Varnasi: very-nicey

As the couple I sat next to on the long flight to Delhi explained to me, people in the West and in the U.S. tend to be very solitary and live in their own world. We have our own schedules to work around, and just decide to call off plans and move on if it doesn't agree with the vast network of obligations we have. It can take forever to finalize an agreeable meeting time with someone or shop and find the best price for something. Here in India, there are too many people to have this mentality. Of course, it's part of the culture, but people have to finalize things on the spot or it will never happen. Vendors will spend what feels like ages to negotiate a price if you are interested. If you say, "I'll just come back later," the next time you are in the viscinity, you can bet everything you've got that they will be looking for you.
The deeper part of this is that people don't have the same idea of personal space. The kind of personal space we give ourselves to lie about our plans and make excuses for things. The point is I've noticed the whole group fall into this as well. Within the first fewdays, we all went from coming to the airport with different lives, to becoming sort of like a family (I don't mean to get sappy on you guys). The key was recognizing the fact we don't know what to expect and opening ourselves enough to assimilate really well. We don't have many reservations, it's best to be out in the open with everything...er, excluding things like how much money you're carrying and being unreserved about what you're eating.
As far as I know, noone has become extremely sick. I blessed the tip of my pinky finger in the Ganges today, and I hope I don't become sick just from that bit of filth. Either way, I'll be wearing clothes that were washed in the river as a part of the guesthouse laundry service. Everything in general seems to have been increasingly hospitable along the way. Varnasi is treating us nicely. I'm looking forward to banana pancakes and hot tea for breakfast tomorrow, and wandering the market later on.