Lets go on with my resume. In my last posting I was talking about all the questions that came up living in India which were, mostly, fun to deal with. This posting is not going to talk about fun. These questions make me feel worried about India and the world and the way I act in it. I do not have answers to most of the following questions.
If I buy water in bottles, do I not only support big companies like Coca Cola or Pepsico, who buy all sweet water reserves in southern India, but also produce a huge amount of plastic waste in a country, where recycling is nothing compared to what it is in Europe?
If I buy water in bottles, do I not only support big companies like Coca Cola or Pepsico, who buy all sweet water reserves in southern India, but also produce a huge amount of plastic waste in a country, where recycling is nothing compared to what it is in Europe?Do I carry my waste with me to deposit it at home, although it is quite possible that it ends up in the same hole in the ground like it would if I just threw it somewhere? Why do we care about respirable dust in Germany when my napkin is black after sneezing into it in Kathmandu?
How do I relate to child labour? Do I leave a restaurant every time a child cleans my table or brings my dishes? Even if it's family's income depends on it? And where is the difference to the 12-year-old granddaughter of a restaurant's owner, who coordinates employees and customers (every day)?
What do I think about poverty? Do I give money or food or something to begging children? How much to I identify myself with the rich European, that everybody sees in me? Do I argue about some few rupees, which a seller cheated me out of, although I don't have to care, but he probably has to?
How do I react when people show me pictures of the burning ceremony of their dead father, pictures of their mourning relatives and the corpse, decorated with flowers? Do I show my surprise, maybe even my disfavour, my interest? Or should I show compassion and devotion? What do they expect from me?
How do I deal with importunate males, or brash people in general? With people, who take a picture of me without asking? Do I always ask before I photograph an Indian?
How much do I let fear lead me? Do I visit Old City between Christmas and Kitefestival, although terror alert is pretty high? Do I refuse travelling because you read about train-, plane- and bus accidents all the time? Or if there are blasts happening in Mumbai? How do I react when an old man gets hit by a motorcycle nearby? How do you define safety when travelling on the rooftop of a bus is normal to many Indians? Do I reserve my train ticket in women's compartement, because I am afraid of sexual harassment, although I lecture my female friends to emancipate themselves?
How do I feel about the way India's comparatively conservative and prude society treats women? Sometimes I got the feeling that a woman is seen either as a mom or a slut. Many times they are not seen as an equal human being, who has the right and the ability to make decisions and live an independent, self-determined life.
Why is Indian aesthetics so loud, over-romantic and obvious? Why are Indian soaps so terribly slow and over-dramatized? No one really thinks and feels this slowly, so why are people enjoy watching this? And why does advertisement on TV gives the impression that an Indian woman's only concerns are white clothes and white skin (seriously, there is a Nivea deodorant which bleaches the skin in the armpit!!)?
Why is tata giving internet sticks only to registered citizens? (So you would have to go through the hassle of police registration...)
How do I react when a member of an eunuch community offers me to show me her vagina?
I know that there could have been an endless number of very difficult questions which I could not find because most time I spent at NID. The campus is some kind of safe environment. Most students come from the upper class, they are used to a rather western lifestyle, everybody speaks English, even most of NID's employees speak at least a little bit. Daily life at school is quite the same to what we are used to, and everybody integrated us to campus life from the beginning. But that doesn't mean there were not enough differences...
How do I deal with the irrational and straining bureaucracy machinery? Do I really have to start at the very beginning of the hyrachy and climb the stairs step by step or is there a shortcut?
Why are students only permitted to get one book for one night from the library? How are students supposed to learn to work independently and self-determined, when they may not use the printer on their own?
Why does the university's leaders believe that separating the sex' provides safety? I guess reality has shown that this is not the best concept.
How do I know two people are a couple? You will rarely see a couple holding hands. Why do so many couples keep hiding their relationship although everybody knows? Why do smart, educated young people let their parents decide who they should spend the rest of their life with?
Why do Robert and I have to pretend to be married so that landlords would allow us to share a flat?
Why does my lovely Indian flatmate automatically gives the flat keys to me and not Rob or Daniel? (Simple answer, I am not sure if I like it: I am the (only) woman. So I am supposed to take care of the flat. Of course!
What happens to the English language when in a country of 1,210,193,422 (!!! - number taken from census 2011) people even educated students prefer a weird mixture of Hindi and English (called Hinglish) to the correct writing?
Why do I feel out of place when I wear traditional clothes in the institute, trying to fit into Indian society? Almost every student seems to wear western garments, preferably with a well placed label.
And why does almost everybody complain about losing Indian culture and traditions? I got to hear the word “westernization” quite some times, and Indians are pretty patriotic, but at the same time everybody is reaching for a western lifestyle.
