Bizarre India
India, to the unitiated like me, is completely bizarre. Since i've been stuck in the office for the past couple of weeks, have no funny stories to tell and don't really feel like writing about the fascinating world of micro-finance, i will tell you about bizarre india.

AKI is very bizarre. They have recently received a grant of 25 million Euros from the European commission. AKI is among the most prestigious NGOs in India. Yet, we don't have air-conditioning in the office. As a result, productivity is, at best, erratic. People stroll into the office in the morning at 10 am, read the paper and make jokes while enjoying their chai. They don't get to serious work until 10:30. Between 10:30 and 1pm, work gets done. Phone calls are made, jokes are not made, meetings are held, and the office is all business. Lunch is from 1 until 1:30. If you're like me, and suspect that your productivity is so high that you need to take long lunches, you go to the bookstore, and so lunch sometimes lasts until 2:30. From after lunch until 6 pm, the heat steadily rises, and productivity steadily declines. During this part of the day, the office hums at what I call the 'Hindu level of productivity', which i stole from the author Sunil Khilnani, who refers to the 'Hindu rate of growth'.

A., whose desk is next to mine, sets aside this time of day for staring. At her screen. For minutes on end. Is she reading something? Her eyeballs aren't moving. Is she waiting for something? Not that i can tell.

"A., getting a lot of work done over there?"
"Hm?"
"I said, are you getting a lot of work done over there?"
"A lot what?"
"A lot done. Work. Are you getting a lot of work done? You look tired."
"Hm? Work? Yah, lots of work to do."

I've spent far too much time dwelling on the bizarre in AKI, so ill have to jump to another topic now. I hope to write again about why i feel that India is a funny place, but it will have to wait for another day.

Last night I slept on the roof of my hotel with the servants. What a wonderful experience! In Ahmedabad, buildings absorb heat all day and radiate heat all night. So if you are sleeping in a closed room, the air heats up to a comfortable 35 degrees, according to my thermometer-alarm clock (thanks Rushad!). So i borrowed a small mattress and slept in the open air on the roof. I fell asleep to the sounds of autorickshaws honking in the hot streets far below and the popping of fireworks in the distance. I woke up with the sun. One step closer to being a real Indian.

Now, finally, to my thoughts on Gandhi, the Indian perception of self, and the isolation of India. Since too many of my ideas have been influenced by VS Naipaul, I will simply acknowledge his influence right from the start.

The other day, while watching NDTV (one of the English language channels here), I noticed some alarming headlines scrolling rapidly across the bottom of the screen in the news ticker:

OSAMA BIN LADEN OFFERS EUROPE A TRUCE....JAPAN HOSTAGES RELEASED....IRANIAN DIPLOMAT ASSASSINATED....

Wow, i thought to myself, what an action-packed day in international news. I'd like to hear what the terms of the truce were. Did Japan agree to pull out of Iraq? I'd love to see what Bush has to say about this (probably "we will not relent"). What kind of diplomat? Why Iran? Asssassinated by whom? I sat patiently through the introduction of the news show, where they announce what items will be reported:

"THIS IS NDTV, AND YOU'RE WATCHING NDTV TWENTY FOUR SEVEN...IN TODAY'S NEWS....LK ADVANI CAMPAIGNS IN LUCKNOW....VAJPAYEE VISITS BIHAR....BOOKIES LOWER ODDS ON BJP SWEEP...CRICKETER TENDULKAR TO CELEBRATE 31ST BRITHDAY WITH WIFE AND KIDS....PAKISTAN BLAMES KHANJI FOR TEST MATCH LOSS...."

What about the international news? What about Iraq? In total, there were about 8 headlines, half about politics (not about any of the issues or debates, but simply who is campaigning and where: news! Advani campaigns! again!) and the other half about cricket (urgent news flash: critics say this is the best Indian team EVER!).

As an aside, let me note that India is so amazed and proud that it has a democracy (unlike those crazy Pakis) that it forgets to debate the issues. To this day, despite reading the papers and watching TV, I have no idea what the issues are. All I know is that Advani seems to be campaigning in Lucknow whenever i turn on the TV, and that Vajpayee is using some weird BJP Hindu nationalist logic in telling Muslims to vote for someone else. Last night on a talk show, the caption was "The circus that is Indian democracy" (We have a democracy and it is a circus! What a wonderful thing this democracy! We are really a democracy country, did you know?). You can't watch a poltical show without the female anchor reminding you, "India is the LARGEST DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD..."

Getting back to what I was saying, international news is not reported here. And here is my leap of analysis: this all comes from Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian perception of self.

