We were not in Bangalore very long, (they just changed Bangalore’s name by the way) but anyway the contrast from Kanchipuram was amazing. The Hotel we stayed at was quite fancy, although the view was not so nice because there was construction going on down the street. Anyway fancy hotel, the first night I don’t think we did anything, but got together to discuss what we had seen already. I suppose some of us watched Indian television which is a fairly unique experience, the music channels were especially popular. Artists would alternate styles within the videos from a sort of conservative suave pop singer singing love songs, to a pop diva who would fit right in in western markets, to flashy dance bollywood type songs with large heavily choreographed numbers…
We also watched a soap opera that we couldn’t understand at all, but it seemed to be based of American soaps, or British soaps but ended up more like a spoof of Spanish soap operas (which Americans tend to find hilarious) we couldn’t understand the language but they would occasionally drop a word in English. There was no sex or nudity, but there was some sexual tension implied… I think at one point they even went in to so fantasy dance numbers….
The next day we went to Symphony, a multinational IT and marketing firm and talked to the President of the company and also the Director of Human Services. The building was like a high tech office building and had some beautiful artwork, and Christmas decorations up (this is shortly after new years). In the meeting room we had remarkably nice seating around a half circle of wood desk… Aquafina and cookies were prepared… some of us were terrified that we had stepped into the wrong place.
They reassured us we were ok, but I have no idea why they agreed to see us.
The President talked about the booming Indian economy and the IT sector, also about his business and education. (American educated –lived and worked in the US for 10-20 years, was part and led the “reverse brain-drain” bringing talented Indians back to India to create business and opportunities.)
One of the interesting things they mentioned was that with IT and multiple locations the 24 hour work day was possible. The company had offices on three continents and each office could transfer their work at the end of the day to a new location where it would be picked up and worked on for the next shift.
He also talked about the booming telecommunications industry and how India was primed for it- noting that in the 10 miles from his house to the office he could work for an hour in his car using the wireless systems throughout the city, but the roads were still so bad it took an hour to go 10 miles.
The company seemed up to western standards as far as ethical business standards… It was really interesting to hear how the President of the company gave so much credit to the US, even saying that although things are down now, America would return to lead… I was not convinced.
After Symphony, we went to a local mall.
This mall was an indoor, very western style mall… but although there were many look-alike stores that sold western products, there weren’t actually a lot of actual brand name store… exceptions being Nike and Reebok, KFC, McDonalds… the mall looked and operated like most malls…
We read a story in the newspaper at the hotel about a family that had been burned alive in their house because the husband hadn’t paid what he owed to some mafia back businesses or something… the police stood by and watched apparently (unsure whether it was too late)…. The newspaper reported widespread corruption in the city.
We were asked to keep track of how many name brands we could recognize… I think most groups got around 100-150…. Bangalore is in many ways an entirely modern (as in recently built) city, at least the parts we were in. Large corporate offices, factories, building after building…
Friday, January 19, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
agra
While in Agra we went to the Taj Mahal, pizza hut, stayed at a fancy hotel and went to a fancy store full of decorated marble and stone.
Before getting there we stopped at a sort of red palace/fort, I forget what it was called maybe Agra fort, but it had large courtyards, and beautiful architecture. There were not that many tourists there, but a group of Indian boys gathered at a pool near by that seemed to have a dive of about 30-40 feet into dirty water (with no visible exit). After about 10 minutes of trying to get money for us on a dare to jump in several of the boys did. They seemed to have a good time. We didn’t realize how deep the water was, but after we left they continued to swim and dive.
Many of the hotels we stayed in India seemed incredibly expensive. They were all 4 stars at least, and were far better than most of us expected. I was sort of frustrated with them, but when kids started getting sick (and I did) I realized how nice it was to sooth the traveler’s frustrations to have the extra luxury. I also checked the price at one of the hotels and found out that a single cost about $65 so considering the hotels in Morris cost the same, it didn’t seem unreasonable (from the leadership point of view) to have us living in such comfort.
The hotel in Agra had a small shopping mall in it, 2 restaurants on the 2nd floor and a view down in to the lobby that made me feel a little light headed.. (we were on like the 8th floor). The mall had 3-4 clothes shops, a music store, and some statue stores. The prices were much higher than what we had seen elsewhere.
