My trip to India, Part 3

Wednesday 29th January 2003

Sort of relaxing day really, feeling somewhat cosmopolitan at the moment. I'm sat on the veranda of my palatial residence watching some Jesuit priests act out a play in Tamil surrounded by half if not all the five hundred boarding students. The priest's are surrounded by the girls, I am on the veranda typing this and occasionally looking up at what is going on below. Seems to be quite a lot of them running for the phone. I guess it is a comedy as the girls are laughing quite a lot. Feel I may be being bitten to death up here, Ill pop and have a shower in a minute to escape the fearful insects. They are a very responsive audience. The girls, not the insects, they only respond to insect repellent. The insects that is, not the girls :o)

We looked at the caste system today. It was interesting, if a little academic. Most of the lectures so far have been very much stuff that you could not have got from a book. Where as today most of it could have been taken from any book on the caste system.

We also spent some time at the Gandhi museum. It was an old style museum which probably hasn't been updated since Gandhi died; it was interesting several of our party detected an anti British slant to the language which I didn't. I felt this was a trifle odd. Either I just read through it or just agreed with it. All sort of odd bits and pieces, including the clothing that Gandhi was wearing when he was shot. Would have liked to have had time to read some of his correspondence but as with much of this tour there has just not been the time to appreciate or think on anything. Then again the odd bit that hasn't quite appealed hasn't lasted long either, so it is probably for the best.

Thursday 30th January 2003

Was woken early by Lee-Ann, when I say early it was perhaps only half and hour early and I was awake but it didn't help. Chris who has been a star during this trip was involved in organising some music for the chapel service. I wasn't best pleased about being woken up but as it was Lee-Ann the only other as it where non-believer I sort of felt I had to go. Made some notes while I was there. Other than that it was a bit happy clappy but nothing truly offensive :o)

Interesting day all told lots of facts and figures but it sort of gave us some sort of frame work to hang what it is we have been taught. This was followed by a trip to a family planning clinic and aids centre. As a group there were some mixed feelings about this. I'm not sure what I felt, again probably as we have not had time to digest what we have seen, but we were shown into a post-op room. Women were recovering from some pretty invasive surgery. I left quickly as I had no intention of standing watching this people recovering from operations. We had a fairly informal lecture about sex education in India or rather its lack off. Also about sexual practices, if only skating around the issue. We were told that no one is talking about sex, from the advertising we have seen (pants and Karma sutra films) as well as the pornography openly for sale at the cd shop I would guess that someone is talking about it.

HIV and AIDS is becoming a problem in India, in fact I guess it has been a problem for sometime and it only now beginning to be dealt with. There are 30000 people effected just in the Tamal Nadu state alone, the problem is just going to get worse. Perhaps the saddest thing is as India becomes more westernised it will ape the west's sexual mores. Unfortunately I guess none of the young people are going to be informed or prepared to deal with this sexual revolution, so I imagine the upshot will be a rise in the birth rate and in the number of HIV and AIDS cases. It is very disconcerting to see the beginnings of a cataclysmic problem and being aware there is nothing that you can do to help, unless the Indians start a mass program of sexual education there will be a serious problem and sooner rather than later, but then what do I know?

Finally got to watch the end of the infanticide film, which was not quite as powerful as it had been last time. For if no other reason because I was so tied I had trouble staying awake. It was of course a very sorry story but not one I can foresee any answer too. Culture, marriage, and societies view of the female will need to change drastically before there can be any hope.

This afternoon or late this afternoon was taken up by a meeting with Christian Students. Now I have to be careful here as some may indeed read this. What I will say it was very interesting, not so much on a religious level but on a personal level. Personally I suspect that they are all lovely people and I know that they where looking out for me but I have a small problem with people as it where trying to convert me ( I know you where very insistent that you weren't but you where).

Queue small rant…

Christian I have known have had a problem with my lack of faith, what they fail to realise and what it took me a long time to realise is that I don't have a lack of faith… I have faith in what I believe, it is just that I find it difficult if not impossible to believe in a god and I cannot and will not believe in Jesus as the son of god.

Friday 31st January 2003

Becoming bored now, I need new things to play with. The lectures are by and large still interesting but I'm just bored of being here. Not having seen friends and just all the things I take for granted in my life, I'd quite like to phone my mother and speak to her. I'd like to pop out for a pint; I'd like to watch a video, listen to the radio. Read a book I've read a hundred times before. I'd like to wake up and look out of the window and try and work out what the weather is going to be like. Instead of knowing it was going to be hot and sunny. I would like to take an amble into town and look at a couple of book shops. Maduari doesn't seem to have any book shops. I'd love a cup of tea and some toast and peanut butter; I'd like to see an attractive woman. That's not too say the young women here are not attractive but I am very set in what I am attracted too, not necessarily what I can appreciate as ascetically pleasing but just what makes me look twice. I'd like to talk rubbish with friends and see what they have been up to for the last fortnight. I should even like to find out what I am doing in a weeks time when I go into school. I would like to finish the essay for Mark, I'd like to know just how badly I had done on the other essays and I suppose the whole terms work. I think what I am trying to say is that I will be glad on Sunday to be somewhere else and to know that that somewhere else is on the way to home.

Saturday 1st February 2003

Last real day, the lecture in the morning was perhaps the best so far.

Sunday 2nd January 2003

Chennai.

Monday 3rd January 2003

Woke up at about 11pm UK time, it is now 2:15pm the following day and I'm still travelling home. It's a nice feeling but a terrible trip. Last leg now, trying to get from Bahrain to London, so I suppose that it is not the last leg. That will be the train journey, this is merely the penultimate leg. The battery on this laptop has not held out, I guess it didn't like trying to render the graphics and sound for the film I was trying to watch. I used almost 70% of the battery in about five minutes which was a bit of a shock, suppose I'll know another time.

So on the plane, its is very dull, attractive young lady in front of me and for once Trystan doesn't seem interested :o) Had to get that one in, as he's sitting next to me… Other than that I guess I should put something about how I feel now it is all over. Part of me at the beginning of the course wanted it to be over, if someone could have given me the memories and said there you go, you don't have to go I probably would have taken them up on the offer. Now I have the memories I don't quite now what comes next, am I changed? Has India worked its charm? I guess I shan't know for sure until many weeks perhaps even months to come.

My understanding and culture base has been broadened and that can only have a positive effect on me both as a person and academically. Coming back on the plane reading Cupipt all I can think about is how western and euro- even Anglo-centric the book is. This is by no means a bad thing, it is just something that I have found myself thinking about. Mark, before I left, said that by the time I returned I would want to rewrite the essay for him, I've not read it but yes I think I do. My conclusions were British conclusions, I was talking about religion in a British context with no reference to anything outside that said context.

So academically I feel it has been a positive experience, personally not so sure. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see...