This is an email I sent home about a week or so ago.
One day we visited both a slum and a western style shopping mall. The slums were quite
appalling in their poverty. The smell was sickening and almost immediately approaching
the slum area we had to avoid stepping in human feces. Garbage, a common sight in India,
was even more piled up in the slums. The slum streets were abuzz with all sorts of
activity- cooking, begging, wandering, and peddling, these people doing whatever it is
they do. I already admitted I have little idea what these people are up to all day. I
actually felt more at ease in the slums than on the streets in Bangalore elsewhere. The
people were more friendly and curious than in other areas. But I had the feeling that I
had more wealth than a whole city block of people here. The occupations that the people
in the slums have include sorting garbage. One man, if he was able to collect enough milk
packets, would earn 30 to 40 rupees a day, a little less than a dollar.
The mall area we went to afterwards, despite all the Indian people around, felt exactly
like a Western mall. I was shocked at how exactly it matched a typical American mall. The
stores and merchandise was, down to the stitch, Western. I reflected as I wandered around
that the people shopping at this mall were trying to emulate my lifestyle- that of a
young American with disposable income. A bit strange that this is an exalted lifestyle.
Seeing the people casually strolling about paying what essentially were American prices
for things illustrated how extreme the rich-poor divide is here, especially contrasted
with the slums. I thought the many security guards were a rather authoritarian touch. It
made me wonder if the shoppers here ever consider what the guards mean- they have to have
guards because the mall is threatened by masses of poor people.
After the venture into town we discussed how the mall and the slums require each other to
exist. They feed off and reinforce each other. The garbage from the mall likely ends up
in the slum, strewn on the streets or being sorted by a slum dweller. The staff at the
mall and the security guards were probably slum dwellers as well. And not everyone can be
as rich as the shoppers at the mall. Some people have to be poor so that the mall
shoppers can have the lifestyle they do. I thought this was an interesting example for
the economic distribution of earth. A common statistic states that it would take six
earths to support the global population if everyone had the living standard of Americans.
Since we do not have six earths, it is clear that there are huge inequities on this
planet.
This means that the living standards of the US could not exist without a large portion of
the globe suffering under poverty. So our technology and things we take for granted only
exist on the backs of the rest of the planet, with women and children working in
sweatshops and low grade factories to provide us with goods to consume. As standards of
living rise in the developing world and as Western media outlets pump Western values and
standards into homes around the world, people on earth are going to want the same
standards of living as Americans. But there is only one planet, not six. How is this
going to be settled? Could we all settle on a more modest life? Or will somebody always
have to be decadent to the point of causing global suffering?
Another amazing experience I had was a homestay over the weekend with a Muslim family.
They were quite comfortable in their means and built and operated the local mosque.
Harun, the older son, and Hamza, the younger one, were incredibly well versed in American
and global politics and we had many interesting discussions. It was interesting to live
with them because in the US I think we don?t get much exposure to Islam unless it is in
the context of terrorism. This was simply a normal, friendly family. We observed prayer
at the mosque and had a traditional fast breaking meal there as part of Ramadan. Muslims
fast from sunrise to sunset for a month
.
The stay was particularly interesting because I saw Islam blending with modernity. Hamza
was probably one of the kids I saw wandering about the mall. Hamza played the same video
games and watched the same movies as us. One day we went out to town with Hamza and a
friend of his. Hanging out in his friend?s room with posters of American bands on the
walls, playing guitar, and watching them play Counterstrike, I almost forgot I was in
India. But then they would go to the mosque five times a day to pray. It was a surreal
and amazing experience. The discussions we had on Islam were interesting as well. I got
the feeling that Harun was trying to defend the relative conservatism of Islam to us.
I asked him about women in Islam, as I know that is a big criticism of it in the West. I
was a bit hesitant to ask because I don?t want to ask loaded questions about something I
do not fully understand. But seeing no women at the mosque and knowing that the mother in
our house was waking up to prepare the first meal at about 3:30 in the morning, I thought
I had to ask. Harun said some things that were new to me- that the burqas were just part
of a standard of modesty across Islam- that men are required to dress modestly as well.
He also said it was about valuing women as people and not for their looks. He also talked
about preventing the comingling of the sexes and that in the West people have almost 5
partners throughout their life- he portrayed this as a horrible problem. It was
interesting but confirmed my suspicions of the conservatism of Islam towards women.
