Forgot to mention, it was 20 C and sunny today, and E. and I spent most of the afternoon on our rooftop cafe drinking tea and lassi, eating oranges and pomegranate, and reading our books.
Chins up, you suckers experiencing snow!
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Today the weather was -28 with the Windchill
Im making a response to various blog entries of yours I've read. 1. I cant wait for discussions when we return 2. Going around India with a westernized Indian boy will not reduce stares, but (I know its hard to believe) may actually increase them 3. Jodhpur-Jaipur-Bikaner are amazing, but if you go to the Rat temple I will NOT talk to you ever again. The place is just the breeding ground for the plague 4. The jewels and gold that are missing from the palaces/forts/temples is thanks to the lovely British 5. The lack of women is based on where you are. In Poorer areas the women are at home working/being servants for the richer classes. The richer women are either at the gym, spa, country club, shopping (In south extension and various malls) and volunteering at NGOs to feel better about themselves. 6. Fieldtrips are a big part of the Indian private school experience, often students take their own cars and dont even end up going to the trips (that was my childhood) 7. Rickshaws are hard to get used to, but like the staring,lepers, poverty etc you get accustomed to it 8. Personal space is something you will NEVER find in India unless you go to a five star hotel or country club. I would suggest going to the Rambagh palace in Jaipur for tea (former royal residence of the Jaipur family) 9. Have a great time, rural India doesnt have McDonalds so fill your fast food cravings, cyber cafe availability will also decreases
Have fun, dont drink the water and DONT GO TO THE RAT TEMPLE
loving your tea stories and am enamoured with the picture of you clam-shelling your luggage in your sleep. tanning much? and, how's your hindi coming?
a thought reflecting your reflections on the concept of basic respect on the streets of delhi: in class today, we opened the floor to the idea of human rights being the new narrative for colonialization - an interesting idea and not without merit, i think, but couldn't figure out a way to say that without sounding like a facist. and now i'm curious: as someone in a (dare i say) completely foreign cultural context, do you find your thoughts on "basic rights," "common sense," or the manifestation thereof changing at all?
maybe it's too early to tell yet. in any case, not expecting a response on this, just thinking aloud in cyberspace and looking forward to having tea on a rooftop with you, in summer time.
your pictures are beautiful, as is your prose. stay safe, have fun haggling, and happy v-day :)
Although, as two young women blessed with more than a pittance of common sense, we never had any intention of going to the rat temple, the last smouldering embers of a chance of us going were snuffed out when the older couple we met (Jennifer and Eep, really spelled "Ib") described it. By "it," I mean having a shitload of insane rats crawling all over you, your shit, and every surface around you. What kind of crazy ass white person do you have to be to find that appealing, even under the label of "exotic?"
Cindy: I love you and your grammar. I'm familiar with the arguments about the rights framework as an evolved form of colonialism - it's a major question among Western feminists, right now (I feel like I always bring it back to this, but hey). I was going to write a blog post about the concept of offense and taking offense, which I hopefully will today, that deals a little with what you're talking about - basically, my question is, at what point do I let go of cultural sensitivity and allow myself to be offended? You think about it, I'll think about it, and let's chat about it in the comments on that post.
4 comments:
Today the weather was -28 with the Windchill
Im making a response to various blog entries of yours I've read.
1. I cant wait for discussions when we return
2. Going around India with a westernized Indian boy will not reduce stares, but (I know its hard to believe) may actually increase them
3. Jodhpur-Jaipur-Bikaner are amazing, but if you go to the Rat temple I will NOT talk to you ever again. The place is just the breeding ground for the plague
4. The jewels and gold that are missing from the palaces/forts/temples is thanks to the lovely British
5. The lack of women is based on where you are. In Poorer areas the women are at home working/being servants for the richer classes. The richer women are either at the gym, spa, country club, shopping (In south extension and various malls) and volunteering at NGOs to feel better about themselves.
6. Fieldtrips are a big part of the Indian private school experience, often students take their own cars and dont even end up going to the trips (that was my childhood)
7. Rickshaws are hard to get used to, but like the staring,lepers, poverty etc you get accustomed to it
8. Personal space is something you will NEVER find in India unless you go to a five star hotel or country club. I would suggest going to the Rambagh palace in Jaipur for tea (former royal residence of the Jaipur family)
9. Have a great time, rural India doesnt have McDonalds so fill your fast food cravings, cyber cafe availability will also decreases
Have fun, dont drink the water and DONT GO TO THE RAT TEMPLE
loving your tea stories and am enamoured with the picture of you clam-shelling your luggage in your sleep. tanning much? and, how's your hindi coming?
a thought reflecting your reflections on the concept of basic respect on the streets of delhi: in class today, we opened the floor to the idea of human rights being the new narrative for colonialization - an interesting idea and not without merit, i think, but couldn't figure out a way to say that without sounding like a facist. and now i'm curious: as someone in a (dare i say) completely foreign cultural context, do you find your thoughts on "basic rights," "common sense," or the manifestation thereof changing at all?
maybe it's too early to tell yet. in any case, not expecting a response on this, just thinking aloud in cyberspace and looking forward to having tea on a rooftop with you, in summer time.
your pictures are beautiful, as is your prose. stay safe, have fun haggling, and happy v-day :)
sorry, my inner grammar geek is taking over for a second:
enamoured with? enamoured ...
i really just mean "je suis amoureuse de"!
Sumo:
Although, as two young women blessed with more than a pittance of common sense, we never had any intention of going to the rat temple, the last smouldering embers of a chance of us going were snuffed out when the older couple we met (Jennifer and Eep, really spelled "Ib") described it. By "it," I mean having a shitload of insane rats crawling all over you, your shit, and every surface around you. What kind of crazy ass white person do you have to be to find that appealing, even under the label of "exotic?"
Cindy:
I love you and your grammar. I'm familiar with the arguments about the rights framework as an evolved form of colonialism - it's a major question among Western feminists, right now (I feel like I always bring it back to this, but hey). I was going to write a blog post about the concept of offense and taking offense, which I hopefully will today, that deals a little with what you're talking about - basically, my question is, at what point do I let go of cultural sensitivity and allow myself to be offended? You think about it, I'll think about it, and let's chat about it in the comments on that post.
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