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West Virginia, Mountain Murugun

Holy crap – John Denver’s “Country Road” is big time popular in Delhi now! I’ve heard it more in the last few days than I’ve have in the last 10 years. Maybe it has something to do with the promotion for the faux Tamil cowboy flick – Quick Gun Murugun? Maybe it was always there before, but I never noticed it…

First Track, Side 2 Wins!

First Track, Side 2 Wins!

Earlier tonight I was looking for Bollywood disco classics and the whole music store just started swaying, head nodding and getting their freak on when Denver’s epic kicked in. It has really effected me, as I’m starting to hum “Calypso” and think about my grandmother’s 8 track player. It is obviously a great song, but I’m lost as to why it is piquing here and now.

Any suggestions?

Posted in Delhi is like so bitchin'. Tagged with , , .

By bonusj
September 9, 2009

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Our Level Best

Dearest Bangalore,

Thanks for the last 8 months. I know that I had poor expectations prior to making you our home. While most of these were deserved, I have grown to enjoy your subtle charms and as I sit on our HRBR Layout roof top and watch the sun sink between the water barrels, satellite TV dishes and drying laundry I’m overcome by the melancholic. I don’t know that I’ve enjoyed better weather anywhere and the sweet, sweet Kanadigas… In general Indians are helpful and for the most part hospitable, but the folks of Karnataka are in a class of their own: Always asking if I’ve had my lunch or offering to kick start the scooter when I struggle in the middle of traffic.

The frightful westernization of MG Road, Electronic City and Whitefield I will not miss. I will not mourn the snails pace of road, public transit and pedestrian infrastructure developments – those passive aggressive retaliations against change, progress and added job responsibility. I will not recall fondly, the sewage clogged creeks and polluted lakes or the careless boys whipping past you on motorcycles with centimeters to spare, but animated guys on bikes in the midst of conversations with arms flailing practically embracing each other so that they are heard over the din of the engine – Those are pretty great. For those I give thanks.

Joella's house

Humble Abode in HRBR Layout

From our roof I spy on young couples walking through streets, slightly older ones teaching their offspring to ride training-wheeled bikes and our identically frocked neighbor twins knocking the shuttlecock in lazy arcs. Competing 6:30 calls to prayer join the chorus of a million scooters honking and with the distant train blasts, M carries some wine up the stairs to make the evening complete. After a couple of hits from the bottle, the clouds began to look like our dearly departed landlord’s hair – Perfectly stolen from the head of a Tamil movie star.

M and I are blessed with great friends. Our late night conversations hang on weddings and births then always swings back to death and tragedy. We witnessed an awful accident today – A small car smashed into a turning autorickshaw at a corner with an obstructed view. The driver of the rickshaw was thrown out of the vehicle, I saw him bounce on the street. I held my breath as he hopped back up and a crowd of people gathered around the scene. The crowd blocked traffic as they tried to determine who was at fault and if anyone deserved to be violently punished. After several minutes and persistent blasts of bus horns, the crowd declared a mistrial and dispersed. The battered rickshaw stayed put as the driver applied something to his bleedy head and the small smashed car teetered away like a drunkard pug. Then it was back to the normal chaos and congestion.

The city will certainly not mourn the loss of two wandering goris – There is simply too much work to be done to warrant idle reflection. Like 2-wheeler parking places in a crowded lane, our little slice was filled as soon as we rolled out. The scampering attendant directed the newcomers, then checked our tickets and collected our fees. We muttered silent prayers for safe traveling and our friends in need then hoped aloud that we would find a similar space again. The attendant shared a faint smile and a wag of his head and we did our level best to dry our tears and join the flow of traffic.

Bangalore we will thinking of you often. All the best!!!!1!

J (& M)

Posted in Bengaluru Fun Time, Woes, non-cow, we be teh tourist. Tagged with , , , .

By bonusj
September 1, 2009

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Crosshatched Sandalwood Beneath the Fly-over

The Hindi film industrial complex of Bombay get to be Bollywood, but in Karnataka they get Sandalwood, or Kannada language cinema, based in Bangalore. Dr. Rajkumar would kick my ass if I misled you into believing that it is some sort of Mysore Sandal Soap reference, but dude is dead. We are living in a post-Rajkumar era, so think what you like about the soap.

