Backpacking South India

Once I got to India, I made a plan to travel through Tamil Nadu and kerala. Travelling alone is always difficult but I am particularly proud about having been able to make it through India because I didn't speak any of the languages and bargaining became my sixth sense. Things to see in India are endless. I just had to pick a region and decide where I wanted to go. I must confess that I got tired of temple seeing and was disappointed that I didn't get to see the bridge that used to connect India to Sri Lanka in Rameswaram. I also lost my cell phone early on and got sick of taking busses by the time I got back to Mumbai. Anyway, I'm leaving you some photos of the trip through South India.

I landed in Chennai (Madras) from Mumbai and when I saw what a horrific city it was, I decided I needed to get out FAST! Apparently I hopped into a 'three wheeler'/auto/rickshaw a little too quickly and lost my cell phone. That was the scary part because I couldn't contact Mumbai immediately if anything happened. Anyway, I took two long bus rides to get to the Main Bus station and was on the next bus to Mahabalipuram. I saw the five rathas and the Shore temple while the guide explained that they are still rebuilding the town after the tsunami. Mahabalipuram is a fishing village with alot of scultures so its gorgeous to walk around and visit for just a day. But I wouldn't sleep there because the sleeping accomodations were very very sad..so I'm glad I left early. I was disappointed that I couldn't get to send an email to Mumbai when I got there because the internet was down in the entire village. But I just took a local bus and made my way to pondicherry.

Pondicherry is a relaxing place for a lot of people because they have a famous ashram where you can meditate and do yoga. Half of the town has a strong french influence so the architecture is very different from what I saw in other parts of South India. Apart from just spending the day resting and looking out at the beach, I didn't do much there which was nice because the crowded busses can take a lot out of a foreigner. I had to bargain HARD to get the autorickshaw driver to drop me to the bus station at 3am so I could leave for Trichy.

Trichy has sooo many temples and I felt like sites to see there were endless. On my way to Trichy, I became friends with a university student Abirami who became my guide in Trichy. She invited me to her house and arranged for me to visit all the temples. It was great to eat a home cooked meal and to make a friend. She really took care of me. I saw many temples and they explained the history of each one of them. I have a picture of my favourite temple.

I did a couple more temple stops and hopped on the next bus to Madurai. I stayed in a very nice hotel in Madurai which was a little more expensive but a lot more comfortable than the places I had crashed before. I decided to take a day trip to Rameswaram where a bridge was built by Rama connecting to Sri Lanka. Needless to say that I was disappointed when I got there because it was a 7 kilometer walk and I was definitely not up for it especially when I had no guide and needed to get back to my hotel in madurai which was four hours away. I spent the day in the fishing village looking at the beach and then heading back to my hotel in Madurai in the evening.

I decided to check out even more temples in Madurai which I actually found to be less impressive than the ones in Trichy. Madurai is a lot more touristy than Trichy because it is definitely a center for many tourists even though the tourist attraction there is far less impressive. When I entered the Temple in Madurai I was alarmed to find an elephant inside which was all part of the attraction and so I was sure to be a good tourist and to take my picture with the elephant. However, the elephant saliva or snot or whatever it was made it very difficult for me to smile.

After that I made my way to Kanyakumari. The ride to Kanyakumari was quite an eventful, bumpy bus ride that took place in the wee hours of the morning. Eventful because I was made to sit "shotgun" on a little ledge connected to the windscreen as the bus tossed and turned and almost toppled over at every corner since our driver was moving at the speed of lightening. Anyway, I made it and got to Kanyakumari at 4am and stayed at the dingiest place I had ever seen for 200 rupees. I avoided the cockroches in my room by sleeping with one eye open and hugging my backpack REAL tight. Anyway, I got on the first boat jetty and was excited at what I felt was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Kanyakumari is GORGEOUS! It is the southern most tip of India where the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Tibetian Ocean meet. Its wonderful and the colour of the water varies so the sea looks like a painting. I tried to watch the sunset but the monsoon season ensured that it was too cloudy... but I still thought that Sunset point was worth a visit.

