Why I Love India

Ten months ago, if someone asked me why I love India, I would have given them the “generic” answer.  The blending of religions and cultures, the food, the people…….all of which are pretty vague to be honest.  As my 8th month mark of living in Delhi is rolling in, I decided to make a list of all of the little things that I love about this country and about living here.

I love…..

1. How the street food guys will give you a free refill on your curry if you still have bread left
2. That 30% of the group at my gym’s zumba class are men.   And this isn’t a stand awkwardly at the back of the room type of thing.  This is full-blown booty shaking.
3. That when I was scared of getting sick with dengue because I don’t know who would help me,  a team member told me that they would take care of me. That we are family.
4. That you can get fresh squeezed OJ for roughly 30 cents on nearly every street
5. That overweight men ride around on tiny motorbikes
6. That you frequently see buff Sikh men in bright pink turbans drinking beer in bars
7. That complete strangers will ask you if you want to try a bite of their food if you ask them what it is
8. That children will come up and say hi and shake your hand
9. That there will always be someone to help you try and wrap a sari
10. That some of the biggest traffic jams are caused by cows
11. That I have watched men slapping a cow in the butt to try and get them to move.  It generally doesn’t work too well
12. That people treat animals well here
13. That my team feeds their leftover chapatis to cows on the way home from work
14. That if you say that you have stomach issues to an Indian friend, 90% of the time they will invite you over for “home food”
15. That the woman whose son I tutor packed me up a snack bag when I told her I was going to board an overnight train that night
16. That I can easily find well-educated, like-minded people from all parts of the world
17. That if I want to feel like a hippy backpacker, I can simply hop on a train to the closest tourist city
18. That you can wander into a Sikh temple and not only feel welcome but also be fed delicious food
19. That I can do a job here where I actually feel like I am making the world a tiny bit better
20. That the local shopkeepers notice when I haven’t been in in awhile and treat me like a long lost relative
21. That a friend told me a story about a monkey throwing his book off of the roof in Varanasi
22. That you can buy cheap beer at Taco Bell and that lots of people actually do it
23. That people begin dancing in nightclubs the moment a song comes on
24. That when my desk lamp broke, three of our security guards had an “operation” and managed to save it
25. That little bicycle carts appear in my neighborhood every day offering fresh fruits and vegetables.  It is like the healthy version of the ice cream truck
26. That this place surprises me every single day