ILMAR REEPALU

QUESTION:

In what way has your view on Scandinavia, and Malmö in specific, changed after 3 months in India?

 

ANSWER:

Three different settings are flashing before my eyes when I am looking at the question above: nine different pencils, a perfectly planed dollhouse and a record with Simon & Garfunkle. 

Like the question regarding the egg and the hen it is hard to figure out weather the context form its people or people form the context. Regardless; people and context are highly depended on each other. I remember one morning in Mumbai when I was walking by a fancy store at Taj Mahal Hotel. The store was selling western suits and men’s wear. I suddenly stopped in front of the window. Printed on the glass was a quote (or an ad if you’d like). It said; GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE. I smiled, realizing that this would never have worked as an ad in Sweden. At a store in Malmö the quote would rather say something like; Great minds dare to think differently. I was surprised to see that this Indian store had such completely different approach compared to a Swedish store selling the same kind of suits.

Later that night at my hotel room I read an article about this particular phenomena. A scientific team had investigated different attitudes around the world thanks to a simple test at Seattle International Airport. The experiment was all about nine different pens. Eight pens were of the same colors and one was in a different one. The scientific team asked each and everyone passing them by to pick a pen. People representing all parts of the world picked up pens and at the end of the test period an interesting result was discovered. Almost everyone from the east parts of the world as in Asia and Africa, had picked up one of the eight pen with the same color. People from the western parts of the world like Europe and North America had picked up the single one with a different color. From this test the scientific team made the conclusion that people from the East wants to blend in while people from the West stress individuality.

This is a crucial factor when it comes to lifestyle and values. The way you walk, talk and think is determined of weather you want to fit in or stand out. Both ways of thinking does surely have it pro’s and con’s. Most significant for me personally this new insight came to show when I went out shopping in Malmö a couple of days after I got back. In Mumbai it had been stressful trying to fit in but walking the streets of Malmö was pretty stressful in another way. I had never before realized how important it was to stand out in the crowd and be an individual. Everything had to look perfect but unique. I then remembered the thoughts I had a couple of days earlier when I sat in the aircraft on my way home from Mumbai.

It is of no news that Sweden is a much more organized country than India.  I was still filled with surprised fascination when the airplane spread its wings over Malmö. Looking down from high above I got the feeling that Sweden looked much like a perfectly polished dollhouse. Everything was so well planed that it almost looked unrealistic. Every car was parked faultlessly next to another, every house was in line and nothing appeared made of mere accident. Not to mention that everything looked so clean. How could I ever have referred to Malmö as a dirty city? Coming from the northern part of Sweden I had always thought of Malmö as dirty thanks to… well I was no longer sure. The clean air that allowed me to see through the sky from where I sat was incredible. And the sea surrounding Malmö! It was deep blue water instead of the brown thick liquid surrounding Mumbai. I realized from where I sat that nature was very much untouched. Malmö stroke me as a polite city not trying to violate its surroundings. I felt pride. I felt gratitude. I wanted to live close to nature from now on, far from huge cities and oppressing trends.

Adjustment comes quickly however.  Three days after my holistic sky vision I was back dressing up trendy but unique, taking the fresh air for granted and swearing over the dirty streets after my foot landed in dog-shit.

When I am writing this text three weeks have passed since I returned to Sweden. I must admit that a lot of things are the same as before I packed my bags leaving for India. I buy my coffee at the same places, I swear over the cold wind that keeps entering Malmö, I wish for more money to buy those shoes I want. But there is one thing that is different. One thought that ever since I got back strikes me a few of times each day. One Swedish tendency that I’ve come to appreciate after spending time in chaotic Mumbai. Simon and Garfunkle knows how to describe it. It is the sound of silence. 

Lauria Meadoff

QUESTION:

”How do the cultural clashes between the traditional Indian culture and the emergence of technology such as text messaging and internet dating effect romantic relationships in India?”

