University of Mysore: Prior Faculty Report
Travel to India
Dr. Dennis L. Wignall - Feb. 7, 2002
My own attitude towards foreign travel has been shaped by years of traveling to many countries and teaching the Intercultural Communication for my Department here at SVSU. My overall impression of my recent trip to India is very positive of the entire experience, the Indian people, and the country. I was met consistently with courtesy, respect, warmth, and gentleness from all peoples I encountered.
Here are my comments and observations that should prove helpful to future travelers to India:
- Be prepared to remove your shoes when entering any living quarters. This means bare feet, or stocking feet. Some hosts will provide slippers, but not always.
- It would be unwise to rent or otherwise operate, yourself, a motor vehicle during your stay in India. The university will provide you with a driver and vehicle. The "rules of the road" consist of chaos and anarchy at 50+ mph, as well as driving on the 'left', as in England and Japan. Public transportation is very cheap, reasonably timely, but difficult to determine destination unless you have a guide. Be prepared when being chauffered about to trust your driver! Even though you're passing a bus at 50 mph and there's a large truck immediately in front of you approaching at 50 mph, head on collisions are avoided at the last second.
- There are many restaurants of varying size and ambiance. I never did see a menu and thus you are very dependent upon your guide for edibles. All food is spicy. You can ask for reduced and/or non-spicy foods, but it'll still be a bit spicy. It's very unwise to inspect where food is prepared. Cooks in India do not seem to adhere to uniform rules of hygiene. All food is tasty, albeit spicy to varying degrees. I recommend eating cooked vegetables, rice, flat breads, potatoes in various sauces, fruits that you have to peel to eat (and the same goes for fresh vegetables). The variety drops off rather quickly if you dislike spiciness. I advise taking a generous quantity of your favorite snack (I like what I call "Trail Mix"). Your Indian hosts will do everything possible to provide you with what you need, but you will embarrass them if you insist on 'Americanized' foods exclusively. They cannot provide them in most cases; and, if possible to do so, will incur great expense in their efforts to succeed. Bottled water is crucial and you will be provided with as much of it as you request, but pay particular attention to the seal on the bottle. Make sure that it is not broken. Some individuals have the habit of refilling the bottles and do so from dubious sources. Those same individuals will drink water from bottles because their important guests do it. However, the former drink for social reasons, while the latter do so for hygienic reasons. If you stay in the Guest House, you can choose to eat at a communal table, or request that the food be brought to your room. If you eat at the communal table, you'll quickly notice that you're the only one (or one of the very few) who is using a utensil of some type (usually a large spoon). Everyone else is shoveling it in with their right hand. Ah! Don't eat, touch someone, hand out your business card, or gesture with your left hand. The left hand is seen as 'unclean' by many people.
- If there are 1 billion people in India (the continent is comparable to Texas, times two, roughly), then 650 million of them wear sandals, 150 million wear shoes, and the rest go barefoot. The terrain is irrelevant: dirt, rocks, weeds, mud, sand, asphalt, concrete: it doesn't matter. I found that sneakers were quite useful for almost all occasions, except meeting administrative dignitaries and lecturing. You might also take along a pair of cheap flip-flops for indoor use. They come in handy when you visit a building that doesn't allow shoes and you have to travel between buildings on dirt and rocky trails before retrieving your shoes. Also, there are probably tens of thousands of three-wheeled 'cabs' in Mysore, bicycles, cars of every shape and age, carts pulled by oxen, motor scooters, mopeds, motorcycles, busses, lorries (trucks), dinky little mini-vans, trains, carts pulled by miniature horses (as well as full-sized), and even an elephant every so often. The other 40% of the population are walking! Also, bring a small knap-sack for carrying your camera, glasses, flip-flops, etc. This will keep your hands free and make sure that it fastens securely. Bring plenty of film! Indian people don't mind at all that you're taking their picture; however, be sure not to take any pictures of police or military or their buildings/facilities. I had to deal with more than one cranky Ghurka armed with an automatic rifle and lance. I borrowed a bicycle from a student, ditched my guide, and enjoyed Indian culture on my own for four hours by riding hither and yon up hills, through unbelievable traffic, and impenetrable smog. But it was great fun and I learned a great deal about the Indian people and their culture.
- Gifts, and the process of giving/receiving them, is very interesting. It is not the value of the gift that matters; it is the act of giving or exchanging them. Generally speaking, the higher up the social ladder someone is, the more valuable the gift should be. It is unwise to present a really nice gift to the colleague who has been guiding you everywhere; and, at the same time, present a less valuable gift to his/her superior. Also, in this same vein, the Indian people are very conscious of social differences, but are also working very hard to reduce their influence. Their goal is to have everyone be seen as equal and the use of the term "Untouchables" can lead to recrimination, even fines/jail in some situations. It's best to just refer to all people equally without any class or caste label. The Caste System is work related, not unlike feudal Europe. If one's father is a plumber, the children will be plumbers, etc. It's very different to move, marry, or interact across different Castes for some people. One's Caste is identified by the way in which one speaks and it is thought that it is very difficult to change the way one speaks. Therefore, one is bound by Caste affiliation for life. I found Michigan calendars, date-books, small books of quotes, blocks of postcards depicting Michigan scenery to be appropriate. In the future, I will also take spare text books and journals relating to my discipline.