This list could go on and on... But I do not want to give the impression I only have concerns about this country. I do have a lot of concerns, and I think there have to be many things to be done and it needs to start in people's heads. No NGO, no political party and no money can do anything if Indians don't realize that they can not keep on running their country like this. That they need to take responsibility, every each of them, and that they need to start caring about their environment – including nature and the people around them.
But I also keep coming back to this messy, loud, freaked out country – because it has so much beauty, so much life and love to give to everybody who is open to see it. Like Christine once told me – a person who loves India will be loved back twice. But about my love to India I am going to talk in my next posting.
How do I relate to child labour? Do I leave a restaurant every time a child cleans my table or brings my dishes? Even if it's family's income depends on it? And where is the difference to the 12-year-old granddaughter of a restaurant's owner, who coordinates employees and customers (every day)?
What do I think about poverty? Do I give money or food or something to begging children? How much to I identify myself with the rich European, that everybody sees in me? Do I argue about some few rupees, which a seller cheated me out of, although I don't have to care, but he probably has to?
How do I react when people show me pictures of the burning ceremony of their dead father, pictures of their mourning relatives and the corpse, decorated with flowers? Do I show my surprise, maybe even my disfavour, my interest? Or should I show compassion and devotion? What do they expect from me?
How do I deal with importunate males, or brash people in general? With people, who take a picture of me without asking? Do I always ask before I photograph an Indian?
How much do I let fear lead me? Do I visit Old City between Christmas and Kitefestival, although terror alert is pretty high? Do I refuse travelling because you read about train-, plane- and bus accidents all the time? Or if there are blasts happening in Mumbai? How do I react when an old man gets hit by a motorcycle nearby? How do you define safety when travelling on the rooftop of a bus is normal to many Indians? Do I reserve my train ticket in women's compartement, because I am afraid of sexual harassment, although I lecture my female friends to emancipate themselves?
How do I feel about the way India's comparatively conservative and prude society treats women? Sometimes I got the feeling that a woman is seen either as a mom or a slut. Many times they are not seen as an equal human being, who has the right and the ability to make decisions and live an independent, self-determined life.
Why is Indian aesthetics so loud, over-romantic and obvious? Why are Indian soaps so terribly slow and over-dramatized? No one really thinks and feels this slowly, so why are people enjoy watching this? And why does advertisement on TV gives the impression that an Indian woman's only concerns are white clothes and white skin (seriously, there is a Nivea deodorant which bleaches the skin in the armpit!!)?
Why is tata giving internet sticks only to registered citizens? (So you would have to go through the hassle of police registration...)
How do I react when a member of an eunuch community offers me to show me her vagina?
I know that there could have been an endless number of very difficult questions which I could not find because most time I spent at NID. The campus is some kind of safe environment. Most students come from the upper class, they are used to a rather western lifestyle, everybody speaks English, even most of NID's employees speak at least a little bit. Daily life at school is quite the same to what we are used to, and everybody integrated us to campus life from the beginning. But that doesn't mean there were not enough differences...
How do I deal with the irrational and straining bureaucracy machinery? Do I really have to start at the very beginning of the hyrachy and climb the stairs step by step or is there a shortcut?
Why are students only permitted to get one book for one night from the library? How are students supposed to learn to work independently and self-determined, when they may not use the printer on their own?
Why does the university's leaders believe that separating the sex' provides safety? I guess reality has shown that this is not the best concept.
How do I know two people are a couple? You will rarely see a couple holding hands. Why do so many couples keep hiding their relationship although everybody knows? Why do smart, educated young people let their parents decide who they should spend the rest of their life with?
Why do Robert and I have to pretend to be married so that landlords would allow us to share a flat?
Why does my lovely Indian flatmate automatically gives the flat keys to me and not Rob or Daniel? (Simple answer, I am not sure if I like it: I am the (only) woman. So I am supposed to take care of the flat. Of course!
What happens to the English language when in a country of 1,210,193,422 (!!! - number taken from census 2011) people even educated students prefer a weird mixture of Hindi and English (called Hinglish) to the correct writing?
Why do I feel out of place when I wear traditional clothes in the institute, trying to fit into Indian society? Almost every student seems to wear western garments, preferably with a well placed label.
And why does almost everybody complain about losing Indian culture and traditions? I got to hear the word “westernization” quite some times, and Indians are pretty patriotic, but at the same time everybody is reaching for a western lifestyle.
This list could go on and on... But I do not want to give the impression I only have concerns about this country. I do have a lot of concerns, and I think there have to be many things to be done and it needs to start in people's heads. No NGO, no political party and no money can do anything if Indians don't realize that they can not keep on running their country like this. That they need to take responsibility, every each of them, and that they need to start caring about their environment – including nature and the people around them.
But I also keep coming back to this messy, loud, freaked out country – because it has so much beauty, so much life and love to give to everybody who is open to see it. Like Christine once told me – a person who loves India will be loved back twice. But about my love to India I am going to talk in my next posting.
No comments:
Post a Comment