I left Kanyakumari and entered Kerala. My first stop was Trivandrum and I found Kerala to be far more peaceful and no where near as hot as Tamil Nadu. Kerala just seemed less chaotic to me and so it was nice to be more relaxed. I spent a night of well-needed rest in Trivandrum before heading out to Fort Cochin to see the famous backwaters of Kerala. I liked it a lot but there was a Bengali family on the raft who insisted that the tour was way too boring and decided to cut the tour short and leave. I didn't mind because I was bored after the first hour but it was really quite a nice, peaceful ride. If you go to Kerala it is an absolute MUST-SEE! Its really peaceful. I also went to check out the Kathakhali dances, see some Chinese fishing and had an Ayurvedic massage which left my dreds incredibly oily. The oil from the massage was potent and when I entered my flight, the passenger beside me smiled and said: You just had an ayurvedic massage...and I nodded even though I was a bit embarrassed. Anyway, it was a nice ending to the trip and then I headed back to Mumbai. All in all, Southern India was a great trip.

another quote

"I'm so glad I'm not that smart..." --Heeya

A reflection on Dharavi

I did a tour of Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums, when I first got to Mumbai. I went with the expectation that it would be like Kibera (one of Africa's largest slum) which I visited when I was in Kenya three years ago but the two were less similar than I imagined they would be. Dharavi had a lot more small business enterprises than Kibera even though the general living conditions were about the same.
My guide was a male student, born and raised in Dharavi and explained that he was working as a tour guide to raise enough money to get his masters in commerce. Our tour consisted of visiting the small business enterprises that exist throughout the huge slum. It examined the local industry and livelihood of Dharavi in order to dispel the notion that its residents there are poor because they are 'lazy' or 'naturally prone to violence' and all the other stereotypes about poor people that we know exist everywhere. It also outlined the institutional problems with governmental involvement (or the lack thereof) in the slum.

Dharavi is made up of migrants from Gujurat, Tamil Nadu and different parts of Maharashtra so it was common to find people working with family members or people of the same ethnic group. The first small business enterprise I visited was the plastic recycling business. The residents of a part of Dharavi built a business where the womyn collect and clean the plastic, then the men work the machines to crush it, dry it and resell it to companies. The first obvious advantage of this business was the fact that it is so environmentally friendly and I was lucky enough to see all the machines and watch the whole process of recycling plastic. The second business enterprise that I saw, and for which Dharavi is known, is the leather industry. People were producing and using leather to make lap top bags, clothes, shoes and sold items to companies and store owners. The other two industries I looked at were the pottery and baking industries. The business were thriving to the extent that people actually had employment but the elite business class' exploitation of these businesses is common knowledge for the people of Dharavi. For example, the average person working in the leather industry would make only 18 rupees per bag while the buyers resell each bag for 118 rupees. The guide explained that there is little people can do about this because they are so desperate for any money they earn that they have little choice but to continue selling it to these buyers anyway.

The guide explained to me that some of the major challenges that Dharavi is facing apart from the exploitation of the buyers who benefit from the small business enterprises, have to do with the lack of investment on the government's part in developing the infrastructure of the slum. The government had pledged to build new buildings and homes for Dharavi residents but he explained that only the bottom floor of one or two of the new buildings were for slum dwellers and most buildings were put on the market for sale. He explained that the government's investment in the new buildings did not have Dharavi residents at heart and was really a way for the rich to make money. Also, when we went to his house, he told me that they were going to knock down his own home to build another building which he was sure would be too expensive for his family to rent anyway. He also explained that with the construction of the buildings came the destruction of a lot of the spaces for the small business enterprises to the detriment of people's livelihood and way of life.

He suggested that the government develop Dharavi by cleaning the sewage and re-organising their dumping systems. Also, while building homes for the residents is a basic necessity, any development of the infrastructure of Dharavi should compliment and sustain all local industry and business of the community.

Favourite Quotes

Me talking to Shraddha on my way from the airport to her house in Bombay: Shraddha, I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave. I'm going to miss you so much.
Shraddha: "dude, you just got here"

-So what does your mother do for a living?
My friend Heeya: "She's a feminist..."

Exporting South Asian Bargaining

So I always have a favourite quote and this one has definitely taken the cake:

I was in London Heathrow Airport with my friend Pragyan from Nepal and I was getting ready to board my plane to Mumbai when the attendant informed me that the new checked baggage allowance didn't allow me to carry one of my suitcases. I asked her how much they charged for excess baggage and the total amount was 150 pounds. I was dumbstruck and a little annoyed so Pragyan grabbed me aside and said (dead serious):

"Talk to her, see if we can work something out..."
...
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I looked at him in wonder. I know that bribing happens everywhere, especially in Third World countries like Nepal/India/Jamaica etc but dude, we're in London!

Can you imagine me pulling the British lady aside and whispering: "Psst, hey, how about if I offer you ten rupees to sneak the second suitcase on the plane..." I mean Can we PLEASE be serious?

I thought to myself, I know that every one of us continues to bring our own cultural norms as we travel to different countries but Pragyan was prepared to take this to a whole new level. I know it was 'well-intentioned' but can we please know when and where to utilise out precious bargaining skills. I mean its a airport in a first world country, not a Bazarre! We may just get arrested in London just for trying.

But thanks Pragyan, I'm definitely going to try that when I have a problem with airport security: "Hey, let's talk about this and see if we can work something out...nobody has to know about this man?"...

