I was planning on writing about elections Indian style as Bangalore prepares to go to the polls on Sunday, but I just found out about some disturbing news. I had seen references to Democratic legislators' offices being vandalized in Arizona and Kansas over the weekend, but just found out that one of the additional sites was in Niagara Falls. In addition to a window being smashed, Rep. Slaughter has received threats about snipers. Her office is on Pine Avenue, near the City Market. The Buffalo News has a good article with details, while the Washington Post puts it in national context. Seems like a bunch of Dems that voted in favor of Obama's health care reform have been targeted by someone -- an Alabama Militia member -- who writes a blog and has encouraged his readers to take action.
Listening to the debate itself was distressing, as the level of vitriol was disturbing, but this is even worse. The US political system really does need a hard reboot. (Can you tell I'm hanging out with techies?)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Our garden
Hot and lazy Sunday afternoon
While Washington is gearing up for the big health care vote -- please, pass it, it isn't perfect but we need to start somewhere and take what we can get while continuing to push for better -- we are coming to close of a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon. Summer is close to arriving, with its tremendous heat, even in supposedly temperate Bangalore, but also with mangos! For now though, there are trees and flowers all over the city bursting with even more color than usual -- and this is still is a garden city. A tree from Brazil with yellow flowers whose name I can't remember right not, and purple jacarandas like you see in Mexico are everywhere. Here are some shots of these flowers:
With papayas as a bonus.
Something like morning glory.
Passion fruit climbers.
More passionfruit growing over the parking area, helping it stay cool.
Combined with bouganvillea.
The yellow tree downtown by the cricket stadium.
Some other kinds of flowering tree.
Now onto more substance. Today's New York Times has a great and provocative article by Michiko Kakutani entitled "Texts Without Context" about how the internet and mash-up culture is changing how we read, and what we value. I found it disturbing, but/because it strikes at truths about how we do research, read (or skim), and seek out what to read or not.
Continuing on the depressing line, here are some shots contrasting the inside streets of our complex with the street immediately outside it.
Inside:
The flowers with the solar water heater are a classic rich Bangalore shot.
With papayas as a bonus.
Something like morning glory.
Passion fruit climbers.
More passionfruit growing over the parking area, helping it stay cool.
Combined with bouganvillea.
The yellow tree downtown by the cricket stadium.
Some other kinds of flowering tree.Now onto more substance. Today's New York Times has a great and provocative article by Michiko Kakutani entitled "Texts Without Context" about how the internet and mash-up culture is changing how we read, and what we value. I found it disturbing, but/because it strikes at truths about how we do research, read (or skim), and seek out what to read or not.
Continuing on the depressing line, here are some shots contrasting the inside streets of our complex with the street immediately outside it.
Inside:
The flowers with the solar water heater are a classic rich Bangalore shot.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
How do they survive?
Yesterday's Business Standard had an article entitled "Children of a Lesser God" about the low salaries that women earn in India, based on a Survey of Household Income (NSHIE) done in 2004-5 by the NCAER. It is definitely worth a read for those interested in discrimination and differences in pay between men and women, returns to education, and overall wage levels in India. It was shocking to me, even as I live here, in terms of the low levels. Yes, it was five years ago, so the wages probably have risen some, and the costs I will cite below reflect today's higher prices.
Income in Rupees per year for salaried class.
Source: NCAER, NSHIE 2004-5
These numbers tell all kinds of interesting stories. Discrimination prevails at all levels, but seems to diminish somewhat as women get more educated. All the numbers are quite low, and the average especially so. The average for men is under US$1000, and for women less than the amount a bank account holder can withdraw in one day. In order to illustrate the numbers today, I'll talk about some of the folks at the lower scale around here.
Lakshmi, the woman who cleans for us has been sick, and her husband the vegetable man has been struggling to keep it all together -- financially because of costs of medicine, tests, and hospitalization; managerially at the vegetable stand between the money needed to buy the veggies in the a.m. as well as help at the stand that she provides; and on a family level to take care of their kids. Luckily, her parents came in from their village to help out.
Here is a picture of her, she was healthier, playing Holi with Amartya. Her husband, pictured below, works very hard, leaving at 5 a.m . to buy vegetables at the markets to bring them to the shack in our complex. He usually opens around 9, and serves the folks in our complex until 6:30 pm, and then places the veggies on a cart to take outside the complex where the construction workers buy their veggies. Then he lugs the cart back to his shed, and rides his bike back to their house (abt a mile away), where he usually arrives around 8:30 or 9, and collapses into bed. And then thing continue the next day.
Lakshmi forgets to eat, and gets headaches, and gets sick frequently. We encourage her to eat, and drink, while she is at our house -- a few hours a day -- but she often is running from place to place. She now only works here, arriving at 10 or so after getting her kids off to school and walking here -- now longer because of the path to the village getting closed off because of building -- something I wrote about a few months ago. She is here until 3 or so, when she goes back home for when the kids get home from school. She and her husband are Tamilians, from a town a few hours out of Bangalore, who have moved her because there are better educational opportunities for their kids. But she and her husband both work all the time, and he had never been to the neighborhood across the main road before he had to take her to a clinic there.
