Feel the heat of India-a record of Indian scenery

Excerpts from Scenery of India (published by Hong Kong Joint Publishing Company on 20 18)

About the author:

Zhang Biao, born in June, 1959, holds a master's degree in mass communication from Leicester University. He is the first chief reporter of CCTV in India and a senior reporter of CCTV in Europe (London). His works include Indian Cultural Industry, British Scenery and Walking with Xuanzang, and many documentaries have won awards at home and abroad.

Feel the heat in India

China people have long known Indian fever. I don't know which elder first called Tianzhu "poison", which literally can be understood as "a poisonous fire", visualizing the Indian fever. After Tang Xuanzang came to Tianzhu, he was also extremely hot and repeatedly exclaimed, "It's so hot!" I feel that Tianzhu is the birthplace of Buddhism. Xuanzang thinks that "body poison" is not good, so he thinks twice and changes his name to "India". The Himalayas blocked the cold wind in the south, and the high latitude formed the Indian fever. Around 2000 BC, Aryans drove cattle and sheep from Europe to Central Asia and then to India. Under the scorching sun in India, the fair skin gradually turned into chocolate. After some Aryans intermarried with local women, the skin of their offspring turned brown and black. This is the magic of Indian fever.

The heat wave in India is not skinning people, but more like a malicious guy. He has a soldering iron, and he follows you everywhere you go. You suddenly turn around and wave your arms to beat him up, but you can't find him, you can only feel the infinite heat. Watching my arm turn into a sauce elbow day by day, I can only be angry, but I can't help it. Finally, I have to give up. In this way, people, under the turbulent heat wave, are like mice chased by cats. When they see it, they get into the hole. The heat wave waited there slyly, motionless and motionless. The heat wave simply covered the hole tightly and killed time to play. One day, I couldn't help it. I took a plastic thermometer to measure the surface temperature. After a while, I came out and saw that the thermometer was gone. Take a closer look, dear, the thermometer was chewed into chewing gum by the heat wave. There are 120 days in 365 days a year. Not for a few days. Every year from April to July, it is the hottest day for Indians, and there is no one to fight, so they can only breathe. The only advantage of hot weather is that there are no flies and mosquitoes. They are all sexy.

The penance of Buddhism makes people complain. In Sanskrit, asceticism means Tapas, which means "being heated". The weather in India is hot, so "being heated" is extended to "suffering", which suddenly raises the heat in India to a spiritual height. After Buddhism disappeared in India, Hindus became active again, and they still used the word "heating" in their long asceticism. Anyone who has experienced too much Indian fever will feel "heated" and know the taste of "suffering", so he rises his heartfelt admiration for the yogi. Scholar A·L· Basham said: "Different seasons of a year are composed of extreme high temperature, extreme rain or extreme drought. The climate of the subcontinent always tends to be extreme, which may also affect the Indian character and attitude towards life. " Laziness is a bad word, just say it is pure inaction. If you want to experience it, you can only come in summer and watch Indians close their eyes and exhale in the shade. Extreme weather is extremely profound, and purity and inaction have become a realm.

On hot days, New Delhi is short of water from time to time. Indian cities have no running water. Residents' water stations provide water to residents for one hour every morning and evening, and every family has a reservoir. Residents had to pump water into the plastic storage tank on the roof. The water storage bucket is black and absorbs heat. At the end of the day, take a bath with the water inside and burn your skin. I was burned once when I first came to India, and later I got into the habit of testing the water temperature by opening the cold water pipe. The most difficult thing is the lack of water. People must take containers to the public water station to take a bath. They haven't received water yet, and their feet are wet. Sweating. People who receive water will step aside for the mini water-splashing festival, carefully splash water on their bodies, then use containers to receive the water dripping from their bodies and continue to splash water on their bodies until all the water in the containers evaporates. It takes time to queue up for water. Some people get impatient and jump into yamuna river on the edge of the city with sticks. This heavily polluted river stinks. People would rather be smoked to death quickly than be heated to death slowly.

In hot weather, bacteria spread quickly. This has formed the habit of Indians drinking water without touching the container with their mouths. When men, women and children drink water, it has become a necessity in India to tilt their necks, put the container half a foot away from their mouths, and pour water into their mouths absently and accurately. I've tried it many times, and I often choke my face red and my nostrils are full of water. Every time I go to a friend's house in India, I only drink bottled water. Without disposable cups, he would say that he is not thirsty, secretly dry his throat and spit, and dare not touch other people's cups for fear of taboo. The weather is too hot, and the sweat glands of the body become a big funnel, so you can't do without drinking water. I drink four or five bottles of mineral water a day. The water didn't stay in my stomach for a few minutes, but it all came out of my skin, and I was still extremely thirsty.

