Vidya's Apartment - Hyderabad
Dec. 10th, 2019 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiThe apartment is SUPER modern by my standards. One of my coworkers referrred to a "bubble" and he's right. Inside the bubble, you're kind of sealed in - things are cleaner, and more American. The apartment has:
- security guards and RFID car checking - if your car doesn't have the RFID, then the guards ask who you are visiting and then page the apartment occupant via a mobile app. It's like a manual version of a smart doorbell.
- 5 buildings, all with elevators. Weirdly, the elevators each have their own request buttons - so you guess at which elevator is the best bet based on its floor, or give up and press a bunch of buttons.
- a gym, game tables, 2 open rooms that are used for things like yoga, zumba and other excercise programs, a pool, a kids pool, a lounge and on some days, a farmer's market on the lawn! The very definition of a gated community!
- a modern kitchen - it's got a stovetop and all - but also microwave, a nice fridge, washing machine (Indian style... tiny!), and all.
- many bathrooms - my room has it's own bathroom, so I can stumble in there half dazed in the middle of the night. :)
- AC! - I really don't need, but that's so fancy...
- a very open plan -- this is very customizable - people with flats customize quite a bit here... but the basic design is very open, so it gives an American-like sense of BIG space.
- so safe that everyone leaves their doors unlocked and open all the time... this just seems crazy to me... but it's what folks do!
- nearly immediate hot water and toilets that can handle toilet paper
... there's a strong divide on that last one - Indians are VERY pro-bidet. Americans are very pro-paper. I have to say that environmentally, I'm torn. We're actually going to suffer from a water shortage - there is more human need than there is clean water. Using water for cleaning like this may actually be just as bad as TP. But to me TP feels a bit less friendly, environmentally, as it just clumps up somewhere in the sewer.
This actually goes hand in hand with my theory on "clean" - what is clean... really? I don't mean spiritually. American allergy issues and fears of super-germs points out that you really *can* be too clean. But obviously dirty is bad and can make you sick. So there's a happy medium that I don't think even the scientists have really figured out... stuff like yogurt, curd, and kombucha rely on the probiotic benefits that come from bacteria that eats the milk/tea/whatever - and the fact that this is exactly the kind of bacteria that a healthy stomach really needs.... so if clean = no bacteria - it's definitely not "clean" - but it's actually better that way!
So there's also the idea that stuff "feels" clean - like the way the Snuggle Bear feels when he hugs a Snuggle Sheet softened blanket or whatever he hugs. Or the feeling of post-shower clean vs. post workout not-clean. What is that feeling? My theory - for Americans, clean = dry. We like hand sanitizer that leaves you feeling dry and astringent. When we're sweaty we feel grubby. A table that was just cleaned can be wet... but it should dry to be ... finished? Even after a shower, you're not really done until both your skin and hair are dry...
Indians - OTOH - are more of the feeling that wet with water = clean. So ... bidets, not TP. And in a public toilet you'll hear a LOT of splashing around - as your fellow toilet users splash pitchers of water from the in-bathroom tap all over the space, but especially on the foot rests of the Indian toilet. This is IMO - the same thing as my fussy aunt taking out moist toilettes and cleaning every public toilet seat she ever encountered. Said fussy aunt would NEVER just use water - the dryness of the toilette cleaner was vital to her clean feeling... in India the wet feeling is the clean feeling... I think...
I'm still mystified at how everyone comes out of the toilet looking pretty dry - even with dupattas and saris and other drapey pieces of fabric flowing all over. I manage it (mostly) but inside the toilet is a Warner Bros cartoon worthy endeavor - thanks to yoga and lots of Bharata Natyam and Kalaripayattu, the squatting thing is no big deal (work your calves! It's good for you!!) - but squatting + keeping pants, churidar (long tunic, a Southern style), and dupatta (light scarf) dry --- well that's a whole other story - I am like some kid in a cartoon that picks up one thing only to loose track of something else!!
....
Any how - we got in SO late. Vidya stuffed me crazy full of chicken kebab and chicken curry (first meat in 12 days...) and rice and chapatti (like a wheat-based tortilla, but Indian and better than that sounds... @mermaid_lady tried teaching me chapatti making... but I never managed anything as tasty as what every Indian that has fed me makes. Then sleep (at 1:00 AM -- flight was SO late!!) and then up at 7:40 AM. We did a yoga class - which did a LOT to make my body happier about being alive (still a little sick). Then Vidya stuffed me absolutely full of crispy dosas (lentil based crepes) and a coconut chutney and fresh squeezed just a second ago orange juice at her sister-in-law's flat in the same building. If I didn't know that the only animal she eats is chicken, I would think she was fattening me up for a cannibalistic slaughter. :)
Now - we're off to a crazy day... not entirely sure of the current plan - either craft shopping or museum, or both!
