Week Two - Definitely not My Mother's India!!!

I'm finding that my initial big plans for blogging have to take a back seat to the intermittent internet connection that I have. I got hooked up with the American Centre towards the end of last week and became a library member here -- and they have wi-fi!!!! Also, very centrally located, with central air. What more could I want?

I keep getting struck with so many ideas on different kinds of entries I'd like to make - from the gendering of public space to the progressive public policies on reproductive health and rights to the ubiquity of beauty products -- everything from making your hair stay on your head to skin lighteners to soap that will keep your skin from breaking out due to heat, humidity and pollution. Very hygeinic peeps, these Indians. Sorry if the blogs seem a little scattered. I have very little time to write and too much to say.
.....
Driving along the road that has all the embassies with beautiful parks on either side of the marg (street), one cannot help but be struck by the number of men who recline in the parks. They chat lazily, without any seeming care about the world that is quickly whizzing past them. On the rare occasion that we see a woman in the park, she is generally holding a broom and sweeping. The contrast between the activities of the men and that of women is not restricted to the parks; it is in every road, every house, every where. I wrote a friend last week about how uncomfortable I feel at times while walking down the street as a woman. The streets are primarily inhabited by men who will head directly for you without any notice. It is their space, their confident strides seem to suggest. And, I'm encroaching on that space by my mere presence. I match them stride for stride.
.....
I went to JNU for the first time last week, which was an exercise in patience. Trying to get a library card was a real production. I felt like a ping-pong ball .. "go here, go there, see Mr/Miss ________" I go see Mr/Miss _________, who promptly says "go there"... Finally, I get the card, only to be confused even further by the Humanities Librarian's staff who, I'm convinced, understood only a quarter of my questions to him.
JNU was started sometime in the mid-60s when it was built to train government civil workers. The training facility was housed in the hill town of Mussorie and the facility was central to the town's economy. Subsequently, the Indian government abandoned the plan and JNU came about. As a result, it is a sprawling, huge campus, one in which it is too easy to get lost. I am so glad that the auto driver knew exactly where the library was; otherwise, I'd probably still be wandering through its mazes and jungles.
From my first walk through campus, I was struck by the sheer number of political paintings and posters scattered throughout all the buildings. I knew that this was an activist campus, but I was wholly unprepared for how politicized its citizens are. Finally, the pictures:



......
I asked my auto driver today if he owned his auto outright or if he had to rent it. His answer to my question addresses one of the pitfalls of the rising economic status of India: it is virtually impossible to earn enough money to feed oneself, one's immediate and extended family (which is not that uncommon here), and to take care of business if one does not belong to the middle-class. My driver told me that by the time he's done paying for the daily rental of his auto (something to the tune of $160/ per day!), he has very little left for the other necessities of life. Add to that the fact that the job that these auto drivers do is very dangerous -- okay, they contribute very heavily to the danger, but still...
......
Contrasting the life of this driver, I'm living quite high on the hog, so to speak. I don't have to worry about cooking, cleaning, making my bed (!). Pretty much all my needs are taken care of, which feels rather peculiar to me, but not necessarily in a bad way ;-)
......
Every morning, I read about 4-6 papers, which is what my uncle & aunt get. I am struck by how progressive India is in regards to its social policies regarding women and work, reproductive rights, voting rights, education, name it. I read today that Tata Industries (if you should know any Indian company, this would be the place to start) began a program to bring mothers back into the workplace. Basically, their philosophy is that women should not be penalized for taking time out to be mothers, nor does motherhood rob them of their intelligence and what they can contribute to a workplace. Another example I can cite from popular culture is the number of honest and, at times, brutal, advertisements about the morning-after pill ("Wouldn't it be better to prevent a pregnancy than to have an abortion later?"). There seems to be an awareness of and an honest response to the issues we in the U.S. are unable to or perhaps unwilling to talk about.

More to come....