India also has various air conditioners. In hot weather, there is a serious shortage of electricity, which can hardly guarantee the normal operation of air conditioners. Indians can live without refrigerators, but they can't live without generators. If you can't afford a big output, buy a small one, or at least turn on an electric fan. In order to ensure normal business, shops are equipped with generators, which are tied to the door of the shop like dogs. It is said that there are at least 480,000 generators in New Delhi. When the power went out, the generators roared together, and black smoke was everywhere, and the whole city was smoking. Smoke blocked the strong light, the scalp was no longer numb, and the respiratory system was out of order again. It's hard to stay up until night, and the bed is still emitting the residual heat of the day, so I can only take a breath and endure it in a daze.

In the morning, when I woke up, the temperature was 35 degrees Celsius. At noon, it jumped to 42 degrees Celsius, and people had to endure it minute by minute for four months. In July, the temperature exceeded 50 degrees Celsius. The news media began to report sunburn. The death toll is increasing every day. At this time, the oppressive heat wave gradually hollowed itself out in the road.

Within a few days, monsoon rains appeared. After struggling with the hot air several times, the hot air disappeared without a trace. So people came back to life in the rain. This is the most energetic time for Indians. In the days that followed, Indians arranged festivals to the fullest, celebrating calmly and enthusiastically, one after another.

Knowledge of shaking your head

Indians are rich in body language, which easily confuses foreigners who have just arrived. If you want to take a three-wheeled taxi to a place on the street, the driver will always shake his head at you and look ahead, making people think that Indian drivers don't like to pull foreigners. Indian drivers also secretly complain that Indians are inefficient. I didn't expect foreigners to get on the bus so slowly. Foreigners went to the store to buy mineral water, but the owner shook his head and shouted at the waiter twice, but he still buried himself in sorting out the accounts. The shopkeeper was puzzled when the foreign customers left angrily. My buddy is busy preparing different brands of mineral water. Why did the customer leave? Isn't this a mess?

The reason why both sides are confused lies in a simple action: shaking their heads. Indians tilt their heads to indicate "I know" or "OK". Foreigners didn't understand the meaning of this action at first. A western journalist based in India described his embarrassing experience: "On the first day I came to work in India, I said a few words to my employees. I said,' I hope today is the beginning of our long-term good working relationship', and they all shook their heads. I continued to say,' I hope to get your full help after I take office in India', and they shook their heads again. I was a little disappointed, but I went on to say,' As long as we carry forward the team spirit, I believe our work will be excellent', and they shook their heads vigorously. I really don't know what I did wrong ... "Only after living in India for a long time can I understand the meaning of these body movements.

China people are used to carrying things with their shoulders, while Indians like to carry things with their heads. I often see Indian women carrying a bundle of firewood or a pitcher, even if there is a wooden nail smaller than a hat. The arm paddled leisurely in the air. The man was carrying a sack weighing hundreds of pounds, and still walked very fast. You have to use your head to move bricks or even refrigerators. Over time, this makes the cervical vertebrae of Indians flexible and developed, and the frequency of use is particularly high. Indians understand that nodding their heads indicates agreement and shaking their heads indicates negation, but they rarely use these movements, but they are used to swinging their heads to their shoulders. This operation contains multiple information. It can mean "not bad, not bad, not bad" and "I'm listening to you, I understand what you mean, I understand" in conversation, but it doesn't necessarily mean "I agree with you". This probably reflects the fuzziness of Indian culture.

Once, when filming a national leader, I wanted to get closer, so I told the Indian police my request and the police shook their heads at me. I thought the other party agreed to my request and gratefully crossed the cordon quickly. I didn't expect this policeman to pounce on food and take me back. I was surprised and asked, "Didn't you agree?" The policeman rolled his eyes at me and asked sharply, "Who said that?"

Indians are naturally optimistic and like to chat and laugh at themselves. They think that sometimes actions are more powerful than words. Body language can convey more information. Just suffering foreigners who have just arrived in India. Once foreigners know how to shake their heads, they are also very useful "weapons". At least you can blur your point of view and listen to each other's reaction.