Delhi
I've been in India for a week, staying in New Delhi, and I have an exciting week of 'Human Kindness Experiment' encounters and thoughts to share. I understand that my enthusiasm for this project probably surpasses your enthusiasm for reading about it, so I will try to avoid the Solo Traveller's Wagging Tongue Syndrome. I'll give excerpts, followed with more elaborate stories for anyone interested.
Excerpts
A. The Beginning: Staying in the touristy part of New Delhi, I quickly was reminded of how necessary it is to judge people's intentions. There are some people willing to do anything to rip you off, and because of them everyone has to be guarded with their connections. However, most people here are incredibly friendly - willing and curious.
B. Eye Contact: In India, eye contact and subtle body language are very important to everyday communication. I had to practice avoiding eye contact with the touts - one glance and they would follow me down the street, offering goods or services like alcohol, drugs, and even prostitutes. But simply meeting gazes with someone else for a second was enough to make us both smile, with a sort of 'In this crazy world, we might as well humor ourselves' feeling.
C. Creativity: For the people I spoke with, or ran into enough times to become acquainted, my creativity was challenged as I thought of fun ways to interact personally. Friday was Diwali, the biggest holiday for Hindus; I went out and bought firecrackers (Rs. 90 = $2.00) for the guys at my hotel who had to work instead of be with their families. While the rest of the country exploded like a warzone, we had our own "light and sound show". The grumpy man on the train yesterday turned out to be a retired mechanical engineer that worked outside of Boston "on the circle road, 128" during the '60s. He reminisced about India before Independence (his father was in the army, and after the British split India into India and Pakistan, he fought his old colleagues), and the Ford he bought for $2000 in 1960. I learned all about Indian politics and history from someone who was there. A lot of the Indian papers were interpreting the Bush reelection as a "mandate", so I couldn't help but offer my thoughts to several people. I learned a lot about what Europeans and Indians (Muslims and Hindus) think about America's international behavior. I even wrote a letter to the editors of the Indian papers, but no one published it.
D. Money: I didn't want to rush into giving lots of money to people in Delhi, given my short stay and the nature of the tourist areas. So I searched out organizations that were doing good work, and made a few donations. See below for more details.
1. INTACH - Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage; Rs. 1500 ($34), to sponsor prizes for an essay contest for children on the topic "Peace is Our Heritage"
2. Kalakar Trust - Rs. 1000 ($23), to musicians in Delhi's slums, half earmarked for instruments or costumes, half earmarked for health care counselling
3. Shishu Ashram - Rs. 300 ($7), to a school for blind, handicapped, or poor teenagers
E. Next Step: Now I'm in Pune, where I will stay for at least a few weeks. I'll try and make the website more elegant, and add pictures (I keep forgetting my camera).
a smoggy picture of Diwali celebrations
a design made of dried flowers and powder
Elaborations
A. The Beginning: I think there's a sort of line of decency between two people (or even between me and the dog I tried to befriend). In order for me to offer my time and energy to someone, I need to be able to trust that they won't cross the line and take advantage of my willingness (or give me rabies). If we both do that, and operate within our comfort zones, then we can be genuinely kind and get something positive out of it. I'm realizing that these connections are as much limited by my own faults - insecurities, prejudices, or lack of willingness, patience, or energy - as anything else. I do believe that we need to better ourselves in order to better the world.
B. Eye Contact: The act of walking down the street, trying to offer gentle willingness and kind understanding to every person, animal, or pile of shit I encounter, is to me a very profound state of being. Every act can be done in a kind and present way, in a neutral and distracted way, or in a hostile and selfish way.
C. Creativity: Most of my HKE time will probably be spent in this sort of bridge-the-gap creative interaction, and it's going to be fun. I'm starting to think, "What can I do or say or ask that will bring this person out of their shell and allow us to share something personal?" I just took a 30-hour train ride from Delhi to Pune; in the beginning our compartment was 12 strangers (in 8 seats), and in the end we were maybe 9 friends and 3 strangers. In a park I met Sanjay, who offered to draw my picture for Rs. 50. I asked him to draw the landscape, but he never got very far because after he sat down we started talking. It turns out he had a philosophy PhD from Nepal but was living as a self-imposed political exile, drawing to survive when he could be a professor. He never finished the drawing, but I gave him Rs. 50 anyway in support of all his ideals he explained to me. He insisted on giving me another drawing he had completed, to make a fair exchange.
from the train to Pune
the excited software engineers on the train, and the retired GE worker Rachi (called "Rocky" in the US)
D. Money: I think that giving to local organizations, after scoping them out personally, is an effective way of giving larger donations. It is not as direct or personal, but it will allow me to help a wider range of people. And it's still possible to personalize the donation.
