As indicated by the title for this week’s blog
entry. Rae and I decided we would just provide commentary about a couple of things
we notice all the time: differences we see in perceptions of time and space.
Time does not mean the same thing here as it does
in the US in several respects. The
first, and most obvious way, shows itself in punctuality, or lack thereof. I am
only exaggerating slightly when I say that NOTHING happens when it is supposed
to and NO ONE keeps appointments at the time they say they will. Let’s say there
is a meeting that is supposed to start at 10:00. The only thing you can
routinely plan on is that meeting will not start then. At 10:00, people will
start wrapping up what they are working on. If it is an important meeting,
people will start coming in about 10:05 and by 10:15 there should be enough
people to actually start. This is true with business meetings, Church meetings,
and personal appointments. At Church, for instance, we are averaging about 100 people
in Sacrament meeting. But when we start at 9:30 (we do try to start and stop
Sacrament meetings on time but the rest of the meetings during the day seem to
start and stop on their own timing) we probably average 25 – 30 people. The
rest filter in sometime.
The universal excuse for late starting is
traffic. I have to admit traffic can be bad and is frequently unpredictable.
Many people are dependent on public transportation, which reduces the
individual control people have. However, there is little thought to planning
ahead to allow for that traffic. And the late arriving phenomenon also occurs
when everyone is already in the building and traffic is of no consideration.
Another way the difference in time manifests
itself is in multitasking. Of course in the west we talk about multitasking but
usually we mean listening to music while we read or looking something up on the
Internet while we watch TV. In India there is little consideration to things
happening serially. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been in
meetings, even fairly confidential or important meetings, only to have people
come in and start separate conversations with key participants or the chair of
the meeting to suddenly initiate or at least accept a phone call. In fact, I am
sure I irk people because I have asked them not to come into my office when I
am meeting with someone else or because I won’t take a call.
This same perception of time also is why, I
believe very few people will wait in a queue. If there is a counter meant to
handle one person at a time, six or seven people will crowd up and try to have simultaneous
conversations. The issues of time and space intersect in these crowds and in
traffic also. As we have noted many times people rarely observe lane
management, rather they swarm. The only limitations in multiple people or
vehicles occupying the same space at the same time is actual physical limitations
(how many vehicles can cram into a space at a time without crashing or with
only minimal damage) rather than artificial rules.
The issue of space also presents itself in the
expectation of personal space. In India this is an interesting contradiction. Impersonal
crowding and invasion of personal space is perfectly acceptable. See the examples
of the service counter mentioned above or the way crowds swarm and jostle each
other at a market area. Having twenty people in a space that would comfortably
handle five is nothing unusual. However personal contact we think is very
normal, a pat on the back, a touch on the arm, holding hands, or heaven forbid
a hug are still quite disapproved of at least among people who follow more traditional
ways. As this implies, things are changing. In urban areas, among people who
have been most exposed to the west, social contact is becoming much more
accepted. On the other hand, as each year literally hundreds of thousands more
people rush to urban areas from the countryside or villages, the issue of crowding
in impersonal space gets worse.
Well, that’s it for me. Here’s Rae
Here are some of my extremely random thoughts on
space.
So many people live in such tiny spaces and yet
are so detached from one another in some ways, and so into each other’s
business in other ways. Let me see if I
can explain that a bit better. It’s not
uncommon to find parents, their married children (let’s say 2 sons and their
wives) and maybe a couple of grandchildren all living together. Maybe that’s why the idea of personal space
is so foreign to everyone, and the idea of having to fight to be heard is a
battle.
Right after I arrived in India we had a couple’s
fireside in our branch. It was pretty
funny to watch the couples reactions to questions like, “ when was the last
time you told your spouse you loved them” or “when was the last time you kissed”? The couples looked at each other and the
women covered their faces and giggled. They
seemed embarrassed when they were told that they should be giving each other a
kiss at least a couple of times a week and the same with telling each other
they loved them. It was pretty funny
watching their reactions when they were asked to give each other a kiss. Husbands and wives don’t seem to care if they
sit together. Some do set together but
not all.
A couple of weekends ago Phil and I went to an
area called Nehru Place. Everyone says
if you have computer or electronic needs that’s the best place to go. Someone had explained a bit about how you can
find anything there and there are a lot of venders and shops, an absolutely
total understatement. I was not prepared
for what we encountered. We went into a
building and up about 6 stairs, and I literally felt like I had just walked into
a beehive. Millions of people, tiny shop
after tiny shop and people swarming everywhere.
Not knowing where to go to find what we were looking for, it was
overwhelming to say the least. We made
our way around a couple of the 5 or 6 floors and then it was time to
retreat. Everyone is handing you stuff,
wanting you to buy from them. It was
organized, I guess, chaos, like a beehive.
Outside the building there were several other streets of more of the
same. I expect if I go back there a time
or two I will become more comfortable with the whole thing. Kind of like I have
with other things, like the traffic and other crowded shopping areas.
That’s it for me for now. I’m exhausted just remembering it.
Namaste.
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