Unique Unnao

I've been thinking how crazy it is that we're in Unnao. I mean- here are two really educated people who grew up in big cities all their life and are now living in this little town. When Samir got the letter to come here- I had never heard of this place, nor could I pronounce its name. And now, Samir is about to finish 1 whole year of being here. At first it seemed like it would be impossible to live so far away from family and to make it on our own and now we truly love our life here even though it's got its moments. So here I present to you 8 things that make Unnao Unique:

1. No one knocks here. If you leave your door unlocked, then anyone can come in at anytime. Our landlord, the waterman, the maid... and so on. At first I was really shocked at this but now I myself go into my landlord's house without knocking.

2. This place is Dirty. There's water puddles everywhere with stagnating dirty water. There's other filth I won't mention.

3. Because of the Dirt, Unnao is known for it's mosquitoes. There must be hundreds in the house at this very moment. They drive me crazy. I HATE mosquitoes. I've questioned God many a time as to WHY he made them.

4. If you're a female above 15 years old- you must wear a Salwar or a Sari here.

5. Going to the vegetable market means that you stand a chance of getting butted by a cow. While I'm trying to handle my veggies, my kid, my salwar pants, the Cow is trying to much on my veggie bag and sometimes it's comin straight at my behind with its horns.

6. Sure you'll see Cows, Dogs, horses almost everywhere in India but here you'll also find Monkeys. Since they get fed at the nearby temple, they're no longer scared of humans. They infact even bite quite hard. Every time one comes around if we're outside, we have to run like wild animals.

7. There's a wedding hall not far from me. They don't have music blaring there and at night they put on the greatest fireworks. We get to see it all from our balcony.

8. Hinduism is pretty widespread here and since these are townspeople, they're a little narrowminded. Many dislike Muslims a lot. I've learnt a lot about this religion and I see how faithful the women are to do their pujas. It really puts me to shame.