A Lesson in Hospitality

As some of you may or may not know, my major at GVSU is Hospitality and Tourism Management.  I’ve learned things like what the appropriate labor cost of a restaurant should be, or how to practice sustainable tourism.  I learned how to avoid a lawsuit in the world’s most litigated industry (never admit you’re at fault), as well as how market a tourist destination.  And while I am very satisfied with the major I chose to study, there’s one thing (or many things, I suppose) that we did not study; how hospitality is practiced around the world, especially in non-Western culture.

Last night I was schooled (yet again) in another form of hospitality.

It started when I was walking back from the library and a friend of mine from Afghanistan asked me if I would like to join him and the rest of the Afghani students at KiiT University at another friend’s place for a Mahfel , which is something like a giant feast with friends.  Not having any plans for the night I gladly accepted.  So I hopped in a rickshaw with them and off we went!

From then on I was inundated in Afghani hospitality.  There were around 35 people there, and every one of them was constantly making sure that I was satisfied the entire time.  I was offered hot milk and snacks, and everyone insisted that I take the only seat with a pillow on it.

The food was amazing.  It was some sort of flatbread with a beef soup, along with vegetables, yoghurt and oranges.  Everyone made sure I had enough bread, beef, or anything else I might need.  I was royally stuffed by the end of it.  We followed up the meal with a prayer and rather jovial walk home with lots of random yelling.

I’m incredibly thankful to my Afghan friends who let me partake in their Mahfel with them, and I’ll always remember that night as well as the lessons it taught.

I learned in school how to provide great customer service with a smile and turn a profit.  But did I really learn how to serve others?  That’s what I experienced last night.  Through their generous hospitality my friends showed me how to genuinely look after your guest.  There wasn’t some hidden motive behind what they were doing.  They weren’t looking for some kind of reciprocal payment.  It was just how you treat a guest.

And what seemed absolutely bewildering to me was normal for them.  Of course you take care of your guest to the utmost, why wouldn’t you?

This hospitality isn’t just confined to my friends from Afghanistan.  I’ve experienced it over and over with Indians here as well.  And the more I experience it, the more I wish the U.S. could learn from it.  We as Americans seem to be to so immensely individualistic to the point that we often forget how to be hospitable to one another.  It’s so engrained in our culture to look after yourself and your own interests first and others second, while for many other places the opposite holds true.

GVSU taught me how to manage a hospitality business, but India is teaching me how to be a better human.

The Indian Dance

Last Saturday night the four of us Americans in Bhubaneswar ventured out for a night on the town.  So we piled into an auto-rickshaw and headed out to the Presidency Hotel.  It was a pre-Valentines Day party (because who needs Valentine’s Day anyway, right?) called Red Riot.

There were drinks, DJ’s, and dancing.

Of course the dancing isn’t anything close to that boring, repetitive “bump-and-grind” thing we have in American clubs, where if it doesn’t look like sex on the dance floor then you’re doing it wrong.  Dancing here is, quite simply, the epitome of free-spirited movement.  There are absolutely no rules for what’s cool and what isn’t, and it’s beautiful to watch.

It’s a carefree assortment of body movements to the beat or otherwise.  Throw your hand to the left.  Spin in a circle.  Pelvic thrust.  Literally anything goes.  It seems as if all social barriers are left behind once you hit the dance floor here.  It’s absolutely entertaining to watch, but the real fun comes when you throw yourself in the middle of it all.  There, in the center of that amorphous mob of moving bodies, a beaming smile forms on your face.  And in your mind you start to think, I look ridiculous right now, but who gives a shit?!  It’s awesome.

If you have the slightest inkling of dancing, then India is where you should be.  I’ve never seen such unself-conscious dancing in my life.  The only rule is to move your body and have a good time.

The New Imperialists

 If you look up the definition of imperialism online, it will probably talk about one nation ruling over and controlling its colonies.  And while the days of imperialism in that sense are mostly over, there has been a new one emerging in its place: Cultural Imperialism.

Look up a definition for that and it will talk about one nation extending an abnormally large amount of influence on a host nation’s culture.  The host nations (usually less economically developed) adapt their customs and traditions to suit the wants and needs of the influencing nations (usually more economically developed).  Think of how the Caribbean countries have developed themselves to suit the needs of American vacationers.

As a visitor to India this semester, I often feel like a cultural imperialist (although I don’t like it!).  I am served fresh sugarcane from a person who just spent longs hours in the field for low wages harvesting it.  People flock to take pictures with me because I’m a Westerner.  Advertisements here feature almost exclusively white people.  These observations aren’t meant to disparage India and its culture.  On the contrary everyone here has been overwhelmingly hospitable.  Indians are some of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met.  Nevertheless, these many instances of cultural imperialism create (for me anyway) feelings of guilt.

