Today is the end of the India's republican day celebrations. It is ending with a grand parade and very impressive commentary on the ending of the proud celebration of democracy gained in 1947. I wonder how much of it is the freedom for men and how much for women.
I am trying very hard not to make any judgments but in spite of all the talks about the progress and women's liberation, education and so on, it seems to me that men got the excellent deal and women got even more raw deal. On the surface you see all these westernized and liberated women, wearing jeans, brand name clothes, makeups and all western as well as Indian latest fashions. Most of these women are very well educated, they worked hard to be college educated, even gold medalists of their times, sports people and professionals but if you stay with them for few days , it is very clear that they are there to serve the men's needs and raise the children. They "manage " the maids. do children's homework and mostly keep quite about everything. They manage to convince themselves that they are happy . I am told many times in last few days that , " it is man's world and if one understands that one can be happy and peaceful"...( ok, no more ranting , i just have been feeling this and was wondering if I should put this in my blog but I decided , " it is my blog" so I will say what i feel and not white wash the dark stuff...) . It seems to me that Indian men got best of both worlds and women really got messed up . Jagdish has been very happy and comfortable here and you can understand why ;)
Anyways, i have been treated very well as the guest and we are getting all the pampering one can get from everyone. We went out for dinner last night at a restaurant called Vishala. It is a recreated village and authentic mud huts, puppet show and village folk music and dinner served on the leaves and sitting on the floor. It also had a wonderful museum of old utensils from Indian villages. It was very pleasant and luckily no mosquitoes.
The birthday party next door was an elaborate affair and our host was saying that spending 30 to 40 thousand rupees on such parties is very common. I am not sure how they justify it but it is the competition between parents.
This morning's walk was a self guided walk and we saw murals on the side walk done by everyday people. I am attached only one of them showing the little girl getting killed ( it is a real problem misusing technology of being able ot find the sex of the fetus) but there were many others , very colorful and upbeat. We are within walking distance to the SPACE center and I have attached one picture of the Rocket model visible from the street ( picture taking was strictly prohibited) .
JAgdish's friend came back from Indore , he is an IIM ( Indian Institite of Management) graduate. Jagdish and he have been catching up and relaxing all day. Hope to some more sight seeing tomorrow. Good night
just read all your posts n enjoyed it alot :)...interesting to know opinion of an Indian who lives in US but still gets emotional hearing Vande mataram.Keep on posting......
ReplyDeleteSaroj, I'm really enjoying your blog, and your observations about what you see and feel. I'm looking forward to hearing more when you get home.
ReplyDelete--fern