 

ANSWER:

I want to tell the story of Ammu. He is a 27-year-old massage therapist I met in Udaipur when I was on vacation. Ammu has a small Ayurvedic shop where he invites tourists for some chai and a chat. It is a crazy shop covered with pictures of gods, jars of oil, flowers and cushions in many different colors. In one corner Ammu has a big picture of his daughter of eleven months. If you ask about the picture Ammu open up his heart and tell you the story of how he met and lost the love of his life. It is a story that bring Ammu to tears every time but he tells you this story because he thinks only tourists understands…

Ammu first saw Bipasha a couple of years ago outside her home. He instantly fell in love. She was the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on. For weeks he circled around her home with his motorbike trying to make her go out with him. She refused until one day when she finally said yes.  There was a problem however. Bipasha was from a different cast than Ammu. They saw each other in secret until one day when Bipasha’s family found out about the couple. Bipasha and Ammu could no longer see each other. Ammu was devastated. His father had recently died and without him or the love of his life, Ammu decided to swallow a bottle of Ammoniac. Miraculously Ammu survived and Bipasha came to see him at the hospital despite her family’s will. They decided to get married in secret and soon after that Bipasha was pregnant. Her family was desperate and now gave the couple a choice. Either Ammu changed his cast or Bipasha would be taken by force to marry someone else.  Changing cast was not an easy choice. If Ammu would change his cast his mother and sister would no longer be welcome any where in the society. They would shamefully have to suffer their lives in loneliness. Not to mention that his sister never would get married.  It stood between Ammu’s wife and daughter or his mother and sister. Ammu didn’t want to ruin the life of his family by blood and therefore he chose his sister and mother and said no to changing cast. Bipasha and their daughter were soon sent to Saudi Arabia.  Ammu haven’t heard from them ever since and it looks like he never will.

Why do I tell you this true love story? Well it is to show you how deeply cultural traditions are rooted in India due to economical change and technical development. It is interesting however how cultural traditions in India not seem to be in any conflict with technology. Technology is simply used in other ways than in the western world. The other day I listened to a BBC program on the net interweaving an old Indian man about speed dating. He told the listeners that he could not find a decent husband for his daughter and that speed dating seemed like an excellent way to meet men willing to marry her. 

On my way back from Udaipur I met another guy, Sumit on the bus. He was in a bad mood. Just two weeks before, his girlfriend and him had to split up. They had been going out for years, both studying at the same campus but now she was suddenly married to someone else. Both new from the very beginning of their relationship that their love was not a long lasting one.  Sumit was not a guy of his girlfriends’ parents’ approval. He was not a good enough man for her to marry.  Sumit was aggravated but realized it was for the best anyway. He wanted to be settled and part of the Indian Air Force before he got married him selves. When I spoke to Sumit about love in India his cell phone was beeping constantly. He was text-massaging his friends and to my surprise this particular ex girlfriend. I then remembered what Shantanu Moitra had said to me a month before.

Shantanu Moitra is a music composer and producer. He is working with Bollywood music and has a lot of thoughts about Indian people. He had told me about the interaction between Indians and western technology and trends. He said: “Indians will not accept things from the west the way they are. They like foreign brands and technology but they have to do it Indian style”.  Shantanu took the classical example of McDonald’s opening in India and how they had to change their whole brand since Indians doesn’t eat meat from cows. He said it was the same way with everything. Tradition was determining how new technology and trends influenced India.

That made me think and now I have a question jumping back and forth in my head. Can you say that deep-rooted traditions always come before new technology and technology therefore has to adjust to tradition instead of the other way around? It surely seems that way in India.

Ron Pompei

QUESTIONS:

Will India be able to learn from the missteps of the West regarding ecology, energy and education?

Will they recognize earlier in their economic and social development that material resources are finite yet human resources (such as creativity, innovation and expression) are infinite?

Will India achieve a true global consciousness that recognizes the unique contribution of all cultures?

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ANSWER:

Dear Mr Pompei

Thank you for your honest questions. When I am reading them between the lines, (an old habit I have a tendency to fall back into way too often) I notice that it sounds like you are standing with cold feet. Is that an accurate observation?

What I hear is that you want some kind of proof that India will handle it’s new economic power in a way according to your values. That is an understandable reaction to India’s transition from one world to another. With economic power come great responsibilities. I have to make you disappointed though. I don’t have the knowledge needed to make a decent reading of the future. However, being in India I have the opportunity to ask the stars in almost every corner of the street. For the fun of it I therefore turned your questions to a fortuneteller after he charge me 30 rupies. He made the Indian nod and said: “sorry, only your own future madam”. A bit disappointed I instead took a stroll back to my hotel. I come to think of Anand Chandra Tamang, a retired old man once a force to be reckoned with in India Navy Defense. He was living at the same dormitory as me and I had only seen him in nothing but his bath towel and a bouche of daly newspapers under his arm. I usually referred to him as “The Bathing Chinese” due to his Chinese feature but that has nothing to do with it really.