Many of us Pizza hut for dinner.
The interior of the pizza hut seemed western enough. They were out of most of the western style toppings. (pepperoni, sausage) they also did not have breadsticks, or chicken wings or potato wedges all of which were on the menu. A few kids got the Indian chicken, most of us got cheese. They did sell mountain dew (a rarity outside of the US).
The day we went to the Taj Mahal was a Muslim holy day and due to the enormous crowd and threats of terrorism, security was high. We were dropped off at a park a few blocks from one of the main entrances. A sidewalk through the park lead us to the security checkpoint at the gate. Along the way we were hassled by boys trying to sell us postcards, pictures and statues. At the gate you had to throw away anything that wasn’t essential… meaning no garbage, no candy, no food. When we entered it became clear that people were in a rush to get to the Mosque next to the Mausoleum. The crowd was all men and boys, we were told that they split the times so as to make it more orderly. The neighborhoods nearby are predominantly Muslim areas and the Taj Mahal itself though a symbol of India is identified as Muslims structures…. Still Pakistan, and Pakistani rebels in India have been threatening to blow it up for quite a while.
Anyway… the first court yard leads in to the second, which is where you get the traditional view with the pools and gardens.
To the left is a giant red Mosque, and to the right is another red Mosque looking structure that was under construction.
Thousands were headed toward the Mosque to pray, I took videos of the crowd leaving…
You have to take off your shoes before going up-similar to at a mosque. The Taj Mahal Mausoleum is smaller on the inside than you would think. The crowd is sort of pushed through, you do a ring around the main tomb structure and then walk out. The outside is very beautiful, with calligraphy and colored stone art chiseled in. Behind the Taj Mahal is a river and river basin, we saw a camel caravan being lead along the river.
After the hype wore off, we were taken to a store that specialized in high price pieces of art with similar designs and craftsmanship as the Taj Mahal. They sat us down, offered us drinks and gave us a demonstration of the product –basically chiseled marble in-laced with other stones. Really beautiful stuff but well beyond most of our budgets.
The salesmanship style was similar to the carpet shows in India, Turkey and Morocco.
We spent a lot of time looking at the different products, but the store was really expensive. I’m sure our guide got a cut for of anything we purchased for bringing us there. The salesman style makes westerners feel really uncomfortable because we feel bad when someone shows us such hospitality… we think we should really pay them back by buying their products, and they know this… so the more tea or pop or cookies or whatever they offer. The more they make you feel at home, the more they show you how good their product is…. Ooh Americans buy it up.
Before getting there we stopped at a sort of red palace/fort, I forget what it was called maybe Agra fort, but it had large courtyards, and beautiful architecture. There were not that many tourists there, but a group of Indian boys gathered at a pool near by that seemed to have a dive of about 30-40 feet into dirty water (with no visible exit). After about 10 minutes of trying to get money for us on a dare to jump in several of the boys did. They seemed to have a good time. We didn’t realize how deep the water was, but after we left they continued to swim and dive.
Many of the hotels we stayed in India seemed incredibly expensive. They were all 4 stars at least, and were far better than most of us expected. I was sort of frustrated with them, but when kids started getting sick (and I did) I realized how nice it was to sooth the traveler’s frustrations to have the extra luxury. I also checked the price at one of the hotels and found out that a single cost about $65 so considering the hotels in Morris cost the same, it didn’t seem unreasonable (from the leadership point of view) to have us living in such comfort.
The hotel in Agra had a small shopping mall in it, 2 restaurants on the 2nd floor and a view down in to the lobby that made me feel a little light headed.. (we were on like the 8th floor). The mall had 3-4 clothes shops, a music store, and some statue stores. The prices were much higher than what we had seen elsewhere.
Many of us Pizza hut for dinner.
The interior of the pizza hut seemed western enough. They were out of most of the western style toppings. (pepperoni, sausage) they also did not have breadsticks, or chicken wings or potato wedges all of which were on the menu. A few kids got the Indian chicken, most of us got cheese. They did sell mountain dew (a rarity outside of the US).
