Wednesday, July 9, 2008

When Red Isn’t Flattering

Here’s another sign that you will see often, this time in the actual train stations, especially Victoria Terminus (VT), the main station in Mumbai named after Queen Victoria. (She was queen for a majority of the time India was a British colony.) Here’s the deal with this. Many people, mostly men, chew this substance from a plant that isn’t exactly tobacco but, in my opinion, gross nonetheless. The name of it escapes me right now. Anyway, chewing this plant releases this red liquid, which has to be spit out just like when one chews tobacco. There are often red stains all over the ground or coating the inside of the few trash cans you actually see in the city. When I see it, I try not to think about it because eww, it is nasty.

1 comment:

Chiung-Yin said...

the stuff they chew is called betel nut. it's quite prevalent in southern china and taiwan, as well.