September 4, 2008
May 13, 2008
Missteps?
To be honest I am not sure if what I have written about in question three would be considered missteps. I would not like to seperate western missteps from India. Look at the world as a system I would rather say that it is a misstep not teaching each other what we know, do and learn on the way. I would rather see that we are sharing our knowledge and therefore also see the world as a whole system and not divided into western and east etc…
May 2, 2008
Question 3 for exam
“Will India be able to learn from the missteps of the West regarding ecology, energy and education?
Ecologic products are not common not even in big cities like Mumbai but I think there will be more and more but it will take some time. I know some restaurants owner that are planning to start on having a ecologic business but to get it widespread in India there are a lot of years to go. To keep in mind when lifting this topic is the agriculture in India. A lot of people will rather earn 10 rupees today than earn 50 next weeks to be certain they have food on the table. I am not quit curtain how the reformation of changing from normal agriculture to ecologic agriculture works in India but in Sweden it takes a year to do the reformation to legality call it ecologic. The Indian system works something similar to the Swedish which results in that the income will come after a longer term and therefore also affects if the families will have food on their table or not. Therefore I would say that they would be able to learn from western ecology missteps but the social and financial system of today makes it hard to implement it.
I have seen examples of it in the backwater, in the south of India where they were using electric power plants on small water springs to gain energy. Sun cells are also to be found on both houses here in Mumbai but also on houseboats in Kerala. On that concern they use different kinds of methods to gain energy in a more sustainable way. But traveling around India you will find strings for electricity all over the country and in a system where the main source is divided into to many small strings which waste energy on its way. So they have learned some, reinvented some by themselves and missed out on the main system pretty badly which wont change in a long while. But the energy topic lies mostly on a higher level where the problem of implementing it is hard and not on top one to be solved now.
Concerning the education system it is still today mostly focused on learning from books says Chandita Mukherjee, filmmaker and active in children festivals in Mumbai. She mean that there is not one right way of learning but that the Indian School education system insists that the approach to learn is through text books. Keeping this in mind I am happy that there are already today organizations like the Comet Media whom has focused on educational communication in the topic of diversity. But I still would say that the system is pretty narrow which also can be explained with the fact that the status of ones job is still very important in all areas. I would say that they are on their way but they will not learn enough since the living conditions are quite different from Western. There are still a lot of children that live on the street on do not get any education. With that some parts of the education system is very far ahead and on other parts it is still excluded for a lot of people.
Will they recognize earlier in their economic and social development that material resources are finite yet human resources (such as creativity, innovation and expression) are infinite?
Traveling on most of India’s south coast I have seen the country from different views. I would not say that they have understood the finite of materials. Or more they haven’t understood that they have millions of human that could work in a different place where they could be more effective and use their creativity more. I think the understanding of that they does not have to fit in to the picture for them to be and see the human resources in another way. Taking Richard Florida’s example of the agriculture growth though creativity where the tools develop the development or the time and space to develop is limited here. To speak in general about India I would say no, it is a pretty limited concerning seeing and understanding the creativity that is happening on grassroots level.
Will India achieve a true global consciousness that recognizes the unique contribution of all cultures?”
The next generation of India is more aware about India as a part of the rest of the world. Cultural habits in the city are more and more brushed out by the new generation. But still we see conflicts in the north between Muslims and Buddhist. Moving around in cities like Mumbai, some parts will be opened to you as well as places in the south where I have been where being different is ok. But when moving around in the smaller cities and villages appropriate dressing is a fact, which for certain is a great part of the Indian culture. I also see an effort at many places where they try for example to combine the Indian food with the western which often makes it taste worse than making it western or Indian. What I miss is seeing the charm in all cultures and aspects of it in its own way. The contribution is seeing the special culture as it is and praise it and learn to differences it and therefore also see how it can contribute to their own culture and add taste to eat without taking something away.
On the other hand they have a female president, which is more than we in Sweden has succeed to have. Where I would say that they are one step before a lot of countries in the rest of the world. And at some certainties I would say that they will gain a global consciousness around different cultures but as in countries like Scandinavia it will still take a long time before people recognizes the contribution of all cultures.
April 21, 2008
Sleep in the street or live from others fortune
It is amazing to be able to visit so many parts and get so many different views of Mumbai. From one second walking on the street during nighttime, passing all the people that are sleeping on the streets and all the rats running around. While I the next second can be on one of the nicest hotel in Mumbai, Taj Lands End, on a Myspace India launch with drinks and food for free and a lot of interesting people, dressed up almost seeming to be unaware of what is going on around them. Without saying that they are or do not want to. They are only fortuned enough not to live on garbage.
