"At Least They Knew Their Role"

So much happens in a single week here that it is almost dizzying. Classes have officially started now and I am pretty excited to move into a new phase of life here beyond orientation. I am enjoying learning Marathi far more than I would have guessed, judging from my previous experiences of loathing Spanish class in high school and avoiding dealing with my language requirement for university until I return from India (oops). Marathi is a gorgeous language that has roots in Sanskrit, the oldest language on earth. It makes so much sense compared to English, and part of me wishes the world would adapt to this instead of that. But alas. Besides Marathi I am taking Environmental Studies, which is a class of three people, including the professor. Today we went on a field trip to the Old City of Pune to see how rapid development has affected traditional livelihoods in India, looking at a centuries-old pottery village called Shanivad Wada for an example.

A plan for a metro is underway and within about a year’s time the consortium of villages will be destroyed to make room for it. Ten thousand people will have to be relocated, and it is definite that the government will not compensate them as much as is needed. It was a seemingly picturesque village to stroll through; all the doors were open, with little kids running freely in and out of them, women painting beautiful pottery on rickety front porches, and dogs, cats, and goats roaming wherever they please.

After leaving the village, our professor, Arudhati, told us of how she had grown up in a vadya, or a joint-family home, in Pune. Vadyas are mansion-size homes that house entire extended families in them – as many as one hundred people could be living in a single house. She reminisced about the days of living such a simple life with so many people that she loved around her at all times. Arudhati told us that development has completely eliminated this style of living in India and that she is heart-broken about it. Day by day, as we saw in the Shanivad Wada, the last of these kinds of close-knit communities were being done away with.

The only other classmate in the class and I exchanged somewhat confused looks. Yes, this is true from an environmental perspective, but that is only one of the many important perspectives to look through when assessing development.

We piped up and inquired about the status of women in the days of Arudhati’s childhood compared to today. She answered with something shocking: “at least they knew their role then. No one has any idea of their role or place in society today. That is why there are so many problems. When I was a girl, everyone knew exactly what was expected of them, and they had the older generation to look to for guidance.”

She had a point, kind of, I think. But I can’t say that I agree. On the rickshaw ride home, we had a long discussion about development and what it means in such a rapidly urbanizing and modernizing nation as India.

So that’s Environmental Studies. A battle at times with the annoyingly idealistic visions many people have in the field of ES, but also a passion of mine that I can’t seem to shake.

Then there is Contemporary India, where we discuss modern-day India – its politics, traditions, and all other sorts of matters. Today I brought in an article about the meat ban currently overtaking Maharashtra (the state Pune and Mumbai are in), which is causing problems for Muslims who are supposed to sacrifice an animal in the last week of September for Eid, an Islamic holiday. So it’s a pretty open-ended class that simply allows us to learn about current affairs involving India.

Then there’s my Independent Study. Oh man. It’s an ordeal for sure, but not much has happened yet since we are waiting for our consent forms and IRB proposals to be OK’d by the ACM staff in Chicago. After that, we can begin conducting our interviews and being on our way. (For more info, see previous blog post :))