Back from India...
There's always a distinct bittersweetness about returning home from a trip abroad, especially when one has had some significant cross-cultural connections/experiences...not only do you leave the place with all it's visual richness and cultural stimulation, but you leave the feeling of the place in your heart...the effect of the place on your daily thought patterns and charasteristic ways of reacting to your environment.In more simple terms: there's a distinction between being sad about leaving a place because of what the place can provide externally (which is, i think, what most people think of when they travel) versus the more subtle ways the place itself can make you think differently and affect you on an internal level.
Of course, the two are not easily to separate. After taking an Anthropology seminar in Tourism, though, I know that for many people "touring" a place can be a very superficial thing based on the externals. The problem is, people from the "west" (please forgive me these generalization - i hate saying "west" but lack a better word) often approach visiting another culture as if it's a supermarket..."I'll have the brightly colored cloths and unique jewelry but I'll pass on the lack of modern sanitization systems and dysentery." There's something a bit sick to me about approaching a location based solely on what it can offer YOU and neglecting any thought on the location being an actual PLACE where people eat, live, sleep, die, etc...it's a complex situation, because in many places people have incentive to "sell" their location so they can have money to feed their families. In other words, tourism is not something entirely imposed from outside a culture. Nevertheless, it's a sort of sad irony that so often the tourist unwittingly helps destroly that which he/she wishes will be preserved: the culture. There's a name for this - "imperialist nostalgia," the desire for that which one has destroyed.
Anyway, that was a big tangent (i blame this on the jetlag, sorry) - the originally point was merely that I was very moved by many aspects of Tibetan culture which i witnessed in Dharamsala, and found a distinct difference in my attitude post as opposed to pre-trip. Yet, as I go through my post-airplane routine (this was my most grueling commute as of yet - a 13 hour bus ride to Delhi, then 3 hours to rest/eat, then 3 hours at the airport, 15 hour flight to chicago, 2 more hours at airport, then 4 hours flight to seattle), which includes unpacking, doing laundry, and taking a loooong, hot shower (this feels particularly good after the bucket showers we had in India), I find myself fighting against my habitual thought-patterns (some of which are positive, some of which are negative). Hence the word "bittersweet"... It's going to be frustrating for me to try to generalize about the trip, so I think i'll opt to just jot down a whole bunch of little allegories and factual tidbits about the trip not only for the reader's knowledge but also for me, so i can preserve these memories/experiences (although i suppose if i am really affected by buddhism i will say that all things are impermanent and i should question my inclination to cling to these experiences, hehe).
Anyway, here goes:
1) Tibetan monks and nuns (they are Buddhist monks and nuns, not to be confused with Catholic monks and nuns) everywhere...well, the monks were more ubiquitous than the nuns, but on any given amble down one of the two main roads in town you'd see the monks/nuns in their maroon robes, often chatting with other people and/or text-messenging...they also visited the internet cafes and struck up conversations with strangers. This countered my initial image of a "monk" as someone who has to go be away from society...I need to learn more about monks!
2) Old people rule. I smiled at so many old people on the streets and they smiled back and it was just so sweet...as part of the project we did (for work), we had children from the Tibetan Children's Village School (many of whom are refugees from Tibet) meet up with the "International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers" . We storyboarded beforehand and realized that the children wanted to ask the grandmothers questions about how they pray (the grandmothers are all from very different communities; one is Tibetan), why they pray, and whether they ever get sleepy/bored when they pray.
At the TCV (Tibetan Children's Village), the kids live in group homes of about 40 kids with one home mother. The kids do all the cooking, cleaning and chores as many of their parents are still in Tibet (although this is not the case for all students - some are the children of staff members and live with their families). They don't have access to many older people and we weren't sure how they'd react to the grandmothers. At first they were a little hesitant and scared, but after a few of them smiled and put their hands out, the kids opened up...by the end, i was in tears. I don't see myself as incredibly spiritual, but i was consistently moved by these indigenous grandmothers (all of whom have a very strong spiritual component). By the end of the trip, 3 of the children had written hand-written letters to the grandmothers asking her to be their grandmother. It was so rewarding to see the profound impact the two groups had on each other.
3) Let me backtrack for a second about the trip structure: the point of the trip is to sustain our program of connecting kids around the world, in this case through utilizing volunteer mentors to help the kids create digital stories about their lives which they can share with other kids on our website. The trip also serves a finaicial purpose, as the income from the volunteer mentors (their fee) extends beyond the workshop fee to cover some of our operating expenses. Anyway, the idea of the workshop is for the Bridges staff to train mentors in the tools of digital storytelling in the mornings and then in the afternoons they can put their new knowledge into practice by teaching the kids. We all help the kids create one or two stories to be shared on our website, mixing photos, narration, and music. As with many things, the process rather than the end product is really the most important part. The mentors often become very attached to the children and vice versa. It almost felt like camp at the end -we all wrote little notes to each other and hugged and had a hard time letting go!
4) There are many ways to make a respectable living. I was walking down the street with Kristin, my roomate and best friend on the trip (she also happens to be Miss Washington 2006...more on that later) when I saw a sad looking man trying to sell some fleece blankets. I told Kristin i felt sorry for him, and she said, "Why? he's making a respectable living." She said she thought that feeling sorry for someone like him would rob him of some of his dignity. Anyway, i had never thought of it that way.
