India Photo: Gracious Hosts

I cannot fully explain how gracious everyone was to us while we were in India. Several managers took us to their homes for dinner or snacks. Employees also wanted to show their hospitality in a similar fashion.

On the Friday of my visit one of the employees that I work with the most over the phone and via e-mail invited me to his home for a small lunch. Of course, the lunch did not turn out small as was a similar theme throughout any of our meals or snacks with these friends. Needless to say, we were well fed.

Manjul Verma's home was not far from the Novell office. In fact you could step out on his balcony and see the office a few blocks away. His sister lives with him currently while she is attending college. His parents were visiting for the month. It was fun to meet them all.

Manjul also explained to us that their custom and culture included eating their food with their hands rather than with utensils. Up until this point, everyone had served as utensils tea with. I did not know that this was their custom. I wanted to do it just as they did it so I also use my fingers. It was actually pretty fun. However, I needed several napkins when I was through. The native's didn't seem to need the napkins like I did. That is still something I need to figure out. It was great to be with Manjul and to meet his family. I worked with him so much in the past that it was good to know him face-to-face.



Later that evening, Manjul's manager (Satya) invited me and another manager to his home for dinner that night. It was a really fun evening because they spent a lot of time explaining their traditions and cultures to us. We sat on the floor and ate dinner with our hands just as that family typically does. They have two children that are about the same age as Aylee and Johnathan. So I had a good time visiting with them and telling them about my children. As a parting gift, they gave me some stamps, coins, and a decorative rock that I could give to my family from them.



The Indian culture and religions are so very different than ours. They explained to me that Hinduism has many gods and the idols. A family will typically choose one idol for their family to worship. They will often have a mini chapel built inside of their home which is about the same size as the closet. In their chapel they have a statue of their idol to which they give gifts and burn incense and candles each day. Each idol or God has their own day of the week. Of course there are so many of them that many gods share the same day of the week. When that day arrives during the week that is the day of your family's idol, then that is the day that you attend the Hindu temple. When you go to the temple to worship a priest paints a red dot on your fore head.

Each of the idols have a lot of symbolism and iconography designed in them. Satya told us that you could study for years about all of the symbols that exist in Hinduism. It was a very interesting lesson.