India Redux in Geneva
There's a department store in Geneva called
"Globus." As far as we can tell, the store's gimmick is that its displays and
decorations reflect a different city or region of the world every month or so.
We walked into Globus on Saturday and for a second thought we were back in
India. "Mumbai/Bombay" is the theme for May and June.
OK, that's not true at all. We didn't mistake
Globus for India for a second. In fact, what was surprising to us was the way
that "India" had been branded. The idea of India--its cultural uniqueness--was
what was being sold at Globus. But it was, of course, a completely sanitized
version of India. One section of the store had an autorickshaw on display. It
looked like an authentic rickshaw, probably shipped from India (or more likely,
from the Piaggio factory in Italy where India's rickshaws are made). The
rickshaw had some actual dirt on it, but was for the most part stripped of the
filth typically covering an Indian rickshaw (except for Mohammed, or driver in
Ahmedabad, who kept his rickshaw very clean). There were no train windows with
bullet holes in them, like the window in our compartment on the train from
Pathankot to Delhi. The train originated in Jammu, where I imagine gunshots are
a rather common
occurrence.
In other parts of the store tiffins, the little circular "lunch boxes" that Indians use, were used in displays. Water jugs, turbans, and other little touches were also used to give an "Indian" feel. But make no mistake, there was nothing Indian feeling about Globus. Elements of Indian culture and society had been coopted by the Globus design team to sell consumers high-end products, many of which one would have great difficulty finding in India. For example, by purchasing a simple-looking pair of leather sandals, one can imbibe the spirit of India without actually being there.
I won't dwell on this any further, but it was an interesting encounter on our first day out of India. Speaking of India, here's what happened on our last day in Delhi. We hired a car to take us to Khan Market, where we had spent some time back in December when we first arrived in Delhi. I got lunch for Claire and Luc at (Old) McDonald's while Marion shopped at Anokhi and FabIndia to replace most of her clothes which are totally faded and falling apart. In McDonald's, Luc proceeded to pee all over the chair, then Claire threw a fit about sharing the milkshake. Meanwhile, Marion didn't find anything at Anokhi and entered McDonald's looking for us. Only, she didn't know there was a second level, so she exited assuming we had left and were elsewhere in the market. When we finally found each other, exasperated, we agreed that this was yet another sign that we were ready to leave India.
Back at the 5-star Uppal's Orchid Hotel, we were told that we could pay for a half-day if we wanted to extend our check-out to 6 p.m. This wasn't all that helpful since we weren't leaving for the airport until 9 p.m. I told the person at the reception desk that if I was going to pay for a half day, I wanted 12 hours and not just six. "A half a day is 12 hours," I said. "Well, as a courtesy we can extend you an additional hour, so you can pay a half day and check out at 7 p.m." Wow, what a courtesy. I wound up speaking to the manager, who told me he could not make an exception to the policy. So I told him we would check out at 4 p.m.--the limit of the "free" late checkout period--and that he could expect to see us lounging around the lobby making a ruckus. This image didn't move him, so we checked out at 4:30, following naps, and then went swimming. We took our time using the showers in the hotel's health club, and then sat down for dinner. We still had an hour to kill after dinner, so we let the kids terrorize the lobby area.
When we finally got to the airport, everything went remarkably smoothly. At immigration, the officer didn't even ask to see the police report, about which everyone had made such a big deal. At the FRRO office, I was asked to make four copies, one to attach to each of our applications for exit visas, and to keep the original as I would be asked for it at the airport. Luc fell asleep in the stroller almost as soon as we got to the airport, and slept all the way until we got on the plane. Even then, he fell back asleep rather quickly. Claire fell asleep in Marion's arms just before we boarded. She never woke up until she rolled off the airplane seat somewhere over Afghanistan. Marion then spent the next several hours trying to keep her on the seat while keeping Luc asleep. Finally she laid a blanket on the floor beneath the seats and covered Claire so the flight attendants couldn't see her sleeping on the floor.
As we approached the immigration desk at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, we saw a drinking fountain. Claire remembered how to use one, but I think it was Luc's first time interacting with such an invention. Since there were no lines to go through immigration, we let the kids play at the drinking fountain and spent some time in the exquisitely clean bathrooms.
At the Geneva airport, we booked a hotel--the last room in an otherwise completely booked city--and boarded a train to the city center.
In a light rain we then walked five or six blocks to our hotel. Claire fell asleep on the walk, even with Luc sitting in her lap. Later when we were wondering around Globus, Luc fell asleep. Even though they both had untimely and shorter-than-usual naps, they had pretty normal nights sleep. I think it helps that the time difference is only 4 1/2 hours. In the morning, they both snuggled under the comforter.
We don't have an umbrella. We also don't have enough warm clothes. Since we've been complaining about the heat for the last six months, I'm trying to be careful not to complain about it being too cold. But yesterday afternoon the sun came out and the temperature was perfect. We've already walked around much of Geneva, a beautiful although expensive city. Today I have two interviews to do, one with a person in the World Health Organization offices, and another with the head of the U.N Environment Programme's Chemicals division. Then this afternoon we'll leave Geneva for Lausanne. From there we'll try to take a train and perhaps a cogwheel railway to one of the nearby mountains.
