On our first trip out of Delhi, we drove to Jaipur, the pink city, in Haryana 5 hours south of Delhi. My favorite experience was watching the sunset over the city from Narhargarh Fort. An 8 km road runs up through the hills to the fort, built in 1734, which overlooks Jaipur from a sheer ridge to the north.
October 2008
10/31/2008
10/28/2008
Adiga exposes the underbelly of the "new India"
I read the 2008 Booker Award winner, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. It’s a fast and easy read about the disconnect between the “faceless” impoverished masses and India's recent economic boom. It’s a simple story but it has ignited conversation among my friends as we synthesize the story with our individual experiences and attempt to understand this country. Adiga has also managed to outrage people by painting a damning picture of the caste system, Indian politics and the elite. He even mocks religion.
Balram, the protagonist, comes from the “Darkness,” a general term for rural areas. His family’s most valuable possession is a water buffalo that provides milk; sometimes there is enough left over to sell. Moving to the lights of Delhi, he gets a job as a driver for wealthy Ashok, a man who is liberal but corrupt nonetheless.
What I found interesting about the book is what it seems to say about democracy, and I can see why “new India” proponents are miffed. I am frequently told that India is the world’s largest democracy, but what I see in Delhi and in the world that Adiga describes looks more like a communist society than a democracy. There are more than 1 billion people living in India (that’s 1/6 of the world’s population) and nearly 40% live on the poverty line, existing on $1 per day. They are underprivileged and they’ll stay that way because there are just no tools, namely education, available to change their economic situation. The caste system does not easily accommodate interlopers.
Interestingly, voter turn-out among the poor is impressive. Although many people do not have water to drink and they cast their vote by thumbprint, they still participate in the democratic process. However, there are always reports of corruption among politicians who aren’t really interested in improving constituents’ lives—for example, the government has promised to pave a badly pot-holed section of the road from Jaipur to Delhi for 20 years. Sure, there are some exciting new politicians like Ms. Mayawati, a Dalit who leads the government of Uttar Pradesh, and increasing an number of Dalit political advocates. But India is still a long way off before democracy profoundly affects its social system.
Like a white tiger, a rare animal that only comes once a generation, Adiga’s narrator is an unusual being. He is driven to break the system that teaches master is better than servant, a system even the poor unknowingly maintain… like crabs trying to escape from a bucket, the higher one crab climbs, the harder the others claw him back down in their own desperate struggle to get out. Balram violently breaks out and becomes his own man—a rich entrepreneur.
I liked the story, but frankly Balram’s transformation can only exist in a work of fiction. Delhi may be highly entrepreneurial, but that option is reserved for the middle class with access to seed money from family and friends or personal savings. I’d like to believe it’s possible for the poor to improve their circumstances in large numbers, but it starts with education and I don’t see that the tools are there. More children are attending school, but public education remains a farce with reports of absentee teachers, shortage of materials and inadequate drinking water and electricity to name a few issues. If you can’t afford to pay for private school then there simply isn’t a way to climb out of poverty.
While this country has incredible potential, it has a long way to go before it achieves social democracy. Given the enormous population, I don’t know if this will be possible on a wide scale. Frankly, if communist countries like China and Russia can become economic powerhouses without giving a damn about democratic principles, I don't see any reason for "new India" to democratize fully in order to enjoy its largess either.
Balram, the protagonist, comes from the “Darkness,” a general term for rural areas. His family’s most valuable possession is a water buffalo that provides milk; sometimes there is enough left over to sell. Moving to the lights of Delhi, he gets a job as a driver for wealthy Ashok, a man who is liberal but corrupt nonetheless.
What I found interesting about the book is what it seems to say about democracy, and I can see why “new India” proponents are miffed. I am frequently told that India is the world’s largest democracy, but what I see in Delhi and in the world that Adiga describes looks more like a communist society than a democracy. There are more than 1 billion people living in India (that’s 1/6 of the world’s population) and nearly 40% live on the poverty line, existing on $1 per day. They are underprivileged and they’ll stay that way because there are just no tools, namely education, available to change their economic situation. The caste system does not easily accommodate interlopers.
Interestingly, voter turn-out among the poor is impressive. Although many people do not have water to drink and they cast their vote by thumbprint, they still participate in the democratic process. However, there are always reports of corruption among politicians who aren’t really interested in improving constituents’ lives—for example, the government has promised to pave a badly pot-holed section of the road from Jaipur to Delhi for 20 years. Sure, there are some exciting new politicians like Ms. Mayawati, a Dalit who leads the government of Uttar Pradesh, and increasing an number of Dalit political advocates. But India is still a long way off before democracy profoundly affects its social system.
Like a white tiger, a rare animal that only comes once a generation, Adiga’s narrator is an unusual being. He is driven to break the system that teaches master is better than servant, a system even the poor unknowingly maintain… like crabs trying to escape from a bucket, the higher one crab climbs, the harder the others claw him back down in their own desperate struggle to get out. Balram violently breaks out and becomes his own man—a rich entrepreneur.
