This is Thane. I feel the need for an attempt at some sort of reflection about India that goes beyond what is obvious through pictures and stories.
When people think of India today, what usually comes to mind is software companies, film industry, and outsourced customer service call-center labor...in short, an inconceivably huge new labor force propelled into the global market, teeming with educated English-speaking ambitious young people, and struggling (with success) to find its place in the world's economy. But most people also realize that it is above all a country of contradiction. It is the world's largest democracy, but over half of its citizens are below the poverty line and its government, an institution of thorough corruption, has yet to provide any significant systems of social welfare or wealth-redistribution.
And the contradiction, the contrast, is in your face at all times. India has a large and very rapidly growing middle class, and is also home to some of the richest people in the world. But they live side-by-side with its hundreds of millions of extremely poor - uneducated, hungry, malnourished, often living in the streets without potable water or toilet. Take Bombay as the perfect example: a bustling modern city of internet technologies and investment banking, skyscrapers and Western nightclubs, Bombay (Mumbai) has become the city of hope and possibility for countless numbers of Indians (just as NYC once provided the stage for so many American Dreams). They come from all over India in hopes of a better life, or just a scrap from the global-market table as India continues to demand bigger and bigger portions. Many of the young professionals that live in its high-rises look out the windows of their penthouse apartments onto entire communities - no, entire suburbs - of slum, where millions raise families under tarps and make a living picking through piles of garbage for recyclable rags.
So what's the problem? Within minutes of touching upon any of these topics with an Indian citizen, they will have asked me this question, and my answer is always the same: there are just WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE. There's really no way around it. And with its continued population growth, India's near future to me looks utterly hopeless. With the majority of the population living outside the cities and subsisting on agriculture, the labor and future possibility provided by children become an absolute necessity. (Women, of course, are still liabilities, as expensive dowries can become financial burdens that stay in the family for generations.)
In short, India simply has no answer for its masses.
And what does this mean for the everyday person? What is it like to be an Indian living in a country of over 1 billion people? The answer is "yes." Think of a possibility, and yes, its probably like that for someone, somewhere. The range of circumstances is seemingly infinite.
The one tangible consequence Kendall and I have noticed over and over again, however, is the extremely stark contrast (india vs. the west) between the ways in which our cultures view "the individual." Bear with me while I try to explain....
I have always been supremely grateful, and intentionally conscious, of the unspeakable benefits aforded me when I rolled the dice and was lucky enough to be born into the world as an upper-middle-class healthy white American male. Equally important to my development, however, and to the lifetime of unequivocal "success" which I have somehow never doubted to be my future, were the social, culturally specific values which were transmitted to me through my family and now (an American traveling around India) make up my worldivew.
I was always raised consistently, even from both sides of a broken family structure, with the idea, the firm belief, that I could BE anything I wanted to BE, and DO absoulutely anything I wanted to DO. And of course it was true that every door was open to me, that every advantage at the starting line was mine. As I grew older and my knowledge of the world and my place in it continued to confirm this idea, it became an assumption, and it never once occured to me to doubt it.
From both parents, and also from the external forces in my upbringing, the message was clear - I was free to make my own choices regarding education, career path, personal interests, romantic relationships, starting my own family, etc. And it wasn't just the freedom to make them. More importantly, I was taught that these would all be choices designed carefully, and solely, to create the happiest, most fulfilled life imaginable to me. Naturally, I have been given suggestions as to what that fulfillment actually looks like, and educated in the different possibilities available. But my conception of myself has always been dominated by an incredible sense of value placed upon my own life and its quality. This is the Western way of viewing the world, the inevitable but wonderful consequence of our wealth and prosperity. And of course, this is my hope for my own children some day.
