One of the very noticeable social changes is the general optimism everyone here seems to feel about India. Even people we meet on the street seem to be very optimistic about this country’s prospects. The media seems to keep reinforcing the message that India is a major player on the world market. I have a feeling that many of us find it difficult to understand this given the poverty, filth, and infrastructure problems that are so apparent to us Americans. My theory is that things have changed so dramatically in the last ten years or so that their standard of comparison is quite different from ours. However, there is one more change that seems to jump out at me that may not be obvious to those who haven’t lived here before. I see a much stronger sense of social consciousness that I ever saw when I lived here. It’s not just the speakers who integrate examples of social cause efforts into their business presentations. Even in the commercials – so many ads seem to infuse a social cause message into their communications. There’s a cell phone ad that shows two kids staring warily across a barbed wire border and then playing soccer together (VO: There is no barrier we cannot break down if we just communicate with each other). There are ads promoting welfare of the poor, ads focusing on inter-religious brotherhood, ads showing the positive effects of good Samaritans, and much more. And the companies using these ads include business-to-business firms, service firms, and even FMCG firms. Even the mass media seems to be focused on social outrages, with news stories on child trafficking, female molestation, unfair treatment of laborers, and more. It seems like there is a clear recognition facing people here that one of the biggest problems that need to be tackled here is of poverty and disparity of wealth distribution. And if that isn’t a cause for optimism in a country like this, I don’t know what is!
In the morning we headed to a sandalwood factory and a Mysore silk factory. Both of these are government-owned enterprises and again we were confronted with the vast "contrasts" that Pavan Varma keeps talking about in the book Being Indian. We have visited spotlessly clean world-class manufacturing facilities and then there were these. The buildings were crumbling the machinery were almost a century old and the entire place was covered with dirt, dust, and cobwebs. They were proud of the fact that the boiler was imported from Lancashire, England many decades ago. Luckily the plant was not operating because they had run out of raw material (sandalwood), otherwise I'm not sure I would have been comfortable in the boiler room. The Karnataka Silk Factory was more interesting and in full operation, but they're not going to win any manufacturing process awards. Still it was fascinating to see the slender threads of silk being woven into cloth. It was also good to pick up a couple of the local specialties as gifts – sandalwood soap and silk scarves.
On a personal note, I'll admit that last night was one of the more miserable nights I have spent here. My head feels like it has expanded to three times its size and has become filled with a thick, viscous fluid. My upper chest feels the same and even breathing is not that easy. I kept waking up with uncontrollable chills. And (those of you who cannot handle gory details, look away now) every time I woke up, I found the side of my face was sorta stuck to the pillow - I assume from various secretions from my eyes and nose. When I woke up this morning, I looked forward to a HOT shower, but discovered that the water ranges from slightly luke warm to warm with no really bursts of HOT water. Same problem as last night. By the time we were done with the silk factory, I could barely stand. I had run through six handkerchiefs that were now all soaking wet and my headache was intolerable. While the rest of the group headed to SDM-IMD and lunch, about seven of us headed back to the hotel. I decided to skip lunch and crawl into bed. By this time I'm sure I had a raging fever because despite turning down the a/c, I was shivering uncontrollably in bed. I had an undershirt, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt on and I was still cold. I drifted in and out of sleep for a couple of hours and then decided to wash my handkerchiefs in a Dettol (antiseptic) solution and hang them up to dry. I didn't think it would be right to send these hankies through the hotel laundry system. I also got a bowl from the hotel, filled it with boiling water and did about 10-15 minutes of inhalation. My head still feels like it is about to explode and the two Advil don't seem to have done much good. My dinner plan with Prof. Jagadeesh is obviously off and I hope tomorrow is a better day ...
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
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