M and I are getting ready to leave our humble abode in Kamannahalli and move shop up to Delhi. One of the things I will miss seeing everyday is the patina of Kannada film posters (M believes that the posters are lesser Kannada titles and not high quality sandalwood flicks – We have not seen either so I can’t disagree). There is a depth and texture to all of the flat surfaces, walls and lightposts. Accumulated and decaying layers of color, line drawings and usually sexual or violent (both if you are lucky) imagery are revealed when you scratch surface and the stories of these films begin to emerge…

By no means am I the first to swoon over this poster style (perhaps a single artist’s work?) or raggedy aesthetic, but still I wanted to remember the stories I observed while waiting at bus shelters or daydreaming at slow turning traffic lights. Enjoy!

Posted in Bengaluru Fun Time, we be teh tourist. Tagged with , , .

By bonusj
August 16, 2009

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Tilt the rocket 45 degrees to the right

For the past 5 months or so, I’ve been clunking around my fair Bangalore, the used-to be garden city, in the company of a 1966 Vespa 150. M and I were obsessing over vintage Bajaj scooters. It seems that every second vehicle on the roads here is a Bajaj Cheetak scooter that is overspilling with goods or people – More likely families: the father driving; youngest child standing in front by his feet; eldest child wedged behind him; next the mother sitting sideways, with baby in arms… sometimes the mother in law joins the crew and is laden with tiffins. Although the times they are a’ changing especially with Tata’s upcoming Nano – this is the typical South Indian family SUV.

Well, we couldn’t find one, and damn, we tried – accosting repair shops and hassled people waiting at stop lights. We drooled on specimens parked at tea stalls and dosa wallahs. We searched the newspapers and advertising magazines, internets and finally: success-ish. In Shanti Nagar, we locate a scooter built in the Bajaj factory when they were still making scooters for Vespa. It has a the Vespa nameplate, three speeds, a left-hand clutch, a fancy paintjob and two tan vinyl seats to accommodate access to the gas tank. We’ve named her Lalitha in homage to Nabakov and my old Toyota Landcruiser (Lolita), but she is no teenager. She is a stately old dame and she will kick your ass.

Hamara (Our) Lalitha

Hamara (Our) Lalitha

From the Indian Scooter Owners Club:

It is said that Rahul Bajaj adored the famous Vespa scooters made by Piaggio of Italy. He loved them so much that at the age of 22, he became the Indian licensee to produce vespa. In 1960 Bajaj, pronounced “Bah-jaaj,” obtained a manufacturing license from the Indian Government. Under licence from Piaggio, Bajaj Auto Ltd started production of vespa 150 identical to the Italian VBA 150cc model built in Italy between 1958-1960. The original factory facility in Kurla was not up to Piaggio’s standards, so a new one was built in Akurdi, near Pune in 1963, the scooters were produced entirely in India, without any parts needing to be shipped from Italy.

But on 31st March 1971 the technical collaboration with Piaggio & Co. expired and the brand name of the vehicles manufactured by the company was changed from Vespa to Bajaj from April. This followed a lengthy legal battle with Piaggio for many years.

The Indian Vespa had a 3 speed engine, round back monocoque chassis, 8″ solid wheels and had no battery. Its is also said that the metal chassis was a thicker grade than that of the Italian made ones. They had an oval speedo but from 1966 these were changed to a round speedo. Over 150,000 genuine vespa badged and licenced scooters were build by the Bajaj factory.

I don’t yet have a living will. I may end up a bag of broken bones and flesh attached to Lalitha’s greasy handlebars, but there is something frighteningly exciting about dodging goods carriers and navigating traffic by never looking back. I TRUST the traffic – I listen to the velocity and volume of horns and engines behind, but stare intently forward with a mean mug and fierce eyes projecting not just confidence, but indifference. I become one with the stream of 2-wheelers (80% of India’s vehicles are of the 2-wheeled variety) and follow the “watercourse” weaving between larger obstacles. I may be holding death’s hand as I honk merrily and swerve from stray goats. But good fuck – it is damn fun.

