Munnother world...

Greetings from a toxic smelling internet console in Munnar. Apparently the petrol station next door passes fumes right into here, where computers are in funny little individual pods. So this post might be a bit loopy, as I've already been sitting here for the better part of an hour.

So- yesterday afternoon I arrived here in Munnar, in the mountains of Kerala. This place is simply beautiful, as was the scenery on the climb up. The constant drizzle alternates between actual monsoon rain and just the ambient cloud cover because we're so high up. I've toured around the plantations, seeing buds of cardamom and coffee and abundant tea leaves, a dam used for hydroelectricity (go Kerala), and reserved cow pastures full of tall grasses. It's just simply nature at it's best- this is really why Kerala calls itself God's Own Country. At points on the drive up the scene almost seemed like Switzerland- a main street in a village with mountains rising up behind. Gorgeous. And they sell homemade chocolates here... I guess the locals have taken the Switzerland comparison pretty seriously!

And it's such a different world from the rest of India that I've seen so far. First of all, it's cold up here- cold enough that I wore socks and a thermal long sleeve shirt to bed, huddled under a blanket. I haven't slept with a proper blanket since I left the US, I think. The fog and chill are very reminiscent of San Francisco in the summer, and there's just a touch of homesickness along with that. Weather like this just makes me want to snuggle with blankets, a book, and hot chocolate. Masala chai and a musty guest house will have to make do for now... Anyway, what I've seen of the whole state so far is much cleaner, calmer, and more orderly than Mumbai, for sure. Coincidence that this is the longest freely elected Marxist government in the world? I think not. The hammer and sicle symbol is all over the place, and red flags. There's very little to no litter on the streets, a higher level of education and standard of living is evident in the number of doctors' offices, computer shops, big fancy saree showrooms, billboards for travel to the UAE, etc. People are considerably less aggressive- shy smiles emerged any time I drove past school children, tea farmers, anyone on the streets. Rickshaw drivers don't yell to get my attention. It's just so nice!

But also a bit lonely... it's definitely the off season for tourists, and I haven't seen any foreigners since leaving Hampi on Saturday. It's like when my friends in elementary school used to time me to see how long I could go without speaking on the school bus. Luckily there's a TV in my room at the guest house, and last night I watched a bizarre movie for an Indian network: Lies My Father Told Me. It's about a yiddishe grandfather and his family in some turn of the century-ish immigrant community. Really bizarre to see lubavitchers on TV saying brachas in India. So it goes with foreign channels, though- I guess they get the lower-than-b-list American movies to show. Similarly in Sri Lanka, I saw a movie about graduating seniors from college supposedly at the University of Michigan, but it was filmed at Brandeis. Supremely weird to turn on the set and see Rabb Steps from my host family's living room outside of Colombo. (Speaking of which, the situation in Sri Lanka is becoming ever more dire- the attacks are getting closer into residential areas of Colombo and I'm scared for my people there...)

With all this time on my hands I've been reflecting on my time in Mumbai. I can't exactly pinpoint when it was, but at some point my infatuation with the city wore off. At first I was exhilarated but then I just became exhausted. The hour commute to work each way on the sweaty crowded trains, the pushing in any public place, just the sheer masses of people everywhere- this is what Ryan, the IT director at the JCF, a native Mumbaiker, must have meant when he said that "Bombay is the sea of humanity. Good luck." Well, all that swimming gets tiring. Even just the heat and humidity wore me out- I think I underestimated the extent the climate would affect me, and I really should have known better after Sri Lanka. In Mumbai pollution was much more severe, though, which makes it worse.

More than these superficial things, though, I think the socioeconomic contrasts of the city were emotionally exhausting. To see such high tech and lavish malls, high rises, restaurants, boutiques, and SUVs in contrast to slums, beggars, pavement dwellers, cripples rolling themselves down the streets on little wheeled devices like we used to play with in elementary school phys ed, naked babies, etc- it's all so much to bear. The culture of hierarchy and class division is the starkest I've ever seen, and the truth is, I just don't like it. So much aggression- even phone calls sound like acts of violence. I know that part of it is just passionate Indian emotions, but when my blood pressure rises just hearing my boss on the phone, I know something's off. Apparently people feel totally comfortable just yelling at each other, making sure inferior people know their place, treating them with disrespect. I've never lived in a place where I really just disliked the culture, and that makes it hard to like living in the place. Of course my friends were the saving grace, and just the mere experience of being so far outside of myself and my comfort zone, feeling grateful for the chance. I'm glad I had the UDRI to frame my Bombay experience, because otherwise it would have been much more of a chaotic mess for me. But I'm more sure than ever that my preference is smaller cities with more character (like Boston and San Francisco), not huge behemoths and chew people up and spit them out not only without remorse, but in fact, with glee.

Back to this inequality issue: a frequently aired commercial for some kitchen products is a cartoon of an affluent family where the father is in a suit with glasses, the mother is in a fancy saree, the kids are in western clothes, and the whole kitchen is outfitted with top of the line appliances. The family all has light skin. And there on the floor beside the table is the maid, with much darker skin, a dirty and simple saree, and a big bindi on her forehead. I can't imagine that kind of overt display in the US- sure, we all know that white suburban families hire Latinas to be nannies and African Americans to be housekeepers, but we don't make commercials on tv about it. Which is worse, though? Acknowledging it or keeping it under wraps?

Is this system of inequality a product of colonialism or is it intrinsic to India? Hinduism is based in a caste system in which hierarchy and separation are central... but does that mean that people are allowed to be assholes to each other? Going out on a limb here- but maybe part of the reason the British (and the Dutch and Portuguese before them) were able to subjugate such a huge mass of land and people is because this system of hierarchy was already in place. If people were used to being subordinates and accepted this as their place, it wouldn't be so hard to come in as an imperial power and just subjugate the crap out of them. I imagine that a lot of the formalities and courtesies that go along with the system today came from the Brits, but I have serious questions about the underlying principles. I know this is a dangerous line of reasoning and a slippery slope, and I invite your comments, dear readers. I guess the bottom line is, my buying into the popular idea of 'spiritual India' has been shot by my time in Mumbai. I just can't correlate spirituality with overt disrespect and flagrant inequality. Maybe the rest of the country will redeem the fantasy? I'll keep you posted.