Poverty: your honeymoon dream

I was visiting some family friends in Italy and struck up a conversation with some newlyweds. I asked them where they went for their honeymoon and they told me that they went on a cruise through Spain, Greece and Morocco. When I asked the bride which country she liked the most she told me she liked Morocco and said: "the poverty just fascinated me..I loved it."

I was dumbstruck. I mean I didn't know that poverty was now being included in cruise packages. Wow! So I guess we can all start looking forward to 'camel rides' in the Arab world, 'exotic' jewelry and henna and last but certainly not least: poverty as part of our honeymoon experience. She was dead serious too when she said it. It was just like "Oh poverty, its great! I just love it!"

Her statement got me thinking some more about what poverty meant to her-a wealthy European white womyn living in the First World. For her, poverty was not only distant but part of constructing Morocco, an Arab country as the other. However it wasn't done in the typical racist way, instead, just like the other things consumed on a honeymoon trip, poverty becomes just another commodity, an exotic item to be looked at in wonder, to never be conceived as a reality.

But even more importantly, it continues to mask the systemic problem that traces Europe's historical exploitation and imperialism to the underdevelopment of many Third World nations. As long as poverty is constructed as exotic, then Morocco, like the rest of the Arab world can continued to be constructed as "different", "far away", and not Europe- read the 'norm' or 'standard' for development.

When she finished telling me about the rest of the honeymoon, I hadn't heard a word she had said because I was still thinking: "Oh the privilege of the rich first world, I tell you, it never ceases to amaze me."

Top Humourists of Latin America

So as you all know my research was about Political Humour and Social Transformation in Latin America and I spent my year meeting several artists, cartoonists and comedians. Here are a list of my favourite humourists whom I met and interviewed. I have included a lot of womyn because I am actually drawn to them but also because since there are so few female comedians, it is necessary to give them as much publicity as possible:

Nicaragua
Manuel Guillen
Guillen is a cartoonist who produces a very popular show entitled 'Los Hulosos.' His critique has shifted in recent years because he has become a born-again Christian but he is one of the most successful comedians/cartoonists in Central America.

Luis Enrique Calderon
He is Nicaragua's only stand-up comedian who imitates several politicians, news-broadcasters and presidents. His ability to sound exactly like politicians is what has made him so famous and loved by the Nicaraguan public.

Els Van Poppel
She is the director of a popular theatre group entitled MOVITEP_SF (Movimiento de Teatro Popular Sin Fronteras) and does a lot of street theatre that has to do with HIV/AIDS, womyn's rights and sexual exploitation of children.

Honduras
Bey Avendano and Miguel Angel Montoya are some of the most radical cartoonists in Honduras. They pride themselves in speaking for poor people and try to reach out to the most marginalised groups in Honduras. Miguel Angel Montoya also published under authoritarian regimes in Honduras and was recently honoured for his work and his courage to dare be a voice of dissent during Honduras most difficult periods.

Napoleon Ham
He is a cartoonist working towards producing new comedians and cartoonists. He has recently opened a cartoon school for children and supports development of all young artists-both male and female.

Argentina
Martin Rocco
A self-trained stand-up comedian, he was the first to bring stand-up comedy to Buenos Aires. He learnt the art of stand-up comedy by watching videos of comedians all over the world but particularly those in the United States. He started performing in local clubs and later taught stand-up comedy at one of the local universities in Buenos Aires.

Gabriela Acher
One of Argentina's most famous and loved comedians, Acher brought issues of gender and sexuality through her writing and her performances on various television programs. A self-proclaimed feminist, her humour traces the experiences of middle-class womyn and the difficulties of motherhood, childrearing etc.

Andres Cascioli
One of Argentina's finest cartoonists, he is the founder of groundbreaking magazine HUMOR which critiqued the military junta in the 1970s. The legacy of HUMOR lives on today and is recognised as one of the greatest comic magazines in South America.

Patricia Ianigro
One of the directors of Teatro Por La Identidad, Ianigro works with the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo towards reuniting families by finding children and relatives of the people who disappeared under the military junta in Argentina. She uses theatre to take her work to the people and to tell the stories of those who died or who survived Argentina's authoritarian regimes.

Peru
Sergio Paris
One of the founders of the Improv Group Keto, this Argentian actor and director moved to Lima, Peru and has contributed to the art of improvisation in Peru's capital.

Nazira
As an actress she trains young people to become great actors and improvisers at the Keto school. It is her belief that improvisation is essential to creative growth for any artist and the building of one's self confidence.

This is a small list of my favourite comedians but only a small reflection of many artists and comedians I met throughout my time in the region. I am confident that the humourists I mentioned will add to the legacy and tradition of producing deeply political humour in South America that lead toward social change.