News and Notes
(1.) In two weekends, I will probably be going to a Hindu Holy town called Nasik. It’s about 4 hours by bus and train away from Mumbai. It is also the home of India’s most famous wine growing region and winery, Sula. An Indian who made a boatload in Silicon Valley returned to India and brought California wine makers with him to start the winery. They make whites and reds, including a cabernet shiraz blend.
(2.) I read this article earlier in the year and was quite moved by it. Cotton farmers are unable to repay their loans with the price of cotton being so low and the price of tractor fuel and genetically modified seeds being so high, and unable to repay their loans, they’re killing themselves. As poor as the population seems in Mumbai, the poverty in the countryside is supposed to be just grinding, and the primary reason why there are so many slums, beggars, and sidewalk sleepers is because people are just pouring into Mumbai from the countryside looking to make a better living. Anyone who took geography class knows this is called the “demographic transition,” whereby as nations develop, the population gravitates towards cities. Maybe you’ve heard that the U.S. was formerly a nation of farmers?
Anyway, in the U.S. I had grown involved with a volunteer group, CRY (Child Rights and You). We raise money basically for Indian children. But it’s not a hand-out organization. Communities are strengthened at the grass roots level and the impoverished and illiterate, who never before thought to ever claim even a basic human right, the kind of rights guaranteed to all Indians in the Indian Constitution, are taught that humans do have basic rights, despite what employers, landlords, or corrupt local government had told them. This “human rights work” is the kind of stuff that used to sound to me like fluffy window-dressing that middle-class Western kids used as an excuse to travel abroad and “make the world a better place.” But I think CRY has some real legitimacy, and I’m going to stay involved. It sounds more intelligent and effective than the U.N. for sure.
And at the beginning of July I’m going to travel into the interiors of Maharashtra, Bombay’s state, and also the state where the 1000+ cotton farmers have committed suicide over the last harvesting season, with some CRY people and maybe my Singapore friends and see for myself (a.) just how grinding this poverty in the countryside is, and (b.) what is CRY doing with all this money we’re raising in the U.S.
(3.) There is a fight and a gathering at the fringes of the slum-like area next to my house. It’s a man and a woman yelling and arguing and people are gathering around the edges. From my balcony I can see the crowd forming, but I don’t know what they’re arguing about or what they’re saying. It appears the mob drug the man away, but now the fight has reignited. I’m pretty sure the loudest voice is still the same woman and that the man’s voice is gone. Don’t know man. Luckily there are few guns in India so no stray bullets will be sailing up the 4th floor. Here is the view from my balcony.
(4.) I saw my first snake. It was on Saturday. It was very narrow in girth. It almost looked like a very athletic worm. Asshole better keep away from me. I'll stomp his skull like a psychotic Hindu. I hate snakes. A man was sweeping it away with a broom, and because this is India, and there are always people around, a few had gathered to watch. I walked past.
(5.) I’ve seen some little lizards creeping around the walls of my apartment, including one in my bedroom, but I chased him out into the living room. One came out my front door near the handle when I was closing the door. Scared the hell out of me. I saw a big lizard, maybe the same kitchen lizard, creeping around on the wall in my living room. Slimy bastards. Leave me alone.
(6.) The Hindu is a serious paper, but the news is heavily focused on Chennai, a city in Tamil Nadu. I find it not very relevant and actually too boring. I miss the Times of India now. However, the latest Paris Hilton news did make a blurb in the Sunday Hindu on page 15.
(2.) I read this article earlier in the year and was quite moved by it. Cotton farmers are unable to repay their loans with the price of cotton being so low and the price of tractor fuel and genetically modified seeds being so high, and unable to repay their loans, they’re killing themselves. As poor as the population seems in Mumbai, the poverty in the countryside is supposed to be just grinding, and the primary reason why there are so many slums, beggars, and sidewalk sleepers is because people are just pouring into Mumbai from the countryside looking to make a better living. Anyone who took geography class knows this is called the “demographic transition,” whereby as nations develop, the population gravitates towards cities. Maybe you’ve heard that the U.S. was formerly a nation of farmers?
Anyway, in the U.S. I had grown involved with a volunteer group, CRY (Child Rights and You). We raise money basically for Indian children. But it’s not a hand-out organization. Communities are strengthened at the grass roots level and the impoverished and illiterate, who never before thought to ever claim even a basic human right, the kind of rights guaranteed to all Indians in the Indian Constitution, are taught that humans do have basic rights, despite what employers, landlords, or corrupt local government had told them. This “human rights work” is the kind of stuff that used to sound to me like fluffy window-dressing that middle-class Western kids used as an excuse to travel abroad and “make the world a better place.” But I think CRY has some real legitimacy, and I’m going to stay involved. It sounds more intelligent and effective than the U.N. for sure.
And at the beginning of July I’m going to travel into the interiors of Maharashtra, Bombay’s state, and also the state where the 1000+ cotton farmers have committed suicide over the last harvesting season, with some CRY people and maybe my Singapore friends and see for myself (a.) just how grinding this poverty in the countryside is, and (b.) what is CRY doing with all this money we’re raising in the U.S.
(3.) There is a fight and a gathering at the fringes of the slum-like area next to my house. It’s a man and a woman yelling and arguing and people are gathering around the edges. From my balcony I can see the crowd forming, but I don’t know what they’re arguing about or what they’re saying. It appears the mob drug the man away, but now the fight has reignited. I’m pretty sure the loudest voice is still the same woman and that the man’s voice is gone. Don’t know man. Luckily there are few guns in India so no stray bullets will be sailing up the 4th floor. Here is the view from my balcony.
(4.) I saw my first snake. It was on Saturday. It was very narrow in girth. It almost looked like a very athletic worm. Asshole better keep away from me. I'll stomp his skull like a psychotic Hindu. I hate snakes. A man was sweeping it away with a broom, and because this is India, and there are always people around, a few had gathered to watch. I walked past.
(5.) I’ve seen some little lizards creeping around the walls of my apartment, including one in my bedroom, but I chased him out into the living room. One came out my front door near the handle when I was closing the door. Scared the hell out of me. I saw a big lizard, maybe the same kitchen lizard, creeping around on the wall in my living room. Slimy bastards. Leave me alone.
(6.) The Hindu is a serious paper, but the news is heavily focused on Chennai, a city in Tamil Nadu. I find it not very relevant and actually too boring. I miss the Times of India now. However, the latest Paris Hilton news did make a blurb in the Sunday Hindu on page 15.
Comments
CRY sounds like an honorable organization. I am especially intrigued that you are working with a goup that involves children. I've always been under the impression that you didn't like kids a whole lot! I remember the time you & Josh needed some service hours when you were in high school & volunteered to help out at SunRise's preschool. If my memory serves, you were highly annoyed by the children. Glad to hear you've changed that tune.