Steps Back in Time

I mentioned in the last post about feeling like I had gone back in time. I find this happening quite often. Just a few weeks ago I read a newspaper article about the controversy over advertising aimed at woman. The author questioned a man and a woman on the subject. The man said it wasn't right for companies to advertise directly to women. The women proudly said she made most purchases under 1000 rupees (21 dollars)without consulting her husband. In the States we don't think twice about gender-specific advertising. Things like Ford truck commercials during the Superbowl and Tupperware ads in Martha Stewart obviously have different markets. Who would even question that? Plus, if gender-specific advertising didn't work, it wouldn't be so prevalent. The slogan for a new scooter which states, "why should boys have all the fun?" and shows a smiling woman on a pink two-wheeler sparked this article. This wasn't the only time I felt like I was in fifties America.
Indians of similar social classes lead parallel lives. That is a huge sweeping generalization and is wrong in many cases, but right in most. In the States, if you go to a friend's house and she has the same glasses, serving utensils, or storage containers as you, it is an odd coincidence and a rarity. Here, it's the norm. The apartment where I am now (which I love, by the way- who wouldn't?) has the same silverware as the shabby apartment where I stayed in Chennai. Both orphanages and the meditation center had the same plates. Every house I have been to has the same twist-top insulated container for keeping food warm. The meditation center and the Pranic Healing Home have all the same pots and pans, serve the food with the same ladles/ rice scoops, and store the food in the same way. It's like everyone in India shops at the same store. I am again imagining the fifties when Sears was the place to shop and consumerism wasn't a big deal yet.
Another thing I like to think about is the number of people in India who are eating the same thing for dinner. In the north, I see many more choices, especially where I am in Haryana because there is Mughlai, Punjabi, and Rajasthani influence. In the south, however, you've got your sambar, your rasam, and lots of rice. I am exaggerating, of course, but I do wonder how many people in the States eat the same thing for dinner on any given weeknight, too.
The predictability of life here scares my American all-options-are-open mindset. I look at groups of schoolchildren and imagine just how they will be in 10-20 years. I wonder if that predictability feels comforting or confining. Maybe both.