It's almost been a good two weeks since the kid left for his voluntary work in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in India. It has been quite interesting to observe his behaviour there and his reactions to the homeland. Though India is the land of his birth, we brought him to the US when he was one year old, and he has called North America his home ever since. But for two brief visits and short stays, he has never actually lived for extended periods of time in India. So it was with a lot of trepidation and anxiety that we saw him off a couple of weeks ago, but needless to say, the kid has done us proud by adjusting extremely well and taking to India like a duck to water!
Not a word of complaint so far about the heat, dust, mosquitoes or daily power shutdowns there. That in itself is HUGE, in my opinion! No word yet that he misses the burgers, hotdogs, pizza, pasta, tacos and sushi here! He has impressed all the government officials he has dealt with, and seems to have picked up the details of disaster management quite quickly for his age. He visits the Collectorate on a daily basis and sits in with senior officials, including the District Collector, in their meetings, taking copious notes and interacting with them quite knowledgeably. He has been extremely courteous and polite in his behaviour, as reported to us by his chaperones and mentor. In fact, I was quite impressed by the fact that when he meets senior people, he puts both his hands together and says "Vannakkam", the Tamil form of greeting others, which never fails to impress them, needless to say! And when he meets the elders in the family, he promptly bends down and touches their feet, thus touching their hearts!
He has taken the adjustment to extreme levels, eating the oily bajjis (deep-fried, savoury banana fritters) that he's being given in the government offices in India. I was petrified on hearing that and immediately started imagining scenarios of food poisoning and hospitalization and saline drips, and when I asked him why he ate them, he replied very calmly that he thought it would be culturally impolite to refuse what was being offered, and ate whatever he was given because he didn't want to offend the concerned people! I could only mumble something lamely about not wanting his stomach to get upset, and to use the diarrhoea medication, if need be. The whole experience has been an overwhelming cultural rush for the kid, but he has managed to take everything in stride and to remain positive and upbeat about all his escapades in the homeland!
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