The squeaking by smoke belching buses and passenger loading auto rickshaws with centimeters to spare, the inching your way up to the stoplight and then taking wing with the dozens of other 2-wheelers who shoot like hellfire across the intersection when the traffic cop drops his hand and nods his head, the paying off local police when you’ve accidentally ran a red light or forgot your papers… it is all good stuff, dear friends. I highly recommend it.

I learned to avoid the multi-course lunches and the resulting food-comas that lead me to smash into the back of too quickly stopping Toyota Qualis’ (I have also had the brakes adjusted). Granted this has happened only once, but the gash in the Lalitha’s front fender is a constant reminder. So much so that I will only have it repaired when we are ready to abscond from the subcontinent.

Fender post Qualis M&C

Fender post Qualis M&C

My most favorite thing it the world to do is to stall in Bangalore’s heavy traffic. Yes! I gulp and push the bike to the side, then begin the slow ritual of attempting to bring it back to life. I kick her and kick her, then dip her 45 degrees to the side like to get the gas to flow into the right place (like on most Indian bikes, the choke is not working). This may work – Sometimes she just needs to be walked a little bit to let the fluids settle in her innards.

When we share our Lalitha escapades with Indian friends, like clockwork one of them has to pull out some variation of this joke.

NASA was getting ready to launch a very important space shuttle. The scientists and engineers checked and double checked everything to make sure that things are fine.

The count down begins, 4 . . 3 . . 2 . . 1 . . 0 [ psss . . . . . ], complete silence after that. While all the engineers at NASA are worried about the failure, Sardarji (a slang term for Punjabi Sikhs) gives a brilliant solution. They NASA people were desperate by that time and agreed to do anything.

“Tilt the rocket 45 degrees to the right” said the Indian scientist. The engineers were puzzled but did it anyway.

“Wait for 5 seconds, set it to upright position and launch.” Sardarji said.

The engineers do like that- count down begins again, 4 . . 3 . . 2 . . 1 . . 0 , the rocket roars through the sky.

Everybody congratulated Sardarji and asked him how he knew what to do. He replied – “It is very simple. That is how I start my Bajaj scooter everyday in India”.

This is not to say that all Indians enjoy telling ethnic slur jokes about their fellow Sikhs, but they do revel in the Bajaj’s starting procedure. As do I occasionally…

Eventually Lalitha hesitates, sputters and springs back to life. The wasp-like buzz of her 2-stroke motor drags me back to the HRBR layout. And when I arrive I shed tears of joy, hug my wife and pour myself a stiff drink and settle down with a good website on vintage scooter repair until the power cuts.

Posted in Gotz Mad Family, Transit Foaming, non-cow, we be teh tourist. Tagged with , , , , .

By bonusj
July 27, 2009

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Department of Shameless Self-Promotion

INTERVIEW from Disability News and Information Service and the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People .

“ The key to accessible transport is a complete accessible trip chain,” Jamie Osborne

Jamie Osborne is a Transit Planner and Accessibility Specialist with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. His stint as a rehabilitation engineer started with Universal Design. Dorodi Sharma of D.N.I.S. talks to him about accessibility and public transport in India.

Posing naturally in front of DTC bus shelter

Posing naturally in front of DTC bus shelter

D.N.I.S.: Tell us about your association with Universal Design?

Jamie Osborne: I am a strong advocate for good design. In most contexts, a ‘Universally’ accessible design is unfortunately not feasible, so I prefer to use the term inclusive.

I was lucky to meet architect Ron Mace (who coined the term ‘Universal Design’) in 1996 and study his brilliant approach to removing both social and physical barriers in the built environment at the Center for Universal Design. Since then, I have been doing my best to spread the word about his theories and along the way have developed my own unique perspective on peoples’ interaction with their environments.

D.N.I.S.: Tell us about you experiences as a rehabilitation engineer.

JO: My experiences as a rehabilitation engineer have helped me to identify and clearly communicate both the obvious and unspoken access needs of individuals of all ages and abilities. I have worked with people with moderate to severe physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities to assess their needs and abilities, and then through an interactive process, develop specific technological or procedural solutions to help them be more independent in their homes or workplaces.

