"The more we become obsessed with the clarity and speed of the signal, the less time we have to appreciate the message." -Gary Kimaya
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These are a few of my favorite things: Public transportation and India
via economist.com
Delhi provides the most affordable transportation system of the cities surveyed. The chart fails to show that if you're a woman in Delhi, you're not only getting an inexpensive ride, but also a fair share of lechy stares, ass-grabbing, and worse.
The great* Indian railway system, headed by a woman, is combating the sexual harassment (called eve teasing) by giving women their own commuter trains in India's four largest cities. Male commuters, left with only their own flesh to pinch, are sulking. According to the Times:
As the Ladies Special idled on Track 7 at the station in Palwal, a few men glared from the platform. The Ladies Special was far less crowded, with clean, padded benches and electric fans, compared with the dirty, darkened train on Track 6 filled with sullen men. Vandals sometimes write profanities on the Ladies Special, or worse.
But not all Indian men sit around and pout about poor conditions of their public transportation options. I'll end this with a shout out to my man Elattuvalapil Sreedharan. Charge with build the Delhi Metro from scratch, this brown-skinned Hercules finished three years ahead of schedule and well under budget. After spending a year exploring Delhi by bus and auto rickshaw, I can't wait to ride the metro in my next visit.
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* The Indian Railway is a unique institution. It's the largest employer in the world (1.4. million Indians get a paycheck from the railway), and transports 18 million people every day - equivalent to the population fo Florida.
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Proving Allegiance
I'm fortunate in never feeling the need to prove myself an American. A U.S. birth certificate, privileged education, and freedom to live in the cosmopolitan city of my choice render national allegiance an afterthought, if at all. This isn't the case for many Americans, and certainly isn't the nature of citizenship around the world. As illustrated below, in India even the most privileged Muslims aren't immune from suspicion of disloyalty to country of birth, simply because of their religious identity.
via Amitava Kumar by Amitava on 9/4/09
Abdullah Khan reports on his identity in the Indian hinterland:
My friend’s elder brother, whom I fondly call Bishambhar Bhaiya, is a Kankubja Brahmin Hindu, pure vegetarian, a fan of the right-wing nationalist leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a great believer in the secular structure of India. He is also a great fan of Pakistani cricketers. As a team he supports India, but he appreciates the individual brilliance of many Pakistani players, especially Imran Khan. His room is adorned by a man-size poster of Imran Khan. I couldn’t afford to hang the same poster. Being a Hindu and a high caste Hindu, Bishambhar Bhaiya’s loyalty towards India was taken for granted. If I had shown any enthusiasm for the dapper Pakistani cricketer, I would be declared a traitor.
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South Asia
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