What became very obvious to me from the first time I arrived is India is not a quiet place. It wouldn't be somewhere you would want to go to relax or retire for piece of mind.
I was awoken this morning by the sound of what seemed like someone throwing large rocks from one metal structure to another, over and over. I finally got irritated enough to insist Jordan close both the windows in spite of the heat. Mornings are generally the worst because people are out selling vegetables and various other items via bicycle yelling with their 'signature' call as they slowly meander through the streets. There is the paper guy, the onion guy, the potato guy, the broom guy, the rug guy, and the plastic bucket guy. They must spend hours getting their bike all loaded up and ready to go and I can only imagine how many miles and hours per day they do this.
Also in the morning ladies are outside beating their laundry on the rooftop or out back, with their rhythmic hits of wet clothing over and over on rocks or grated structures designed for this purpose. Along with this, although we stay in a rather quiet neighborhood (as far as India goes) there are always motorcycles and loud vans and trucks driving by none of which have ever heard of a muffler.
Now, my most favorite noise nuisance here in India is the constant horn honking and beeping. Indians love to honk to alert you of their presence or to alert you that you did something incorrectly. It isn't just here and there as we are accustomed to in the US, but literally constantly with never a time where it isn't present. We drove into the city last evening and outside of the horrendous traffic, the constant honking was so incredibly annoying I almost dove out into traffic.
People here themselves aren't overly quiet, they slam doors and move things around constantly without a lot of regard to those sleeping or resting. It doesn't matter the hour either late at night or early morning you can always count on a lot of noise activity. Nobody seems particularly bothered by it (as normal) which almost makes me more irritated. I think a lot about 'tolerance' when I come to India and how the high tolerance level here is both a blessing and a curse. Not demanding more or better is a big source of the lack of change here, but on the other hand for someone like me to come here and be able to experience how warm and welcoming people are is much due to their tolerance.
Lets talk about animals a moment. There are always dogs barking, sometimes at night it is like constant dog fights out in the distance. They are growling and snarling and scaring the heck out of me, but luckily we are on the 3rd floor and they would never get up here. Then there are the various cows mooing through the streets looking for food (I learned that the food items which are used during the religious rituals are later fed to cows, which I liked as opposed to wasting it), as well as the periodic goat. There are lots of doves outside our window, big ones that make those annoying morning dove noises in the early hours. I have heard monkeys at times, but not in our area, they are usually by the temples or jungle type areas (although I saw one at Dominos pizza once)
Oh, and I have to mention the constant chatter of my relatives talking in Bengali, most of which I do not understand. I periodically hear my name and a few key words I understand in which I attempt to craft a story around, but other than that, it again is background noise to me.
As I am typing, the big rock guys are hard at it again. I still haven't figured out exactly what it is they are doing, but they are shouting back and forth to each other with a background score of various beeps, bird calls, and roaring engines. Like an old time movie, it becomes an enhancement of the landscape and something I begin to not notice over time.
I was awoken this morning by the sound of what seemed like someone throwing large rocks from one metal structure to another, over and over. I finally got irritated enough to insist Jordan close both the windows in spite of the heat. Mornings are generally the worst because people are out selling vegetables and various other items via bicycle yelling with their 'signature' call as they slowly meander through the streets. There is the paper guy, the onion guy, the potato guy, the broom guy, the rug guy, and the plastic bucket guy. They must spend hours getting their bike all loaded up and ready to go and I can only imagine how many miles and hours per day they do this.
Also in the morning ladies are outside beating their laundry on the rooftop or out back, with their rhythmic hits of wet clothing over and over on rocks or grated structures designed for this purpose. Along with this, although we stay in a rather quiet neighborhood (as far as India goes) there are always motorcycles and loud vans and trucks driving by none of which have ever heard of a muffler.
Now, my most favorite noise nuisance here in India is the constant horn honking and beeping. Indians love to honk to alert you of their presence or to alert you that you did something incorrectly. It isn't just here and there as we are accustomed to in the US, but literally constantly with never a time where it isn't present. We drove into the city last evening and outside of the horrendous traffic, the constant honking was so incredibly annoying I almost dove out into traffic.
People here themselves aren't overly quiet, they slam doors and move things around constantly without a lot of regard to those sleeping or resting. It doesn't matter the hour either late at night or early morning you can always count on a lot of noise activity. Nobody seems particularly bothered by it (as normal) which almost makes me more irritated. I think a lot about 'tolerance' when I come to India and how the high tolerance level here is both a blessing and a curse. Not demanding more or better is a big source of the lack of change here, but on the other hand for someone like me to come here and be able to experience how warm and welcoming people are is much due to their tolerance.
Lets talk about animals a moment. There are always dogs barking, sometimes at night it is like constant dog fights out in the distance. They are growling and snarling and scaring the heck out of me, but luckily we are on the 3rd floor and they would never get up here. Then there are the various cows mooing through the streets looking for food (I learned that the food items which are used during the religious rituals are later fed to cows, which I liked as opposed to wasting it), as well as the periodic goat. There are lots of doves outside our window, big ones that make those annoying morning dove noises in the early hours. I have heard monkeys at times, but not in our area, they are usually by the temples or jungle type areas (although I saw one at Dominos pizza once)
Oh, and I have to mention the constant chatter of my relatives talking in Bengali, most of which I do not understand. I periodically hear my name and a few key words I understand in which I attempt to craft a story around, but other than that, it again is background noise to me.
As I am typing, the big rock guys are hard at it again. I still haven't figured out exactly what it is they are doing, but they are shouting back and forth to each other with a background score of various beeps, bird calls, and roaring engines. Like an old time movie, it becomes an enhancement of the landscape and something I begin to not notice over time.
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