One day we visited both a slum and a western style shopping mall. The slums were quite
appalling in their poverty. The smell was sickening and almost immediately approaching
the slum area we had to avoid stepping in human feces. Garbage, a common sight in India,
was even more piled up in the slums. The slum streets were abuzz with all sorts of
activity- cooking, begging, wandering, and peddling, these people doing whatever it is
they do. I already admitted I have little idea what these people are up to all day. I
actually felt more at ease in the slums than on the streets in Bangalore elsewhere. The
people were more friendly and curious than in other areas. But I had the feeling that I
had more wealth than a whole city block of people here. The occupations that the people
in the slums have include sorting garbage. One man, if he was able to collect enough milk
packets, would earn 30 to 40 rupees a day, a little less than a dollar.
The mall area we went to afterwards, despite all the Indian people around, felt exactly
like a Western mall. I was shocked at how exactly it matched a typical American mall. The
stores and merchandise was, down to the stitch, Western. I reflected as I wandered around
that the people shopping at this mall were trying to emulate my lifestyle- that of a
young American with disposable income. A bit strange that this is an exalted lifestyle.
Seeing the people casually strolling about paying what essentially were American prices
for things illustrated how extreme the rich-poor divide is here, especially contrasted
with the slums. I thought the many security guards were a rather authoritarian touch. It
made me wonder if the shoppers here ever consider what the guards mean- they have to have
guards because the mall is threatened by masses of poor people.
After the venture into town we discussed how the mall and the slums require each other to
exist. They feed off and reinforce each other. The garbage from the mall likely ends up
in the slum, strewn on the streets or being sorted by a slum dweller. The staff at the
mall and the security guards were probably slum dwellers as well. And not everyone can be
as rich as the shoppers at the mall. Some people have to be poor so that the mall
shoppers can have the lifestyle they do. I thought this was an interesting example for
the economic distribution of earth. A common statistic states that it would take six
earths to support the global population if everyone had the living standard of Americans.
Since we do not have six earths, it is clear that there are huge inequities on this
planet.
This means that the living standards of the US could not exist without a large portion of
the globe suffering under poverty. So our technology and things we take for granted only
exist on the backs of the rest of the planet, with women and children working in
sweatshops and low grade factories to provide us with goods to consume. As standards of
living rise in the developing world and as Western media outlets pump Western values and
standards into homes around the world, people on earth are going to want the same
standards of living as Americans. But there is only one planet, not six. How is this
going to be settled? Could we all settle on a more modest life? Or will somebody always
have to be decadent to the point of causing global suffering?
Another amazing experience I had was a homestay over the weekend with a Muslim family.
They were quite comfortable in their means and built and operated the local mosque.
Harun, the older son, and Hamza, the younger one, were incredibly well versed in American
and global politics and we had many interesting discussions. It was interesting to live
with them because in the US I think we don?t get much exposure to Islam unless it is in
the context of terrorism. This was simply a normal, friendly family. We observed prayer
at the mosque and had a traditional fast breaking meal there as part of Ramadan. Muslims
fast from sunrise to sunset for a month
.
The stay was particularly interesting because I saw Islam blending with modernity. Hamza
was probably one of the kids I saw wandering about the mall. Hamza played the same video
games and watched the same movies as us. One day we went out to town with Hamza and a
friend of his. Hanging out in his friend?s room with posters of American bands on the
walls, playing guitar, and watching them play Counterstrike, I almost forgot I was in
India. But then they would go to the mosque five times a day to pray. It was a surreal
and amazing experience. The discussions we had on Islam were interesting as well. I got
the feeling that Harun was trying to defend the relative conservatism of Islam to us.
I asked him about women in Islam, as I know that is a big criticism of it in the West. I
was a bit hesitant to ask because I don?t want to ask loaded questions about something I
do not fully understand. But seeing no women at the mosque and knowing that the mother in
our house was waking up to prepare the first meal at about 3:30 in the morning, I thought
I had to ask. Harun said some things that were new to me- that the burqas were just part
of a standard of modesty across Islam- that men are required to dress modestly as well.
He also said it was about valuing women as people and not for their looks. He also talked
about preventing the comingling of the sexes and that in the West people have almost 5
partners throughout their life- he portrayed this as a horrible problem. It was
interesting but confirmed my suspicions of the conservatism of Islam towards women.
1 comment:
We non-travelers love these blogs. You guys all have such interesting observations. Plus, you all write well. Please keep posting. Please get your companions to write.
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