indian

We arrived at the beautiful village in Indonesia after a slow and nervous traditional boat ride with a skilled skipper who ought to have been at school. With the backdrop of green mountains and sprawling paddy fields, electricity is yet to extend its reach. When we entered one of the houses, running to escape the rain, I heard music. Oh, to hear a battery operated radio whistling out a Hindi song! And, when we were introduced, the hosts were animated to know that I was from India. Indonesians love Hindi cinema, of course. Somehow I can understand how a bule feels when travelling across Asia. India to Indonesians is Hindi movies, peppy songs, Shah Rukh Khan and Preeti Zinta.
So, here I was in a sleepy pristine village listening to Hindi songs against the now heavy rain. That trip, though, turned into a nightmare. The urinal and the kitchen were just few feet apart. Since the men don’t come into the kitchen, the women can use it instead of running to the forest for a pee. Of course, it’s kept clean by lavish amount of water after every use. At first, all of us were alarmed at the location of the toilet. Would we use it? One by one my reluctant friends ventured forth. That’s the thing about nature’s forces, after a while, the urgency takes over. They recommended:
“Use it Merlin, it isn’t as bad as it looks,” they said.
When I shook my head to the contrary I got clearly annoyed looks. In fact, it’s very irritating when someone is as adamant as me.
a. It makes the others look bad.
b. Be a Roman when you are in Rome, otherwise stay at home.
(Also, one has to remember the kindness of the host letting us, complete strangers, use the bathroom). Still, different culture or not, near the kitchen? No way. The men were sympathetic.
‘We know it’s difficult,’ they said.
B said, ‘I respect you.’
With a belly full of water, the praise was lost on me. And, curious how things turn out, B did become a close friend, a friendship born that day. Around the house there were just the vast paddy fields and the near distant forest. Forest?
Now, local custom deems, in the words of an Indonesian friend, “Gods of the forest should be respected so, no peeing in the forest.”