My Indian roommate

Currently, I am living in a double-bedded room in a dormitory called the Kolpinghaus. During my first week here, I was alone in my room wondering who will be my new roommate. I  was pretty excited and nervous to meet her, but luckily, I was positively surprised. I will now tell you about my dear friend Shruti.

Shruti is 28 years old and comes from India. Even though she is 9 years older than me, we get along really well. She is a warm-hearted, open-minded and quite interesting person. Namely, she has been a pilot for almost eight years. Shruti made her driving license in Canada, but came to Austria after her wedding. Her husband is also an Indian, but he grew up in Vienna. At the moment, she is working on her master in aviation. She also made me interested in airplanes and other huge machines, which were certainly not one of my interests. We even regularly watch together a serie called Air Crash Investigation.

I also wanted to write you about some interesting Indian customs Shruti thought me.

The first question I get when I tell people that I have an Indian roomate is: “ Does she has a red dot on her forehead?” Well no, she doesn’t. Anyway, she told me something interesting about it. The red dot is called Bindi and is actually worn by married women. The red colour itself represents energy and passion and brings good luck. Indian women like wearing red dresses or red nail lacquer in order to be positive and happy.

A traditional Indian wedding lasts an average of  three days. Shruti’s wedding also lasted for three days and  

she actually had three weddings. Italian, Indian and Austrian, but that’s a whole different story. Anyway, Indian wedding is pretty expensive for bride’s family. The both sides of family should receive presents and all guests have to be provided with food, drink and usually a place to sleep for few days. Guests are often wearing clothes in vibrant coloures and eye-catching jewelry. Both, the groom and the bride are wearing gorgeous clothes. Brides are additionally decorated with henna patterns all over their palms, hands, forearms, legs and feet. Everyone is supposed to dance traditional dances, especially members of bride’s family.

It is forbidden to kiss in public. On Valentines day, you can often see police looking on happy couples or even famillies.

I bet you’ve seen a symbol like this on the picture below before. As it looks pretty cool, I’ve always wondered what it was. Well, it is called Hamsa or as Indians call it Humsa Hand. It represents a sign of protection in many societies and is one of Indian’s most sacred symbols. Hamsa is believed to provide defense against the evil eye, but also represents the five elements of nature and the five energy centers of our body (chakra). It is often used in jewelry and decorations.

Foooooood! Indian food is really delicious. At least, what I’ve tried until now. Dishes are almost always combined with spicy sauces, which makes them quite tasty. Chicken, patatoes, onions and sauces such as turmeric, chilli or garam masala are often main ingredients in Indian kitchen.

Well, those were the most interesting ones. I hope I will get to now even more of them soon. :)