Thursday, October 26, 2006

Conversions

I am still struggling with conversions in many ways. One is with the money and its weight here in India. Every time I use the rupee I instantly think about its worth in dollars which distorts my judgment. For example, when I left for a weekend trip I gave my driver 500 rupees and told him to do something nice with his family. My friend said to me: you gave him 8% of his monthly salary, imagine if you boss gave you 8% of your monthly pay as a tip...

In addition when I run my experiences in India though my filter of life in the US I fall into a similar trap, as there is no comparison. This fuels the fire of expectations that are not extinguishable and does considerable damage in my environment. Like someone who is learning to dance and keeps looking at their feet, I find myself lost in translation rather then embracing the present experience.

1 comment:

Ibanga said...

I do the same thing now in the states...strange feeling.

How do you fix that?