The day we went to the Taj Mahal was a Muslim holy day and due to the enormous crowd and threats of terrorism, security was high. We were dropped off at a park a few blocks from one of the main entrances. A sidewalk through the park lead us to the security checkpoint at the gate. Along the way we were hassled by boys trying to sell us postcards, pictures and statues. At the gate you had to throw away anything that wasn’t essential… meaning no garbage, no candy, no food. When we entered it became clear that people were in a rush to get to the Mosque next to the Mausoleum. The crowd was all men and boys, we were told that they split the times so as to make it more orderly. The neighborhoods nearby are predominantly Muslim areas and the Taj Mahal itself though a symbol of India is identified as Muslims structures…. Still Pakistan, and Pakistani rebels in India have been threatening to blow it up for quite a while.
Anyway… the first court yard leads in to the second, which is where you get the traditional view with the pools and gardens.
To the left is a giant red Mosque, and to the right is another red Mosque looking structure that was under construction.
Thousands were headed toward the Mosque to pray, I took videos of the crowd leaving…
You have to take off your shoes before going up-similar to at a mosque. The Taj Mahal Mausoleum is smaller on the inside than you would think. The crowd is sort of pushed through, you do a ring around the main tomb structure and then walk out. The outside is very beautiful, with calligraphy and colored stone art chiseled in. Behind the Taj Mahal is a river and river basin, we saw a camel caravan being lead along the river.
After the hype wore off, we were taken to a store that specialized in high price pieces of art with similar designs and craftsmanship as the Taj Mahal. They sat us down, offered us drinks and gave us a demonstration of the product –basically chiseled marble in-laced with other stones. Really beautiful stuff but well beyond most of our budgets.
The salesmanship style was similar to the carpet shows in India, Turkey and Morocco.
We spent a lot of time looking at the different products, but the store was really expensive. I’m sure our guide got a cut for of anything we purchased for bringing us there. The salesman style makes westerners feel really uncomfortable because we feel bad when someone shows us such hospitality… we think we should really pay them back by buying their products, and they know this… so the more tea or pop or cookies or whatever they offer. The more they make you feel at home, the more they show you how good their product is…. Ooh Americans buy it up.
Delhi
In Delhi we stayed with Pareena’s parents apartment.
The apartment was located in what seemed to be a 20-30 minute drive from the center of the city, the area they lived in had row after row of apartment complexes, each neighborhood seemed to have identical buildings –sort of what “Communist Russia” style residential housing. The neighborhoods or whatever you would call them were often gated communities, including the one they lived in.
The apartment was very luxurious in a sense, it had something like 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room etc. but with so many of us (20+) it was fairly cramped. The decorations were mainly Indian many of the common Hindu God statues and colorful pictures. The furniture was very much the same you would find in the U.S. couches, tables, TVs, big king size beds. The bathrooms and showers and everything looked the same.
The first night in Delhi we went to a fancy restaurant, it had sort of a buffet thing going on. I’m not sure what I ate. (I sort of hate Indian food –which was part of the reason I wanted to go to India –to test myself) Despite the rest of the people at the restaurant having a more buffet style thing going on, we sat at tables and seemed to be waited on. The waiters brought us types of food which we would pick and choose from and then from our response would know whether to bring more or not.
The majority of the dinner me and some of the students I had been hanging out with most, goofed around. We were sort of through with acting responsible and mature. (it was the end of the trip- and we were savoring the moment) I think most of the group was this way, so we were unusually loud. We arrived later than most of the other people at the restaurant so it didn’t seem to bother anyone.
The next day we went last minute shopping to get everything we were going to have (it was the last day). They took us to a market area. Near by were parks and open spaces, along with regular buildings.
The first part of the market were regular open faced stores, and people who had set up tables full of goods. In the space between people would walk around with handfuls of things, jewelry, toys etc and try to sell them.
On the tables was a lot of jewelry and cheap goods, (things you would find at a dollar store) combs, tooth brushes, cheap jewelry, small items.
The stores behind (open faced because they didn’t have doors, often if they did have doors that would close, they were more like gates that could open out and clothes or goods were hung off them.) The majority of the stores sold clothes and cloth goods. Towels, scarves, shirts, saris, blankets, etc. These stall/stores were set up usually with shared walls and one long roof, but if you went around the block it would open up in to more alley ways with more stores. We got lost walking around. There would also be stores with electronic goods, high price jewelry, stores of bangles (Indian bracelets) –stores that sold bangles usually had row after row of colors and sizes and were entirely dedicated to the one product.
