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Published: July 13th 2006
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I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about the terrorist attacks on the railway system in Mumbai. I’m ok. I’m about two states down from Mumbai…I’ve been traveling by train though so I have to admit I was a liiiiiiiitle freaked out, but nothing too serious, Kerala isn’t usually a target for this type of activity. I was in a hotel in Kottayam ( where I was for the last three days collecting data at one of the colonies; I’m back in Trivandum now) when I saw the breaking news on the blasts…so far about 170 people have been confirmed dead and about 700+ injured (however, the number of dead has been increasing). Although security has been “stepped up” throughout India, nothing much has changed here in Kerala, except for more police and bomb sniffing dogs at the train station.
As I mentioned, while in Kottayam we visited two separate colonies…the conditions there were much like the conditions at the other colonies. There is no plumbing, no electricity…the houses are damp and dark…
We’ve met and talked to so many people each one of them dealing with their own struggle within the larger struggle of Dalits in general. Every time we
The road less traveled...
This is the "road" that leads to one of the colonies. arrive at a colony people begin to crowd around, wondering who we are, what were doing there…our research assistants keep explaining to them that we’re students from “America”…that’s the only word I understand during the usual schpeel/explanation. One of the men there seemed angry at first as he inquired about who we were, but later he asked us if we could please do something…he wanted to know if we could take all the information we’ve been gathering to the Indian government and make them “do something for us”…I wish I could. Later, we met another woman, she made handicrafts for a living and told us about how her husband had died and how after that things got very difficult…already poor, she was no longer able to afford many things including sending her daughter to school, in fact, things got so hard she told us she has contemplated suicide for her daughter and herself.
I just sit there, in their houses, get mad, sad, and consider my position in the world, try to understand their position…think about what I can do…and then I think about how I visit these places and then I get to leave…I can go home but for
them this is an everyday reality. I don’t mean to make this sound like some depressing CNN special but this is the reality that most people on this planet face, we’re the lucky “few.”
On the train ride home I found myself thinking about the bombings, the people we met, and whether Noemi ( who is coming to visit me in about a week!! YEAAA!!) could bring me a “burrito ultimo” from Baja fresh…what do you think? Would it survive a 24 hour plane ride?? It’s interesting how human psychology works…how we compartmentalize information and choose to think about certain things at certain times…
On the drive home we saw an elephant. Check it out:
It’s not like I’ve never seen an elephant before, but, it’s an elephant! On the side of the road! It was soooooo cool, and kinda sad at the same time…(I have a soft spot for the animals and somewhere inside there’s a crazy P.E.T.A activist that I have to constantly suppress or else I’d be one of those people breaking into places… “freeing the animals.”)
It’s winding down to the last leg of the research phase of this trip.
In about a week we’ll have collected most of our data. After that we’ll be cruisn’ down the backwaters, visiting Cochin, collecting more data on the indigenous tribes in Wynad (which is basically the jungle) and…who knows what else will come up…So future blogs should be more upbeat and more scenic in nature…
I’ll post more pictures…here are some pictures of our recent trip to Kottayam…
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steven trujillo
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wow!
What an awesome experience Linda!!!...I know that this trip has changed your life!...Take it all in and come back and share it all!!! I hope to see you when you get back!!!!