Introduction to new cultures

Around circa 1998-99, when I was back in Pune after about 2 decades of absence and exposure to the culture and thought, I had many odd re-acquainting experiences. It ranged from getting used to shops closing at unexpected times, to the recalcitrance of rickshaw drivers to carry me as a fare, even when I offered a premium, to the power cuts. Neither of the three examples I have offered were, to me, familiar to from the other part of India that composed my experience in the nation. I was truly experiencing the other India, something I was told by some when growing in Bombay/बम्बै/मुंबई .

The incident that even today, after a decade and half that recurs is when I refused to just toss the newspaper in which some food a friend and I had purchased, but waited to find a rubbish can. I was disappointed to not find any. After a couple of hours we reached Pune Railway Station, where we bought platform tickets (think we were going in to receive a friend who was arriving), which had many such receptacles. Gratefully, I rushed forth and tossed the crumpled sheets of paper into the can. It disappeared for a brief moment, and then reappeared at my feet. I repeated this, at least once more, and then left the ball of paper to its own devices.

I might have learned that even paper, usually made from organic materials, its it own organism and I need to learn to leave it to its own devices.