ISD

Indian Standard Time. Indians are know to not understand the meaning of punctuality. So, I call the internet guy, he says he'll be at my place in 30 minutes. I wait and he's not here. So I call again, "yes madam, so sorry, I'll be there by 7:30." Ok, fine. Seven forty five rolls around, the jerk isn't here yet. I finally let it go (I think I may have called about 4 times total). At 9pm, he calls and says he's on my street, which house am I at. I tell him, he comes in, doesn't apologize for being late and is a total jerk. He sighs when I tell him I don't have proof of residence, or passport size photos. I tell him, "you should have told me these things." He's a total jerk. I end up hopping on his scooter and we venture out at 9pm to get copies of my passport as well as passport size pictures. One of the worst experiences. I HATE being on back of scooter, especially in India. i hate this guy, should have known then this was worth nothing.
The following week (last friday), i call the Reliance guys (the internet company) to ask when they'll come to set up the internet. They say we don't know, I tech guy will call you soon. I ask, "you don't have any numbers of these tech guys." Nope, apparently there's no such thing as communication between each sector in this company. the guy said he had no way of giving me information to contact the tech guys.

Finally they call and say they'll come Friday. They come, work on it for about a hour and a half and say that they're not getting good reception, so he'll have to come tomorrow. Alright, no problem. It's dark out, sure come during the day on saturday. i tell him to come earlier so I can run errands and stuff.

The next day, at 3pm I call him and ask him when he will be coming. He say he must eat lunch and then he'll come. I call him at 4 pm, and can't get a hold of him. I call his partner who says they'll call back in 15 minutes. Twenty minutes pass (So many of them say they'll call in 10 mins and call 2 hours later), so I call again. They guy says, he'll check it out and call back in 5 mins. This is when I proceed to bitch him out. I just started telling him that they've made me wait all day, this is bullshit, blah blah blah. I told him he better call in 5 mins and they do.
Sooooooo, they finally come at about 5:30 or so, work on it for 2 hours and tell me...GET THIS....tell me that they can't set up the internet here coz the reception is bad, blah blah. I WASTED A DAY, for them to tell me this. I wanted to punch someone.

SO this is what I deal with here in India. I hate it. This country is so weirdly organized and I hate it. The sales people suck. You're on their terms. There's no such thing as the customer is right. You're on they're terms and it sucks. I've wasted so much time waiting for people. Constantly waiting, and calling people for answers and no one being able to help. It's tough. I had a little break down at work with a co worker today and I needed it. I've been trying to be mature and strong about all of this, telling myself this is India and this is how it works. But when you're 28 years old, it's hard to adapt. It really is. And I will finish my stay here for this project because I really believe in it, but I hate Indian people. not all, but many.

It's a constant fight. You fight with these internet guys coz no one will give you a straight answer, I fight with the auto rickshaw guys coz they continually try and screw you....I feel like all I'm doing here is fighting so I can get stuff done, and it's wearing me out. now, I understand people deal with this on a daily basis here in India and all over the world, but I don't. And I haven't for 28 years. Yes, I've fought for things here and there, but it's never been daily, and I've never been alone having to deal with this. The hardest part of it all is I don't have anyone to go to, to vent, or for help, or to take some of the slack. I can't process any of my feelings because I don't have ANYone here, and it's tough. I lived an extremely comfortable life in the U.S. and though i know this experience will do great things for me, I never want to go through it again. I can't wait until August when I go back home, get a big hug from my dad, talk constantly to my best buds and watch some football. (ok September for football, but still). I can't wait.

I'll get through this, but I can't say I'm going to enjoy it. I've become a homebody and I really enjoy coming home, after work, and chillin'. I have no desire to make friends, a couple here and there will do, but that's it.

It's a struggle everyday, for such little things. And I know how petty I sound about my complaints. I do feel bad, and I try to put things into perspective, but sometimes I just can't. It's just tough, and I know people out there have it worse than me, but I'll still complain, because I'm a snobby American with everything back home and nothing much here. I am grateful for everything and not a day goes by without me thinking that, it's just things are much harder here than anything I've ever experienced. And it's really wearing me out. I'm worried my head may blow up soon. Let's hope not.
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