day ten

I apologize: had a pretty boring day yesterday.

Got up early and went for my usual diet coke seeking stroll. Unfortunately it was too early even for India (but not too early for the air-raid like siren from the paper mill to sound), so I returned home empty handed. And thirsty.

We got to work and I proceeded to do my usual CD reviews, though I adjourned to Juice Junction for a nutritious lunch of bhel puri. I really can't overstate how delicious this stuff is: like savory cereal with a hit of tamarind and spices and tomato mmm mm crack. Also discovered an odd looking Italian place next door featuring pizza and (gasp) beef steak. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.

Aneesa and I left, stopping off at Crosswords again - the schmancy bookstore on 100 Ft Road. I did find the Madphur Jeffries cookbook I lust over and an awesome book on Indianized English I'll definitely pick up before I go. We walked back along the road (nice cool evening) and even managed to avoid getting splattered with something that was probably shit like the day before. You learn your dodge reflex real quick around here.

We arrived back in time for dinner - tasty chicken curry, chili fried chicken, appams (a kind of rice pancake.) Everyone else wanted to go see Sweeny Todd, but I was feeling bored and exhausted and decided to stay behind and sleep early. This is easier said then done in India, since after-dinner time means: Bollywood videos played next door at eardrum shattering volumes, vicious Hindi-English arguments coming from God knows where, international jets taking off from the nearby HAL airport and dogs engaging in vicious rabid gang wars. And yet I managed to fall asleep. One thing: India has cured my insomnia.

TOPICS OF INTEREST:
Indian women are fed up with the staring epidemic as well. Now, the staring thing has been bothering me a lot less then the other women in this program. Honestly, I find staring less irritating then the dirty comments-and-following bullshit that American men are prone too. At least the Indian men generally don't have the cojones to actually 1. approach you or 2. make vivid commentary on your arse. (This is usually done from moving vehicles so you cannot actually whump them.) I found the Chinese guys even worse, to be honest: they'd follow you, make commentary, stalk you, approach in packs and ask for pictures....thus far, Indian men haven't pulled that junk.

However, the situation apparantly sucks for Indian women, who experience the same sort of "eve teasing" (term for this stuff) but don't get the same attention that wronged foreign women do. Along these lines, there's the movement, which seeks to give Indian women the right to wear whatever the hell they want without being accused of being a cheap slutwhore. I fully support this and wish I could have attended the march last weekend. (Unfortunately I had no frickin' clue how to get a rickshaw there.)

From my own extremely limited observation, Indian women are in an odd place rights-wise. When comparing China and India, one thing that leaps out at me is that Chinese women are much more visible in daily life. Chinese women are running stores and business, working in restaurants and hotels, and generally are extremely visible on the street. They're very vocal in daily life as well: I saw many Chinese women get up in the grill of a man they felt had wronged them in any way (including one memorable incident where a very small female shopkeeper went at a guy she felt stiffed her with fists and teeth until the usual rubbernecking crowd pulled her off.) Chinese women also dress in a very independent-minded, Western way: tight tops, high heels, crazy hairstyles, weird jewerly. Admittedly this is much more in evidence in Beijing then in, say, Xi'an or Xinjiang, but it's definitely noticeable.

Not so in India. Indian women just aren't filling these public roles in the same sort of obvious way, and they're definitely not on evidence on the streets or in public life the same way they are in China. Women do work high powered jobs here and (obviously) have attained the very highest levels in politics, but the average woman does seem to be leading a much more closeted and traditional life here. You do see women wearing Western dress here, but its generally in the fanciest malls and at clubs, usually with a boyfriend keeping an eye out for them.

Still: I've been reading Indian Cosmopolitan magazine (we have many in the lounge here), and the articles are all very womens-rights oriented and sex friendly - hookups, controlling men, advancing in your career, and so forth. Now I know Cosmo is not exactly a barometer of women's cultural status, but its mere existence and popularity must mean something. Are things different for women in Mumbai and Delhi? Is Bangalore, despite its wealth and multitude of job oppurtunitis, just more traditional then the other two big Indian cities? Hm.