Law, Partially

What was the number one highlight? Let’s say it was my trip to the villages around Latur. I gave a harrowing speech about the U.S. education system and how when there is no discrimination, children can study to become whatever they want to be: engineer, doctor, lawyer, pilot, astronaut. I also sang the Star Spangled Banner to a gathering of 25 village leaders, and yes, I fell flat on all the high notes. I was so drunk on my success with that song, I followed it up with Redemption Song by Bob Marley. I asked my CRY friends to tell the leaders in Marathi (the language the villagers understand) that Redemption Song is a song about the Jamaican people’s struggle. These village leaders were Dalits and embroiled in their own struggle – ie the struggle for basic human rights in their communities. And all weekend, the villagers treated me like the most revered celebrity. Maybe I will move out there for a short period of time – to write a report for CRY.

I’ve been back in the States for two weeks now. Some Indian reflections are in order. Consider this closure. I think I’ve done all the things in the States that I had been dreaming of all summer. I’m drinking red European wine and eating European cheese as I type. (American wine and cheese were also dreamed about, but it just so happens that I’m going European tonight.) These items are prohibitively expensive in India, but at Costco in the U.S., they’re just the right price. I ate Mexican food at El Maguey. I saw friends and family. I spoke English, and everyone understood. As I type this, I’m thinking, being back home sounds underwhelming, and actually it probably is. I have unfinished business, it feels, in India. Eleven weeks just wasn’t enough time. I was intimidated by India when I first arrived there. What shocked and scared me most at first was the madness of the streets. People were walking on highways. Also on highways there were roadside stalls set up. People didn’t stop at r...

Se Cathedral in Old Goa. All that's left of the formerly grand city of Old Goa are a splattering of giant churches like this. With so many huge churches, this must have been a pretty full town back in its day. This is the waterfront of Old Goa. Check out how red that water is. I'm guessing it's because there's iron down there, or maybe some other mineral that makes it red. Not much left of the waterfront today, just this modern junky metal dock. All that's left now is a ship salvaging operation. These huge rusting ships could contribute to the red of the water, but water was red everywhere, not just here. This wide river would have been great for those Portuguese sailing ships to slide up. My hotel, the Panjim Inn in the restored Portuguese mansion in Panjim, Goa's capital city. My tour guide at the Spice Farm in front of the scraggly looking cinnamon tree. Women bent over in rice paddies. This picture was taken from the back of a motorcycle taxi whi...

With Melissa and Sanjay from CRY Mumbai and towing along my three Singapore friends, I ventured 14 hours from Mumbai into the interiors of Maharashtra. I went to villages and met Dalit farmers who are collectivizing and working together and claiming the human dignity that they’ve never had the wherewithal to claim before. Traditionally, a farmer Dalit wouldn’t even look his landowner employer in the eye, let alone request a living wage, let alone request anything. Nobody really spoke much English except for our CRY companions who provided some spotty translation. And never before in my life have I been treated as such an absolute celebrity. I would sit on the ground in these villages and just have children staring and smiling at me the whole time. I like CRY because CRY doesn’t just roll through villages throwing out money like the U.S. and the U.N. used to do. This old strategy achieved very bad results, especially in Africa where increased foreign aid has increased the wealth of dict...

Seeing and listening to the rosy picture painted for us in the villages around Latur, I was reminded of statements I’ve often heard in the U.S. For example, a celebrity spends a day with some disadvantaged children and then says something like, “their strength and determination is an inspiration to me,” and this celebrity gets a pat on the back for caring. Paris Hilton gets out of jail and is inspired to party less and live a life devoted to helping prison women. How selfless of Paris. You can throw some money at the disadvantaged and leave. You can build them a house and then roll out of town. But these things don’t really get to the roots of why these people are disadvantaged in the first place. The house is likely to be taken care of poorly and the money spent imprudently. People tend to appreciate things a lot more if they have earned it themselves through their own work. I think this is why CRY goes about this development work the right way, empowering people through education and...

I made a solo voyage into South Mumbai. I went to the CRY offices and met my new friend Melissa, a CRY employee. She’s arranging my visit into Maharashtra. She and I talked for quite a while about CRY, India, and all India’s problems. This is interesting stuff. I went to some art galleries and wished I had enough money. I contemplated what a cruel irony it was to talk about people starving in the countryside and peasants flocking to Mumbai to live on the sidewalks, and then to waste a leisurely Saturday afternoon perusing expensive artworks. This is just the way the world works. Then I sat here and read a book. This is Marine Drive, and it’s lined with some of Mumbai’s fanciest hotels. At night these lights are called the Queen’s necklace. When it started to get dark, I went to one of these fancy hotels -- the Intercontinental -- that cater to the young international jet set, and had some beers and read the newspaper on the painfully stylish rooftop bar. There really is such a thing as...

(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. Anyo...