The spaces that I initially worked on designing with people, while accessible, were private. They were confined to one specific individual or one particular place. While it was incredibly satisfying and productive to create individually tailored tools and spaces, I was interested in learning how to appeal to broader constituencies and think about design and inclusion more deeply. My desire to create inclusive public spaces led me to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (S.F.M.T.A.), where for the past three years I have worked as a transit planner and accessibility specialist.

D.N.I.S.: What is your take on the public transport system in India?

JO: It was through my travels in India that I came to understand the power of public transport. With less than 11 percent of the households owning automobiles or 2 wheelers, bus and rail networks are the lifeblood of Indian society and prime movers of the local economies. Crores and crores of rupees are spent on public transportation infrastructure projects across the country, yet for the most part the services are only benefiting non-disabled transit users. People unable to walk to transit stops, read destination signs, climb steps, or squeeze themselves into inadequately designed transit vehicles are required to hire taxis, auto-rickshaws or proceed by other more costly options.

All citizens and even non- citizens are potential public transit users. Rural and urban systems in India are moving immense numbers of people, but they have been designed with a certain user in mind. Through advances in technology and social discourse, we find ourselves in a world where seniors and people with disabilities have become ‘new’ Indian citizens. The world is changing and transit systems especially need to demonstrate adaptability to meet the needs of this new group of users.

D.N.I.S.: What are the major problems that you see in accessibility as far as transport and public places are concerned?

JO: I have interviewed dozens of people with disabilities, access advocacy organizations, government officials and consultants about these issues. According to the experts, the major problems are easy to identify. There are 4 major hindrances. One is that public space, public transport facilities and public transport vehicles have simply not been designed for people with disabilities.

Designers, planners, administrators and politicians are also not aware of the needs of people with disabilities.

Again, where accessible public facilities do exist they lie unused because they often exist in isolation, surrounded by hostile environments that render them inaccessible. Or no one knows they exist! Essential access information is not communicated to users. An excellent example of this is Mumbai where three percent of buses are ostensibly accessible but no one knows what routes they are on or where and when they might come.

Moreover, the social stigma and past experiences discourages people with disabilities from using public transportation, even if it might be accessible now.

D.N.I.S.: What is the biggest challenge in making transportation accessible to people with disabilities?

JO: The biggest challenge in general for accessibility in India is the absence of domestic legislation that mandates that designers and planners follow specific access standards and creates a regulatory framework to enforce compliance with the standards. The Disability Act, 1995 was a step forward for Indians with disabilities, but the Act provided minimal impetus for meaningful change related to public spaces and the built environment. The U.N.C.R.P.D. ratified in 2007 offers some more specific guidance and a valid framework for positioning access as a civil right, but the effectiveness hangs on individual states’ taking appropriate measures. Also in 2007, India’s XIth 5 year plan included specific demands that departments develop access standards and reserve resources to fund access improvements. We will see how closely the plan is followed and whether vigilant public interest litigations are necessary for progress to be made.

D.N.I.S.: What about public transport?

JO: Accessing public transport in India is simply a challenge for all users. This is secondary to environmental and operational constraints. For example, when traffic congestion and conditions prevent buses from pulling to the curb, all people who need to board from this location are denied access. As a transportation mode, public transit in India has the lion’s share. This high rate of usage results in ‘standing-room only’ conditions on vehicles at most times of the day. Under these conditions, it is often impossible to provide boarding and appropriate space for a wheelchair user. These are significant challenges that will need to be addressed by appropriate planning, allocating resources and developing operational procedures.

D.N.I.S.: Do you feel the recent spate of construction have better accessibility?

JO: Recent developments in Delhi hold much promise for people with disabilities. While neither the Delhi Metro nor the D.T.C. B.R.T. corridor, are perfect, they include specific accessibility features that are not common to any other systems in India. The density of Indian cities requires both bus and rail to effectively reach users, so these two systems will be models for the rest of the country. At this point, I feel that it is essential to document the experiences of people with disabilities and properly evaluate the performance of Delhi’s B.R.T. and Metro systems so that the next generation developments can improve on mistakes and oversights and provide a better service for all users.

