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04/02/2011

Anecdote…

On a hot Sunday, I hop up in a taxi. All beat-up.

Seeing the driver, old and wizened, hardly able to stretch his stiffened fingers out to hold the wheel, I feel a wave of emotion/compassion/pity overwhelming me. What kind of bitch of a life makes a grandpa older than India drive such a piece of garbage??

I take a photo to share this later – it has become a weird habit to take a picture of people I meet… 

Nouvelle image.JPG

When we arrive, the meter says 7.2 km. From what I remember, it should be around 120 rupees.  Just to be sure, I ask him for the fare. And here, grandpa, with no innhibition, tells me 180 rupees. Whaaaat ?? But no, it’s 120!! Ok, he agrees on 175 rupees. He is definitely playing me… If he takes it like this, I want to see the meter card. He doesn’t have one. But to get rid of me, he now agrees on 155 rupees. I’m now on my way out to ask the next cab for the card. Grandpa is ok for 125 rupees. So can he explain where the 180 rupees come from?? Oh grandpa!!

 

I get out of the taxi pretty much upset.

But maybe grandpa needs this extra money to feed his 50 grand-grand children??? Pffff…

03/31/2011

A thick-skinned myth…

I met a French girl travelling in India who told me it would be a good thing if Indians became « leaders » of the world because they are non-violent.

I had a quite violent reaction…!

Indians are like every other human being, not more violent, not less violent.

 

Hum, maybe with a few exceptions:

 

§          Sexual violence where “nearly one in four Indian men has committed sexual violence at some point in their lives and one in five has admittedly forced his wife or partner to have sex (worse, more than 65% Indian men also believed that women should tolerate violence to keep the family together and that women sometimes deserved to be beaten)”;

 

§          Violence against intouchables: “every hour two Dalits are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched”;

 

§          The national religious terrorism which makes India the 6th country in terms of risk of attacks (2001: 5,839 victims, 2010: 1,902) – Maoists are not happy, Christians are sent to the jungle, Hindus and Muslims bomb each other shrine and Kashmir is still a battle field.

 

So, Gandhi and these stories have to stop! By the way, though it is not known in Europe, many people criticize Gandhi here. But this is not my point. My point is that today, Indians are just normal!!

 

Sources :

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-07/india/28665246_1_indian-men-international-men-males

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0602_030602_untouchables.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/16/us-security-risk-ranking-idUSTRE61F28D20100216 http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html

03/23/2011

The pedicure

The other day I indulged my self in a very girly activity I had never done before: a pedicure! Please meet my pedicure:

india,pedicure

 

Yeah, a guy!! And there were only guys doing that. Pedicures and manicures!!

He did well, no complain – I even wondered whether I would ever cut my nails myself again!!

Just a remark on the polish choice. I took 10 minutes to carefully select a polish that was as light and not shiny as possible. I spent the next few hours looking at my toe nails with bewilderment. What an awful colour!! So this is official, there are no “normal” polish colours in India, it has to be glittery!!

 

In the same spirit, you will almost only find male tailors, male cloth washers, male waiters and male bra sellers (and other garments). This last profession is opening to women, especially in malls and outlets of international brands but this is far from being frequent. I guess this is because traditionally women should not work…

(I know, only a twisted mind would take such a picture, still I did it!)