- a modern kitchen - it's got a stovetop and all - but also microwave, a nice fridge, washing machine (Indian style... tiny!), and all.
- many bathrooms - my room has it's own bathroom, so I can stumble in there half dazed in the middle of the night. :)
- AC! - I really don't need, but that's so fancy...
- a very open plan -- this is very customizable - people with flats customize quite a bit here... but the basic design is very open, so it gives an American-like sense of BIG space.
- so safe that everyone leaves their doors unlocked and open all the time... this just seems crazy to me... but it's what folks do!
- nearly immediate hot water and toilets that can handle toilet paper
... there's a strong divide on that last one - Indians are VERY pro-bidet. Americans are very pro-paper. I have to say that environmentally, I'm torn. We're actually going to suffer from a water shortage - there is more human need than there is clean water. Using water for cleaning like this may actually be just as bad as TP. But to me TP feels a bit less friendly, environmentally, as it just clumps up somewhere in the sewer.
This actually goes hand in hand with my theory on "clean" - what is clean... really? I don't mean spiritually. American allergy issues and fears of super-germs points out that you really *can* be too clean. But obviously dirty is bad and can make you sick. So there's a happy medium that I don't think even the scientists have really figured out... stuff like yogurt, curd, and kombucha rely on the probiotic benefits that come from bacteria that eats the milk/tea/whatever - and the fact that this is exactly the kind of bacteria that a healthy stomach really needs.... so if clean = no bacteria - it's definitely not "clean" - but it's actually better that way!
So there's also the idea that stuff "feels" clean - like the way the Snuggle Bear feels when he hugs a Snuggle Sheet softened blanket or whatever he hugs. Or the feeling of post-shower clean vs. post workout not-clean. What is that feeling? My theory - for Americans, clean = dry. We like hand sanitizer that leaves you feeling dry and astringent. When we're sweaty we feel grubby. A table that was just cleaned can be wet... but it should dry to be ... finished? Even after a shower, you're not really done until both your skin and hair are dry...
Indians - OTOH - are more of the feeling that wet with water = clean. So ... bidets, not TP. And in a public toilet you'll hear a LOT of splashing around - as your fellow toilet users splash pitchers of water from the in-bathroom tap all over the space, but especially on the foot rests of the Indian toilet. This is IMO - the same thing as my fussy aunt taking out moist toilettes and cleaning every public toilet seat she ever encountered. Said fussy aunt would NEVER just use water - the dryness of the toilette cleaner was vital to her clean feeling... in India the wet feeling is the clean feeling... I think...
I'm still mystified at how everyone comes out of the toilet looking pretty dry - even with dupattas and saris and other drapey pieces of fabric flowing all over. I manage it (mostly) but inside the toilet is a Warner Bros cartoon worthy endeavor - thanks to yoga and lots of Bharata Natyam and Kalaripayattu, the squatting thing is no big deal (work your calves! It's good for you!!) - but squatting + keeping pants, churidar (long tunic, a Southern style), and dupatta (light scarf) dry --- well that's a whole other story - I am like some kid in a cartoon that picks up one thing only to loose track of something else!!
....
Any how - we got in SO late. Vidya stuffed me crazy full of chicken kebab and chicken curry (first meat in 12 days...) and rice and chapatti (like a wheat-based tortilla, but Indian and better than that sounds... @mermaid_lady tried teaching me chapatti making... but I never managed anything as tasty as what every Indian that has fed me makes. Then sleep (at 1:00 AM -- flight was SO late!!) and then up at 7:40 AM. We did a yoga class - which did a LOT to make my body happier about being alive (still a little sick). Then Vidya stuffed me absolutely full of crispy dosas (lentil based crepes) and a coconut chutney and fresh squeezed just a second ago orange juice at her sister-in-law's flat in the same building. If I didn't know that the only animal she eats is chicken, I would think she was fattening me up for a cannibalistic slaughter. :)
Now - we're off to a crazy day... not entirely sure of the current plan - either craft shopping or museum, or both!