Monday, July 14, 2008

So I'm sure any who know me understand how much I tend to eat, and maybe even how much I like Indian food (I do, a lot); when I have no motivation to eat for 36 hours, you know there must be at least some digestive issue at work. Fortunately when I woke up today I felt much better, and even though I hadn't developed much more of an appetite, I had some breakfast for nutritional reasons.

This afternoon has been amazing. First Amanda, Jesse, and I ran around the community for some for exercise. The whole area (maybe a square half mile) appears very well-to-do with multiple-story houses and fancy cars, not to mention the complimentary nearby tennis courts and playground. Just outside the gate that is constantly attended, though, are people who appear malnourished and carry on menial jobs who would surely beg if let inside the community.

After developing a heavy sweat in the heat and sun, several people including me went swimming in the resort pool and played a game of freeze tag. While relaxing in the pool before lunch, I realized how much these two orientation weeks were just like a vacation: staying in nice accommodations with a pool and catered meals, seeing sites of importance around the city, etc. How the cost was not more I can't be sure, maybe it's because I'm in India. The other thing is that I've really had to plan nothing, CIEE has been amazing at organizing all these orientation events and such, although the uncertainty of the timing or existence of events under Indian control can be noticed. I observed that today when we were to register with the police department.

Within 14 days, each of us needs to register with them for safety reasons; this includes verifying passports and providing personal information etc. No big deal right? Wrong. This registration has been mentioned by the staff here for days, and they've had to plan a great deal for it. Yesterday we entered information online, and today we were to go to the police station to finish the registration. I could tell Prishanthi was more tense today than usual. The administration there is extremely bureaucratic; the head there feels the need to justify his power over the public by making such registrations low on his priority list, sometimes refusing altogether to agree to take them. Kavitha, Madri, Prishanthi, and Anuj (all running the orientation) didn't know exactly how many students could be registered today; we all went in a bus to the station and parked outside. Six students who had arrived first in India (it was most crucial they were registered first to fulfill the 14 day deadline), passports in hand, were taken into the station and the rest of us waited. During that wait, Anuj answered questions the dozen of us or so (mainly me, I love to ask questions) had about India. Here are some things I learned:

There are three main whole head gestures in India (I was eager to clarify this): the nod, shake, and side-to-side bobble (I'll call it). North Indians use the bobble to mean "no," but the shake is preferred (90% of the time, 10% of the time bobbling is acceptable). South Indians use the bobble to mean "yes," and this is more prevalent (also 90%) to mean "yes" than the nod is.

Telugu is spoken throughout the state of Andrha Pradesh, of which Hyderabad is the capital, although Hindi is also used throughout like the rest of India. Urdu is a language that originated in the North amongst the royal, and is somewhat combined/mixed with Hindi in Hyderabad; this generates not only a royal feel during conversation, but a casual sense as well is conveyed (counterintuitive; I'm not sure why it is understood as being casual as well). Speaking pure Hindi is more formal than is this Hindi-Urdu mixture.

This language conversation evolved into that of a religious one. There are 3 "you" words in Hindi. The *tu* is used to refer to the lowly, over which one has authority; it is also used for the familiar (friends/family) sometimes. The highest "you" is only reserved for the most important and powerful. Which do you think they use to refer to God? The refer to God as the lowest of the "you"s; this conveys a sense of community with God, an equal-ness, pervasiveness, and reachability. Contrast that with Catholicism.

The Hindu religion is as a whole rather liberal; Gods are depicted as embodying any and all of human faults, including gluttony and lust (one God was married to 16,000 women). Anyway, this "liberalism" pervades throughout other aspects of Indian thought, such as how they regard their own culture. I asked Anuj if it would be seen as insulting if one of us were wore a sari or other traditional clothing. I imagined it would be that way based on intense ownership issues I've noticed throughout the States; integrating others and diversity into a school of thought or group could be perceived as "tainting" the sacred original and creating something less distinctive and valuable. It is just the opposite with regard to our wearing traditional garments in India. They would be honored/pleased to see that. Not only does it mean more business for them (we would have needed to buy the clothing), but they would love to see the interest in their culture. They are proud of it and confident in it and would be accepting to see such interest. As this is a generalization, I can also with utmost confidence make the generalization about the States that, from what I've seen there, mine is mine and yours is yours, let's not dabble in each other's business because then your my problem.

