Day 51 (27 July): Indian versions of Eton and Tibet
This morning, Umung’s mother took me to the Doon School and gave me a full tour of the place. The Doon School is India’s premier boarding school and many Indian families choose to send their children to school there rather than abroad for high school although most of the kids go on to colleges in the UK or in the US. My friend Umung went to school there and his mother helped establish their computer science department. The thing that made it most uniquely Indian was that each of the dormitories there was donated by a different Maharaja and accordingly named. During the tour, we were invited into one of the current teachers of economics or ‘masters’ houses for a cup of tea.
Early in the day, we also stopped at a well-known Indian Sweets shop, where we sat for about an hour and must have sampled at least 10 different Indian desserts, most of which were very sugary and delicious, although a few were supposed to taste both sweet-and-sour or made of pulses and did not suit my tastes in the least.
From the Doon School we went on to Clement Town that is one of the areas in India where Tibetan refugees have fled to, to avoid the Chinese government’s rule of their homeland. There is a large Tibetan Buddhist monetary there as well as several temples and a giant standing outdoor Buddha. It is also supposed to be home to the Panchen Lama (who ranks second to the Dali Lama), however, the current Panchen Lama is allegedly being held as a political prisoner by the Chinese government. The Dali Lam is in another town in India to the Northwest of Clement Town and the Doon Valley area.
From Clement Town, we went to a dinner party with an eclectic group of people, many of whom were retired Professors, another of which had been active in the Indian Communist party in her youth, a journalist, and a current teacher at the Doon School. With the exception of the current teacher at Doon, everyone must have been more than 30 years my senior.
Observations:
1) There seems to be something about private schools with lots of tradition that makes them very tight knit communities because I saw a lot of things about the Doon School that reminded me of my own high school experience at St. Albans.
2) Child labor is something that cannot be avoided in India. When we were touring the Doon School there were a number of workers keeping the place up since it was between terms. Umung’s mother pointed out a bunch of young kids working and explained that nothing can be done to prevent it. If parents are told that their kids can’t work, even if it is helping on a project the parent took on, and they respond by explaining if they don’t the whole family can’t eat. This keeps kids from getting proper education and perpetuates the cycle.
3) Displaced people and cultures have to start anew. It is interesting to see what was happening in Clement Town because the whole community there had been displaced from Tibet and now had to learn the Hindi language and assimilate more into Indian culture to get by. In another generation, it is likely that the uniquely Tibetan culture they have may begin to fade as no one will have actually lived in Tibet.
4) Retired people in India seem to take on a great deal of charity work to help the poor in their own country. I had a number of conversations with people at the dinner party who were doing so and interested in talking about development economics.
5) Apparently somewhere near Dehra Dun, there is a whole town where all of its electricity come from diesel generators; the government has not gotten around to wiring the town yet and some of the shops decided that they would use generators so that they could have lights and refrigerators, etc. to get ahead. As such a whole shopping mall run on generators developed. If such things happen, it seems like it reduces the incentives for the government to come in and wire the place, since its functioning even if its in a way that causes massive pollution.
6) My Mumbai versus Umung’s Mumbai. So far in India and probably in any of my travels, I think Mumbai was one of my worst experiences although I’m still glad I went. My friend Umung, however, considers Mumbai one of his favorite places in India. Other Indians at the dinner party also thought it was a nice city because it’s a place where people will supposedly leave you alone. I think these things may be true there if your Indian, but not if you’re a foreigner which is unfortunate. It also would be interesting to head back to Mumbai at this point, now that I’m acclimatized to India
Early in the day, we also stopped at a well-known Indian Sweets shop, where we sat for about an hour and must have sampled at least 10 different Indian desserts, most of which were very sugary and delicious, although a few were supposed to taste both sweet-and-sour or made of pulses and did not suit my tastes in the least.
From the Doon School we went on to Clement Town that is one of the areas in India where Tibetan refugees have fled to, to avoid the Chinese government’s rule of their homeland. There is a large Tibetan Buddhist monetary there as well as several temples and a giant standing outdoor Buddha. It is also supposed to be home to the Panchen Lama (who ranks second to the Dali Lama), however, the current Panchen Lama is allegedly being held as a political prisoner by the Chinese government. The Dali Lam is in another town in India to the Northwest of Clement Town and the Doon Valley area.
From Clement Town, we went to a dinner party with an eclectic group of people, many of whom were retired Professors, another of which had been active in the Indian Communist party in her youth, a journalist, and a current teacher at the Doon School. With the exception of the current teacher at Doon, everyone must have been more than 30 years my senior.
Observations:
1) There seems to be something about private schools with lots of tradition that makes them very tight knit communities because I saw a lot of things about the Doon School that reminded me of my own high school experience at St. Albans.
2) Child labor is something that cannot be avoided in India. When we were touring the Doon School there were a number of workers keeping the place up since it was between terms. Umung’s mother pointed out a bunch of young kids working and explained that nothing can be done to prevent it. If parents are told that their kids can’t work, even if it is helping on a project the parent took on, and they respond by explaining if they don’t the whole family can’t eat. This keeps kids from getting proper education and perpetuates the cycle.
3) Displaced people and cultures have to start anew. It is interesting to see what was happening in Clement Town because the whole community there had been displaced from Tibet and now had to learn the Hindi language and assimilate more into Indian culture to get by. In another generation, it is likely that the uniquely Tibetan culture they have may begin to fade as no one will have actually lived in Tibet.
4) Retired people in India seem to take on a great deal of charity work to help the poor in their own country. I had a number of conversations with people at the dinner party who were doing so and interested in talking about development economics.
5) Apparently somewhere near Dehra Dun, there is a whole town where all of its electricity come from diesel generators; the government has not gotten around to wiring the town yet and some of the shops decided that they would use generators so that they could have lights and refrigerators, etc. to get ahead. As such a whole shopping mall run on generators developed. If such things happen, it seems like it reduces the incentives for the government to come in and wire the place, since its functioning even if its in a way that causes massive pollution.
6) My Mumbai versus Umung’s Mumbai. So far in India and probably in any of my travels, I think Mumbai was one of my worst experiences although I’m still glad I went. My friend Umung, however, considers Mumbai one of his favorite places in India. Other Indians at the dinner party also thought it was a nice city because it’s a place where people will supposedly leave you alone. I think these things may be true there if your Indian, but not if you’re a foreigner which is unfortunate. It also would be interesting to head back to Mumbai at this point, now that I’m acclimatized to India
posted by Traveling Brian at 10:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home