But given the picture of India I have just painted, you can already start to imagine the cultural sense of individuality here as almost diometrically opposed. At first you see the differences at their most insignificant level. For example, Indians have absolutely zero sense of personal space or privacy. It's not just that they regularly travel with 8 people in a car, 18 in a jeep, or 200 on a bus. They also scream a lot....and it never occurs to them to stop sreaming simply because everyone else around them is asleep. They constantly interrupt each other (and us) and talk over one another, often making it so infuriating to try and have a conversation that we give up. They will stand next to your table and stare at you for 5 or 10 minutes while you are having an important conversation with someone, or enjoying a candlelight dinner with your "wife." Unless you deadbolt the door, hotel staff will simply walk into the room, without knocking or speaking, to bring you a towel or ask for your signature. The examples are endless, often reaching the point of absurdity, and occasionally requiring a lot of understanding on our parts to avoid getting angry.
Another thing you notice immediately is that there is absolutely no struggle to be different. It has obviously never occurred to most Indians that it is even possible to wear different clothes, sport a different hairstyle, run their business a different way, etc. So different from the Western obsession with "expressing yourself," fighting for individuality, maintaining some sense of freedom or personality. With the exception of some Indians simply trying to look respectable, or maybe even professional, the entire infatuation with image and the ways in which we present ourselves, which is so engrained in Western culture, is seemingly lost here.
But, of course, this does not mean that Indians are not egotistical. To the contrary, most of them (men, that is) have enormous egos which they try so hard to romance that they often end up looking utterly childish. They will brag ceaselessly about their power or money or political connections. They will go out of their way to prove their ability to speak English, or to use a knife and fork. Many will preach to you about what a fabulous, morally sound, enterprising, wise, strong, and powerful country India is, insisting that within 3 years it will be the world's largest superpower. They are obsessed with status, and will make a point to show you how many people they have working for them, or how many of their friends will fetch them tea and clean up their dirty plate after lunch.
In my opinion, the egos are simply a result of living in such an overpopulated place, and a place that has spent most of its documented history being conquered and re-conquered - a place that only very recently attained some degree of freedom, democracy, and now prosperity. Despite this prosperity, however, and contrary to what many people will tell you, the power structure of class, and in many cases the caste system itself, are still very much the rules of daily life. The institution of marriage, still functioning as an (often very political and financial) arrangement between two families, is the most apparent example.
And this is the most significant difference to me....above all this was the lesson I came away with - a lesson that, like most, the books cannot teach you. Though its a simplistic way of looking at it, and certainly an inadequate generalization, there's as much truth to this stereotype as any: in India, your place is determined at birth. Your life is one of acceptance. Your "decisions" the logical conclusions of the family youve been born into.
Which is not to say that Kendall and I shared the streets with ghostly men carrying signs that said "Warning: Untouchable." The knowledge of social hierarchy available to foreigners is much more subtle. But with a little prodding it becomes clear that for most Indians, one's diet, one's occupation, one's methods of daily subsistence, one's access to education, one's opportunity for the ownership of land or business, and perhaps most apparent, one's possibilities for a life partner, are determined at birth by external circumstances: sex, caste, religion, birth order, occupation, family debts or assets, physical features, mother tongue, etc.
At this point, I unfortunatly have to stop, as Kendall and I are now already in a different country and theres so much more to see. I had plans of writing extensively about Hinduism and its obsession with QUANTITY, the rule of the game being that devout worship comes simply through MORE STUFF - more gods, more goddesses, more colors, more flowers, more powders, more temples, more blessings, more carvings, more altars, more chanting, more paintings, more candles, more flames, more cows, more offerings, more pilgrimages.
I had plans of writing more about the teeming diversity seen as you move about the country. I had plans to write more about India's history as the victim of endless imperialism and exploitation - a "wounded civilization," to use the phrase of an author I read before coming to India.
And I have at least 10 pages of stuff to say about the status of women.
But....if you've made it this far without falling asleep, I commend your patience. I don't think I've done a good job of explaining this, and perhaps I've temporarily lost the ability to really communicate in the English language. I guess in short, what I'm saying is that I now have a much more sophisticated understanding of the immense freedoms and opportunities provided me. The difference between me and your average Indian man is not just a difference of money, it's truly a different way of seeing the world.
