Delhi and the Dalal Awards">Delhi and the Dalal Awards" border="0" alt="" />Saturday August 11, 2007
Obviously I’m not posting all of this on the day I wrote it, but I thought that it would be easier to read if I posted a day or two’s events under one date.
Friday at 4:30pm an auto showed up to take us to Orya Basti for our first two-hour dance lesson. Which, of course, everyone for three miles had showed up to watch. The stereo system had yet to be set up when we got there, so we spent the first hour and forty-five minutes watching the kids recite various poems and songs in Hindi. Then, when the system had been set up, the kids showed up about six different dances, one of which we were supposed to emulate, although I wasn’t sure which one exactly. Gangaram of course, served us chai and pekoras, and insisted that we stay, pretty much indefinitely. He was about to send the auto driver (who we had told to come back at 6:30pm) away, but we caught him in time, and I insisted that we leave (mostly because I had a terrible headache from the persistent screams of sixty-odd children and the blasting speaker system, but also because I had to get ready for my trip to Delhi in a couple of hours). It has since become apparent to me that Gangaram would like us to live in Orya Basti, and, without somewhat forceful removal, will never let us leave. Anyway, more on that later…
I went to Delhi on Friday night, for an event on Saturday afternoon that Sathyu, Rachna and a lot of Bhopal supporters were organizing, particularly student groups in Delhi. The idea was to have a mock awards ceremony for all of the people who have sold India out to corporate American interests, which happens a lot here from what I can tell. This was the first year that they’ve done the awards, and naturally the focus was on Bhopal, since a lot of government officials, bureaucrats and other corporate people have been doing just that on the Bhopal issue. Apparently India is trying to enter a nuclear deal with the US, and is basically selling out any and everything else so that this deal will go through, and one of the things that the US has asked (in response to corporate lobbying) is for Dow to be deemed free from liability in Bhopal. Anyway, the even went really well and was well attended. There was a fair bit of media coverage, too. Here are some links to the media outlets that covered it:
NDTV: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070022324
Asian Age: http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/'mir-jafar'-awards-for-bhopal-'84.aspx
Kerela Next: http://www.kera
The trip to Delhi was, er, “exciting”. I went on an over-night train on Friday night, which Rachna booed for me. She got me non-AC sleeper class, which is exactly like 3-tier AC sleeper, but the windows open. I was a little bit nervous about going back to Delhi after my god-awful experience with the fracking cab driver there when I arrived in India. I decided that, armed with a cell phone and the numbers of at least ten different people from the clinic to call in case I got into trouble (or, more likely, lost), I would be okay. So Friday at about 8pm, I left the clinic on my own. I should mention a few things here: 1) I have been warned that women traveling alone in India are subject to sexual harassment (as are pretty much any women at any time) 2) it had just gotten dark out, so there were still lots of people out and about in Qazi camp 3) Casey had offered to walk me to Berasia road, where the auto guys wait, and I had said “oh no, its still early! There are lots of people out and about still!”.
Ahem. So as soon as I walked out of the gates at Sambhavna, there were these two young guys sitting on the ledge of the dried-up well. They were like “excuse me, miss!” as soon as I walked out of the gate, and I saw them start to follow me when I ignored them. Its only, maybe, a hundred meters along that street, and then you get to the corner store, where we know the family, so I wasn’t worried. Except for one of them ran up behind me and tried to grab my ass!!!! (He kind of missed though and kind of flicked it instead… but anyway). I whirled around and yelled at him to fuck off, and they both ran off down the street. I was absolutely furious! I mean, talk about the nerve!! They were probably waiting outside of Sambhavna for some volunteer to be walking to the corner store or something!! In retrospect I should have tried to chase them down and beat the living crap out of them… either that or call the guard at Sambhavna and get him to do it for me. Anyway, as it was I just continued on and got an auto to the train station (luckily it was my favourite auto guy, who always wears the Che Guvera hat, and who always drives us places, otherwise I think I would have taken my anger out on him).
So needless to say I was feeling a little on the vulnerable side when I reached the train station… especially because there were like NO other women there. Indian women don’t go out alone at night (probably because of experiences like when I just described), so there were a few women traveling with men, but none on their own, which didn’t exactly make me feel too safe. Anyway, I made it on to the train to discover, of course, that I was about the only woman on the entire car. There were three or four other young women traveling together, who were carrying large amounts of sports equipment, but that was it. I found my seat (which in the sleeper cars are the bottom of three bunks, the middle of which is flipped up), and sat down with the fife other guys sharing my compartment. Most of them just politely averted their eyes, but this one young guy in a pink shirt kept grinning at me. He was probably just trying to be friendly, but I glared at him and gave him a dirty look to be o the safe side.
I ended up having to ask the guy next to me which of the bunks was mine, because it wasn’t exactly clear. He was helpful and just not friendly enough not to be intimidating (I find it a bit on the creepy side when guys are too interested), so that was good. I was on the bottom bunk, but he left me have the middle one, which I felt safer in, because its not so close to the ground. The train ride was actually on the uneventful side, so I have learned not to be afraid of the train, although I would certainly think twice about traveling around India all by myself. I’m glad that Andrea is planning on coming with her boyfriend, because guys will leave you along for the most part if you are with another guy. Although I can’t say that any of this makes me happy. I think that is totally fucking ridiculous that women are intimidated into having a male escort every time they leave the house after dark on their own (and to a degree, even during the day its better to be with another woman). The whole thing reminds me just a bit too much of The Handmaid’s Tale. Sickening. I’ve decided that the women in the communities around here should have a Take Back the Night-style march. I have also though that perhaps I will start carrying pepper spray… hahahaha, that’s probably a bad idea. Although Rachna did say that if men are leering at you or try to grab you it is perfectly socially acceptable to kick the crap out of them. Maybe I’ll invest in a punching bag for practice…
Anyway, Delhi was really fun. I got to meet lots of Bhopal-supporters, and hang around the Other Media office (a big NGO that houses the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal). It was fun because everyone stayed in one room with the AC and drank chai and talked. Rashida Bee from Changari Trust was there, and I had one of the students express my interest in starting the photo project that she had suggested with her, so I am going over this afternoon to commence. She wants me to take artsy photos of all the kids with serious birth deformities as a result of the contaminated water or gas exposure. They have already started compiling medical-type photos, but she wants to tell the stories of these kids and what their daily lives are, too. She’s planning on getting someone to come and record fuller and more complete stories from them too. I’m hoping that these photos will turn into something that we can turn into a photo exhibit so that Changari can get more money and volunteers. They need surgeons to do free surgeries on these kids, fixing cleft palates and lips, leg problems and other things. Anyway, I’m super excited about it!!
The train ride back from Delhi was uneventful. Although there was a young guy sitting next to me who did everything in his power to get me to notice him and ended up thoroughly annoying the shit out of me. He kept talking to his girlfriend or someone on his cell phone really loud in English, and when she asking him why he was talking in English he was like “I have to talk in English right now”. Yes, so the white girl sitting next to you will notice you and sleep with you because we’re all like the sluts you see on MTV. Sigh. I’m quickly beginning to understand Mel’s frustration with men in this country…
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