There is a government hospital in Yelahanka, that used to be a town, but now is a neighborhood of greater Bangalore, to which she goes, and to which they bring their kids when they are sick. The expensive private hospital nearby, the closest hospital (Columbia Asia Hospital -- close to medical tourism standards, the topic for another post) is very expensive by Indian standards, but was the only place with available space for exams that needed to be done in the middle of the night, so tests that cost 12,000 rupees (or 3 months of her salary) were run. Now she is in a little clinic where we is being treated with IVs for dehydration and drugs for salmonella -- I think in the 300 rupees/night range. In addition to her income of 4000 rupees a month, her husband probably clears around 10,000 rupees a month at the vegetable stand. Both can read and write Tamil and minimal English, she with an 8th grade education and he with high school. She's well above the average income for women as noted above, as is he. But they are always one sickness away from the edge.
Moving further down the earnings scale, here are some details about another Lakshmi -- the cook who comes to cook dinner for us about once a week. One and a half years ago, she charged 100 rupees, but now it is 200 rupees for a great dinner, about two hours of work. She prepares food, and cleans up as well. Her food is wonderful, although she is frustrated that we always ask for the same dishes -- yummy chicken curry, Amartya's favorite cabbage, some pumpkin dish (soup sometimes, really great). I just need to hide the chiles, and remind her that she doesn't need to add sugar, or ketchup, or too much pepper or salt. She is from Kerala, and has converted to Christianity (a Pentacostal church), where she says the singing helps her feel happy.
Her daughter still lives in Kerala, and her husband is ill and can't work -- and requires lots of medicine. She currently is having a hard time making ends meet -- she works everyday for a bachelor gentleman for whom she cooks meals (monthly 3500 rupees for 5 days a week), and cooks for a few other people like me, who probably would give her another 3000 rupees or so a month. She said her rent is 2500 a month, bus pass recently increased to 700 (but sometimes she needs to come by autorickshaw if the bus decides not to come into her neighborhood, which happens if it rains, or if there is traffic, or if the bus driver doesn't feel like it), water and electricity, medicines ..... She is hoping that she can get two regular cooking gigs at one of the fancier buildings coming up around us, where she could charge 4000/house.
More precarious still are the two Nirmalas, pictured below. They are cleaning ladies at CSTEP.
Their total compensation is probably under 4000 rupees a month (about US$87 at current exchange rates).
How do folks survive? This topic clearly deserves more energy than I can give it today, or probably ever, but I will try to return to it from time to time.
| By Earning Status | Male | Female |
| Illiterate | 33,680 | 12,923 |
| Up to primary | 42,129 | 17,151 |
| Middle (8th)sch | 43,010 | 19,805 |
| Matric (10th) | 60,997 | 31,175 |
| Higher Second.Sch | 68,068 | 43,590 |
| Graduate | 85,211 | 62,636 |
| Post-graduate | 106,728 | 77,683 |
| Diploma/Vocat | 104,308 | 102,408 |
| Other | 114,446 | 69,413 |
| AVERAGE | 43,885 | 14,994 |
Source: NCAER, NSHIE 2004-5
These numbers tell all kinds of interesting stories. Discrimination prevails at all levels, but seems to diminish somewhat as women get more educated. All the numbers are quite low, and the average especially so. The average for men is under US$1000, and for women less than the amount a bank account holder can withdraw in one day. In order to illustrate the numbers today, I'll talk about some of the folks at the lower scale around here.
Lakshmi, the woman who cleans for us has been sick, and her husband the vegetable man has been struggling to keep it all together -- financially because of costs of medicine, tests, and hospitalization; managerially at the vegetable stand between the money needed to buy the veggies in the a.m. as well as help at the stand that she provides; and on a family level to take care of their kids. Luckily, her parents came in from their village to help out.
Here is a picture of her, she was healthier, playing Holi with Amartya. Her husband, pictured below, works very hard, leaving at 5 a.m . to buy vegetables at the markets to bring them to the shack in our complex. He usually opens around 9, and serves the folks in our complex until 6:30 pm, and then places the veggies on a cart to take outside the complex where the construction workers buy their veggies. Then he lugs the cart back to his shed, and rides his bike back to their house (abt a mile away), where he usually arrives around 8:30 or 9, and collapses into bed. And then thing continue the next day.