Eventually we went around one corner and found some more normal looking stores, we went in one that sold higher fashion. It had white walls and techno pop playing. The store employees were wearing tight jeans and tops (not very Indian) at the store they sold a lot of the cheap girl accessories, pink watches, purses and scarves. But also expensive jeans and jackets.
Across the street from this store I noticed they were selling shirts I had seen (a friend bought one) at Target. The shirts were exactly the same only about a 5th of the price 3-5$.
We had become fairly crafty at buying things so we knew what kinds of deals we could get…
Anyway I think in total this market area might have been something like 3-5 square blocks of stores and stalls. The goods were similar to products seen elsewhere in India. The Target shirt made me realize that a lot of these goods were probably the same as elsewhere in the world (I’m not very good with name brand fashion).
That night I one of the students got bit by a rabid dog, which the security guard kicked.
She went to the hospital.
The rest of us ate Chinese/Indian food. Mostly a lo mein style dish and a fried rice. This is like Americanized Chinese only with Indian influence. So it is spicy, but with Indian spices not Chinese spices… I assume it has some similarities to food in southeast Asia or Indonesia, but since I am not a fan of “exotic” food I’m not really sure. Actually the rice tasted similar to a rice dish I had in Tanzania once, only with different ingredients.. but the east coast of Africa has had a lot of Indian influence through trade… so it is possible that rice and spice dishes crossed over.
We left later that night.
Flying to Bangalore and then to London where I got off.
In the Indian airports they screen men and women separately. Men are patted down and wand-ed in the open after going through metal detectors. Women are taken behind a curtain (same procedure, by a woman) after going through the metal detector.
The airports themselves are run very similar to European or American airlines, except that in certain cases the luggage is taped shut at the airport in front of you (a sign that it has been through security).
Some of the female Indian flight attendants wear saris slightly adjusted to make them tighter so that they don’t get caught on things while they are working.
I guess the areas of Delhi that we got to see weren’t all that fascinating. The city looked fairly modern in comparison to some of the other cities, more like Bangalore than Kanchipuram.
The apartment was located in what seemed to be a 20-30 minute drive from the center of the city, the area they lived in had row after row of apartment complexes, each neighborhood seemed to have identical buildings –sort of what “Communist Russia” style residential housing. The neighborhoods or whatever you would call them were often gated communities, including the one they lived in.
The apartment was very luxurious in a sense, it had something like 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room etc. but with so many of us (20+) it was fairly cramped. The decorations were mainly Indian many of the common Hindu God statues and colorful pictures. The furniture was very much the same you would find in the U.S. couches, tables, TVs, big king size beds. The bathrooms and showers and everything looked the same.
The first night in Delhi we went to a fancy restaurant, it had sort of a buffet thing going on. I’m not sure what I ate. (I sort of hate Indian food –which was part of the reason I wanted to go to India –to test myself) Despite the rest of the people at the restaurant having a more buffet style thing going on, we sat at tables and seemed to be waited on. The waiters brought us types of food which we would pick and choose from and then from our response would know whether to bring more or not.
The majority of the dinner me and some of the students I had been hanging out with most, goofed around. We were sort of through with acting responsible and mature. (it was the end of the trip- and we were savoring the moment) I think most of the group was this way, so we were unusually loud. We arrived later than most of the other people at the restaurant so it didn’t seem to bother anyone.
The next day we went last minute shopping to get everything we were going to have (it was the last day). They took us to a market area. Near by were parks and open spaces, along with regular buildings.
The first part of the market were regular open faced stores, and people who had set up tables full of goods. In the space between people would walk around with handfuls of things, jewelry, toys etc and try to sell them.
On the tables was a lot of jewelry and cheap goods, (things you would find at a dollar store) combs, tooth brushes, cheap jewelry, small items.
The stores behind (open faced because they didn’t have doors, often if they did have doors that would close, they were more like gates that could open out and clothes or goods were hung off them.) The majority of the stores sold clothes and cloth goods. Towels, scarves, shirts, saris, blankets, etc. These stall/stores were set up usually with shared walls and one long roof, but if you went around the block it would open up in to more alley ways with more stores. We got lost walking around. There would also be stores with electronic goods, high price jewelry, stores of bangles (Indian bracelets) –stores that sold bangles usually had row after row of colors and sizes and were entirely dedicated to the one product.
