While everyone was celebrating Xmas, I managed to get the price of my daily ride down to 30 Rs. Instead of going to my ‘usual’ rickshaw stand, I walked a few hundred meters further which immediately decreased the starting sum of the bargain – 40 instead of 50. So, in a week time, I downgraded my foreignness with 40 %, 37 euro cent to be precisely.
My theory of trying to show myself as much as possible in my neighbourhood in order to get the number of gazes down, does not work yet. Maybe you would think I would feel discouraged, but nevertheless I came with another idea. From this morning on, I added another neighbourhood-integration possibility, namely ‘the gym’. The discovery of this space took me some time, since the space is hidden behind billboards and advertisements. But when my eye caught the reflection of an oily bodybuilder, I knew I was close. The entrance of ‘Exert, the gym’ is shared with a call center annex property dealer, but when you leave them behind on the ground floor, you bump into a wooden desk with cans filled with muscle enhancers. With close to it, Vicky, the owner. Vicky would have liked me to start right away, but it was clear I needed some preparation to start my training and I told him I would come next morning.
At ten o’clock sharp I entered ‘Exert, the gym’. The first comment I got from Vicky was that I was late, since I told him I would come at 9 a.m. Indians are more punctual than Brazilians, one of the few obvious differences between the two cultures I recently visited and something I have to get used to. A quick look at the schedule last night – from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m. women only – convinced me of the fact to come at 10, reducing the amount of gazes to a minimum. However, a side effect which I overlooked in my considerate calculation, was the 100% devotion of Vicky to turn me into a bodybuilder in the five weeks that are left, which resulted in some strange looks from the other ten women in the gym.
The machines do not have the quality where I’m used to – once I start running on the mechanical treadmill, I keep accelerating – but the guidance of my personal trainer compensates for that. Hopefully I will gain some independence in the next few times I will be there, so I can practice my exercises without anyone looking over my shoulder or correcting my posture, but I’m sure Vicky will let me go to this next level. This might even enlarge my chances to become less of an invader for the rest of the gym, and finally my neighbourhood.
In my mission to get more integrated into my neighbourhood, I must say, there are still a few obstacles left, with language as the main issue. I am not sure if I succeed to ‘inburger’ myself completely – Verdonk would probably still give me an insufficient mark for my selective efforts – but the first steps are made.
More picts: http://www.flickr.com/photos/okaras/