Lakshmi forgets to eat, and gets headaches, and gets sick frequently. We encourage her to eat, and drink, while she is at our house -- a few hours a day -- but she often is running from place to place. She now only works here, arriving at 10 or so after getting her kids off to school and walking here -- now longer because of the path to the village getting closed off because of building -- something I wrote about a few months ago. She is here until 3 or so, when she goes back home for when the kids get home from school. She and her husband are Tamilians, from a town a few hours out of Bangalore, who have moved her because there are better educational opportunities for their kids. But she and her husband both work all the time, and he had never been to the neighborhood across the main road before he had to take her to a clinic there. There is a government hospital in Yelahanka, that used to be a town, but now is a neighborhood of greater Bangalore, to which she goes, and to which they bring their kids when they are sick. The expensive private hospital nearby, the closest hospital (Columbia Asia Hospital -- close to medical tourism standards, the topic for another post) is very expensive by Indian standards, but was the only place with available space for exams that needed to be done in the middle of the night, so tests that cost 12,000 rupees (or 3 months of her salary) were run. Now she is in a little clinic where we is being treated with IVs for dehydration and drugs for salmonella -- I think in the 300 rupees/night range. In addition to her income of 4000 rupees a month, her husband probably clears around 10,000 rupees a month at the vegetable stand. Both can read and write Tamil and minimal English, she with an 8th grade education and he with high school. She's well above the average income for women as noted above, as is he. But they are always one sickness away from the edge.
Moving further down the earnings scale, here are some details about another Lakshmi -- the cook who comes to cook dinner for us about once a week. One and a half years ago, she charged 100 rupees, but now it is 200 rupees for a great dinner, about two hours of work. She prepares food, and cleans up as well. Her food is wonderful, although she is frustrated that we always ask for the same dishes -- yummy chicken curry, Amartya's favorite cabbage, some pumpkin dish (soup sometimes, really great). I just need to hide the chiles, and remind her that she doesn't need to add sugar, or ketchup, or too much pepper or salt. She is from Kerala, and has converted to Christianity (a Pentacostal church), where she says the singing helps her feel happy.
Her daughter still lives in Kerala, and her husband is ill and can't work -- and requires lots of medicine. She currently is having a hard time making ends meet -- she works everyday for a bachelor gentleman for whom she cooks meals (monthly 3500 rupees for 5 days a week), and cooks for a few other people like me, who probably would give her another 3000 rupees or so a month. She said her rent is 2500 a month, bus pass recently increased to 700 (but sometimes she needs to come by autorickshaw if the bus decides not to come into her neighborhood, which happens if it rains, or if there is traffic, or if the bus driver doesn't feel like it), water and electricity, medicines ..... She is hoping that she can get two regular cooking gigs at one of the fancier buildings coming up around us, where she could charge 4000/house. More precarious still are the two Nirmalas, pictured below. They are cleaning ladies at CSTEP.
Their total compensation is probably under 4000 rupees a month (about US$87 at current exchange rates).How do folks survive? This topic clearly deserves more energy than I can give it today, or probably ever, but I will try to return to it from time to time.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A visit to the future CSTEP campus
A field trip to the land in North Bangalore where the future CSTEP campus will be built.
Assessing the land with the architect and his assistant in one of the few shady spots.
The road separating the two pieces of land. The area on the right with the euculyptus trees (or however that should be written) is the land for the guest house. Some of the land will be lost to road widening, which hopefully will happen before we start building, rather than after.
The border with the land where TIFR (The Tata Institute for Fundamental Research) will also build a new campus.
Walking over the land.
Currently, the sheep graze, as do cows from time to time. I don't know, I was surprised to see the woman watching her sheep protecting herself from the sun with an umbrella.
Someone has been stealing some of the ground for brick making, so there is a big hole in the ground near the road.
Another view of the land, looking south.
Hard to imagine what it will look like in a few years. It seems so desolate, in the middle of nowhere right now.
Assessing the land with the architect and his assistant in one of the few shady spots.
The road separating the two pieces of land. The area on the right with the euculyptus trees (or however that should be written) is the land for the guest house. Some of the land will be lost to road widening, which hopefully will happen before we start building, rather than after.
The border with the land where TIFR (The Tata Institute for Fundamental Research) will also build a new campus.
Walking over the land.
Currently, the sheep graze, as do cows from time to time. I don't know, I was surprised to see the woman watching her sheep protecting herself from the sun with an umbrella.
Someone has been stealing some of the ground for brick making, so there is a big hole in the ground near the road.
Another view of the land, looking south.
Hard to imagine what it will look like in a few years. It seems so desolate, in the middle of nowhere right now.
Soccer tournament
Amartya all over the field. He misses his Tigers team in Stoddert Soccer in Washington, but playing here is fun too.
Even playing goalie sometimes.
Dribbling and scoring from 40 seconds through the end (although the goal itself and celebration is missing). Amartya scored three goals over the course of the day.Monday, March 1, 2010
Happy Holi!
Holi is perhaps the most colorful of Indian festivals, which in general rate high in terms of color. Colored water and water balloons are thrown, friends (and strangers) throw colored powders at each other, folks dance, and drink bhang (a milk-based drink with almonds, cannabis, and sugar). One of our interns said it tasted like chai. And then the worldwide obligatory run to the liquor store for more drinks. These are pictures from our housing complex. The water felt great on a hot day.
You start with relatively clean clothes, preferably white or light colored.
You greet friends with a handful of color to smear on them.
Water is thrown, squirted, and sometimes just dumped.
The unorganized nature of the celebration is hard to convey, but this video (poorly edited, sorry) has moments that capture some of it.
Back at home at the end of the day, before taking showers.
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