The real meaning of "Indian Time"

I got to my hotel at about 1:30 am Indian time, checked in (more on that in another post) and got to my room. I called Jayson and put things away, took a shower to rinse off the travel weariness and went to get in bed, when I noticed I didn't have a clock in the room.

I don't think I have ever been in a hotel in my memory that didn't have a clock. In fact, they almost always have a clock-radio. And my phone won't work in India, so I couldn't just use that. I already had the sense of being disoriented about time, but now I actually couldn't tell what time it was.

This story is only a little interesting--Americans are obsessed with time, while Indians aren't. But there's a little more to it than that. I went to buy a travel clock today. I found out two things. Indians have stores that are much more specialized than we do, and I didn't see a clock anywhere.

I went across the street to a big new shopping center and went to a set of stores in which one could count on finding a clock, especially a little travel clock, in the US:

• two "home furnishing" stores
• a bookstore
• an electronics store
• a watch store

Bupkus. And odd smiles from the sales folks who acted like it was the strangest question.

I finally found one at a store called @home. Here it is:Ironically, since it was facing the window, the only pane of it's Dr. Suessish self that you can't read is the time. But it's there. Trust me. I checked.