drama + Atta

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June 27, 2006

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is currently in power in Kerala, although the CPI does not rule India as a whole. Kerala elected a communist government to rule the state in 1957 and since then a unique pattern of social and economic changes have been taking place in Kerala. Kerala’s indicators of social development are comparable to many so- called developed nations, although its per capita income is a fraction of theirs.

The research we’re doing here revolves around the “Dalits”, i.e. those individuals previously known as the “Untouchables,” the lowest caste of Indian society. Untouchables lived in dire conditions, they were denied all kinds of human rights like personal liberty, education, wealth, property and even life itself (it was not illegal to kill Untouchables) they were considered filthy and inferior in every sense. In fact, check this out, the “Untouchables” were considered so inferior that it was believed that their very shadow would pollute another (higher caste) individual…because of this they were expected, even obliged to carry sticks and tap them on the ground as they walked so that higher caste Indians could be made aware of their presence and retreat so as to not be polluted by that very presence. Damn…if you ever feel like you’re having a bad day think about all that…

Anyhoo, “Untouchablity” was eventually outlawed thanks to homeboys like Gandhi, Dr. Ambedkar, and the Dalits own struggle for social justice. So, it’s cool that it was outlawed because the caste system was NOT COOL, but the Dalit struggle for true social justice and respect of their human rights etc. is not over. They’re still the poorest people in Indian society and things are still pretty messed up for them…but, there have been significant changes (for the better) for Dalits. So what we’re looking at is the level of Dalit involvement in the political process and Dalit identity politics here in Kerala. This is important because if you are part of a marginalized sector of society it is imperative to have political representation because in a world dominated by politics that’s pretty much the only way you’re gonna get your needs met…Tomorrow is our first official day in the “field.” We’re going to interview some leaders within the Dalit community…that should be interesting…

In other news I’m getting pretty good at eating with my hands (not that it takes much skill). For some reason food tastes better when you shovel it into your mouth with your fingers! Haha! I had what is called a Kerala meal today which is basically rice and all these different curries that you put over the rice, they all taste different and they’re all good. So after we left the restaurant, myself, Caryn and two of our new Indian home girls decided to take an auto- rickshaw back to school. An auto-rickshaw is this tiny little scooter type of car that seats two, barely...So this auto-rickshaw pulls up next to us and all four of us get in. As we’re piling into the rickshaw these three guys walk up to our auto-rickshaw and start arguing with the driver. At first, being from L.A., I thought we were about to get auto-rickshaw jacked…this particular rickshaw had what looked like (for rickshaw standards) a really nice stereo system. So in my head I was like “Oh crap, they’re trying to jack his system…” Picture this: we’re stuffed in this tiny scooter, there are now like 4 or 5 guys surrounding the rickshaw, everyone is arguing and screaming in Malayalam (the language they speak in Kerala), I’m in “they’re trying to auto-rickshaw jack us” mode while simultaneously dealing with my safety issues, and Caryn is also trying to figure out what the hell was going on...It was crazy! Periodically I caught the phrases “you’re so stupid,” “idiots” and “police station”…I had no idea what was going on, but at this point I realized it maybe wasn’t about the stereo?? So anyway, our auto-rickshaw driver tried to take off but then this other auto- rickshaw came and blocked our path!! It was like the rickshaw MAFIA!! We were surrounded! Have I mentioned that I love India…Well, eventually we got out of the rickshaw after Caryn and I were like “Woa, are they gonna fight??? They’re gonna jump our rickshaw driver!!” (Ahh, you can take the girls out of the ghetto but you can’t take the ghetto out of the girls!!)Turns out the drama was all about the fact that the rickshaw driver pulled up next to us instead of parking at the designated “rickshaw” station…so the other guys were pissed saying that this guy took their customers…
We ended up taking the bus back to school and saved ourselves some rupees since the bus ride costs about 10 rupees (10 cents) to ride.

Anyway, that’s my recent up-to-date drama…

Oh, I also met a very special Kerala native…check it out here(cut and paste into your browser):

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Comments

[mea]

shizzle
Girl you safety issues are nothing compared to the creepy crawly factor I just experienced looking at the video. What was that? An earth worm. What are they feeding them - small children? Woah. I love your introduction - I feel updated and briefed.

[dj joelskee]

oh snaps
be safe sucka

[noemi]

I thought the education intro was fab, I couldn't stop laughing.

[Aida]

Hey girl- sounds like an awesome experience- when I first started reading the email I wasn't sure if it was a clip from the paper or you.

[Leslie]

I'm having technical difficulties
That was quite a dissertation there! WHat stikes me most are the deep words you use in your videos. I was trying to subscribe to this thing and don't know if I did.