Mumbai is full of noise, colours and crowd – and I really enjoy it!
Thinking about my time here I will compare India and Germany in different aspects, which cover my experiences and feelings of the people and the enviroment.
Climate
The first difference I noticed when I left the plane was the Indian Climate. In only a few minutes time I noticed my clothes sticking to my skin. The air was very hot and so wet! In monsoon time, even the rain was warm, it seemed to me like walking under an endless shower when I forgot to take my umbrella leaving the house. Such heavy water fall like here I have rarely seen before and I can really imagine, how Mumbai came to the drmatic float in 2005.
The hot season after the monsoon and the winter time that has just ended did not make so much of difference to me, as I mostly found it warm and pleasant. I very much enjoy high temperatures, and apart from the cosy athmosphere of the German winter I did not really miss the cold.
In the summer times in Germany the temperatures may also get up to 30 degrees, these are the weeks we enjoy in the swimming pool, hiking and having barbacue. But people who forget to carry a jacket still catch a cold, as when the sun goes down, also the heat goes off to sleep till the next midday. We only have some warm months: June, Juli, August. Rain falls all the year through, but specially in spring and autum a lot of water is coming down, sometimes it does not even stop raining for several days. In winter time it is mostly cold, in my hometown it can go down to -15 degrees and just remain like this for some weeks. In that case, the river in front of our house freezes and snow is falling every day, so we always have to wake up more early to make the car free from snow and ice and to strew salt on the way infront of our house. That is how the situation in Germany is right now, and I am really glad to skip this time enjoying the sunny days here in Mumbai!
Clothing
According to the warm climate it is no wonder that people also dress up differently. As the men mostly dress up in western style, specially the colourful Sarees called my attention right from the beginning; Made out of light cotton or shimmering silk, decorated with tiny mirrors, complicated stiching work or beautiful ornaments they seem to give life to the dusty streets.
In Germany, also because of the cold, people use to wear thicker textiles or they use jackets. Bright colours are not seen too often, therefore German ladies like to put on eyecaching lowneck and tighter clothes. Married people wear a ring on the right hand, there are no Bindis. In Germany mostly shoes can also enter the house, to keep the house clean there is a matt provided in front of every house to get off the dirt.
Burqas, Turbans or shawls to cover the head are actually not used in Germany. Now because of the Turkey, Polish and Russian people, or people with other origin who immigrated into Germany, some of these items can also be seen.
Transport
The most obvious difference between the German and Indian way of transport is that in India they drive on the left. Though, this fact was one of the last things which I noticed sitting in an Indian car for the first time. I was too excited about the traffic, the noise, trucks, busses, rickshaws and all the people walking amongst them. To travel by train also was a completely new experience: Where are the doors? Where are the windows? How are all these people fitting in one apartment? These were some of the things I wondered about. By now I learned how to get into the ladies apartment and how to leave it at the right stop: Using my elbows!
Travelling in Germany is not so adventurous. Once sitting in the bus or train, the doors are locked so that nobody has the chance to get in, to get out or to hang somewhere in between. Building cars like Mercedes, Porsche or BMW, Germany's streets are so smooth, that is is easy to pass a speed limit and to get a nice bill or to lose your driving licence for some time.
Rickshaws will be one of the first things I will miss after getting into the plane back to Germany. The maneuverable cages of metal with three small wheels, one light in front and never used flashing lights are like the insects in the jungle of Indian traffic. Though they are mostly noisy and they would not pass any German safety test, they are really good to reach meeting points in time, as long as the rickshaw walla does not drive in slalom to increase the price on the meter.
Historical background
Indian people have a strong relation to their country. The combination of orange, white and green can be seen in so many places and before every movie in the cinema, on special functions and also in the beginning of Rotary meetings the Indian National Anthem is sung. This creates a great feeling of unity and it connects all Indians in a positive way.
Unfortunately, in my home country, these costumes of presenting the flag or singing the anthem are very rarely practised. People are still remembering the world wars and how Hitler abused people's feeling of nationality to get absolute control of them. By now Germany consideres itself more as a part of the European Union than as a single country, what gives us a strong connection to people from all over Europe. The Euro reinforces this connection, thus we don't even have to change money when we cross the limits travelling to neighbouring countries. By now, 27 countries are forming the “EU”, while The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Italy and the Western part of Germany founded it in 1957.
