Kyle the Keralite

2007-04-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

March Missionary Report

Souls saved in the month of March: 1
Katie tells me that Steve's recent baptism (son of Jakko and Ann) qualifies as a soul saved. I tend to agree.

2007-02-26T02:16:00.000-08:00

Guest Blogger Series Part II: Women in India

After 6 months of careful observation, this is how I would describe gender roles amongst young people in India: Men are loud and obnoxious, women are shy, polite, and mostly voiceless. In adulthood things don’t change all that much. Men make the decisions, and women quietly and submissively cook, clean, and raise the children. I realize this is a generalization, with all its inherent shortcomings, but it is often the frightening truth.

Below is a list of observations and experiences I have had that I think are emblematic of the experience of women as I see it in India:

1. English Class - As an English teacher, when I actually have classes, I try to engage the students in discussions about relevant social issues such as gender equality, but few female students are willing to voice their opinions on any issue while male students are present. So I was surprised and delighted when one particular student was quick to criticize the treatment of women in Kerala. Outside of class I complimented her on her assertiveness and inquired as to her future goals. She admitted to me, “I talk a lot about women’s issues, but all I really want is to be a good Keralite wife.”

2. CMS Cafeteria – Men and women are segregated here at just about every possible opportunity from the bus, to the classroom, and even in Church. The segregation is sometimes well-intentioned, even if paternalistic and implying inferiority, as in separate rail cars and ticket lines for woman, but all too often it is downright unequal. So I wasn’t surprised when I saw the sign for the boys’ dining hall on my first day at CMS, but I was more than a little annoyed to find that the female students dining hall was in a building completely detached from the cafeteria. To add insult to…well insult, the ladies have to order and receive their food via the side door of the kitchen.

3. Women’s Studies Centre – I must admit that CMS College houses a “Women’s Studies Centre.” It is symbolic of the look-good-on-paper culture of CMS in that the office for the Centre is next to my room and, like the “Tropical Office for Ecological Studies,” has been locked and unused the entire year.

4. Curfew: The female volunteers have experienced firsthand the difficulties and restrictions of being a woman in Kerala. For all my complaints about my term of "service" thus far, at least I have the freedom to come and go as I please whereas the female volunteers are required to be “safely” indoors by dark (a social norm and an expectation for all women in Kerala) unless escorted by a man such as their husband or father (but under no circumstances by a male friend). It amazes me that half of the population of Kerala doesn’t know what their town looks like after dark. I could not endure such struggles for 6 days let alone 6 months.

5. Annual CMS College Sports Day – an event in which students participated in a whole host of athletic events. Below is a list of events:
Men
1. 100 m race
2. 400 m race
3. 1500 m race
4. long jump
5. discus
6. javelin
7. shot put
8. slow motorcycle race
9. rope climbing
10. tug of war
Women
1. 50 m race
2. 100m walking race
3. Water Bottle Filling
4. Sack Race
5. Standing Broad Jump
6. lemon spoon race
7. Ballon Breaking
8. Towel Race
9. Ball Throw

And they had to do all of it in a churidar.

Of course, I am not a woman. I might be able to learn a little bit about what it means to be a woman in India by the conversations I have had, and even the books I have read, but that it is not authentic experience. In order to give you a better idea about what it means to be a woman in Kerala, Part II of the Guest Blogger Series features Cammy Crane (aka: Cammy 1).

http://cammy1.blogspot.com/2007/01/lights-camera-action.html

2007-02-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

You can call me a lot of things, but prolific isn't one of them. I know it must be frustrating for the faithful readers of my blog (at this point, nobody) to visit my site hourly or bimonthly only to find that nothing has changed. Out of my concern for your best interest I have decided to introduce the Guest Blogger Series. Every week "or so," I will put up a link on my site to a blog written by a fellow India volunteer (without their permission) and carefully chosen at random by me.

You see, the other volunteers are far superior writers, and they actually give people a taste of some of the things they we are doing here. Since I have done a piss poor job of keeping friends and family up to date, what could be more American (and indirectly more Indian) than outsourcing that task to others? And here is the genius of it all. I don't have to write a single word.

Now for the first installment of the Guest Blogger Series.

Two weeks ago, all of the volunteers travelled to Andhra Pradesh (a state in Southern India) where we met a group from Sacramento representing the Joining Hands Against Hunger Program of the Presbyterian Church. We visited a number of groups working with NGO's and "People's Movements" in southern India. Below are links to other volunteers' blogs about the trip.

http://cammy1.blogspot.com/2007/02/ap.html

http://crabens.blogspot.com/2007/02/hotel-bliss.html

http://andygoestoindia.blogspot.com/2007/02/january-retreat-andhra-pradesh-well-im.html
http://andygoestoindia.blogspot.com/2007/02/dispassionate-analysis-ok-ive-vented.html

2007-02-05T00:18:00.000-08:00

Missionary Report

Number of souls saved to date: 0

2007-01-16T02:20:00.000-08:00

US Presidential Cabinet Leaders of the Congress Party in India

No, this isn't some political statement. Sure, it is absurd that out of nine Supreme Court Justices there is one woman and one person of color, and that even though there is often a show of diversity in the Presidential Cabinet, 95 times out of 100 the person running the show is a white man, but this blog isn't about that. This is about India. Academically, I knew that India was diverse, but the extent of that never quite hit me until I saw this picture. India has three distinct races (Dravidians, Aryans, Mongoloids); 17 recognized languages and hundreds more unrecognized; and dozens of religions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, etc.).