As stand alone systems, these may be very accessible and potentially usable by disabled riders, but the key will be providing a complete accessible trip chain. It is unrealistic to expect all people with disabilities to move to locations that are served by Metro or B.R.T. corridors. If a wheelchair user cannot get to the metro via bus, auto, or rolling, how in the world will he or she be able to utilize the metro?

D.N.I.S.: What are the areas that you think need special attention?

JO: All users of public transport are pedestrians at the beginning and end of their travels. I think that it is important to develop accessible pedestrian infrastructure such as streets, curb ramps and pavements adjacent to transit facilities.

It is extremely important to provide appropriate training for transit operators, conductors and facilities staff. Regardless of how much you invest in obtaining accessible vehicles and facilities, an untrained operator or station agent can easily deny access to people with disabilities.

Increasing awareness should be at the core of any training on accessibility, but lack of awareness of another’s identity should never be an excuse to deny access. In many ways, awareness is a good evil to fight because the costs are low and the results are not quantifiable.

Finally, repair policies must be developed and resources for maintenance need to be set aside from the beginning. All too often, I’ve seen access features such as toilet facilities, pedestrian crosswalk signals or vehicle access ramps in states of disrepair and disuse. Refusing to support the ongoing use of access methods negates their presence.

D.N.I.S.: Among the Indian cities you have been to, which ones fare better in terms of accessibility?

JO: In terms of accessible infrastructure, there is no question of Delhi’s leadership. As the seat of the national government, and host for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, it seems to me that the government has invested heavily in Delhi as an example of inclusive planning and development.

While I’ve spent time in several Indian cities over the past 5 years, my experiences have been concentrated in Delhi and Bangalore. I’m looking forward to equally significant investments in other urban and rural areas.

D.N.I.S.: What has been your most challenging work till now?

JO: As a transit planner focusing on accessibility issues with S.F.M.T.A., I am often stuck in the crossfire between access advocates and agency bureaucrats, administrators and engineers. Access in the U.S. has been an uphill battle and people with disabilities have had to fight tooth and nail for their rights to transit and public space. In San Francisco, this struggle has created a fierce group of access advocates with well-honed tactics. I feel that my most challenging work is striving to keep a balance between the needs of the agency and the needs of the user.

D.N.I.S.: Suggestions for making public transport more accessible in India.

JO: In my opinion, people with disabilities need to be better organized. This is an exciting time to work on disability and access in India and it is great to see so many organizations addressing these issues. I hope that these organizations can rally together and develop a common platform; I also hope that they can work productively together to create and advocate for common standards and practices. When access advocates are fragmented and not coordinated their efforts can be easily dismissed. Frankly, the power to change India’s existing access paradigm lies in organized tactics and numbers. A true cross disability coalition (including senior groups) should be developed so that people with disabilities can demonstrate the power of numbers and demand more.

Posted in Access Foamage, Delhi is like so bitchin', Entanglements, Transit Foaming, non-cow, organizationing. Tagged with , , , , .

By bonusj
July 19, 2009

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Mumbai Daydreaming…

In late march, the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health was held in Mumbai at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA (adjacent to the previously terrorized Oberoi hotel at Nariman Point). M and I walked past and oggled the abundance of TV news crews and satellite-dished trucks. In the absence of real journalistic responsibility, the media talked warmly about conference attendees throwing off the chains of battling big tobacco and celebrating the magic and “unique cultural experience” of the festival of Holi. Of course whenever the media talks, it is complete bullshit, I should know – I’m a minor celebrity!

Let me throw some sand and share an some observations on this “festival with a difference.” M and I were visiting the outskirts (or midskirts?) of Mumbai during Holi. As we asked local businessmen directions to reach our friend’s house, we were ruthlessly set upon by a crew of rowdies on 2 wheelers. Eggs, paint and mysteriously durable colored liquids were applied and reapplied… vigorously by the smiling mob. For a while I struggled to control the flow of the liquids and managed to douse several participants and detonate their own devices (eggs) amongst their ranks, but soon realized that I was encouraging more violence and should step back and join my wife in beating a retreat. Tar and feathers were missing, but could have easily been substituted for the more soluble materials that were shared with us.

