On the JSS campus, Dolly and I often addressed as "sir" and "madam", and not just in direct address. I may be asked "Sir, where is madam?" if I show up somewhere without Dolly. Some of it may be the difficulty many have with my name. The "th" sound at the end is uncommon and I think the exact vowel sound of the e is too, so I often just introduce myself as "say-t". Dolly's name is easy, though. Some of it is that at first they didn't know our names, and sir and madam were polite ways of referring to us, especially since they didn't know if we were doctors or important.
There are a fair number of people who live on campus. Out of the twelve doctors, two live on campus. One stays next to where we are staying above the lab, in a small room that is at least larger than ours. She has worked at missions in the past, and I suspect that the simplicity of her accomdations is some type of devotional choice. The other doctor is married to the agricultual outreach guy, and lives with him and her two children in a small house on the edge of campus.
Most of the people who live on, or right next to campus are regular staff - nurses, kitchen staff, farmers and lab workers. They are stuck out here with not much to do - there is no entertainment available in the village, the only gathering places are work spaces and the canteen, and even social drinking does not exist. They seem to gossip a lot and Dolly and I, as both newcomers and Americans, are a popular topic. Sometimes it is like talking to a large collective consiousness with many faces. They find out we are not married, and soon everybody knows. They find out I eat cow and pig, and soon everybody knows.
Another component of the dynamic is that most of these people are from small villages, and have not been exposed to ideas that an American would take for granted. So when I try to explain that ethnically I am Christian, but don't associate with any particular religious faith, it is not an idea that is comprehensible. It took a while to figure this out, as these are intelligent, educated young people who remind me of many of my friends back home, and I assumed some exposure to American culture, at least through TV. But this is not Bombay or Hyderabad, it is the tribal heartland of India, and though there are American movies on TV, few know enough English to make watching them enjoyable, so for now this is one part of the world American culture has not conquered... although I CAN buy a Coke at several places in the village.
There are a fair number of people who live on campus. Out of the twelve doctors, two live on campus. One stays next to where we are staying above the lab, in a small room that is at least larger than ours. She has worked at missions in the past, and I suspect that the simplicity of her accomdations is some type of devotional choice. The other doctor is married to the agricultual outreach guy, and lives with him and her two children in a small house on the edge of campus.
Most of the people who live on, or right next to campus are regular staff - nurses, kitchen staff, farmers and lab workers. They are stuck out here with not much to do - there is no entertainment available in the village, the only gathering places are work spaces and the canteen, and even social drinking does not exist. They seem to gossip a lot and Dolly and I, as both newcomers and Americans, are a popular topic. Sometimes it is like talking to a large collective consiousness with many faces. They find out we are not married, and soon everybody knows. They find out I eat cow and pig, and soon everybody knows.
Another component of the dynamic is that most of these people are from small villages, and have not been exposed to ideas that an American would take for granted. So when I try to explain that ethnically I am Christian, but don't associate with any particular religious faith, it is not an idea that is comprehensible. It took a while to figure this out, as these are intelligent, educated young people who remind me of many of my friends back home, and I assumed some exposure to American culture, at least through TV. But this is not Bombay or Hyderabad, it is the tribal heartland of India, and though there are American movies on TV, few know enough English to make watching them enjoyable, so for now this is one part of the world American culture has not conquered... although I CAN buy a Coke at several places in the village.