1. INTACH: INTACH is involved broadly in preserving and developing India's heritage. I searched out the department working on Heritage Clubs in schools - teaching teachers how to adjust their curricula and sending out a newsletter to 12,000 students. The newsletter uses art - drawing, poetry, calligraphy, writing, etc. - to encourage students to become interested in their cultural heritage. The last newsletter had solicited quotes about peace, inspired by the M.K. Gandhi quote: "If we are to reach real peace in this world, we should begin with children." Bhanu Mittal, a 7th grader, responded: "Anything war can do, peace can do better." The nice people at INTACH suggested we use the money as prizes for their next essay contest. I sat there and helped them brainstorm their next project: a teenage motorcycle tour of national heritage sites. They gave me a collection of postcards with childrens' painted depictions of Indian landmarks.
2. Kalakar Trust: I had to walk down endless narrow alleys of randomly numbered houses, and ask each passerby for directions, in order to find this small office focusing on the artist colonies in Delhi's slums. They've funded educational performances on TB and AIDS, organized out-of-state performances, built a theater, given loans to women, and given advice on family planning and health. When I found the office, it was full of old childrens' sweaters they were mending for the winter. They were astonished to see me walk in, and delighted for the donation. I asked that half of it go to musician's instruments (if I'd had time, I wanted to meet up with a drummer and go with him to buy a drum), and half go towards health care counselling. They gave me their annual report and a lifetime membership.
the one-room office of the Kalakar Trust in Delhi, where they're mending winter clothes for poor children
3. Shishu Ashram: Marvan Singh walked up to me in a park and pinned a red ribbon on my shirt. Normally this would've made me unconditionally suspicious, but he showed me his bonafide, stamped and notorized certificate of authenticity, proving he was genuinely collecting money for this ashram. After learning about its work - providing the one-on-one teaching attention that blind and handicapped children need but India's public schools can't provide, and after answering his questions about schools in America, I gave a donation.
If you have any questions or comments on how and what I'm doing, please let me know. I'm learning new things every day. And I haven't yet figured out the best way to relay how much of what kind of information back to the potential cyber-audience.
Excerpts
A. The Beginning: Staying in the touristy part of New Delhi, I quickly was reminded of how necessary it is to judge people's intentions. There are some people willing to do anything to rip you off, and because of them everyone has to be guarded with their connections. However, most people here are incredibly friendly - willing and curious.
B. Eye Contact: In India, eye contact and subtle body language are very important to everyday communication. I had to practice avoiding eye contact with the touts - one glance and they would follow me down the street, offering goods or services like alcohol, drugs, and even prostitutes. But simply meeting gazes with someone else for a second was enough to make us both smile, with a sort of 'In this crazy world, we might as well humor ourselves' feeling.
C. Creativity: For the people I spoke with, or ran into enough times to become acquainted, my creativity was challenged as I thought of fun ways to interact personally. Friday was Diwali, the biggest holiday for Hindus; I went out and bought firecrackers (Rs. 90 = $2.00) for the guys at my hotel who had to work instead of be with their families. While the rest of the country exploded like a warzone, we had our own "light and sound show". The grumpy man on the train yesterday turned out to be a retired mechanical engineer that worked outside of Boston "on the circle road, 128" during the '60s. He reminisced about India before Independence (his father was in the army, and after the British split India into India and Pakistan, he fought his old colleagues), and the Ford he bought for $2000 in 1960. I learned all about Indian politics and history from someone who was there. A lot of the Indian papers were interpreting the Bush reelection as a "mandate", so I couldn't help but offer my thoughts to several people. I learned a lot about what Europeans and Indians (Muslims and Hindus) think about America's international behavior. I even wrote a letter to the editors of the Indian papers, but no one published it.
D. Money: I didn't want to rush into giving lots of money to people in Delhi, given my short stay and the nature of the tourist areas. So I searched out organizations that were doing good work, and made a few donations. See below for more details.