Anand Chandra was this particular day sitting down at the balcony as always wearing nothing but a bath towel. He was deep into the Sunday’s Paper when I pulled out a chair in front of him and asked for five minutes of his time. I was lucky, Anand Chandra was more than willing to talk to me about your questions. We talked about values and west verces east.

Anand Chandra was soon letting me know that the future of India lies in its history and that people in the west therefore has nothing to be scared of. “India is an ancient country” he said. “The western world can learn a lot from the history and knowledge that has passed through thousands of generations in India”. Thanks to that he said, is there a high level of consciousness through out the country in terms of ecology, globalization and development. India has been around for so long that knowledge lies in the roots of it’s development.

I glanced down at the headlines in front of Anand Chandra. The first spread was called “Inner Spaces”. I looked at the left column called Soul Search. Headline: Start small or big; do your part. Further down: Big question for you: What are you doing to help build a new and better world?

 

Dear Mr Pompai. I am sorry for not giving you a more deliberate answer to your questions. I guess what I am trying to say with this letter is that you shall not worry. India will most certainly make terrific missteps when developing in such a high speed just like all other countries done so far (including India many times around through history) but I am optimistic. I can’t think of any country that is more likely to learn from its ancient history and have such a consciousness deep down in the roots of its people. When I asked Anand Chandra what he though would be India’s contribution to the world in the nearest future he just smiled and said “India will give the world skilled, really skilled manpower”. And with one billion people, that sounds quite hopeful in my ears.

 

Yours sincerely, Elin Frost

Uffe Elbaek

QUESTION:
”What are the living conditions for homosexuals in India. Socially, culturally and politically?”

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ANSWER:

The luxury of love

My mind is twisting and turning. I can’t seem to solve the Rubens Cube. It is an Indian version of the game but it shouldn’t be any different from the Rubens Cube I’ve got home in Sweden. But it is. Not only is it extremely hard to twist it around. The colour red, the colour of love seems to be missing. I’ve always taken Red for granted and now my mind is trapped. Where the hell is Love in this country, or more accurately what is it?

I am sitting on the balcony up at Carlton’s Hotel. I am looking right in to the brothel on the other side of the street. Women in their night gowns are hanging out from their French balconies. They are looking curious over to where I am sitting.
I glaze down on the streets instead. Men. Lots of men every where. There are a couple of female beggars down there but besides from them there it’s just men. Men in India are working, talking, breathing with other men. Women on the other hand are working, talking, breathing with other women. They hardly ever meet.

Raju P, the front desk guy at Carlton’s comes to wipe of the table. I ask him about his family and when he starts telling me about his life it suddenly hit me. Love the way I know it, is a luxury in this country. Raju is telling me that he got married a couple of years ago after his parents had picked out a good girl for him. He now has two small children but he meet them only three weeks a year, during the summertime. He can’t afford meeting them more often. His wife and kids are living far away from Mumbai and like any other working man in India he always works a minimum of twelve hours a day. He tells me that it is hard, but as he put it ; “Love ‘s for rich people”.

It strikes me that there is a fundamental difference in the way money changes the game of love. In Sweden we have money enough to buy us time. Time that we can spend in many different ways. We have time to be with our family, time to meet new people, time to be in many different relationships, time to have sex. We often talk about how a good relationship is all about investing time. But what if you can’t afford time?

Life in India can not be compared with life in Sweden, nor can love. It is like comparing bananas with apples. It is two different things. For example, in Sweden love and sex comes before marriage, in India love and sex comes after the marriage. It might not seem as such a big deal but in fact it changes everything. For example it makes a question about homosexuality very complex. It is like an Indian friend of mine said “if you are only married you can be how homosexual as you’d like in India”.

