Posts Tagged “india”
Ross • 8th May 2009 • Learning, Living • alcohol, dalits, drinking, food, india, poverty, soup
The Economist‘s persistent marketing of their lifestyle magazine, Intelligent Life, may be working on me. Occasionally, they send free copies to Economist subscribers. The Spring 2009 issue is excellent, as is the magazine’s website. Favourite bits so far:
- Veggie recipes for meaties - I like the look of the bread soup.
- The return of the ‘power breakfast’, with a good breakfast restaurant recommendation for Chicago.
- A photo essay about India’s bonded labourer Dalits, which was very moving, but which I can’t find online. I may post more on Dalits. Their suffering seems so utterly incomprehensible and shameful.
- This piece on drinking alcohol comes pretty close to my position and experience.
Counterbalanced against this, there were some poor articles too. The ‘cover story’ – on the (over)use of the word ‘iconic’ was utterly mundane.
Ross • 8th May 2009 • Learning • caste, dalit, india, mumbai, poverty
I first read about the plight of India’s Dalits (‘untouchables’) in an Intelligent Life photo essay. If, like me, you think racism makes no sense at all, then the persecution of Dalits – who are physically and genetically indistinguishable from the higher castes – is even more absurd. Social and economic exclusion leads Dalits to take filthy, menial jobs: in rubbish collection, sewerage collection, dealing with carcasses and leather tanning. These dirty jobs lead to more prejudice. In Mumbai, Dalits go to ‘study street’ after a hard day’s work. The streetlight there allows them the illumination they need to do the reading to get the qualifications – essential to overcome the self-perpetuating prejudice associated with their caste. I feel sad about their mistreatment but glad of their tenacity. But it does make me think: if a streetlight can achieve so much, what could be achieved with a library?