Sure America is diverse. As can be seen in the picture, Americans have ethnic roots in all parts of the world, but in America most people are white. Most people speak English as their first language. Most men wear suits for formal occasions. In India somebody from the state of Mizoram looks, speaks, and dresses entirely different from a person in the state of Gujarat, who is equally different from a person in Kerala. The implications of this diversity are far reaching. Virtually every state has its own film industry.

So what is the point of this blog?

I am constantly asked about life in India. "What kind of food is eaten in India?" "What is religion like in India?" "What is the poverty like in India?" Yes, I have lived here for 5 months, but India is comprised of 28 dramatically different states and I live in Kerala - one of the smallest. I think it is safe to say that I have learned something about Kerala, but beyond that, I am basically useless.

The point is that I don't know shit about "India."

2006-12-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

I could eat 750 idlis and 5 buckets of payasam, but 5kg of bananas...that's just obscene.

2006-12-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

How could I almost forget this one?
7. Epilepsy - from the strobe-like flashing that occurs whenever I turn on a flourescent light.

2006-12-03T21:55:00.000-08:00

Dieseases I Will Likely Contract in India

1. Diabetes - From eating all that ladoo (what I have termed "the 'betes bomb")

2. Conjunctivitis - But I am assured that I will be safe as long as I rinse my eyes with my own urine (Thanks for the advice Cat).

3. Classmates Disease - also known as "ende kalbelayitis" and characterized by a spontaneous rupture of the ear drum.

4. Any number of diseases of the bowels

5. Rabies - Just because that is the one shot I didn't get before I came here.

6. Hot Dog Fingers - That's an inside joke that nobody will get but me...I'm such a loner.

***Special Note - Mom, this is just a joke. I am completely healthy and in no danger. No need for concern.

2006-09-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

Things You Should Know About India
1. Curry for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
South Indian food is amazing, but variety is not its strong point. Breakfast is dosha or apomb (styles of rice flour pancakes) with curry or spicy coconut chutney. Lunch is always rice with a curry and various vegetable side dishes. Dinner is chapathee or parota (flat bread) with a curry. Everything is spicy.
2. Men hold hands and wear a skirt.
Men and women are expected to remain segregated. They sit on opposite sides of the room at church and in class. Male relationships, however, are treated very differently. Unlike in America, it is very common for men to hold hands, embrace each other, and engage in other kinds of friendly touch.
The traditional dress for men is a mundu, a skirt-like sarong, but most men have adopted a western clothing style. They wear slacks and a collared shirt as formal and casual wear.
3. Few traffic rules, no seat belts, and no road rage.
My first time on an Indian roadway was frightening. In India, cars drive on the left side of the road, but that is only a technicality. “Dangerous” passing is commonplace and horn honking is used as a form of communication. There is, however, order to the chaos, and I have yet to see anybody become upset while driving.
4. Coconut trees everywhere.
The coconut is central to the life of the people here. All parts of it are used from the flesh and the water to the husks (for ropes and mattresses among other things).
5. Farm animals are everywhere.
I mean everywhere. Kerala is largely agrarian but also has a high population density. As a result goats and cows are seen in the middle of the city.
6. Fluorescent lights are everywhere.
From classrooms to homes, fluorescent is the preferred lighting source. I believe it is because fluorescent light is much cheaper than traditional bulbs.
7. No toilet paper.
Enough said.
8. Indians drink hot water, and bathe in cold water.
Water heaters are expensive and the climate is warm year round so there is little need. The water here isn’t the purest, so the locals boil their water with medicinal herbs and serve it hot.
9. Arsenic is medicine.
The quality of Indian health care is on par with its western counterparts and much less expensive. Still, homeopathy is quite popular here. I was a little frightened of taking arsenic for food poisoning, but I must admit that it worked.
10. I live in a communist state.
India is the biggest democracy in the world and it functions quite well. In Kerala, the state in which I live, there are two communist parties and they both operate within the political system. The Communist Party of India (CPI) is currently the majority party in the state representative.
11. Light switches: up is off, down is on.
12. The word for “light switch” in Malayalam: vidyuthi aagamana ningmana niyanthrani
To be fair, everybody here just uses the word switch.
13. A family of four can fit on a motorcycle.
Most families cannot afford a larger vehicle so they make due.
14. No road signs. (Men always ask for directions)
At first I found this cumbersome, but there is something beautiful about it. Without road signs, motorists are forced to ask directions constantly. This is a telling sociological indicator of the importance of community in Indian culture. People here rely on each other and feel empowered by their interdependence.