Time to fill in the gap some between the last two posts.  My walk from the hotel in Mumbai to the ATM three block away was, I guess, my first real experience of culture shock.  Anywhere.  I've been to the UK and Iceland.   There  was some culture shock in the UK (back in early 90's).  But they speak the same language.  They drive on the other side of the road, but our customs are derived from theirs and we're just not all that different.  In Iceland, I couldn't understand most of the people I encountered, but they looked a lot like me, and I could sort of blend in and pass.  More different than UK, but nothing scary.

The walk to the ATM was a different story.    Passing the shanty town along the way, I encountered stray dogs, public defecation, a fourish year old boy who followed me, begging, for several blocks along a busy road, dirty rubble-strewn streets, noise pollution, ground pollution, air pollution.  I could go on.   I don't think I knew what culture shock was.  

Today, only one week later, what shocks me as much, is that I don't feel as shocked.  Culture shock is about what is "normal".  India has a different normal.  After a while, you stop noticing and get up in the morning and go to work - in an office, not that different from the one back home, with colleagues that have families, etc.  Not to say that I want to ignore the poverty.  But it becomes normal, and if you're not careful, you stop noticing.