>On Jun 27, 2007, at 12:44 PM, ravi wrote:
>
> > India gets a free pass because there is a wishy-washy sentimentality
> > about India among Western leftists.
>
>I'm not sure what you're talking about; most of the stories I've seen
>in the left press on India have been about hunger and rural suicide.
>But in any case, I'd love to hear more about what's going on in
>India. Please post your own thoughts and forward anything you find
>interesting. It's a rather important country.
>
>Doug
i'm learning telegu and hindi -- and soon i'll be shacking up with my buddy, V, from work. so, while i've got your attention, can someone answer my q from awhile back. (i will also get some cooking lessons. vegetarian, you'll be happy to know ravi. :)
first, what's the scoop with jokes and complaints about india's corruption. i've never heard that before, but V talks about it a lot. He wants to live here, even though his dad's an attorney and they have a nice life. He says he never wants to go back there b/c of the corruption. he noted that, of course, there's corruption here, but it's not as bad as there. i kind of figured it had to do with the disparities in wealth and the influx of money into the country from call centers which, as I understand it from a radio program, is really changing things, challenging social mores as often happens with capitalist development. industry lures young people into the city or away from other modes of employment and they're exposed to Western values, ideas, etc.
a second q comes us re: the historic animosity between india and china. i assume there's one given the frequency with which my workmates make disparaging comments about the chinese. is there an anti-socialism thing oging on there, too? i know, i know. i should look it up on my own, but where to start!? and i'm working long days and no perm. residence yet, so no lib. card.
also, any books that you'd recommend so i can learn more about history and culture of india. is there like a handy guide so i can be better about translating my american slang or even understanding things like, oh yeah!, physicality. i've noticed that, when we work together, we're all very touchy and the guys (I call them Vishna and Khalid) tend to 'invade' the american zone of personal space. it's not aggressive, it's just the way they are. Khalid is extremely shy, not flirty like Vinesh, so it's not about aggressive getting in a woman's space. it's just kind of 'normal'. (may just be there normal) it doesn't bother me terribly much because i'm a touchy kind of person anyway, but i've noticed the sharp difference between the way my workmates are and the way men socialized in the US are (they're mostly Latino and black, now, but I've mostly interacted with white men at work in the past).
Also, on a related note, is there a fascination in India with white women's hair? Vinesh is so fascinated, he touches my hair sometimes and remarks on it. Believe me,there's nothing special about my hair. But we've got a joke going now where he admires my hair and says he's going to dye his hair to match mine. is this a cultural thing?
dumb i know, but there are so many books out there, it's hard to know where to start.
thanks for letting me use you as my native informant! :)
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