One of the side effects of studying English in India, aside from various gastrointestinal disorders, is a growing inclination for outlandish and mildly literary statements and a compulsion to phrase observations in the form of test questions.
Complete the following phrase:
Still I....
a) Can't get used to getting stared at by dudes. It's happened nearly every day for months, and it still makes me uncomfortable
b) Love eating food with my fingers, be it rice, casserole, dal, bread, or gravy. Love. It. I'm pretty sure I'll refuse to go back to utensils.
c) Kind of stink at Hindi but now at least sound like a demented 5-year-old and can get my point across.
d) Get a kick out of how straight Indian men behave exactly like stereotypical gay American man. Man, they cannot get enough of each other.
e) All of the above
Outlandish Metaphor
Living in India is kind of like putting on a sari, the traditional female dress which consists of 6 yards of cloth folded and occasionally tucked into a petticoat...and that's all that holds it up. Somehow, this attire manages to be appropriate to all types of functions--insanely elegant parties, professional occasions, and hard physical labor. At first glance, it's gorgeous...like India. Upon closer examination, you see that things we keep hidden in the West are very much exposed, and vice versa. Then you try to figure it out by yourself and it's confusing as hell...like India. And when you really think about it, the entire structure of the garment depends on one thing (the petticoat), which you can't even see. Gradually, though, the folds and twists start to make sense, but only with the help and friendship of people who live here...like India.
Like a sari,
India
Dazzles at first glance
then confuses
Hides many things
and exposes
The dazzle-glamour
held up by the unseen work-a-day
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