While these feelings are more or less inevitable, it’s how you respond to them that is important.  A sense of cultural superiority can grow from these interactions, and that’s when you hear people say things like, “Ugh, I can’t believe they live like that,” or, “Why would they do that? That’s so gross!”  You start treating the time in the host culture much like a visit to the zoo; something funny and interesting to look at, but thank heavens you don’t live like that.

The way to approach this cultural imperialism instead is to look past the monetary differences between you and the host nation.  Focus instead and get involved in the many culturally rich things the host culture offers: festivals, dances, food, friendship, etc… In my experience these are often much more impressive and fulfilling than their U.S. counterparts.

And it’s not always easy to embrace every aspect of the host culture, but that’s exactly the point.  The host culture is made to make the host population comfortable, not you the visitor.  Through living like a local you start to understand the host culture instead of simply reconfirming your preconceptions, which should be the goal of travel.

And so the next time you take that trip down to Cancun or the Bahamas, get outside the resort property.  Live like a local.  Have conversations with them and ask earnest questions.  The way we fight cultural imperialism is through embracing everything that the host culture offers, not just the catered version you see posted on the hotel’s list of “cultural events”.

25,000

25,000.  That’s how many tribal (indigenous) children are educated completely free from a private institution here in Odisha.  The institute is called Kalinga Institude of Social Sciences (KISS) and was set up side by side with the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT University) by Dr. Achyuta Samanta.  I’d recommend reading a full history of KISS here: http://www.kiss.ac.in/aboutus.html

It’s really incredible in the way it works.  KIIT University – where I study – is a very prestigious and private university in India.  The profit collected from students attending KIIT is funneled into KISS, providing free room and board, education, and vocational training to the 25,000 tribal children from around Bhubaneswar.

A few days ago we were lucky enough to witness all 25,000 students gather for a morning assembly, and it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  If you could ever manage to get 25,000 American children in one small space, there would be chaos.  But these students were the most patient and attentive children I’ve seen in a long time.  They were also quite fascinated by the four strange looking foreigners.  There’s something a little unsettling about 50,000 eyeballs staring at you!

KISS is also where I’ll be doing my volunteer work here.  I’ll be able to teach English to the students for a few hours every week.  They also said I could teach any other talents or skills I have to the students.  Too bad I left my longboard at home…

The Kerala Tour

 As a part of my study abroad program I was lucky enough to go on a tour of the state of Kerala, India.  Kerala is located at the very southern point of India and is very, very beautiful and very, very hot.  The language spoken there is Malayalm, of which I know a few words such as nane (thank you), adi polli (that was good!), madi (enough), yettra (how much), and a few others.  (These are all spelled phonetically and the alphabet is completely indecipherable to me so you’ll have to excuse my misspellings!)

Anyway the tour started in Kottayam with a day-long course called The Art of Living, which was a crash course on yoga, mediation, and Hinduism.  We focused on how controlling your breathing brings you back to the present moment, learned the basics of Ayurvedic medicine, and were able to sing a few Hindu chants.  Everything was very interesting and enlightening!  I also learned how hard it is to sit cross-legged for over 6 hours!

The following day was a trip to a local women’s college called BCM.  There we got to enjoy various presentations on Keralan culture, and we shared a tiny bit of U.S. culture as well.  What followed the presentation can only be described as an outpouring of love and fascination.  The students rushed us with praise, thanks, and gratitude for visiting their college and speaking with them.  I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.  However, I think they are the ones who deserve all the praise, thanks, and gratitude for being so willing to meet and share their culture with us.  What I experienced that day was something that I will always remember because of the amount of sincere love they showed us.

The journey then continued onward to the resort town of Kumily in the Western Ghats of Kerala.  Our days there were filled with jeep excursions to places of extreme beauty, bargaining with local shop owners, and cultural performances.  We ate raw sugarcane, ate bananas straight from the plantation, and enjoyed saffron tea (In the words of a friend of mine, we drank liquid gold).  All the while everyone we interacted with greeted us with warm, beaming smiles.

And on we went to the remote town of Munnar high in the mountains.  Tea plantations that were started by the British during their occupation surround Munnar.  The scenery there was indescribably amazing, but the vastness of the plantations is often overshadowed by the fact that the many workers hand-pick all of the leaves there for only a couple dollars per day.  Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, especially our sunrise mediation and yoga on top of a mountain!

And finally here I am at my final destination of Bhubaneswar in East India.  We were lucky enough to have dinner at the exclusive Bhubaneswar club with a group of Korean volunteers who were working at our university.  The meal was delicious and the drinks were free!  Needless to say, I will be sleeping very well tonight!

I hope the winter isn’t too cold back home!