When people think of India today, what usually comes to mind is software companies, film industry, and outsourced customer service call-center labor...in short, an inconceivably huge new labor force propelled into the global market, teeming with educated English-speaking ambitious young people, and struggling (with success) to find its place in the world's economy. But most people also realize that it is above all a country of contradiction. It is the world's largest democracy, but over half of its citizens are below the poverty line and its government, an institution of thorough corruption, has yet to provide any significant systems of social welfare or wealth-redistribution.
And the contradiction, the contrast, is in your face at all times. India has a large and very rapidly growing middle class, and is also home to some of the richest people in the world. But they live side-by-side with its hundreds of millions of extremely poor - uneducated, hungry, malnourished, often living in the streets without potable water or toilet. Take Bombay as the perfect example: a bustling modern city of internet technologies and investment banking, skyscrapers and Western nightclubs, Bombay (Mumbai) has become the city of hope and possibility for countless numbers of Indians (just as NYC once provided the stage for so many American Dreams). They come from all over India in hopes of a better life, or just a scrap from the global-market table as India continues to demand bigger and bigger portions. Many of the young professionals that live in its high-rises look out the windows of their penthouse apartments onto entire communities - no, entire suburbs - of slum, where millions raise families under tarps and make a living picking through piles of garbage for recyclable rags.
So what's the problem? Within minutes of touching upon any of these topics with an Indian citizen, they will have asked me this question, and my answer is always the same: there are just WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE. There's really no way around it. And with its continued population growth, India's near future to me looks utterly hopeless. With the majority of the population living outside the cities and subsisting on agriculture, the labor and future possibility provided by children become an absolute necessity. (Women, of course, are still liabilities, as expensive dowries can become financial burdens that stay in the family for generations.)
In short, India simply has no answer for its masses.
And what does this mean for the everyday person? What is it like to be an Indian living in a country of over 1 billion people? The answer is "yes." Think of a possibility, and yes, its probably like that for someone, somewhere. The range of circumstances is seemingly infinite.
The one tangible consequence Kendall and I have noticed over and over again, however, is the extremely stark contrast (india vs. the west) between the ways in which our cultures view "the individual." Bear with me while I try to explain....
I have always been supremely grateful, and intentionally conscious, of the unspeakable benefits aforded me when I rolled the dice and was lucky enough to be born into the world as an upper-middle-class healthy white American male. Equally important to my development, however, and to the lifetime of unequivocal "success" which I have somehow never doubted to be my future, were the social, culturally specific values which were transmitted to me through my family and now (an American traveling around India) make up my worldivew.
I was always raised consistently, even from both sides of a broken family structure, with the idea, the firm belief, that I could BE anything I wanted to BE, and DO absoulutely anything I wanted to DO. And of course it was true that every door was open to me, that every advantage at the starting line was mine. As I grew older and my knowledge of the world and my place in it continued to confirm this idea, it became an assumption, and it never once occured to me to doubt it.
From both parents, and also from the external forces in my upbringing, the message was clear - I was free to make my own choices regarding education, career path, personal interests, romantic relationships, starting my own family, etc. And it wasn't just the freedom to make them. More importantly, I was taught that these would all be choices designed carefully, and solely, to create the happiest, most fulfilled life imaginable to me. Naturally, I have been given suggestions as to what that fulfillment actually looks like, and educated in the different possibilities available. But my conception of myself has always been dominated by an incredible sense of value placed upon my own life and its quality. This is the Western way of viewing the world, the inevitable but wonderful consequence of our wealth and prosperity. And of course, this is my hope for my own children some day.
