Just settling into Gujarati life....

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We have been here almost 3 weeks, just now getting used to Ahmedabadi life, and now we're getting ready to move on! It will be hard to leave the family that has now become so familiar. We have, over the weeks, continued to spend time with them and occassionally undertake tourist activities. Yesterday was very significant for me - we went back in time, to my dad's youth. We spent a few hours at his old engineering college at Gujarat University and then went to the crazy downtown for a tour of the flat where he grew up. It was unbelievable for me. Despite all that I've seen around the world, I have never seen anything like this - to me, it looked like a movie set! I simply can't describe it - I'll post pics but can't today because this internet cafe does not give me enough access to the computer. Today we went to Lothal, which is a ruins site from a community that is 5,000 years old! It is from the Indus Valley civilization and these people were amazing! They built a dock, which was like a huge water inlet for sailing ships to enter the city - it was made of excellent and precise brick walls (which are STILL STANDING and holding water) and were built to handle different water levels with a spillway and a valve. There were waterways throughout the city made to handle water pressure and they even filtered their drinking water through an elaborate contraption that used sand. They used both binary and decimal systems of math, and had dice and board games. It gave me a lot of insight into Indian culture and how incredibly impactful it has been on the development of civilization throughout history. Paul and I both have been doing a lot of reading about India and it's rich culture - he's reading Gandhi's autobiography and I'm reading "Gitanjali" and we're both reading books of Indian short stories. It seems to me that India was dealt a really devastating blow by the imperialism of Britain a few hundred years ago, and is now (very quickly and effectively) pulling itself up by its bootstraps, readying itself to once again become a leader on the world stage. There is a growing national pride here, and a great unity, even because of it's diversity! There is so much in common with the US. They have a rich popular culture, led by the films and television that come from Bollywood. It is a secular democracy and capitalism has done well here.

Today we also went to Akshardahm, this huge attraction that is sponsored by a Hindu sect called Swami Narayan. It was fascinating and I continue to find myself very attracted to Hindu beliefs and lifestyle. India's modern culture is intimately intertwined with its rich religious life. I want to write more about this, but I will leave it at that for now.

Over the past few days, we have stayed with a few of my other cousins and their families, and have had so much fun! We went to a big-screen Hindi movie, called Vivah, which is a love story about an arranged marriage - following the story from engagement to marriage. It was great! Very cheezy fro our standards, but very engaging and deep and entertaining. The theater was amazing - way better than American theaters - the seats were like La-Z-Boys! We went to this place called "Thol" - it's like a bird viewing place out in the marshy areas nearby Ahmedabad. It was breathtaking. We have gone to several restaurants, from contemporary and swanky, to simply fast food joints, to dingy roadside stands. All of it has been interesting! Indian pizza is very different - it is made with goat cheese (cows are considered sacred because they represent nurturing and fertility) and has spicy-ish sauce. We went to a science center, which was very impressive, and strangely enough, they had an exhibit abotu Gandhi. It was great. WE also saw an IMAX film entitled "Mystic India". It was the story of Swami Narayan, the latest Hindu sect founder (as described above), and a large musical fountain.

Today we went to McDonald's. I believe that McDonalds represents everything negative about America - and it sucks that it is spreading all over the world. But the food was actually pretty good. Of course there are no hamburgers, butthey have chicken sandwiches, pizza, and veg burgers.

One of the most disturbing trends I have noticed here due to globalization is that the same contrived standards of beauty that we have had in the US are now spreading here to INdia. It is tragic that simply because our society has power right now that we dictate what people value through powerful media and corporate engines that in a sense brainwash people. We need to be more responsible with what we put on TV and in movies as well as newspapers because the world is now looking to us. Of course India's film industry is booming (they make wayyy more movies than even Hollywood does) but they do take a lot of their cues for how to do thing from Hollywood. Most disturbing was that on TV I saw an Indian actress handing out blonde barbies to young Indian girls. I believe that all Barbies should be destroyed. Isn't the world paying any attention to the plight of millions of girls in the developed world and their silent pain? Girls are dying EVERY DAY to meet a standard of beauty that they will never, were never meant to meet. We need to magnify the voices that proclaim every person to be beautiful. Trying to make oneself more healthy or to bring out one's best assets is one thing - inciting self-shame through trying to reform oneself into something they are not - is quite another.

A few days ago Paul and I had the privelege to attend a meeting of Evangelical Christians here in Ahmedabad. A friend of a friend, Richard, invited us to his home and then we went to a hotel where we participated in the worship session, meeting, and then I spoke, expressing my gratefulness to be there and providing some encouragement. It is really cool to see all the different powerful religious beliefs that are all a part of INdian society. We will no doubt continue to explore this as we travel through Buddhist Dharamsala, Hindu Rishikesh and Varanasi, and Muslim-influenced Andhra Pradesh.

I will write very soon - stay tuned!

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