April 10, 2008
Time to write a book
Over one week with stomach problems I am almost starting to dream about western food because the thought of Indian food make me ill. To find western food is not that hard but the Indian food is normally half the price. The longing for home-made food has lead me to talk to Pelle a guy from the team about food almost every day. Yesterday we decided to make something out of it. Together with Ellen another Kaospilot we are going to write a book of food that we come to talk about here in India. I reckon this will the saving for longing of the western kitchen.
April 9, 2008
I will get my shoes cleaned
Sometimes this country touches my hearth so hard. I was walking on the street today and there was a guy that came up to me. He asked me to clean my shoes for 2 rupis because he thought they were dirty. It was not a good time to have my shoes cleaned so I sad no. He said, “Please mam, I am very hungry and need to get some food”. To get a greater understanding I asked him if he can do it tomorrow for 10 rupis instead and asked if that wouldn’t be better. He said that he preferred to do it today for 2 rupis. Ended up that I told him that I would be here for two months so he would probably meet me again and then he would get 10. I really hope I will meet him again and then he will get 50 rupis for cleaning my shoes. No question about that…
April 7, 2008
Uffe Elbaeck Question 2
The second question for the exam comes from Uffe Elbaeck the founder of the Kaospilot currently working with the world out games Copenhagen.
“What are the living conditions for homosexuals in India. Socially, culturally and politically?”
Social
First of all it is important to mention that there are some people that talk about sex and some that never talk about it. I had luck and manage to get hold on two waiters, Christopher and Mahad at a restaurant. They were opened to have a small talk with me about homosexuality.
Outspoken homosexuals are mainly in the Bollywood industry, marketing business and art business. Bobby darling and Rodriguez are two known fashion designers that are gay. There is one known gay bar in Mumbai called Woodoo and a webpage called gaybombay.org to find different places to go or organizations to get in contact with. But it is rather concentrated to special places.
Cultural
Concerning the cultural aspect it is not acknowledged to be homosexual in India. If I would be living here as an Indian I would never been able to be accepted as a homosexual. I would have to keep it secret though it would be seen as my parents have failed to raise me in the right culture. In therefore in general it is not accepted.
Political
Homosexuality in India is criminalized with the mind-set that it is “unnatural sex”. There are no political parties working for homosexuals rights but there are several organizations in different cities in India that are working for the legal and human rights as homosexuals. Different international organizations are working for legalize it but some say it is still a long process.
March 30, 2008
Best shopping ever
Can seem a little bit odd but I have had one of the best shopping experience so far in my life. Amy and I decided that we need to bring some music in to our life and went to where all the electronic shops are close to chain road station to buy some speakers. We went in to a small shop on a small street and found our brand new speakers. Since we wanted to make sure that the speakers worked we had to try them. The three young teenagers that owned the shop were all happy to have two young girls in the shop. Reckon we made their day. Their friends and people from nearby shops kept dropping in. At one moment in the beginning I thought that we were going to end up in a corner of the shop filled with men. But Amy and I waved to the people outside the shop and it seemed liked they got pretty embarrassed and walked off. We sat down and were offered a cup of coffee. We had a nice talk with the owners that were only 17 years old and were going to college. They told us that they gain around 10 000 dollars a year which I would say is pretty good concerning that people in average earn One hour after we walked out with a base, speakers and a free CD with Indian music. A smile on my lips and nice guided taxi ride back to my new home….
March 26, 2008
Safe and woman in India
One reflection is that I need to stop caring about the mindset of the Indians on their way of looking at women. It makes me angry, laugh and amused. It seems like I am always ending up in a conflict with one or another man surely because of my opinion about men here. Yesterday it happened on the train when I was standing in the door together with my good friend Irja. A man asked to pass so I thought that he wanted to go stand in front of us on the steps but no, he just wanted to take my place and stand where I was standing. So I asked him if he was just going to stand there since I was standing there before, he only said yes and laughed a little bit. So walked over to stand in the other door for a while and laughed a little bit. But I could not let it go so I went over to him again and asked how come he wanted me to move, if I had missed out on any Indian norms or anything. After discussing with him for a while and him laughing a little bit on and of like he was uncomfortable talking to me he told me that he had asked me to move because of the it not being safe to stand in the door and because I am a women. I cannot more then help to think that this country is far from equity.