But given the picture of India I have just painted, you can already start to imagine the cultural sense of individuality here as almost diometrically opposed. At first you see the differences at their most insignificant level. For example, Indians have absolutely zero sense of personal space or privacy. It's not just that they regularly travel with 8 people in a car, 18 in a jeep, or 200 on a bus. They also scream a lot....and it never occurs to them to stop sreaming simply because everyone else around them is asleep. They constantly interrupt each other (and us) and talk over one another, often making it so infuriating to try and have a conversation that we give up. They will stand next to your table and stare at you for 5 or 10 minutes while you are having an important conversation with someone, or enjoying a candlelight dinner with your "wife." Unless you deadbolt the door, hotel staff will simply walk into the room, without knocking or speaking, to bring you a towel or ask for your signature. The examples are endless, often reaching the point of absurdity, and occasionally requiring a lot of understanding on our parts to avoid getting angry.
Another thing you notice immediately is that there is absolutely no struggle to be different. It has obviously never occurred to most Indians that it is even possible to wear different clothes, sport a different hairstyle, run their business a different way, etc. So different from the Western obsession with "expressing yourself," fighting for individuality, maintaining some sense of freedom or personality. With the exception of some Indians simply trying to look respectable, or maybe even professional, the entire infatuation with image and the ways in which we present ourselves, which is so engrained in Western culture, is seemingly lost here.
But, of course, this does not mean that Indians are not egotistical. To the contrary, most of them (men, that is) have enormous egos which they try so hard to romance that they often end up looking utterly childish. They will brag ceaselessly about their power or money or political connections. They will go out of their way to prove their ability to speak English, or to use a knife and fork. Many will preach to you about what a fabulous, morally sound, enterprising, wise, strong, and powerful country India is, insisting that within 3 years it will be the world's largest superpower. They are obsessed with status, and will make a point to show you how many people they have working for them, or how many of their friends will fetch them tea and clean up their dirty plate after lunch.
In my opinion, the egos are simply a result of living in such an overpopulated place, and a place that has spent most of its documented history being conquered and re-conquered - a place that only very recently attained some degree of freedom, democracy, and now prosperity. Despite this prosperity, however, and contrary to what many people will tell you, the power structure of class, and in many cases the caste system itself, are still very much the rules of daily life. The institution of marriage, still functioning as an (often very political and financial) arrangement between two families, is the most apparent example.
And this is the most significant difference to me....above all this was the lesson I came away with - a lesson that, like most, the books cannot teach you. Though its a simplistic way of looking at it, and certainly an inadequate generalization, there's as much truth to this stereotype as any: in India, your place is determined at birth. Your life is one of acceptance. Your "decisions" the logical conclusions of the family youve been born into.
Which is not to say that Kendall and I shared the streets with ghostly men carrying signs that said "Warning: Untouchable." The knowledge of social hierarchy available to foreigners is much more subtle. But with a little prodding it becomes clear that for most Indians, one's diet, one's occupation, one's methods of daily subsistence, one's access to education, one's opportunity for the ownership of land or business, and perhaps most apparent, one's possibilities for a life partner, are determined at birth by external circumstances: sex, caste, religion, birth order, occupation, family debts or assets, physical features, mother tongue, etc.
At this point, I unfortunatly have to stop, as Kendall and I are now already in a different country and theres so much more to see. I had plans of writing extensively about Hinduism and its obsession with QUANTITY, the rule of the game being that devout worship comes simply through MORE STUFF - more gods, more goddesses, more colors, more flowers, more powders, more temples, more blessings, more carvings, more altars, more chanting, more paintings, more candles, more flames, more cows, more offerings, more pilgrimages.
I had plans of writing more about the teeming diversity seen as you move about the country. I had plans to write more about India's history as the victim of endless imperialism and exploitation - a "wounded civilization," to use the phrase of an author I read before coming to India.
And I have at least 10 pages of stuff to say about the status of women.
But....if you've made it this far without falling asleep, I commend your patience. I don't think I've done a good job of explaining this, and perhaps I've temporarily lost the ability to really communicate in the English language. I guess in short, what I'm saying is that I now have a much more sophisticated understanding of the immense freedoms and opportunities provided me. The difference between me and your average Indian man is not just a difference of money, it's truly a different way of seeing the world.
posted by thane at 4:25 AM
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