1) Helpfulness
One of the many amazing characteristics of the people of India is their kindness and willingness to help when you seem lost, afraid or in need. They are constantly going out of their way to lend a hand to us hopeless Americans. Prime example was this weekend when we were lost and couldn't find the correct bus to the ferry jetty in Ernakulam, and one of us really needed to use the bathroom. We stopped at a nice-looking restaurant and in desperation went inside to beg to use the bathroom and look at the Lonely Planet map. When we asked the owner to use the bathroom and sit for a moment in the restaurant, the owner smiled and greeted us as if we were his long-lost children just returned home. He not only let us use the bathroom without purchasing anything, he turned on the air-conditioning unit adjacent to our table, helped us locate where we wanted to go on the map, then proceeded to walk us to the correct bus stop then waited with us until it came to ensure we got on. We profusely thanked him, and he just head bobbled and smiled happily. The people here are so willing to help, whether it's putting an arm out to steady you on a particularly wild bus ride, pulling your tunic down when it gets caught in your purse strap during rounds or explaining what each type of foreign vegetable is on the menu, they always do it with such kindness.
2) Tatkal train tickets
This was such a phenomenon in itself, though very specific, that it just has to be mentioned. We knew before coming to India that we very much wanted to visit Kerala, and were disappointed when we tried to book train tickets from here and found out that they had been sold out for months and that there was a waiting list for them of about 100 people. Frustrated and disappointed that we couldn't go, we tried to come up with other plans. However, Julie came bouncing home after work one day with an interesting tidbit. She had made friends with a med student from Chennai who told her about tatkal train tickets, a magical way to purchase tickets for an already-sold-out train. Too good to be true? Absolutely not. We had to go to a travel agent on Gandhi road who I had to communicate with by writing and gestures due to lack of English, who agreed for a fee to purchase the tatkal tickets online when they became available. To my understanding, the train companies hold a certain amount of tickets for emergencies, and these become available 48 hours before the train leaves and can only be purchased by licensed travel agents. Michael and I made the arrangements and I left the travel office feeling like there was no possible way we'd get them, but what do you know, we did and got on the Thursday night train. It was quite an ordeal trying to get them on the way back however, since they went on sale while we were in Kerala and I had to try to communicate with the agents by phone (see paragraph above regarding communication with hand gestures and writing). However, it worked again that we got on a sold-out train back to Vellore and arrive at 2 AM last night. Apparently this is a normal way to go about booking transportation here, and just another one of the idiosyncracies that makes India so mystifying and enjoyable.
One of the many amazing characteristics of the people of India is their kindness and willingness to help when you seem lost, afraid or in need. They are constantly going out of their way to lend a hand to us hopeless Americans. Prime example was this weekend when we were lost and couldn't find the correct bus to the ferry jetty in Ernakulam, and one of us really needed to use the bathroom. We stopped at a nice-looking restaurant and in desperation went inside to beg to use the bathroom and look at the Lonely Planet map. When we asked the owner to use the bathroom and sit for a moment in the restaurant, the owner smiled and greeted us as if we were his long-lost children just returned home. He not only let us use the bathroom without purchasing anything, he turned on the air-conditioning unit adjacent to our table, helped us locate where we wanted to go on the map, then proceeded to walk us to the correct bus stop then waited with us until it came to ensure we got on. We profusely thanked him, and he just head bobbled and smiled happily. The people here are so willing to help, whether it's putting an arm out to steady you on a particularly wild bus ride, pulling your tunic down when it gets caught in your purse strap during rounds or explaining what each type of foreign vegetable is on the menu, they always do it with such kindness.
2) Tatkal train tickets
This was such a phenomenon in itself, though very specific, that it just has to be mentioned. We knew before coming to India that we very much wanted to visit Kerala, and were disappointed when we tried to book train tickets from here and found out that they had been sold out for months and that there was a waiting list for them of about 100 people. Frustrated and disappointed that we couldn't go, we tried to come up with other plans. However, Julie came bouncing home after work one day with an interesting tidbit. She had made friends with a med student from Chennai who told her about tatkal train tickets, a magical way to purchase tickets for an already-sold-out train. Too good to be true? Absolutely not. We had to go to a travel agent on Gandhi road who I had to communicate with by writing and gestures due to lack of English, who agreed for a fee to purchase the tatkal tickets online when they became available. To my understanding, the train companies hold a certain amount of tickets for emergencies, and these become available 48 hours before the train leaves and can only be purchased by licensed travel agents. Michael and I made the arrangements and I left the travel office feeling like there was no possible way we'd get them, but what do you know, we did and got on the Thursday night train. It was quite an ordeal trying to get them on the way back however, since they went on sale while we were in Kerala and I had to try to communicate with the agents by phone (see paragraph above regarding communication with hand gestures and writing). However, it worked again that we got on a sold-out train back to Vellore and arrive at 2 AM last night. Apparently this is a normal way to go about booking transportation here, and just another one of the idiosyncracies that makes India so mystifying and enjoyable.
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