I suddenly remember an article I recently read on the Internet. Geeta Kumana a homosexual women suited in Mumbai was being interviewed. In the end of the interview she got a question about what she thought was different being homosexual in Stockholm verces Mumbai. She answered “I don’t think the differences lies in being a homosexual as much as being a woman.”

I hear a familiar sound of attention. Two men holding hands is trying to get my attention. They stare at me and shouts some words in English. I can’t focus any more so I release my thoughts and conclude: Love, the way I know it is a luxury for most people in this country – homosexuals as well as heterosexuals. Answering a question about the living conditions for homosexuals is like solving a Indian version of Rubens Cube with Swedish logic. It just doesn’t work.

Alan Webber

 

QUESTION:

How are India’s people handling the country’s transition into a growing world economic power? Do they feel any change in their status in the world? Is there more economic equity among the people as India’s economic performance grows?

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ANSWER:

If I would put the majority of discussions about economy I’ve had here in Mumbai into one, the person I would be talking to would look a lot like a well educated teenager. He is sitting there smiling, confident and uncertain at the same time. He knows the basic about stock-markets and finance which more than once makes me blush because of my lack of knowledge. (I seem to have forgot everything from my high-school days).  On the other hand I can’t help my self smiling back at him when he goes on about India’s economy. He is jumping between black and white in a split of a second. From high to low and back again. He is dreaming of becoming the richest man of the world and has the confident that he will. But in the same time he seem petrified of life’s lack of guaranties and bumpy road. He is powerful and both ignorant and amazed over his newly founded strength. And so am I.   

As a guest in this country it is hard not to notice the optimistic breeze that circle around in the middle class, especially in the upper middle class. Shiraj Siddique is trading with timber and metal all over the world and is currently living in Mumbai. “Ten years down the line India will be the superpower of the world, he says confident. THE superpower, he adds”. 

Mr Siddique have reason to be confident especially since he is working with steel, one of the fastest growing export industries in India. “If you want to make money in this country you will make money, as long as you step out of your house, he says. The problem in India is that 70% of the population doesn’t pay a penny in taxes. They just eat, sleep and gossip. The rest of us has to pay for them.“ 

I ask Mr Siddique if he thinks people from every class of the society notice that India’s economy is growing. ”Oh yeah! he shouts out. Just look on the infrastructure here in Mumbai, new roads everywhere. Or look in peoples homes. Only fifteen years ago people lived four, five families in one house, now almost every family has their own apartment. Things are moving so fast. Everyone benefit from the economical growth.”

There are people who doesn’t agree with Mr Siddique though. As my new friend Pitrish describes it; ”The rich will always stay rich and the poor will always stay poor. It is only the once in between, the middle class that actually can feel the change.” 

Raju P, the owner of Carlton Hotel in Mumbai goes even further; “The richer is actually getting richer, and the poor poorer, he says.” Raju talks about how life is getting harder when India’s economy performance grows. “My salary stays the same even though everything is getting more expansive.” Raju is worried. He has a hard time keeping up with the raising prices. A lot is to blame the raising prices of oil. The stronger economy the more oil is needed for building, transportation, constructing and so forth. The oil consumption is consequently raising enormously in India. Not only that, the prices of oil all over the word is higher now than it has been for the last 20 years.

Raju agrees however that some things are getting better in India. Like Mr Siddique he talks about the infrastructure.  “Nowadays there are great roads everywhere and that is a big change compared to ten years ago, he says. And almost everyone got their own phone.” 

‘Almost everyone’ is a bit of an overstatement. There are around 30 million phone lines for over a billion people and but in perspective Sweden has around 7 million phone lines for 9 million people. But he does have a point. The telecom industry is growing with 20% each year and compared to only a couple of years ago when having a phone was a great luxury things are really changing. Every other person passing in the streets have a cellphone and it is not unusual to have two-three different phone lines if you can afford it.

I am looking at this teenager on the other side of the table flashing with his newest Nokia cellphone while stirring more sugar in his milkshake. He is restless and wants our discussion about economy to be over with. At least for now. He wants to go out, be free and have fun. Responsibility is boring. And I guess he would have told me to back of if I had given him any advise. “Let me make my own mistakes, he would have said.” And I would have smiled, secretly petrified and said ‘sure’. Who am I to give him advice? He needs to find his own way. I can just cross my fingers that he will do good and be all right.