Eventually we went around one corner and found some more normal looking stores, we went in one that sold higher fashion. It had white walls and techno pop playing. The store employees were wearing tight jeans and tops (not very Indian) at the store they sold a lot of the cheap girl accessories, pink watches, purses and scarves. But also expensive jeans and jackets.
Across the street from this store I noticed they were selling shirts I had seen (a friend bought one) at Target. The shirts were exactly the same only about a 5th of the price 3-5$.
We had become fairly crafty at buying things so we knew what kinds of deals we could get…
Anyway I think in total this market area might have been something like 3-5 square blocks of stores and stalls. The goods were similar to products seen elsewhere in India. The Target shirt made me realize that a lot of these goods were probably the same as elsewhere in the world (I’m not very good with name brand fashion).
That night I one of the students got bit by a rabid dog, which the security guard kicked.
She went to the hospital.
The rest of us ate Chinese/Indian food. Mostly a lo mein style dish and a fried rice. This is like Americanized Chinese only with Indian influence. So it is spicy, but with Indian spices not Chinese spices… I assume it has some similarities to food in southeast Asia or Indonesia, but since I am not a fan of “exotic” food I’m not really sure. Actually the rice tasted similar to a rice dish I had in Tanzania once, only with different ingredients.. but the east coast of Africa has had a lot of Indian influence through trade… so it is possible that rice and spice dishes crossed over.
We left later that night.
Flying to Bangalore and then to London where I got off.
In the Indian airports they screen men and women separately. Men are patted down and wand-ed in the open after going through metal detectors. Women are taken behind a curtain (same procedure, by a woman) after going through the metal detector.
The airports themselves are run very similar to European or American airlines, except that in certain cases the luggage is taped shut at the airport in front of you (a sign that it has been through security).
Some of the female Indian flight attendants wear saris slightly adjusted to make them tighter so that they don’t get caught on things while they are working.
I guess the areas of Delhi that we got to see weren’t all that fascinating. The city looked fairly modern in comparison to some of the other cities, more like Bangalore than Kanchipuram.
Rohtak
Rohtak, on the way we visited an AIDS orphanage (I think in Delhi). We went to a Chinese restaurant. Stayed at a University, went to a bird sanctuary. Were entertained by university students dancing for us and went to a local government meeting (sort of, for show).
Ok so at the AIDS orphanage, we found out how people with HIV/AIDS were treated in India, what the government was doing about it (very little) and what this particular establishment had done to help. Basically the children’s parents had contracted HIV/AIDS and had died, and all of these children had contracted it through pregnancy. For the most part throughout the country these children would be left to die, but at this orphanage they were taken care of and medically treated. It was not a pretty picture of the country, and sort of showed how despite India having a large government that is generally attentive to people’s needs, in some cases (especially when there isn’t cultural or religious precedent) people are ignored or left to deal with it on their own. The woman we talked to was also an advocate for non sexual education and equal rights for people of other sexual orientations. She said some of the biggest problems as far as HIV transmission that they are dealing with were the trucking industry and men who have multiple female partners while married. As far as the gay community, she noted that they were rarely tolerated; a silent minority –who often times lived heterosexual lifestyles to keep up appearances (loved their mates and families, but were not sexually attracted to their partners). One of the problems seemed to be the cultural and religious precedent, both of taboos on homosexuality and also that culturally people in India get married very young (arranged marriages) so the people often have no choice in who their partner is.
A third problem that faced the community is that there is a precedent and to some extent toleration of eunuchs –a concept that to most westerners seems very outdated. But apparently in India there are still many thousands of people who choose to (or are forced into) become eunuchs. This culturally accepted (to an extent) role is a very mixed topic. Sort of glorified in stereotypes and neglected in a lot of cases.
Prostitution, though not specifically talked about is also a huge problem for many people in the country.
While at the orphanage we also heard about the changing roles of a traditional caste of entertainers. These people would traditionally be the musicians, dancers, actors etc. They have however been replaced by Bollywood and Western entertainment which either steals their traditional music and acts, or requires them to live up to new expectations including things that are traditionally considered quite degrading in India culture like stripping or prostitution.
