This article caught my attention when I was reading the Times of India yesterday. If you were wondering why I haven't been entirely forthcoming about my opinions and experiences since coming to India. . .the article might give you a better idea of why.
That's not to say that I've been finding out anything too controversial. . .but certainly more than I've written about here. Many things not immediately obvious, to foreigners especially, are politicized (as is mentioned in the article above) and your actions and beliefs carry a lot of weight. A conference that I went to last month, for example, happened to be getting at least some contribution from the state party in power and had the chief minister of the state's address in the program. . .and there were a number of other questionable things/papers presented at the conference as well.
I've also been learning alot from my friends in the hostel. The situation in the North-East and particularly Manipur is very different than here but truth-telling/activism are still dangerous. . .even more so. Although I would like to give more informed opinions about what's going on and what it all means, I still don't feel nearly knowledgeable enough about the implications of my actions/how much information is too much information/how private is my "private information" nor do I feel that I have enough of a grasp on the big picture of India (which is a huge and insanely multifaceted picture) to give a lot of meaningful, worth-while insight. . .Sure, I can share most of my day to day experiences, no problem. But to pass judgement on those experiences, at the present moment, would only be presumptuous. I'm not ready to sacrifice myself for presumptions. . .
Last weekend we had a "freshers" (first-years) party for the residents of the hostel. We each gave a short introduction, heard a speech from the land-lady, ate some delicious food and socialized together for the evening. The boy:girl ratio was about 6:1. Since I normally only hang out with the girls (there are 7 of us but not everyone was at the party) and only see the boys (of whom there are over 20) from the boys hostel at meal times, this was an opportunity for them to talk to me. I don't say that out of ego-ism, I was actually put on the spot at one point in the night by some of the boys to just talk about my country and impressions of India, etc. It was also an opportunity for them to talk to "the girls". The boys were also very interested in hearing the girls' opinions about "what makes a man sexy or manly as opposed to cute?". . . .um. But we had a chance to ask the boys any questions we wanted too. . .so maybe it was fair? Anyway, it was funny and fun to get to know each other better and to learn more about Manipuri culture a little bit. . .although in this particular situation I didn't feel that I learned much about Manipur specifically, more that boys everywhere share a lot of similarities. . .especially when it comes to attraction, love and relationships.
Also, I think my running count on religious conversion attempts is up to about 7930386710391 since coming to India. Converters beware!
That's not to say that I've been finding out anything too controversial. . .but certainly more than I've written about here. Many things not immediately obvious, to foreigners especially, are politicized (as is mentioned in the article above) and your actions and beliefs carry a lot of weight. A conference that I went to last month, for example, happened to be getting at least some contribution from the state party in power and had the chief minister of the state's address in the program. . .and there were a number of other questionable things/papers presented at the conference as well.
I've also been learning alot from my friends in the hostel. The situation in the North-East and particularly Manipur is very different than here but truth-telling/activism are still dangerous. . .even more so. Although I would like to give more informed opinions about what's going on and what it all means, I still don't feel nearly knowledgeable enough about the implications of my actions/how much information is too much information/how private is my "private information" nor do I feel that I have enough of a grasp on the big picture of India (which is a huge and insanely multifaceted picture) to give a lot of meaningful, worth-while insight. . .Sure, I can share most of my day to day experiences, no problem. But to pass judgement on those experiences, at the present moment, would only be presumptuous. I'm not ready to sacrifice myself for presumptions. . .
Last weekend we had a "freshers" (first-years) party for the residents of the hostel. We each gave a short introduction, heard a speech from the land-lady, ate some delicious food and socialized together for the evening. The boy:girl ratio was about 6:1. Since I normally only hang out with the girls (there are 7 of us but not everyone was at the party) and only see the boys (of whom there are over 20) from the boys hostel at meal times, this was an opportunity for them to talk to me. I don't say that out of ego-ism, I was actually put on the spot at one point in the night by some of the boys to just talk about my country and impressions of India, etc. It was also an opportunity for them to talk to "the girls". The boys were also very interested in hearing the girls' opinions about "what makes a man sexy or manly as opposed to cute?". . . .um. But we had a chance to ask the boys any questions we wanted too. . .so maybe it was fair? Anyway, it was funny and fun to get to know each other better and to learn more about Manipuri culture a little bit. . .although in this particular situation I didn't feel that I learned much about Manipur specifically, more that boys everywhere share a lot of similarities. . .especially when it comes to attraction, love and relationships.
Also, I think my running count on religious conversion attempts is up to about 7930386710391 since coming to India. Converters beware!
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