I liked the story, but frankly Balram’s transformation can only exist in a work of fiction. Delhi may be highly entrepreneurial, but that option is reserved for the middle class with access to seed money from family and friends or personal savings. I’d like to believe it’s possible for the poor to improve their circumstances in large numbers, but it starts with education and I don’t see that the tools are there. More children are attending school, but public education remains a farce with reports of absentee teachers, shortage of materials and inadequate drinking water and electricity to name a few issues. If you can’t afford to pay for private school then there simply isn’t a way to climb out of poverty.
While this country has incredible potential, it has a long way to go before it achieves social democracy. Given the enormous population, I don’t know if this will be possible on a wide scale. Frankly, if communist countries like China and Russia can become economic powerhouses without giving a damn about democratic principles, I don't see any reason for "new India" to democratize fully in order to enjoy its largess either.
10/17/2008
Pint-sized neighbors welcome a paparazza
While the adults prayed at the local sidewalk temple, my pint-sized neighbors mugged for the camera. Like top models, they hit their poses, giggling the entire time and delighting in the images displayed on the digital camera. Pandara Road near Delhi's India Gate, October 3, 2008.
10/16/2008
Spirit freshener
I received my first Hindu blessing from my neighborhood temple priest. Ever since he poured holy water into my cupped hands, I have felt a deep surge of faith--that leaving a settled life in New York was a risk worth making, and that I will remain safe despite living in the most dangerous city for women.
As I walked past India Gate on my way to Kahn Market in central Delhi, I stumbled upon a street-side temple in a small lane off Pandara Road. I admired the scene for a while before asking the temple master—he was the only one dressed in stark white with a thumbprint of holy vermillion powder on his forehead—to which god it was dedicated. Unfortunately, the tiny amount of Hindi I know didn’t suffice… I just didn’t understand. Nevertheless, he allowed me to take pictures.
Waving me over to his side, we knelt down and he said a blessing as he poured cool holy water onto my palms. Then he presented me with what looked like a small white cake of Ivory soap and wrapped it up tightly in newspaper so I could tuck it in my pocket. That night, I showed it to a local friend and learned the soap cake is really very sugary sweet. She cautioned that, since it had been blessed, I must eat it or give it to a child… just don’t throw it away, she said.
The little newspaper package is sitting on my dresser now. I see it as a spirit freshener, similar to air freshener but holier, emitting sweet gentle spirals of blessings and good will.
10/15/2008
Alternative transportation, Delhi style
This is the way our morning commute to Times of India went down last a couple days ago:
Michelle: Guys, don’t look now but there are camels in the alley…
Malena: Oh my god, we have to get a ride to work on a camel!!!
Elsa: Um… ok, let's do it!
That’s how the day started last Thursday. We just couldn’t resist a short ride on these gorgeous beasts, which we guessed were in town for the Dussehra festival. However, noticing with alarm the metal spike poking out of the camel’s sinus, to which long string reins were tied, we did feel morally conflicted about participating in possible animal abuse. But this is India and we’ve been told to just go with the flow, so we held off on making calls to PETA.
10/13/2008
A first: African models strut the catwalk at Delhi Fashion Week
The first Delhi Fashion Week event which competed with the well-established WIL Lifestyle India Fashion Week featured the work of daring cutting-edge Indian designers. Indian designers here sent two African models down the runway for the first time in fashion history here, seen as an example of India's move towards modernism. Check out the video I shot and edited covering the highlights of Delhi Fashion Week.
Pic of the week
A man finds a comfortable--and unconventional--place to catch a few winks before Delhi's Kahn Market opens for business at 10 a.m. October 3, 2008 Delhi, India.
Additional images of Kahn Market around 9 a.m. October 3, 2008 Delhi, India.
Delhi's newspaper depots are the Costcos of the news business
During our first week in Delhi, the Times of India arranged for us to
see the inner workings of the real newspaper business—getting the paper to its
readers. We awoke at 4:30 a.m. and jumped in the car to go see one of the many
Newspaper Depots in Delhi.
These places are like the Costo of the newspaper business… everything is sold
in bulk at warehouse prices. We hit Connought
Place where all the various paper companies (not
just Times Group properties) sell their product wholesale to the city’s paper
vendors. Nearly 300 vendors show up in the early hours to purchase around
400-500 individual newspapers which they then sell to the folks in their
districts. Vendors from every paper sell their
printed goods, the newspaper men do the purchasing and then the paper
boys, usually in their 20’s, head out on scooters or bicycles piled
precariously high with their bundles to distribute to readers. All around us,
men were sorting and counting papers, and small pots of chai tea were on the
boil. It was still fairly dark when we left.
10/06/2008
360 degree view of the front yard
(watching this video may cause dizzyness)
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