Let me first say that I think Gandhi was brilliant and brave, and probably one of the most ethical men in history. I have nothing but absolute respect for Gandhiji.

But what struck me (and Naipaul) about Gandhi's autobiography was the choice of content. Events, places and people are only described when and how they affect Gandhi internally. On arriving in England, he describes how he felt out of place wearing a white suit. No description of England though. And in South Africa, when he is kicked by a Dutch guard, he writes, "He no doubt treats negroes as he has treated me." But in that context, the emphasis is that he has been treated as a negro, rather than all negroes are treated as badly as he was. There is, as far as I can remember, only one mention of the horror of apartheid for black people. In his autobiography, apartheid seems to be only about discrimination towards the South African Indian community. There are constant references to the world Indian community, but none to the world community. Weren't the Indian and blacks united in their oppression under apartheid? There is no mention of Indian-African unity.

And people and events relating to vegetarianism and experiments with diet take up, at least, half the book. As Naipaul observes, people are described as "Dr Allison of vegetarian fame", or "the renowned Phillip Keating, owner of the vegetarian restaurant." I can tell you all about the experiments Gandhi carried out with all kinds of foods; meats, sweets, dairy, nuts, fruits. Just to give you an idea of the incredible importance of food to Gandhi:

The food was "tasteless and insipid...I found myself betwen Scylla and Charybdis...At night tears streamed down my cheeks". He was 18 at the time.

But after reading G's autobiography (called "the story of my experiments with truth"...should have been called "the story of my experiments with vegetarianism"), I can't tell you anything about his motivation for insisting on home rule. I can't tell you why he thought the British had to be removed, or how he came to change his mind about the British, having been British-educated and very pro-empire most of his life.

Also noteworthy is Gandhi's description of the beautiful churches of Paris, but how he finds the Eiffel tower useless, ugly, and probably designed while the architect was high on tobacco.

Now, I wouldnt make the following argument, put I think an argument could be made that home rule was not Gandhi's personal goal. Gandhi loved self-punishment, and he needed a cause to pour himself into. He needed to harness his ideas about how one should live life to a political cause that would give his ideas credibility. Indian independance provided this cause. The story of his life is one of discipline and self punishment: he loved nursing the very contagiously sick, took a vow of abstinence, lived a life of austerity, excercised very strict dietary rules, fasted for long periods and subjected himself repeatedly to physically gruelling labour. His desire to kick out the British comes on suddenly and without justification in his autobiography. The struggle for Indian independance allowed him to do what he did best; make personal, physical sacrifices, in the name of an important and legitimate cause.

I would argue that either way, something good came from his actions. And I think he was too smart to not feel deeply troubled by colonialism. If i ever hear someone making the above argument I will either (a) kick them and run, or (b) throw a rock at them and run, but i thought it would be an interesting argument. Perhaps if anybody ever decides to make a radical anti-gandhi stand they will take this standpoint.

Im tired and Im going to wrap this up quickly. It is very Indian to consider the world in terms of how it affects oneself. The outside world is only important insofar (is that one word?) as it helps an Indian define himself. Canada is cold, but this fact is only important to people I meet because it reassures them that India is hot. I am never asked about how people live in Canada, but more often, what I think of India. Naipaul calls this the underdeveloped ego. Sure. It probably doesnt help that 99.99999 percent of indians can't afford to travel to another state within india, let alone to another country. Foreign culture, especially words, are imported usually to validate anything Indian. As in the light switch commercial (there are, oddly, a lot of ads for light switches here) which declared that its products were recognized the world over (with canadian and US flags flapping in the background). The foreign view is brought in to value and authenticate things Indian, but curiosity with the foreign opinion ends there.

An indian exists in a wide social structure: of caste, class, religion. The individual is not important. The definition of self as belonging to a wider social group is important. In Canada cell phones are marketed as "express yourself! get a unique roots cell phone!". In India, people are told to go see movies because they are blockbusters. The artistic merit of the movie is not weighed, but we are told that "it should do well", as in, many other Indian will go see this movie, you should too.
What does this have to do with Gandhi?

Gandhi's autobiography places importance where things affect him internally. The outside world is used to identify what makes Gandhi part of his country, part of the Hindu religion, a vegetarian. In India, the world is not viewed as being important in itself. Canada and Canadians are not thought to be interesting in themselves. The world is important, but only insofar as it helps define the Indian; as part of a nation--a community to which the individual can belong.

And NDTV news, although teasing me with its worldly news ticker, is more preoccupied with telling Indians what makes them Indian than telling them about what is happening in the world.
- posted by aziz @ 10:51 a.m.