5) While we were there, the 5th year of the "Miss Tibet" pagent (see article in the Christian Science Monitor) occurred in Dharamsala. It is contentious to have "miss tibet" to begin with, as Tibet is not considered it's own country by China, which has power over the land that was once Tibet (I'm still trying to figure the situation out). Kristin, being Miss Washington, ended up getting a lot of attention for showing up and, thus, expressing support for the Tibetan cause. I don't think any of us anticipated the media frenzy that would surround Kristin as well as Miss Tibet.
Anyway, I think many of us have negative stereotypes about beauty pageants, but I have learned a lot from Kristin about Miss America (which is primarily a scholarship program rather than beauty contest - Miss USA is the one judged strictly on beauty). Contestants are often pre-med or other extremely high-achieving people and are doing the pageant as a way to get scholarship money to pay for college. Each contestant runs on a platform; Kristin is the first to ever run on an international platform (hers is "international education"). She is absolutely the real deal - she has a solid, positive attide, is witty and hilarious, quick, smart, generous, caring, and just an all around wonderful person to be around. The first few days of the workshop i would lie in bed and often agonize over some of the little things that had gone wrong, and kristin had just a very honest yet very positive way of looking at things. "Que sera sera, man," she kept saying! Really, i feel badly for being cynical in the past about how genuine the miss america contestants are about wanting to "save the world," but with kristin it's another story. She wants to save the world, and i don't doubt that she can/will.
Anyway, Miss Tibet was interesting because while I at first saw it as an assertion that Tibetan women could be modern, when I talked to Lobsang (the primary force behind the event) he expressed that it was actually about showcasing the traditional Tibetan woman...he referenced buddhist texts which mention 16 components of beauty and very clearly is passionate about showcasing tibetan beauty on an international stage, but i found that the structure and marketing of the event did not match with his intentions, which led to it being very contentious. Many in the audience yelled things in Tibetan at the contestants and I think many resented that the women were rejecting their traditional culture...interestingly, each contestant earnestly and often mentioned that she would use the crown to further awareness about the Tibetan cause, so it did seem like a lot more than a beauty pageant.
6) One thing we came up against again and again is the whole idea of cultural "purity" - so often people from the outside wish for a culture to remain "untouched," but what happens when they want to change? No culture is static. Pasta was originally from China and not italy, but what if someone had rejected it at the time it was brought over from china because it was not their idea of purely italian cuisine - it never could have been able to morph into what it became (dumplings became ravioli, noodles became fettucini, etc etc). In the same way, i think in my work people often want the kids to do things like sing Tibetan songs, when really their favorite song may be Lee Ann Womak (this was the case with one girl in our workshop) or 50 cent. In the case of Tibetan culture in Dharamsala, we are beyond the point where the culture can evolve without being touched by the "outside," and this is not a bad thing. Part of our role in Bridges is to help preserve parts of the past so the children can learn from it (this was something the grandmothers were very vehement about), yet I also think we should encourage the kids to showcase who they are now - hybrids of all kinds of culture (tibetan, chinese, indian, american/"western").
A great example of this is the Dali Lama going under brain scans while he meditates to help advance scientific studies on meditation. It's a delicate balance, but i appreciate the way that Buddhism seems to be open to adaptation, while keeping the same fundamental premises.
7) Kids are constantly looking for validation/affirmation. This was very clear in the workshop...especially with kids who don't get a lot of attention from adults in their daily lives. It was so wonderful to watch them light up under the attention of a mentor.
8) There's nothing like "hot horlics with milk." kristin and i tried this at a chinese food place ("the snow lion")at the suggestion of a local restaurant owner who was patronizing the chinese place (always a good sign!). It was scary to try something we had never heard of, but it was delicious -we later bought some at the store and learned that it is basically just malt. Good stuff!
9) Amazingly, tuktuks, bicycles, motorcycles, walkers, buses, and cars can coexist in a harmonious yet chaotic state on the paved roads in India. I am absolutely baffled as to why we didn't see a single accident, but if course i'm very relieved as well!
10) Cows are hilarious. Cows in the middle of a crowded road are hilarious and annoying. It is a criminal offence to hurt a cow in india so they are basically allowed to roam everywhere, making walking through town a bit of the challenge if one wishes to keep excrement off of one's shoes.
11) What we were assured would be a 12 hour bus ride from Delhi to DHaramsala ended up takiing over 17 hours, but the workshop participants were very good at going with the flow for the most part. There's a general sense in places like India, i think, that plans/dates/times are always flexible...i foudn this in Belize as well. It can be irritating but also very liberating/.
12) On the road to Dharamsala i saw some of the most...visible poverty i have seen. It's hard to describe the effect it had on me other than that it was guilt-producing (not only in the moment, but later on when i realized how easily i looked away, as if i was watching it on TV and not out my very window).
13) It's hard to tell whether people trying to sell you jewelry/scarves/etc are lying or not. I am way too trusting, hehe. They all keep saying that they are offering the lowest deal and it will barely cover their production cost, but if you walk away they seem to give it to you at that price, so it's hard to know for sure what's right!
15) Jet lag bites, but it's aaaaalll worth it! I can't write any more now or else i'll fall asleep...i'm looking forward to trying to apply a more peaceful adn less anxious attitude to my whole life, especially about work. I realized through this trip that things won't go as planned, and that as long as you are adaptable that is ok. More to come, along with pics... | posted by Cheryl, 10/23/2006 01:24:00 PM
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