Sometimes it seemes to me, India as one single country has got so much of cultural variety and great differences in terms like food, climate and languages, that it is almost comparable with the whole of the European Union. On our trips to the South or to Northern parts of India, there were so many new things to see, to hear and to taste, that I was always wondering, if we are still in the same country. Wonderful India!
Sports
Till now I have not been to any play, but Cricket seems to be the Sport number one in India. The faszination for this game is certainly comparable with the Football rush all over Germany. Apart from that we also like to watch Formula 1 when Michael Schumacher is on the road, many people do hiking, riding or jogging and also playing tennis is very popular.
When I came to India, I got to know Yoga and joined the classes for three months. I find it a very relaxing way to get away from any kind of stress, concentrate on yourself and, at the same time, keep your body active. For the District Conference coming up next month I also learn some Bollywood and Indian Classical dance now, which often is more exhausting, than it appears to be. However, I enjoy learning the new movements and getting into this form of dancing, that is so much different from the ballroom dancing I use to do back home in Germany.
School and College
When I had my first lecture in V. G. Vaze College, I was really surprised about the great discipline in the classroom, though it is much wider than the rooms in Germany. Here, there are many more boys and girls, maybe around 50 pupils, who are forming one single class, while back home every teacher is complaining about the “huge” number of 33 students in my home class. Like in Germany the students are sitting together, chatting, laughing – but, and here lies the difference, as soon as the teacher enters the room there is no noise but the squeezing sound of the fans. The teachers however has to raise their voices loudly to make even the last benches follow. This absolute silence in a hall with so many teenagers inside, which shows an appropriate respect to the teacher, impressed me a lot.
In Germany my class was very much the opposite. During many lectures students use to chat, depending on the teacher we could even eat or drink during a lecture. But also the way of teaching in Germany is different: In many subjects, our own opinion and judgement about different topics is much more discussed, which gives us students a big importance, it really makes us part of the lecture. We not only learn, but also interact with the teacher or try to find out things on our own. I am sure this is a result of the relaxed athmosphere in the classroom, as I experienced, how difficult it is, to guess an answer if nobody else talks and the tension between teacher and student is so big. Concluding I am sure the learning effect is there in both the systems, provided the students are willing to learn.
Character
Now I would like to talk about the German and Indian mentalities. Of course there are people of all kind everywhere, so I just collect the typical characteristics of both nationalities.
„Time, that expires today, is lost forever.“ Germans think in a very organized way. Every minute is calculated and fixed in ones calendar. Waiting is undesirable, so that punctuality becomes very important. 10 or 15 minutes of delay are the limit, it is considered as an offense, if somebody takes even more time to come.
The Indian Standard Time can certainly be described as the exact opposite of the typical German accurateness of a punctual happening. “Time, that expires today, comes again tomorrow” – What a relaxed and easy going school of thought! Stucked in the traffic, discussing with the neighbour about the new movie “3 idiots” or not being able to get into the train or to get out because of the immense crowd are always reasonable explanations for a delay of half an hour or more. Living in Mumbai, I adapted so very fast to this Indian way of handelling the time, that I will really have to struggle coming back to the German punctuality!
The gestures in India and Germany also are very different. While Germans mostly concentrate only on their speaking, but rarely use gestures to emphasize their statements, Indians make very much use of the body language. There are different hand movements for “Namaste” or “thank you”, whereby both palms of hands are put together; dislike, where the right hand is shaked changing the pinky finger and thumb up or down; embarassment, where the hands are waved like if you had burned them; and even the number “five” has got it's own movement, which is always used to ensure, that the waiting time will not last longer than five minutes. Even the face expressions Indians use are different, as we Germans would not understand somebody showing the tongue as somebody, who feels embarassed, but as a cute or naughty gesture. An other difference: Germans use shaking the head from right to left to say no, and they nodd to say yes. Arriving here I first had to get used to the Indan “yes – haan”, that means moving the head to the right and left, but looking to the front, which in Germany would be considered as a gesture of indetermination.
These examples of the different body languages are just a few, that come into my mind right now; to really get into the German or Indian way of conversating you actually have to experience the people chatting, swarming, discussing, complimenting, joking, complaining, wishing,... This is what always entertains me during long train journeys!
Considering the relation to the nature, Germans always try to have an absolute control about every lake, lawn or animal. We take responibility for the nature, so that it does not get too polluted, but Germans also are not willing to tolerate insects in the house.
Indians, how I feel, are more living along with the nature. They do not consider themselves as the controlling race, but as a part of the nature like anything else. I even got to know a totally vegetarian family, who would not even kill a single mosquito. This is really weird to me, specially because I am constantly bitten by mosquitos and I consider killing them as pure self defense!
