India 2007

The Softer Side of India
Kerala (where we've spent most of our time) is unlike the rest of India. Its population is better off economically and the government (which is communist) places great importance on primary education. For this reason, we haven't been exposed to the level of poverty and homelessness that you would see in some of the bigger northern cities. (Mumbai alone has one million homeless - imagine, the whole city of Calgary living on the streets!). The rural regions are a different story, though. The farmers here have been hit hard by unjust genetic patenting practices and the World Bank's self-serving demands. Many farmers have committed suicide in their fields in a last act of defiance and desperation. Travelling through rural and remote regions by bus a few days ago, we saw another side of India. Listless and malnourished children. A few people begging for food when the bus stopped to take on more passengers.

Waste Management
It's amazing to think that, in a country of over one billion people, there is no public waste management system. Garbage is dumped on the street where it is picked through many times over - first by the cows, goats, dogs and rats who feed off of it. Then by the Dalit ("untouchables") who pick through for whatever can be salvaged - and in this country, that's almost everything. Nothing is wasted here.

u]PDA[/u]
There's no PDA here (that's Public Display of Affection for those of you who didn't go to church camp) - at least not between men and women. Young men are very affectionate with one another - walking hand in hand, sitting cradled in one another's arms. Coming from a culture where homosexual men often do not feel comfortable showing affection in public, it still feels strange to see men walking arm in arm.

Time
Time is measured in smaller units here (as is everything else). Because most people don't have refrigerators, food must be purchased on a daily basis. Water has to be fetched from the community tap. Rickshaw and taxi drivers have little money so their tanks are always on "E". When we went from Podanur to the train station, the car was signalling that it was low on gas. The driver stopped and got just enough to get us into Coimbatore. By the time we were approaching the train station about 25 minutes later, the needle was on empty again and the car was signalling that it was low on gas... Very little is automated here. Laundry is done by hand - beaten against large rocks. Life is really lived day to day for most people here. Sometimes I think about all the time that we have available to us, all the conveniences that free us up, and I marvel at how prodigal we are with our time. We take so much for granted.

Mutual Fascination
We can people watch for hours here without ever getting bored. Similarly, they seem endlessly fascinated by us. Crowds gather when we stop sometimes. People sneak photos of us on their cell phones. (We, of course, are sneaking photos of them as well). As we sit waiting at train stations, they watch our every move. It's a little unsettling at times, but still preferable to being in places that are satuarated with westerners, where everything is tailored to tourists.

Rock Stars
We are sometimes accorded a status here that makes us feel a little uncomfortable. This goes well beyond the mutual fascination described above. Women thrust their children and babies at us and are thrilled when we smile at them or say hello. People approach us to shake our hands. Those who know some English ask "You are coming from?" and "What is your good name?" People yell "Hello! Hello!" as we go speeding past in buses. And they invite us into their homes - I can't imagine anyone doing this with a stranger in Canada. Perhaps the oddest thing, though, is that they want their picture taken with us. Yesterday we were at the palace in Mysore and there were many Indian tourists with cameras. We were approached by five different groups of people who asked if we would pose for a picture with them (then they fight over who will stand next to us).

Reading
Despite having the highest literacy rate in India (91%), Kerala has very few readers. I have yet to see anyone reading a book or magazine. (You do see the occasional newspaper being read). There are also no book shops. We came across a "Stationary and Book Stall" but when we went in the "books" were all notebooks. (We did see one for tourists at Fort Cochin, but that was it). It makes me wonder what they draw on when they're formulating their idea of the world and their place within it.

[
Questions
In answer to some of your questions:

Why isn't Chris writing on the blog? Chris wrote a huge entry while we were still at FFC, but the power failed (as it often did) and he hadn't saved a backup. After that, he decided he'd tell his stories in person when he's home. (He's also been doing all of the photo uploads - so his time on the internet has been taken up with that).

The British Airways Strike We just found out that they have agreed to delay the first day of action - it is now scheduled for the 30th, so we'll just make it out on the 29th.

The climb I should have explained that I didn't realize we were climbing a huge dry waterfall. NOthing was said as we set out and I thought it was just a bit of a climb to the waterfall and lake that we were to see... We had no ropes. If we slipped, that would have been it.

Chris has uploaded a few more pictures to photobucket. All for now.