I love my India, but how do you punch a mob? Especially a smiling, dancing, drunk mob of 20-something boys on motorcycles? Post-traumatic stress is relative. I replay this moment periodically and look for alternatives and struggle with details… Should we have immediately headed for the hills? Should I have gone apeshit and jumped into the mob and attempted to knock over motorcycles like dominos – all with a crazed Holi smile on my face? Meh. We’ll never know dear friends, but I will certainly be wracked with psychological distress and overly paranoid of anything (and everything) involving color or eggs from mid March to early April. Holi ain’t no Dr. Seuss shit, yo.

The “celebratory” process is called Color play, but it is anything but playful. Across the country, this hindu-ritual violence leads to other violent acts especially against women… as Holi is oft referred to as a “groping festival” we were lucky not to experience more serious damages.

If we had asked anyone who knows anything about this holiday they would have warned us to stay inside. Of course knowing us, we probably wouldn’t have listened, we would have scoffed at their lack of cultural sensitivity. So we got what we are always asking for: the real deal.

With the help of some supportive shop owners, we made it to our friend’s place and managed to wash some of the egg yolk and color powder from our eyes and hair. We enjoyed snacks and televised cricket with a troop of deaf youth similarly intent on beating each other senseless with more eggs and paint and spent the rest of the day in various stages of shock and bemusement at our own stupidity.

Post-Holi Color Violence Shock

Post-Holi Color Violence Shock

NOTE: This picture was taken 2 hours post incident and 30 minutes of cleaning. PTSD is so sexy!

Mumbai can be a harsh mistress. The sun, dust and wind from the suburban train and autorickshaw made a multicolored crust of the leftover color and yolk. M and I stumbled and crunched our way back to the southern tip of bombay and our oasis of air conditioning adjacent to VST.

Posted in Entanglements, Mumbai is da Bomb, Woes, non-cow, we be teh tourist. Tagged with , , , .

By bonusj
July 12, 2009

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Can I get a witness? (for Nepal)

Notes from the mysterious M:

Dear Outdoorsy friends,

B and I were once talking about how our friend K, when she goes somewhere and enjoys it, tries to spread the word to others and demand that they go there as well. And so I am doing the same right now– and keep in mind that I *never* do this, and so maybe that makes it extra special? And also keep in mind that I have been spending lots of time with missionaries and folks going out witnessing, so perhaps this is influencing my zeal… or maybe not.

Jamie and I just went to Nepal for 10 days and it was AMAZING. For those of you who have been to [other countries in the region], it’s kind of similar, only very much not, in the sense that people are much less aggressive, ask fewer questions, tourist touts are either not there or subdued, and gender norms seem much more open– girls wear short school uniforms, women walk around in tee-shirts and tank tops, men and women sit next to each other on buses, etc. And there’s an amazing combination of Aryan and Monglos mixing, sometimes seamlessly, sometimes not. And Kathmandu is full of old stupas and temples and pagodas where people sit and hang out and play cards.

But the most amazing part ever was going trekking in the Himalayas. As you all know, Jamie and I are NOT adventure travelers or hardcore hikers. And we don’t like to go half way around the world just to see nature, as amazing as it might be. So we did this incredible 4 night five day trek that involved going through rural villages (we walked to and from school with small children in immaculate white uniforms who have to travel (read: walk) 2 hours each way for school, we walked through terraced fields, walked with porters carrying jungle spinach and others carrying other trekkers’ things, and were often just left in the dust by villagers used to walking quickly as they went from village to village or from home to city….). The accommodations are “tea houses” or very rustic homestays along the way where you get a comfortable bed in a small partitioned room, access to a toilet and a tap, and really wonderful food. In fact, the guidebooks often state that the food on the trail is terrible, but we found it to be better than that in the cities– read jungle spinach, fiddlehead ferns, wild mushrooms, dal, and rice. The trekking was actually quite difficult for me and at two points I almost cried– walking down over 3000 stone steps between villages, and then again walking down a step flight of steps into a valley only to have to walk immediately back up to a pass to get to another village. And while we were mostly hiking through jungle in between villages, there were amazing views of snow capped peaks some of the time (this is not the right season to see such peaks), and at a few points, we were quite high and so it felt like we were above the jungle and in alpine forests.