Although some elements of Hinduism and Indian culture are liberal, there is still some pull toward the traditional, especially in the older generations and in the rural north. This contrasts directly with trends of the younger generation and in cities, and can lead to major problems as a result. For example, arranged marriage and dowry to the male is traditional (dowry-wise, the family of an upper caste female pays on average the equivalent $2 to $2.5 MILLION American dollars to the husband); of course this arrangement may or may not (likely) be preferred by the younger generation. Those in this generation go through much conflict in general between pleasing their parents/honoring/respecting them and acknowledging what they'd prefer. Many parents see the benefit in providing for the children with food/education, some would prefer to even starve themselves if necessary for the children. As a result of this sacrifice, the children see the need to grant the parents' wishes; if that means marrying someone, it will likely be seriously considered. As a result of this conflict and others between the traditional and present, many suffer and don't know whether or not to please/disappoint themselves/parents; suicide is even a result. Anuj however estimated that maybe 30% of arranged marriage-bent parents would understand and accept a child's wish to pursue his or her own spouse in a situation where social progress has made some influence, such as a prior move to the city from a more rural area; the rest of the parents would positively disown their children for wanting such a thing, another cause of suffering and conflict. Sleeziness/low moral standards/adultery/serious premarital relationships are reserved for the Indian perceptions of the Westerners and Americans (additionally that we're all rich, hence targets for begging), crafted as a prevalent conception in India of the West based on Hollywood movies where such punishable behavior is often capitalized upon for the thrill of the audience.

There has been much recent development in Hyderabad. As opportunities in the city open, people flock there; Bangalore has had this happen and is now ridiculously overcrowded. Hyderabad is now the center of such growth with property values rapidly increasing as the potential of the area rises.

In the cities, class is more important; in the rural areas, caste is. Although one could argue that both class and caste are born into, class is more mobile and is based on wealth/education. Caste is recognized by one's surname. Marriage still follows inter-caste tendencies.

Bureaucratic rules/regulations and corruption is prevalent in the government and police, as we were noticing with this registration. Those six initial students were in there for over an hour; Prishanthi called Anuj from inside the station and told him to have the rest of us driven home, maybe we'd have more luck convincing them to register us later on. It is only because of a well-crafted report between the police and CIEE developed over time that we're even able to usually register in groups, although never all at once. That would be nearly unheard of; these registrations usually take days. I understood why Prishanthi flipped out when I had signed my name a line too low on my form; anything like that they find could be used as reason to refuse our registration, perpetuating and activating the power that the bureaucracy as come to demand.

Having to wait was no problem for me though. I, like the rest of the students on the bus, listened intently to Anuj as he disclosed all this information, activated by our questions. He was also eager to ask us about our perceptions of Indians, the prevalence of racism in the US, etc. I suppose my stay in India is meant to be all about such cultural exchanges, and it was worth flying all the way over here to engage in them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to hear how the police registration goes. Unfortunately that kind of protocol "etiquette" is not unique to India. Regardless, always a hassle. It's always good to read this blog. Will be passing it on to others.

Mr. DeRuosi said...

Well Matt, it certainly seems that you are soaking up most everything India has to offer! Emma and I went to the Morris Arboretum yesterday to see the miniature train display. There was a tiny Taj Mahal we took pictures of, I'll email them when I dump it the pics from the camera.

Be safe, be well.

Frank

Anonymous said...

This entry reminded me of the movie bend it like beckham with all the arranged marriage stuff. Yeah, Hollywood makes travel difficult for Americans...in Spain they called it "Hollywoodland" like it was its own country!
-Amy