A reminder of the truth.

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Mom took quiet a bit of heat from her Varanasi posting. In the entry below she defends her statements. I honestly believe and back up her interpretations of Varanasi...it is a tough place to see. It is a representation of India. This is a third world country and like every other country on this planet they have their social/economic issues. Everyday I leave my house I see things that I wish I didn't have to see. The mother with her baby begging. The men/women and children living on the streets with nothing more than a blanket to their name. The list goes on and on. But the fact of the matter is that this IS India. And I know I'll be better off as a human having seen these things. Yes things are changing, infrastructure is improving every month. But with 1.2 billion people sometimes the problems I see seem like too much to ever overcome.

For me, like mom writes below, my home in New Delhi is my safe place. When the world outside my door kicks my ass...which it does often....I have my home. It sometimes makes me feel like I am not 7500 miles away from my friends and family in the US. When I feel like I just can't do it anymore....my house is the safe refuge I need to re-charge my batteries.

Anyway....more from Janine....


"We are all back at Jenn & Dan's once again. I am taking Lots of heat at this end for my descriptive writing on Varanasi . Truth is...I told the truth. It has NOT depressed me or changed my overall view of this place. India is a tremendously poverty ridden country. There is no way to sugar coat that fact.It is what it is and poverty is everywhere....BUt the people are proud of their villages and towns. Everywhere, (even Varanasi ) the people seem excited to be living there and happy to tell you all about the wonders of their home. They know no other way and they are proud to show you their town or village. I suspect that if you know no other way of living, then you have no comparison and therefore...everything is fine. It is definitely a different way of life but there are also beautiful places."
Janine

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Comments

[Prakash]

Good blog
I admire you and fully accept the fact that India is really a HARD country to live in. Things might be changing here but still it has a long long way to go. I admire you because you have shown a great deal of understanding, adjustment and also sacrifices in some sense to be here with your hubby, these qualities (I have heard that) are slowly going off the west. I wish you to be happy while leaving and take a few good moments back home apart from so many bad ones :-).

[ashish]

A reminder of the truth
Hi Janine, If you stop being arrogent, you will understand that truth is not absolute or that "only" you say or percept. Everything is relative to your idea of that thing. You say India is a tremendously poverty ridden country because you have your own set definition of well beingness. But your definition of well beingness is "not" the truth as you are claiming. It is just relative truth of your set ideas, which are based on very little experience about the subject matter of India and travel within India. This is one (yours too) of the ideas that people are happy if they have money and a certain life style. BUT there are other ideas about happiness as well. Denying their idea, is as good as somebidy denying your idea. People in India are happier compared to their western counterpart. Attributing their happiness to their ignorance is basically your ignorance and a sort of superiority complex without a basis. There is no more ignorant people in the world than they are in the west. Also, see a simple logic that India is accomoding almost 1/6 the of humanity that is ~4 times of the U.S. within an area, that is 1/7 of that of U.S. I think it triggers you something in your thought process. You despise poverty of India as much I as I despise hollowness in western culture. In west, people are so engrosssed in themselve that they have no real sense of the world. I am also surprised that even though you received lot of heat for your comments, I dont see any of them in the blog. Have you deleted them? Please dont do that and let them be there for all to read as people read your blog. I am hoping you approve my comment. wish you all the best and relative pleasent stay.