Indian Pride

Current Location: Jaisalmer, Rajastan INDIA

I am always amazed at Indians and their pride. I have never been anywhere where people love and respect their country so much. There is a popular song in India where the chorus has a catchy tune that says, "I love my India...I love my India!" There have been countless times that I have chatted with people and danced to that song as they sing it with such passion. Occupation is another that people often express their pride on. On one occasion in Bundi, we were talking to a man on the street who proudly stated that he was an incense maker. He excitedly told us how he made the incense sticks and pointed the way to his shop. To any other person, this may seem like a menial job. But to him, it was his pride and joy.

However, there was an instance when Indian pride backfired a bit. One night after dinner, I was craving dessert. Normally an Indian meethai (sweets) would suffice, but this time, I wanted something different. I was in luck in Jaisalmer because there was a restaurant in the main square of the fort that had a huge sign with a bold statement "World Famous Apple Pie". We decided to give it a try! When it arrived on our table, it looked better than it tasted. It was nothing but a couple of rotis (tortillas) with very sweet apple sauce in between. Being a blunt Gujarati who is picky about her food, I immediately called the waiter over and said, "Sir, this apple pie is very bad." He head wobbled angrily as he said, "Oh no madame, the apple pie is VERY good." Joe stood up for my claim and stated, "In fact, this is the worst apple pie we have ever had." The waiter's head wobbled some more and he said, "No, it is homemade apple pie. It is very good." He avoided any other complaints by walking away swiftly. And we ended up forking over a whole 70 rupees ($1.75) for the terrible pie!