We were sad that Jamie did not bring his sound recorder to record the steady chorus, of varying pitches and intonations, of “Namaste’s” that we heard. And we were also sad that we didn’t talk to more folks about the Maoists, the effects of tourists on the region (there is an amazing organization called the Annapurna Conservation Program (ACAP) which funds hydroelectric, farming, safe water, and education projects in these villages, using the 2000 rupees that tourists need to pay for a trekking permit, and each village area/township has a committee that decides prices for tourist food and menus. It was interesting however to talk to folks a bit about the Maoists, although, since we have no context, we were mostly asking broad questions– but it seems that many of the folks we talked to had had personal experiences with having food and shelter demanded (without compensation) by Maoists hiding in the forests around the villages– and most of the villagers we talked to said that they didn’t understand why the Maoists did what they did, what is happening in KTM, how the Maoists are in power, etc.

But it was amazing to see how much walking is involved to get to the nearest road for so many people, what relationships are like between village and city, and how distance in most of Nepal is determined by how long it takes to walk from village to village.

Also, unlike in [other countries in the region], there seemed to be a more diverse group of tourists– a 10 person strong group of hardcore trekkers from Poland, older Swiss women walking with poles, the requisite Israeli youth, families with guides, Japanese with porters and guides, etc.

OK, I will shut up now, but when thinking about your next vacation– Nepal!

Love, M

You enjoy too much! Now images and notes to match pretty words.

Nepal 2009

Posted in Access Foamage, Gotz Mad Family, non-cow, we be teh tourist. Tagged with , , .

By bonusj
May 18, 2009

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Where there are no men, be thou a man

In light of the severe transit and public space accessibility issues that I’ve witnessed here in Bangalore and elsewhere in the SubC, I’ve been thinking a lot about “community organization”, “public participation” and “democratic design.” Although M punches me whenever I utter any of these vague phrases, I don’t know how folks grab the power to change their situation other than though organizing and showing numbers and raising capital. To me it is plain and simple.

Anyway, following up on my Saul Alinsky obsession, I’ve come across a great interview that I think you would dig. The interview between Saul and Eric Norden a writer with Playboy magazine was set in early 1972 a few months before Saul’s death (heart attack at age 63).

Saul Alinsky: One of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left.

Saul Alinsky: Notice physical similarity to Dr. Ambedkar.

Here is the money quote:

ALINSKY:… I remember once, I must have been ten or eleven, one of my friends was beaten up by Poles, so a bunch of us crossed over into Polish turf and we were beating the shit out of some Polish kids when the cops pulled us in. They took us to the station house and told our mothers, and boy, did they blow their tops. My mother came and took me away, screaming that I’d brought disgrace on the family. Who ever heard of a good Jewish boy being arrested, she moaned to the cops, and she promised the sergeant I’d be taken care of severely when I got home. When we left, my mother took me right to the rabbi and the rabbi lectured me on how wrong I was. But I stood up for myself. I said, “They beat us up and it’s the American way to fight back, just like in the Old Testament, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. So we beat the hell out of them. That’s what everybody does.” The rabbi just looked at me for a minute and then said very quietly, “You think you’re a man because you do what everybody does. But I want to tell you something the great Rabbi Hillel said: ‘Where there are no men, be thou a man.’ I want you to remember it.” I’ve never forgotten it.

PLAYBOY: Did you beat up any more Polish kids?

ALINSKY: No, the rabbi’s lesson sank home. I don’t even tell Polish jokes.

Check out the whole thing. His perspectives are essential reading for anyone who wants to change their world for the better. Indeed.

Posted in non-cow, organizationing. Tagged with , , , .

By bonusj
May 15, 2009

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Can’t touch this.

“Can I tell joke?” When I gave him permission to do so, here is a joke as revealed to me by a 13 year old boy named Samit:

America is so great – The greatest nation in the world…
But there is no place to spit! Where do world’s greatest people spit?

Samit also reminded me that yesterday was Ambedkar Jayanti and that I should wish a happy birthday to Dr. Ambedkar. Born on April 14, 1891, India’s second most popular civil rights leader, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is described in a 1971 biography as “A beehive of opposition and storms.” He was a scholarly organizer, dedicated rabble rouser and a royal pain in the ass to Gandhiji, the Hindu-Centric Indian National Congress Party, the Partition-hungry Muslim League and (of course) the British.

