Corbin Cutler

Driving In India

Of course, you say, of course he talks about driving in India. Not about any of the sights or any of the schools or any of the adorable little children. He talks about driving. Well duh. If you know me at all you’d have been expecting something like this. Yes, I’ll talk about some of the other stuff too, but I want to focus on the driving and the craziness that is the streets of India.

First off, I just want to warn everyone back home if I start driving on the wrong side of the road, honking at everything I see, using my windshield wipers instead of the turn signal, it’s because of the driving habits of India. The driver is on the passenger side of an American car, they drive on the left side of the road, the horn seems to be a signal of greeting and “hey, look at that” or “hey, look at me”, and the turn signal is on the right side of the steering wheel. Just saying, if I start driving funny, I blame it on India.

And now for the fun amazing things. I’ve been going to a public school here in Chamba for the last week and the kids are amazing. We started out with only 30 or so the first day (there was a holiday going on. There always seems to be some sort of holiday going on…) but now we have almost 100 kids showing up. All I can say is it’s a good thing we have two groups going to this school to split up the kids. As much as I love them all I’m pretty sure I’d be overwhelmed if I had to manage 100 kids. Or even 25 because we split up the kids between every YMAD teen. Today is the last day I get to see my kids… I’ll miss Rohit and Sangum (I probably butchered those names, but that’s how they’re pronounced). I’ll post pictures of them.

And yeah. The mountain views (it’s all mountain views. We are in the Himalayas after all) are pretty much amazing. Every time I look out the window of the car we take to the school I am amazed at the beauty of the mountains. There are random little houses going all the way up the mountains pretty much wherever I look. Terraces too. Just one more reminder that I’m not in America anymore.

So pretty much I am having a blast and enjoying myself immensely. The shopping here is so much fun (and if you make fun of me for saying that I will probably strangle you). There’s so much neat stuff everywhere. And even though the vendors rip us off immensely, bartering to get the price to even half of what they say the first time is a feat that I am extremely proud of. And yes, I still have money. I haven’t spent it all. Jeez… ye of little faith.

I am still alive, breathing and all that good stuff. I love you all.

Oh, and I haven’t seen any elephants yet. And I got some Indian artwork done on my arms. Hahaha :)