For the final leg of our trip, we flew Lufthansa Airlines from Frankfurt, Germany to Bangalore, India. At the gate for boarding the plane, the counter staff person thanked me in German. I noticed this particularly because the people immediately in front of me were thanked in English, but based on their appearance, I would have assumed the people in front of me were Indian. Based on my appearance, the counter staff may have assumed I was German.
During the flight, all of the announcements were made in German first and then repeated in both English and Hindi. I am actually assuming it was Hindi, but after only two days in Bangalore, I became less assured about that assumption--but that's for another post. The meals on this flight began a pattern that continued until I landed in Newark on July 20--veg or non-veg? The non-veg option for the first meal seemed more German to me in its spices and food selection. The non-veg option for the second meal reminded me more of Indian food. I always find these cultural transitions aboard a plane interesting. Which language gets preference in the order? Which languages are included in the announcements? What foods are selected as bland enough, generic enough, and yet stereotypical enough to be used in an on-plane meal?
Our in-flight entertainment was equally thought-provoking. The feature film shown was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," which I had seen already. I enjoyed the film, again, but it presents a very narrowly focused view of India, one that is not particularly messy. The one line that stands out, particularly since it was used in the advertising of the film, is the young man's comment that everything will be all right in the end, and so if everything is not all right, then it is not the end. This comment struck me because of its mystical/spiritual nature and the common conception of India as a very spiritual country, a very narrow understanding of the country and its people. The other part that stood out was the very American ending, in which love overcomes all obstacles and everyone lives happily ever after. It is a very pleasant movie that shows some of the best parts of India.
I found the last part of the in-flight entertainment distasteful. It was an episode of "Desperate Housewives" in which Teri Hatcher's character video tapes herself doing housework in lingerie and in a suggestive manner. I don't know what she was doing exactly because I was not listening to the audio, but I know that I was cringing everytime she was on-screen. Instead, I was reading a book Travellers' Tales India (editted by James O'Reilly and Larry Habegger) and ironically was reading a selection by Bridget McCoy on the sexual harassment she experienced on a trip to India, because she was an American woman. It was the easiest thing in the world to understand why Indian men may have misconceptions about American women when everytime I looked up from my book, there was Teri Hatcher in her lingerie, posing for the video camera.
I find it amazing how just that one flight could embody so many examples of cross-cultural communication, and it reminded me of how easy it is for that communication to be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
During the flight, all of the announcements were made in German first and then repeated in both English and Hindi. I am actually assuming it was Hindi, but after only two days in Bangalore, I became less assured about that assumption--but that's for another post. The meals on this flight began a pattern that continued until I landed in Newark on July 20--veg or non-veg? The non-veg option for the first meal seemed more German to me in its spices and food selection. The non-veg option for the second meal reminded me more of Indian food. I always find these cultural transitions aboard a plane interesting. Which language gets preference in the order? Which languages are included in the announcements? What foods are selected as bland enough, generic enough, and yet stereotypical enough to be used in an on-plane meal?
Our in-flight entertainment was equally thought-provoking. The feature film shown was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," which I had seen already. I enjoyed the film, again, but it presents a very narrowly focused view of India, one that is not particularly messy. The one line that stands out, particularly since it was used in the advertising of the film, is the young man's comment that everything will be all right in the end, and so if everything is not all right, then it is not the end. This comment struck me because of its mystical/spiritual nature and the common conception of India as a very spiritual country, a very narrow understanding of the country and its people. The other part that stood out was the very American ending, in which love overcomes all obstacles and everyone lives happily ever after. It is a very pleasant movie that shows some of the best parts of India.
I found the last part of the in-flight entertainment distasteful. It was an episode of "Desperate Housewives" in which Teri Hatcher's character video tapes herself doing housework in lingerie and in a suggestive manner. I don't know what she was doing exactly because I was not listening to the audio, but I know that I was cringing everytime she was on-screen. Instead, I was reading a book Travellers' Tales India (editted by James O'Reilly and Larry Habegger) and ironically was reading a selection by Bridget McCoy on the sexual harassment she experienced on a trip to India, because she was an American woman. It was the easiest thing in the world to understand why Indian men may have misconceptions about American women when everytime I looked up from my book, there was Teri Hatcher in her lingerie, posing for the video camera.
I find it amazing how just that one flight could embody so many examples of cross-cultural communication, and it reminded me of how easy it is for that communication to be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
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