1. INTACH - Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage; Rs. 1500 ($34), to sponsor prizes for an essay contest for children on the topic "Peace is Our Heritage"
2. Kalakar Trust - Rs. 1000 ($23), to musicians in Delhi's slums, half earmarked for instruments or costumes, half earmarked for health care counselling
3. Shishu Ashram - Rs. 300 ($7), to a school for blind, handicapped, or poor teenagers
E. Next Step: Now I'm in Pune, where I will stay for at least a few weeks. I'll try and make the website more elegant, and add pictures (I keep forgetting my camera).
a smoggy picture of Diwali celebrations
a design made of dried flowers and powder
Elaborations
A. The Beginning: I think there's a sort of line of decency between two people (or even between me and the dog I tried to befriend). In order for me to offer my time and energy to someone, I need to be able to trust that they won't cross the line and take advantage of my willingness (or give me rabies). If we both do that, and operate within our comfort zones, then we can be genuinely kind and get something positive out of it. I'm realizing that these connections are as much limited by my own faults - insecurities, prejudices, or lack of willingness, patience, or energy - as anything else. I do believe that we need to better ourselves in order to better the world.
B. Eye Contact: The act of walking down the street, trying to offer gentle willingness and kind understanding to every person, animal, or pile of shit I encounter, is to me a very profound state of being. Every act can be done in a kind and present way, in a neutral and distracted way, or in a hostile and selfish way.
C. Creativity: Most of my HKE time will probably be spent in this sort of bridge-the-gap creative interaction, and it's going to be fun. I'm starting to think, "What can I do or say or ask that will bring this person out of their shell and allow us to share something personal?" I just took a 30-hour train ride from Delhi to Pune; in the beginning our compartment was 12 strangers (in 8 seats), and in the end we were maybe 9 friends and 3 strangers. In a park I met Sanjay, who offered to draw my picture for Rs. 50. I asked him to draw the landscape, but he never got very far because after he sat down we started talking. It turns out he had a philosophy PhD from Nepal but was living as a self-imposed political exile, drawing to survive when he could be a professor. He never finished the drawing, but I gave him Rs. 50 anyway in support of all his ideals he explained to me. He insisted on giving me another drawing he had completed, to make a fair exchange.
from the train to Pune
the excited software engineers on the train, and the retired GE worker Rachi (called "Rocky" in the US)
D. Money: I think that giving to local organizations, after scoping them out personally, is an effective way of giving larger donations. It is not as direct or personal, but it will allow me to help a wider range of people. And it's still possible to personalize the donation.
1. INTACH: INTACH is involved broadly in preserving and developing India's heritage. I searched out the department working on Heritage Clubs in schools - teaching teachers how to adjust their curricula and sending out a newsletter to 12,000 students. The newsletter uses art - drawing, poetry, calligraphy, writing, etc. - to encourage students to become interested in their cultural heritage. The last newsletter had solicited quotes about peace, inspired by the M.K. Gandhi quote: "If we are to reach real peace in this world, we should begin with children." Bhanu Mittal, a 7th grader, responded: "Anything war can do, peace can do better." The nice people at INTACH suggested we use the money as prizes for their next essay contest. I sat there and helped them brainstorm their next project: a teenage motorcycle tour of national heritage sites. They gave me a collection of postcards with childrens' painted depictions of Indian landmarks.
2. Kalakar Trust: I had to walk down endless narrow alleys of randomly numbered houses, and ask each passerby for directions, in order to find this small office focusing on the artist colonies in Delhi's slums. They've funded educational performances on TB and AIDS, organized out-of-state performances, built a theater, given loans to women, and given advice on family planning and health. When I found the office, it was full of old childrens' sweaters they were mending for the winter. They were astonished to see me walk in, and delighted for the donation. I asked that half of it go to musician's instruments (if I'd had time, I wanted to meet up with a drummer and go with him to buy a drum), and half go towards health care counselling. They gave me their annual report and a lifetime membership.
the one-room office of the Kalakar Trust in Delhi, where they're mending winter clothes for poor children
3. Shishu Ashram: Marvan Singh walked up to me in a park and pinned a red ribbon on my shirt. Normally this would've made me unconditionally suspicious, but he showed me his bonafide, stamped and notorized certificate of authenticity, proving he was genuinely collecting money for this ashram. After learning about its work - providing the one-on-one teaching attention that blind and handicapped children need but India's public schools can't provide, and after answering his questions about schools in America, I gave a donation.
If you have any questions or comments on how and what I'm doing, please let me know. I'm learning new things every day. And I haven't yet figured out the best way to relay how much of what kind of information back to the potential cyber-audience.
posted by Luke Wolcott at 4:41 AM
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