Beyond learning about schools and sharing ideas I have also learned a lot about the people and culture of India. I feel like I have a greater understanding of them as a people which will hopefully help with my understanding of Indian students back home.
The majority of Indians, at least 80%, have an arranged marriage. It is so hard to grasp my head around this idea as it is so fundamentally foreign for the majority of Americans. While arranged marriages are common, in the last 20 years or so they have changed in that the bride and groom meet each other in advance and can chose to not continue or marry if they wish, this was not the case in the 80's and 90's. A teacher at the school told me yesterday that you have to match your culture, your religion, your money, your parents and then love/compatibility while we those with love marriages (as they are called) are focusing only on love and the other areas are not as important.
Poverty is all around you here. I think in the US it is hidden in that you had distinct areas of towns etc... where people may live but many Americans do not want to know it exists. Here I have noticed such glaring poverty and it seems as if people of all levels of wealth live around each other. The degree of poverty is extreme too. While I know there are many people struggling within the Lehigh Valley none living like the people living in the slums on the sides of the road (not to say there plight isn't as dire) but it is so hard to imagine how to combat this. On the other hand you have also very wealthy people, many of the students at the school come from very privileged backgrounds.
The drinking water is of such poor quality that the average Indian does not drink or use the water out of the tap. Typically people have a purification system within their house to make the water drinkable. Although the government does treat the water it is not "enough" to make it usable.
The majority of people on the advertisements on TV are very light skinned. I even saw commercials for skin lightening creams that claimed to make you "fairer". These are made by companies were are familiar with such as Ponds and Garnier. I am not too sure what to make of this.....I spoke to our host Mala and she said Indians tend to prefer lighter skinned people. The original settlers in India, the Arayans came from Central Asia and were lighter skinned, they pushed the others down to the south.
Cows are truly all around. There are even more in Rajkot than Bangalore. They sit in the road and people just go around them. Today they were even hiding under the store front/awnings to get out of the rain!!!
This elephant was on the road when we were on our way to school today
Scenes from Old Rajkot; our host Mala took us shopping there. The streets are very narrow and winding. Certain areas have shops dedicated to one item; such as bangles, kitchen utensils, silver etc...
Making tea in the road
The majority of Indians, at least 80%, have an arranged marriage. It is so hard to grasp my head around this idea as it is so fundamentally foreign for the majority of Americans. While arranged marriages are common, in the last 20 years or so they have changed in that the bride and groom meet each other in advance and can chose to not continue or marry if they wish, this was not the case in the 80's and 90's. A teacher at the school told me yesterday that you have to match your culture, your religion, your money, your parents and then love/compatibility while we those with love marriages (as they are called) are focusing only on love and the other areas are not as important.
Poverty is all around you here. I think in the US it is hidden in that you had distinct areas of towns etc... where people may live but many Americans do not want to know it exists. Here I have noticed such glaring poverty and it seems as if people of all levels of wealth live around each other. The degree of poverty is extreme too. While I know there are many people struggling within the Lehigh Valley none living like the people living in the slums on the sides of the road (not to say there plight isn't as dire) but it is so hard to imagine how to combat this. On the other hand you have also very wealthy people, many of the students at the school come from very privileged backgrounds.
The drinking water is of such poor quality that the average Indian does not drink or use the water out of the tap. Typically people have a purification system within their house to make the water drinkable. Although the government does treat the water it is not "enough" to make it usable.
The majority of people on the advertisements on TV are very light skinned. I even saw commercials for skin lightening creams that claimed to make you "fairer". These are made by companies were are familiar with such as Ponds and Garnier. I am not too sure what to make of this.....I spoke to our host Mala and she said Indians tend to prefer lighter skinned people. The original settlers in India, the Arayans came from Central Asia and were lighter skinned, they pushed the others down to the south.
Cows are truly all around. There are even more in Rajkot than Bangalore. They sit in the road and people just go around them. Today they were even hiding under the store front/awnings to get out of the rain!!!
This elephant was on the road when we were on our way to school today
Driving in Rajkot
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| This is the key holder/light switch at the hotel. All hotels have them. You must keep your key here or the lights won't work |
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