- In the countryside you will see rice paddies, sugar cane fields, potato fields, coconut palms, and banana palms. The air quality is very poor and if you have asthma or other breathing difficulties you'll need to take additional medical precautions before you leave the US. Most engines in India are two-cycle and/or diesel. Many people burn dung for cooking and/or heat, and there are many smoldering trash fires. Expect your eyes to burn, nasal mucus to become dark gray, even black, and you'll cough more frequently. Happily, your physiology will recover rapidly once the air is cleaner. I doubt that environmental sensitivity is foremost in many Indian consciousness. It appears that everything that can be used to sustain human life is utilized to the utmost, with little regard to environmental consequences. Public urination and defecation is a common practice by men/boys. If women practice it, the process is much more discrete than the men's. That adds to the general aroma of diesel, oil, gas, etc. I found many instances of great distances between people and their wealth and status. For example, I went by a track where horses were being raced and the people were all well-dressed and arrived by cab and private car. The streets were littered with the remains of losing wager tickets and these represented rather large sums of monies lost on wagers. Not 200 meters from all this was one of the poorest areas I encountered in Mysore. Raw sewage in the gutters, a nearby creek equally befouled, small children playing next to the gutter, women washing clothes in the creek, men trying to bathe in the creek, housing consisted of a lean-to with a roof of dried palm leaves, dirt floor, everyone bare-foot, eating with bare hands from a communal bowl, blue tarps covering some roofs, flies which are normally found on the rumps of the many cows were hovering around open food containers, and the more wealthy passersby leaving the race track seemed oblivious to it all.
My impression of the Guest House was that for an individual male, it was adequate. Privacy is a bit sketchy because of the cracks in doors and shutters, etc. The beds must be made out of concrete with a sheet on them. Showers are available, but there's only hot water in the pipes from 6:30 am until 9:30 am. After that, it's goose-bump city! Or, ask to stay in a local hotel not far from the campus. Check the facilities before committing to staying anywhere! The plusses are that the guest house is free, as are meals, and they are served in your room if needed. Also, the cook will rustle you up anything (as availability dictates) at any time. The mosquitoes are proliferate but they are not of the malaria type. I did not take the malaria medication but had it handy in case the one malarial mosquito in Karnataka State did find a piece of my hide upon which to dine.
Lectures always went overtime because of the willingness of students to engage in discussion, both during the lecture and afterwards. The setting was in a small "lecture hall" that holds 25-30 students. It is a simple classroom, very much like you would see in a poorer high school in this country. The VSpace is real slate; rough, and the chalk is very soft. Technology is virtually non-existent. I asked to be able to present a Power Point presentation with my lecture and they said it would be possible, but very difficult. I hauled my laptop along and never used it. So, after talking with a few faculty, I put the laptop away and became a traditional lecturer. Students take notes by hand, as long as you speak clearly and go back over main points. Encourage them to ask questions at any time and to pose counter points of view. They need to know that you will embrace that type of interaction because their own pedagogical processes are patterned after the traditional English model. They are hungry for insights into all aspects of anything American. I was asked some very hard questions. For example: "Why does the United States have a statement in the Declaration of Independence that states: "…all men are created equal." And yet you treat African Americans in less than equal ways." Try answering that unrehearsed! They weren't being contentious or adversarial! It was an honest question that was sincerely posed. There were many others ranging from political complexities (especially surrounding Sept 11), to dating behaviors of young American men and women. (The latter was of particular interest because 80% if all Indian marriages are arranged by parents and older family members. Young people are expected to marry the chosen individual and if they eventually fall in love, that makes it great, but not a necessary ingredient.) At the beginning of my first lecture, I was presented with a bouquet of flowers. At the end of the last lecture, I was presented with a lei carved of aromatic sandalwood, and another carving symbolizing caring, humanity, and compassion. I responded by presenting the class with a large Michigan calendar that they could hang in the departmental offices so that everyone could enjoy and make use of it. Dress code for faculty is very casual: long trousers, open collar shirt, sandals/sneakers. I left the tie in the guest house but wore slacks, dress shirt, sport jacket, and leather shoes. (Don't worry about leather items unless you try to go into a Hindu shrine. Cows/oxen are revered as religious icons and their byproducts shouldn't be worn in shrines. However, on the street and in most other settings it's not a problem. By the way, if a cow [and they're all over the place] should get in your way, you are allowed to gently shoo it away. Nothing seemed to happen "on time." So, just be patient. It'll happen; but precisely 'when' is the question.
Some tips on flying would include: determine seating as early as possible and aim for a bulkhead aisle seat. Tons of leg room and an easy exit. The other best seat is the window seat at one of the emergency exits. Take a package of those 'dry wipes' with you. They will come in handy when you use the restroom on the plane.
Final note, take a number of business cards with you because the exchange of business cards is a frequent occurrence. Treat the card of someone else with a certain reverence. Take a moment to read it (although it may be written in one of the Indian languages) and then carefully place it in a special place such as your wallet, etc. I learned to write on the back of each card the setting, phonetically spelled name of the owner, his/her title, and a brief description of the person. This is very helpful later when you're sorting through the pile of accumulated cards and indicates to the owner that you really care about receiving it.
I hope that this information makes your trip to India a little more enjoyable! Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions. I would be happy to help at any time.
Sincerely,
Dennis L. Wignall, Ph.D
dwignall(at)svsu.edu
989-790-3469 (home)
989-4970-4903 (office)