"I am married one month": A Talk to Muckefuck Story™

[muckefuck]

I don't know why people dislike sitting next to me on public transportation. I've been told I have a tendency to scowl when I'm preoccupied, so when I catch myself frowning on the bus, I force myself think of something amusing in order to relax my face. I'm not that big--just shy of 6' and still less than 13 stone. But that's still bigger than average and the seats on the shuttle are small. People tend to avoid sitting next to men in general because of our tendency to hog the space. In any case, I no longer take it personally that the seat next to me is the last one occupied, even when I've gone through the trouble of tucking in my legs and making sure not so much as a strap from my knapsack or coat is flopping over the dividing line. Now I just enjoy the extra room.

So imagine my surprise this morning when, with plenty of other seats available, the petite young Indian woman in full traditional dress (sari, bindi, mangala sutra--the works) who was accompanied to the door by a man (perhaps her husband) chose to sit right next to me. I immediately pulled out a book to read and tucked in my arms even more than usual in order to minimise contact and put her at ease, even though there was nothing wary in the smile she directed at me. After a few moments, she asked me the location of a stop. It happens to be mine, so I told her I'd signal her when I was about to get off.

We didn't exactly have a conversation after that, but we did fall into some awkward chitchat. I tried to keep my questions very unobtrusive, but she volunteered the fact that she was newly married to an assistant professor and only in the country a month. I followed that up with "Where did you live before?" to which she replied "India". That was the cue for a variation on an exchange I've had a least a dozen times before:

"Where in India?"
"India."
"What part?"
"The south."
"Where in the south?"
"..."
"Kerala, Tamil Nadu--"
"Oh, Andhra Pradesh."
"Hyderabad?"
"YES! Have you been there?"
No, I'm just one of those rare Americans who not completely butt-ignorant of the geography of where half of humanity lives.

She told me her aunt was meeting her at the stop. I didn't see anyone there, but she didn't look at all worried and it could hardly be a safer place to stand if campus security were right next door. So I left her there and whipped out my phone in order to catch up on the texts I was too polite to check while sitting next to her.

Comments

[come-to-think.livejournal.com]

I occasionally ask myself:
What is the population of the largest city you have never heard of? (A few million.)
Where is it? (Probably China or India.)

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that she said "Andhra Pradesh", not "Telangana". (This is the sort of thing I'm curious about but am deeply afraid of offending if I enquire.)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I had the same thought! (Both of them.)

[bunj.livejournal.com]

I had several variations of the same conversations on this trip. Usually, once I mention a second-tier city, I can finally get specifics. It was only after I mentioned Winterthur that the two nice Swiss gentlemen told me they were from Duedendorf.