New Understanding to “Going Postal”

Since shortly after my arrival I’ve needed to go to the Post Office. Flat Stanley was traveling with me and it was time to send him to friends in another exotic location (Egypt). I had never expected a stop to the Post Office it to be such a challenge. Dan encouraged me to have someone in my family take me. This meant the oldest daughter who didn’t know where it was. Her brother gave her directions and I thought we were going to go last week. Then I reminded her of my need, but I was not feeling so well and then it was Deacon’s birthday and they were then leaving for their Visa run. So yesterday, as we walked to the chemist for a prescription medicine, she said we would go today at 11 am. So, at 10:45, I was ready to go. Unfortunately, she was not and since breakfast had yet to be served, let alone made, I knew it wouldn’t be happening as I had hoped. Finally she was ready and we embarked via rickshaw.

From the outside it looked very nice (better than the one I remember in Kathmandu), even the inside was clean, with signs hanging. Granted, it appeared to me that each sign said the same thing and it was all written in Hindi, so I couldn’t understand it at all. Since Afreen had never been there before she was unsure where to go. We went to one side, I asked her to read the sign and she said it was something for banking. Of course, this was the side with minimal lines, so we moved over to the side that was filled with chaos. She asked if she should ask someone what to do and I readily agreed. But she is shy and didn’t know who to ask. So I said, well, let’s just get in line then. Unfortunately, we were the only women there, but normally there is a separate line for women. After some time, a guy told us we could go to the front. Bless this man! But moving to the front really wasn’t much better.

Just prior to being encouraged to move to the front I noticed a lame man escorted to the front, so I was standing near him. Afreen did not know that he was lame, so when an opening was made, I motioned for this man to go. She was bothered that I did not move and let him go first (and I didn’t know that she didn’t know he had something wrong with his leg). It was nearly a tense moment until she understood and saw his stick that helped him walk. ☺ To our left the guys were getting quite rowdy – I wish I could have heard what was said. The “lines” were crazy and it was bothering me the way the guys pressed into me. Even Afreen had words with a guy who was getting too close to her. As a space in front of me would open up, a guy had already squeezed his way in. Very frustrating, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I need a stronger Indian woman showing me the ropes. I think Afreen would just sit there and get frustrated. I noticed another counter, where the window had just opened up and slid in, asking the lady if I could send my mail with her. She gave the Indian nod and took my letters. Whew, at last.

As we walked out I mentioned how nice it would be to have a husband who would deal with that chaos and Afreen quickly said, “Yes, but he would be in there for another hour.” I laughed and mentioned how a man walking out might say how he wished he had a wife to do the mailing.

A few other learnings I’ve had are in the pronunciation of seemingly English words. Not knowing the British pronunciation, I’m not sure if that’s how they are saying it or in their own Indianized way. A couple examples…Vitamin…I was telling a friend about the importance of vitamin C when you have a cold. She asked me to write this medecine down for her. Once I wrote it, she said “Oh, you mean vitamin.” I can see that this will not translate so well. Let me try it like this: ˈvītəmən is how you would see the pronunciation in the American dictionary. But they pronounce it with a soft “i”. And we say the “t” more like a “d”. there’s also a way that Indians place their tongue – for all of you that love impersonating Indians, you’ve already figured this out. The tongue hits the roof of your mouth more than the teeth area. And “th” is more of a hard “t”. Now try saying “theatre”. ☺

Okay, enough of my nonsense.