“Babasaheb” B. R. Ambedkar is most recognized for the fight he waged against untouchability and the intense socio-economic discrimination that people of lower castes were subjected to in orthodox Hindu society. Untouchability was to India’s independence movement what slavery had been to the American struggle: an essential contradiction of civil liberty and freedom that each sought “to paper over.” A Hindu from the Marathi Mahar caste, he is recognized as one of the first untouchables to be accepted into a Indian college (1907). He went on to complete law degrees and multiple doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science from Columbia University and the London School of Economics.

The good doctor also understood the problems of partition. He argued that Muslims and Hindus could certainly coexist in the same country and that a two country solution would result in violence and mass migration to ensure safety. Need I mention that dude drafted India’s first independent constitution providing a wide range of individual liberties, such as freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination? In 1942 Ambedkar even argued for extensive economic and social rights for women (what a bad ass!).

Popular Dr. Ambedkar icon by photographer Claude Renault

Popular Dr. Ambedkar icon by photographer Claude Renault

But more importantly, his chubby bespectacled face is an important piece of political graffiti that is ubiquitous in Bangalore. But unlike Shep Fairey’s Andre the Giant dadaist fable, Babasaheb actually had a posse and wasn’t afraid to use it. Months prior to his untimely death in 1956, he personally acted against India’s discriminatory caste system and organized a public ceremony where he and an estimated 500,000 supporters rejected Hinduism en masse and converted to Buddhism.

As they were titans whose dialogues and negotiations were essential to the development of modern India, Ambedkar vs. Gandhi debates are shaded in this Mothra vs. Godzilla hue. The arguments seem to revolve around about who “crushed more buildings”, “incurred more incidental damages” or “left bigger footprints.” Perhaps Gandhi captured the attention of the West because he was a brilliant posturist and snappy dresser? He was certainly a skilled politician whose calculated exotic appearance and tactics had more romantic appeal. If only Ambedkar favored the Dhoti! It was Ambedkar himself who delivered the most consistent critiques of Mahatma’s techniques:

Gandhism with its call of back to nature, means back to nakedness, back to squalor, back to poverty and back to ignorance for the vast mass of the people.

I’m enjoying “Let Them Call Me Rebel” Horwitt’s biography of Saul Alinsky (I know this is like sooo freshman year – but remember, I studied engineering… in the South). Ambedkar and Alinsky are really peas in the same pod. In “Rules for Radicals” Alinsky projects at length about Gandhiji and Nehru and their adaptability and employment of different tactics. I love his admittedly oversimplified description of Gandhi’s brilliant organization of inertia:

… what Gandhi did was to say, “Look, you are all sitting there anyway – so instead of sitting there, why don’t you sit over here and while you’re sitting, say “Independence Now!”

Dr. Ambedkar certainly needed a better agent. It is too bad that the Babasaheb’s PR machine was not up to the task of communicating with Chicago’s most pragmatic and realistic radicals (although his 1948 marriage did reach the wedding section of the New York Times). I would have enjoyed a good flame war between him and Alinsky – great agitators seldom agree on much. In this age of whoring opinionaters and faux advocates pushing devils’ miseries and exceptional American ignorance on the cable newsies and internets, one could only imagine the havoc that these two rebels would wreak.

I’ll leave you with my favorite Ambedkar quotable:

My final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can loose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is battle for freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality.

Indeed.

Posted in Blasted Academics, non-cow, we be teh tourist. Tagged with .

By bonusj
April 15, 2009

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Shitty economy affecting blogsters abroad?

No. Not really. Just Busy: Delhi > Bangalore > Delhi > Bangalore > Mumbai > Pune > Bangalore > Delhi > Bangalore. Making up for lack of words with flickr uploads galore.

Get your geek on and enjoy the transit access foaming!

India 2009

Posted in Access Foamage, Delhi is like so bitchin', Transit Foaming, Uncategorized, non-cow, we be teh tourist. Tagged with , , .

By bonusj
April 2, 2009

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