Early on the morning of the 26th we fly back to Amsterdam. Right now we're having difficulty finding a place to stay. Like Geneva, it seems every last hotel room in Amsterdam is booked. Except for the interviews I'm going to get done, which will be very useful for my research, we're realizing we shouldn't have scheduled so much time between leaving India and arriving back in the U.S. We're trying to enjoy ourselves, but at this point we're also just very anxious to get back. I'm sure the next nine days will fly by and before we know it we'll be in Maryland.
In other parts of the store tiffins, the little circular "lunch boxes" that Indians use, were used in displays. Water jugs, turbans, and other little touches were also used to give an "Indian" feel. But make no mistake, there was nothing Indian feeling about Globus. Elements of Indian culture and society had been coopted by the Globus design team to sell consumers high-end products, many of which one would have great difficulty finding in India. For example, by purchasing a simple-looking pair of leather sandals, one can imbibe the spirit of India without actually being there.
I won't dwell on this any further, but it was an interesting encounter on our first day out of India. Speaking of India, here's what happened on our last day in Delhi. We hired a car to take us to Khan Market, where we had spent some time back in December when we first arrived in Delhi. I got lunch for Claire and Luc at (Old) McDonald's while Marion shopped at Anokhi and FabIndia to replace most of her clothes which are totally faded and falling apart. In McDonald's, Luc proceeded to pee all over the chair, then Claire threw a fit about sharing the milkshake. Meanwhile, Marion didn't find anything at Anokhi and entered McDonald's looking for us. Only, she didn't know there was a second level, so she exited assuming we had left and were elsewhere in the market. When we finally found each other, exasperated, we agreed that this was yet another sign that we were ready to leave India.
Back at the 5-star Uppal's Orchid Hotel, we were told that we could pay for a half-day if we wanted to extend our check-out to 6 p.m. This wasn't all that helpful since we weren't leaving for the airport until 9 p.m. I told the person at the reception desk that if I was going to pay for a half day, I wanted 12 hours and not just six. "A half a day is 12 hours," I said. "Well, as a courtesy we can extend you an additional hour, so you can pay a half day and check out at 7 p.m." Wow, what a courtesy. I wound up speaking to the manager, who told me he could not make an exception to the policy. So I told him we would check out at 4 p.m.--the limit of the "free" late checkout period--and that he could expect to see us lounging around the lobby making a ruckus. This image didn't move him, so we checked out at 4:30, following naps, and then went swimming. We took our time using the showers in the hotel's health club, and then sat down for dinner. We still had an hour to kill after dinner, so we let the kids terrorize the lobby area.
When we finally got to the airport, everything went remarkably smoothly. At immigration, the officer didn't even ask to see the police report, about which everyone had made such a big deal. At the FRRO office, I was asked to make four copies, one to attach to each of our applications for exit visas, and to keep the original as I would be asked for it at the airport. Luc fell asleep in the stroller almost as soon as we got to the airport, and slept all the way until we got on the plane. Even then, he fell back asleep rather quickly. Claire fell asleep in Marion's arms just before we boarded. She never woke up until she rolled off the airplane seat somewhere over Afghanistan. Marion then spent the next several hours trying to keep her on the seat while keeping Luc asleep. Finally she laid a blanket on the floor beneath the seats and covered Claire so the flight attendants couldn't see her sleeping on the floor.
As we approached the immigration desk at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, we saw a drinking fountain. Claire remembered how to use one, but I think it was Luc's first time interacting with such an invention. Since there were no lines to go through immigration, we let the kids play at the drinking fountain and spent some time in the exquisitely clean bathrooms.
At the Geneva airport, we booked a hotel--the last room in an otherwise completely booked city--and boarded a train to the city center.
In a light rain we then walked five or six blocks to our hotel. Claire fell asleep on the walk, even with Luc sitting in her lap. Later when we were wondering around Globus, Luc fell asleep. Even though they both had untimely and shorter-than-usual naps, they had pretty normal nights sleep. I think it helps that the time difference is only 4 1/2 hours. In the morning, they both snuggled under the comforter.
We don't have an umbrella. We also don't have enough warm clothes. Since we've been complaining about the heat for the last six months, I'm trying to be careful not to complain about it being too cold. But yesterday afternoon the sun came out and the temperature was perfect. We've already walked around much of Geneva, a beautiful although expensive city. Today I have two interviews to do, one with a person in the World Health Organization offices, and another with the head of the U.N Environment Programme's Chemicals division. Then this afternoon we'll leave Geneva for Lausanne. From there we'll try to take a train and perhaps a cogwheel railway to one of the nearby mountains.
Early on the morning of the 26th we fly back to Amsterdam. Right now we're having difficulty finding a place to stay. Like Geneva, it seems every last hotel room in Amsterdam is booked. Except for the interviews I'm going to get done, which will be very useful for my research, we're realizing we shouldn't have scheduled so much time between leaving India and arriving back in the U.S. We're trying to enjoy ourselves, but at this point we're also just very anxious to get back. I'm sure the next nine days will fly by and before we know it we'll be in Maryland.
Posted: Sun - May 21, 2006 at 10:33 PM
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The Zavelogue chronicles the travels and travails of Stephen, Marion, Claire and Luc during our six months in India on a Fulbright.
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Published On: Jul 15, 2006 12:54 AM
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Published On: Jul 15, 2006 12:54 AM