It was interesting to hear about the changing roles of Castes in this sense, although the Government has officially outlawed discrimination based on castes, the traditions still thrive, but the importance of the role of each caste seems to change dramatically as globalization occurs. (sort of like American laborers having to enter the service industry).
The Chinese restaurant was notable for a few reasons, first that it was Indian-ized Chinese food, second that they served things like toast, cheese sandwiches, (just sort of odd items) and that it made most of our group feel ill.
There was a book store about 50 yards from the restaurant that sold text books to the university students. It was quite interesting, more like a stand with books packed into shelves and stacks all over the place. The books all looked quite warn, but it seemed like people could buy and sell text books sort of like our book store.
The next day we went to a bird sanctuary. Its kind of interesting that India has set aside so much land for nature. (yea!) but the birds weren’t there when we went so not much to look at. All along the way on the bus throughout the trip we noticed different agriculture. In some areas it was bright yellow mustard (plains), other areas rice (swamp like areas) in the north we saw brick makers with smoke stacks and mud bricks stacked for hundreds of yards. We were told that the government was trying to get farmers to switch from traditional crops (subsistence farming) to cash crops like spices, herbs and such to bring about more foreign trade. We did not see much evidence of the switch.
-Anyway at the bird sanctuary we were followed by a group of boys and young men who owned about 3 bikes between them (they traded off).
The boys were curious about us, but didn’t speak to us, just watched and joked amongst themselves. I have gotten similar treatment in Africa. It sort of freaked out a lot of the American girls.
The university wasn’t very notable. It was a very cold gray looking building. We ate sandwiches (Jelly or cucumber) and drank coffee to warm ourselves up.
The dorms we stayed in were freezing but quite comfortable otherwise, they each had a bathroom and shower. (I think we were told they were used for special guests rather than students).
The government meeting was interesting, we had very little understanding of what was going on –but later it was open for questions, and then they played a movie for us that was meant to represent the struggle of women trying to get into the local governments and their struggle to get many basic needs.
There is a quota system in place in India for women and low castes to be included in local governments. The system works well in some areas but in most the women are the wives of politicians and play a sort of puppet role. We heard from several of the women at the meeting that they had male counterparts who told them what to do. At another point one woman sort of gasped and covered her face after seeing a man from her town in the doorway. She explained that it wasn’t good for the people to see her –or something… sort of confusing.
The movie was about a town that struggled to get a well dug and operational. Basically the women (who were in charge of house necessities) ended up getting little support from local leaders and ended up having to go around them to get help from the government for money for the well.
-I think it’s interesting that the gender roles were so distinctly different that men in the town didn’t realize the necessity of water. But apparently it is a problem in many areas.
Lastly we had a nice dinner and a performance by some student dancers. The ceremony was more to honor cultural connections between countries (local leaders, Pareena) but it included several performances which we all loved… but it was interesting to see how many of the gender roles were noticeable in the dances. We didn’t understand the lyrics but you could tell that the woman played a submissive role to the man, but was also in charge of protecting her honor. So a pursuing man could be quite un front about his intentions and the woman had to back him off and make sure he was promising her a future together. Also just a lot of cool dance moves.
I guess there is probably too much information here to come up with a sort of end all for the experiance... as far as globalization i think this section, talks about changing roles more than anything, changing gender roles, changing subsistance patterns, changing culture, changing careers. Changes in institutions....
(im sorry im tired and sick and cant think...)
Ok so at the AIDS orphanage, we found out how people with HIV/AIDS were treated in India, what the government was doing about it (very little) and what this particular establishment had done to help. Basically the children’s parents had contracted HIV/AIDS and had died, and all of these children had contracted it through pregnancy. For the most part throughout the country these children would be left to die, but at this orphanage they were taken care of and medically treated. It was not a pretty picture of the country, and sort of showed how despite India having a large government that is generally attentive to people’s needs, in some cases (especially when there isn’t cultural or religious precedent) people are ignored or left to deal with it on their own. The woman we talked to was also an advocate for non sexual education and equal rights for people of other sexual orientations. She said some of the biggest problems as far as HIV transmission that they are dealing with were the trucking industry and men who have multiple female partners while married. As far as the gay community, she noted that they were rarely tolerated; a silent minority –who often times lived heterosexual lifestyles to keep up appearances (loved their mates and families, but were not sexually attracted to their partners). One of the problems seemed to be the cultural and religious precedent, both of taboos on homosexuality and also that culturally people in India get married very young (arranged marriages) so the people often have no choice in who their partner is.
