The Indian Hobbit

I know when I first started this blog I said I would not be writing about hobbits, but there is no other comparison to give Indians from India than to compare them to a hobbit. For anyone who has traveled to a new place it seems like the road or pathway of getting there often takes forever. You are excited and anxious to arrive and explore the treasures of your destination. You are ready to start a new adventure and starting it does not come soon enough. Well, traveling to Pokhara which is in Nepal was like that for me. I was ready to get away from the heat of India. I was ready to be in the mountains which is where I love to be more than any other place on earth. I was ready to explore and try new adventures, but a 12 hour car ride was between me and Pokhara.

Ved and McArthur have the sweetest driver named Ganga. He is very kind and would do anything for me or anyone else riding in the car to make sure it is comfortable and enjoyable. It is with him that I realized that Indians are like Hobbits which is both good and bad. Ganga comes from a farming family. 

First Comparison: In India farming means that you are very connected with the earth. Most of farming is done by hand. The planting, the weeding, and the harvest are all done by hand. They have a love for the earth and for things that grow.

Second Comparison: Indians have a laid back happy attitude about life. I love their attitude about life. However, this often means that it takes way to long to get ANYTHING done. I was at the fabric shop the other day buying fabric for shirts to be made. I walked in and had met the owner of the shop before and he was very kind and helpful. He even gave me free material for my first tailored shirt in India. I told that I was there to pick a color for the Yash company shirts as well as get material for my own shirts. He sat down and began to chat with Ganga who was with me. He then would address me and have someone look for some material colors for Yash. He would chat with someone else or just sit there in thought for a while and then he would make a phone call or talk with someone else. He would then address me again and we would talk about the options for a color and then he would make another phone call or chat with someone else. Finally he decided he did not have material in the shade that Yash was looking for, but would send samples in a few days. What took 20 minutes to tell me could have been done in 2 minutes, but because of the care free attitude it took much longer. I did however get some great material and colors for button down shirts.

Third Comparison: Hobbits do not wear shoes, and Indians do not like to wear shoes. They have tough dirty feet. They wear sandals or flip flops (thongs if you are from the 70's) and take them off whenever they are inside. OK so that is not weird in American to take your shoes off at home, but these people take them off even at work and leave them at the door. When we are driving in the car Ganga likes to takes his shoes off to drive. Anytime they have the opportunity to take off their shoes they do.  

Last Comparison: In the Lord of The Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring, (Movie one), there is a part of the movie when the hobbits are going with Aragon to Rivendale. They come to a place where the hobbits begin to unload the horse and Argon says; "Gentlemen we do not stop until nightfall." To this Pippin asks, "But what about breakfast." Aragon replies, "We've had it." Pippin responds, "Yes we've had one yet. What about second breakfast?" Merry then says "I don't think he knows about second breakfast Pip." Pippin then asks, "What about elevensies, lunch-in, afternoon tea, dinner, super. He knows about them doesn't he?"

When I was on my trip with Ganga to Nepal we had to stop a few times for tea. I needed to use an ATM so the first time it was no problem. Then the next time we were at lunch so again he had tea which does not waste time because it was lunch. He had it at the boarder which again was OK because I had paperwork to do. All these places for tea were before noon. Well on the way to Pokhara in Nepal we had to stop a few more times for tea and the tea breaks are like 15-20 minutes. Well more tea means more pee breaks which means in between the tea stops we had pee stops. So it was a little frustrating that this guy needed his tea so frequently especially when I just wanted to get to Pokhara. So then after getting back to India we took a shorter 2 hour drive to pick Ved and McArthur up from the Airport. Well about half way to the airport we had to stop again for tea.

There are other experiences I could write on about why Indians are like Hobbits, but I think you get the Idea.