Music, Food, Festivals
The three points Music, Food and Feativals are so connected to each other, that I will join them to one only chapter. Indian Festivals are, compared to the German ones, so huge, loud and full of action. People dance and sing, they pray together and worship God remembering old but exciting stories of the Indian mythology.
Also Indian Classical Dance is always connected with the mythology, it seems to me that every song tells a different story, accompanied by the loud sound of the tabla, the light music of flute or the typical Indian instrument sitar. Not to forget the Indian way of singing, that is so incredible high!
German modern music is very much influenced by music of England and America, but our classical music also tells stories or go along with famous poems of Goethe or Schiller. Schubert, Bach, Händel, Brahms, Wagner and Beethoven are famous German componists of Classical music, who wrote operas, chorals and concerts for orchestras as well as songs for a single voice and piano. Many of these are well known all over the world.
But now back to India: Accordingly to every particular festival that is happening here, there is a special dish or sweet, that has to be provided in every house. On Ganpati, for example, I got to know Puranpoli, Modak and Aluwadi, I even had the opportunity to help my host mother preparing these dishes.
Like in Germany we use to have big quantities of potatoes, vegetables and the traditional turkey on the Christmas days, Indians like to enjoy a lot of excellent food with every wedding reception taking place. You mostly start with Panipuri or Dahipuri, some juice, soup and Dosa; move on to the salad bar (careful: even salad can be spicy); later enjoy Paneer Curry, baked vegetables, fried rice with Pickle and Dahiwada; after all the the food has settled you taste Malai Kulfi, Jalebi, Gulab Jamun, Shira or Halwa and the small and supersweet Ladoos. Finally, to refresh your mouth, Pan or herbs and sugar pieces are given. The typical European coffee after a big meal is not at all nessesary, since the food is so filling, that you simply do not have any space for anything else afterwards.
While in Germany the main festivals are Eastern and Christmas, in India there are so many festivals, that are at least as much celebrated as we do. Maybe the effort is even more here: Indians buy small temples for their silver statues, do long lasting rituals called Poojas, they sing, pray, worship infront of their idols, which are sometimes even newly bought. On the festival of the God Ganesha, most of the idols are made out of clay and after all the ceremonies immersed in the sea or nearer lakes.
Apart from the Ganpati festival I also became part of Krishnas Birthday, where I saw many people forming pyramids to break the Handi filled with Dahi and sweets; on the time of Nauratri I enjoyed joining in the dances Garba and Dandiya, until I saw a huge burning ceremony of the devil Ravan on Dassera; Diwali was a really noisy and colourful experience, I especially liked the use of buying new clothes at this time and, lastly, Makar Sankranthi as the New Year of the Hindu calendar was nicely sweetened by the tasty Til Gul Ladoo.
Religion
Instead of comparing the Christianism with the Hinduism or Islam, in this last chapter I would like to point out the similar situation between both the countries. Of course India is much more famous for a variety of Religions than Germany, but as Germanys population includes 10% of foreigners, who mostly are Muslims, Jews or Buddhists, slowly we become a multicultural country.
I am really impressed by how many people in Mumbai deal with the many different religions and traditions. Many people here celebrate every festival, no matter if they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians,... It seems so embarassing to me, that in Germany it sometimes is not even possible, that Protestants and Catholics share the holy dinner. Well, we work on it.
As I find, every world religion has got the same aim: To bring peace, happiness, confidence and the great message of love to all of us. Why should there just be one single way to experience and live with God? As well as Christians may feel His presence praying, singing and worshipping in a church, Muslims feel so visiting a mosk and Hindus being in a temple. Anyway the most important thing seems to me, to be grateful for every moment of our life and to have a warm and loving heart.
“God is love. Those who remain in love will remain in God and God will remain in them.” – This is one of my favourite vers in the Bible. It makes belief and confiance so easy. Everyday I experience so many wonderful things, I meet so many friendly people and, with a look at the Indian traffic, till now I was sheltered from any kind of accident, which certainly is not self-evident. I thank God and everybody, specially my parents, who always pray for me.
Lastly I hope you could get an impression of the time in India I had till now and I want to thank Rotary for giving me the chance to make so many enriching expeiences which I will never forget. Looking foreward to the second half of my stay in Mumbai and to the trips to the North of India, I am sure I will have a lot more to write on till my flight back to Germany!
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