A third problem that faced the community is that there is a precedent and to some extent toleration of eunuchs –a concept that to most westerners seems very outdated. But apparently in India there are still many thousands of people who choose to (or are forced into) become eunuchs. This culturally accepted (to an extent) role is a very mixed topic. Sort of glorified in stereotypes and neglected in a lot of cases.
Prostitution, though not specifically talked about is also a huge problem for many people in the country.
While at the orphanage we also heard about the changing roles of a traditional caste of entertainers. These people would traditionally be the musicians, dancers, actors etc. They have however been replaced by Bollywood and Western entertainment which either steals their traditional music and acts, or requires them to live up to new expectations including things that are traditionally considered quite degrading in India culture like stripping or prostitution.
It was interesting to hear about the changing roles of Castes in this sense, although the Government has officially outlawed discrimination based on castes, the traditions still thrive, but the importance of the role of each caste seems to change dramatically as globalization occurs. (sort of like American laborers having to enter the service industry).
The Chinese restaurant was notable for a few reasons, first that it was Indian-ized Chinese food, second that they served things like toast, cheese sandwiches, (just sort of odd items) and that it made most of our group feel ill.
There was a book store about 50 yards from the restaurant that sold text books to the university students. It was quite interesting, more like a stand with books packed into shelves and stacks all over the place. The books all looked quite warn, but it seemed like people could buy and sell text books sort of like our book store.
The next day we went to a bird sanctuary. Its kind of interesting that India has set aside so much land for nature. (yea!) but the birds weren’t there when we went so not much to look at. All along the way on the bus throughout the trip we noticed different agriculture. In some areas it was bright yellow mustard (plains), other areas rice (swamp like areas) in the north we saw brick makers with smoke stacks and mud bricks stacked for hundreds of yards. We were told that the government was trying to get farmers to switch from traditional crops (subsistence farming) to cash crops like spices, herbs and such to bring about more foreign trade. We did not see much evidence of the switch.
-Anyway at the bird sanctuary we were followed by a group of boys and young men who owned about 3 bikes between them (they traded off).
The boys were curious about us, but didn’t speak to us, just watched and joked amongst themselves. I have gotten similar treatment in Africa. It sort of freaked out a lot of the American girls.
The university wasn’t very notable. It was a very cold gray looking building. We ate sandwiches (Jelly or cucumber) and drank coffee to warm ourselves up.
The dorms we stayed in were freezing but quite comfortable otherwise, they each had a bathroom and shower. (I think we were told they were used for special guests rather than students).
The government meeting was interesting, we had very little understanding of what was going on –but later it was open for questions, and then they played a movie for us that was meant to represent the struggle of women trying to get into the local governments and their struggle to get many basic needs.
There is a quota system in place in India for women and low castes to be included in local governments. The system works well in some areas but in most the women are the wives of politicians and play a sort of puppet role. We heard from several of the women at the meeting that they had male counterparts who told them what to do. At another point one woman sort of gasped and covered her face after seeing a man from her town in the doorway. She explained that it wasn’t good for the people to see her –or something… sort of confusing.
The movie was about a town that struggled to get a well dug and operational. Basically the women (who were in charge of house necessities) ended up getting little support from local leaders and ended up having to go around them to get help from the government for money for the well.
-I think it’s interesting that the gender roles were so distinctly different that men in the town didn’t realize the necessity of water. But apparently it is a problem in many areas.
Lastly we had a nice dinner and a performance by some student dancers. The ceremony was more to honor cultural connections between countries (local leaders, Pareena) but it included several performances which we all loved… but it was interesting to see how many of the gender roles were noticeable in the dances. We didn’t understand the lyrics but you could tell that the woman played a submissive role to the man, but was also in charge of protecting her honor. So a pursuing man could be quite un front about his intentions and the woman had to back him off and make sure he was promising her a future together. Also just a lot of cool dance moves.
I guess there is probably too much information here to come up with a sort of end all for the experiance... as far as globalization i think this section, talks about changing roles more than anything, changing gender roles, changing subsistance patterns, changing culture, changing careers. Changes in institutions....
(im sorry im tired and sick and cant think...)
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