Jiho!

"Jiho" means "May Victory Be Yours".

I have some thoughts about this movie that are flying all over the map right now.

The slums of Mumbai are the sort of environment that few people can imagine without having seen it. People live in tin shacks covered with moldy blankets next to garbage dumps. Children swim through poop. Bathrooms are collective and there is no sanitation. The stink alone is unspeakable.

Human beings should not be living that way in an abundant world ~ and the world is abundant. There are sufficient resources on this planet to feed every man, woman, child and beast. The social structures have to place that as a value and currently they do not.

I found the premise of the movie rather silly, given that most of the children in Mumbai are not educated and struggle daily for basics. The idea of someone having the energy to memorize a lot of trivia is a bit unrealistic. But that aside....

One thing the creators of this movie did understand is that consciousness raising without action is meaningless. Talking about a problem, ruminating about it, hand-wringing about it is useless.

The producers of the movie have created a school in the slums of Mumbai in an effort to offer free education to all the children of the region. It will provide them with a chance to begin the process of improving their lives. In my opinion, that is to be praised. The producers didn't make a big issue of it or try to use it as a means to elevate themselves. If I am understanding correctly, it's really not a well-known fact.

The one thing that concerns me is inaction and lack of cooperation on part of the Indian government. They still operate under a social system that predestines a person's status in life by birth. If one is born into the wrong caste, there is no chance of change, no opportunity for growth or self-determination on any level. At the risk of making some people mad, I'll say that it is a disgusting, barbaric and unconscionable social system that should be challenged by every human rights group on the planet.

Karma can be used as a battering ram, just like anything else. It can be used as an excuse to ignore glaring social problems by determining that someone deserves his or her fate because of past deeds in another life. That's not a belief system. It's an excuse.

In my opinion, it's crap.

Karma is a system of cause and effect, not a meritocracy.

We all have a duty to alleviate suffering whenever and however we can. Not to rack up brownie points but because that is our purpose here.

Maithri quoted a Sufi saying that I particularly like and it seems to fit this occasion as well.

"Past the seeker as he prayed,

There came the helpless and the hungry and the homeless,

And seeing their suffering he cried out to his God saying

"Great God, How can you see your children suffering and not do anything to
help them?"

And God in His heaven replied "I did do something.

I made you."

I hope that if seeing the movie that won the Oscar does anything, it will convince all of us on a very personal level that we are responsible for the way the world works, that we can and should make a difference. This isn't a Horatio Alger tale. It's a morality play.

Jiho!

~*

Don't Let Them Take What's Yours.....

Joe, co-CEO of Office Tiger in Chennai, India

I wrote here a bit about having a lot of computer issues over the past week or so. I needed some time to think about one element of it though. To solve the problems, I had to call Earthlink multiple times to get the dial-up established. It's a temporary measure - for more reasons than one.

My call was forwarded, of course, to a call center in Chennai, India. The people were certainly nice and tried to be helpful but that' s not the point of this post.

The point can be summarized in this short sentence: Shame on Earthlink!

The call center is not just a call center. It is Office Tigers which is an American corporation that hires hundreds of young Indian men and women to provide telephone support to American customers.

The first thing that happens to these young people is that they are stripped of their names. Raj and Praya become Spencer and Jessica. It is a condition of employment.

They are not allowed to wear their native clothing. Instead, they have to adopt western business dress. The men wear slacks, white shirts and ties. The women have a bit more latitude but they are still discouraged from wearing saris.

They have "pump 'em up" meetings, pushing American corporate values of efficiency and profit uber alles. Again, attending the meetings is a job requirement.

Being who I am, I can't keep my mouth shut. While talking with one technical support person, I told her that I was aware that she couldn't respond to my comments but to please listen.

I said, "Don't let them take what's yours". I told her that I know India is a beautiful country with a wonderful, deep and rich culture. I asked her to not lose herself in that job. Enough said.

She was silent for perhaps 15 seconds or so. She said, "You are the first American who has ever said that."

I told her about having seen the documentary and that I was very aware of the practices of Office Tigers. I also told her that cultural respect is something important to me.

She helped me solve the problem I was having and we hung up. But I know I made an impression.

I think it's extremely socially irresponsible of Earthlink and other companies that are using a service that strips human beings of their names, their customs and their culture.

Shame on you, Earthlink!

I'm not happy about being an Earthlink customer right now. As soon as I can get something else, I'll dump it like yesterday's garbage.

Maybe it's time to start speaking up about this kind of thing. Most of us are annoyed when we reach a foreign country for customer support and technical services but it goes a bit deeper than that. The people are being treated like chattel. They are being treated like property, as though their sole purpose in existence is to be pleasing to their American overlords.

That's not acceptable in this day and age.

And another thought: Don't Americans need those jobs?

While I don't usually support the idea of boycotts, I do in this case. Earthlink and all the rest of them need to lose their customers until they bring the jobs back to the US ~ and at the very minimum, boycott Office Tiger!






~*

Get a room!

I had to chuckle when I watched the news this morning and saw that Richard Gere is going to spend some time in jail for kissing a woman in public. India has low tolerance for such things.

This led me to start thinking during my walk this morning about the various places I've been and how public displays of affection are viewed.

In Thailand, the only women who touch men in public are the prostitutes. It is considered to be inappropriate to kiss in public, hug, hang all over each other or even hold hands. (I am aware that some of this is changing. I won't say it's a change for the better. :)

Many other countries view public displays of affection similarly. Richard Gere found out that India is one of them.

I must admit that I agree with India. And I'm disappointed that Richard Gere, someone I'd come to respect, would be so culturally insensitive.

Sometimes it would be pleasant to be spared the embarrassment of seeing people sucking face and practically having sex in public parks, in their vehicles, in the theater or on television. Seriously. How far is too far?

I like modesty in all things. Maybe that's part of the reason Thai culture works so well for me. (Although if I ruled Thailand, the spitting and nose-picking would end ~ today!) For the most part, Thai people are very conscious of other people's personal space and they do not touch each other unless it is in an appropriate setting.

Kissing is also different there. It is called "homm" and it literally means "pleasant smell". It means to put your nose to someone's skin and inhale quickly, taking in the person's scent. Even in more intimate situations like... the bedroom.. there is more of this nuzzling with the nose than the lips. I don't recall seeing anyone put their lips on another person while I was there.

I understand from some of the people I talk with who are there now that there is some occasional lip-mashing now but it's considered very risque. Naturally, the more traditional people don't care for it.

There is a time and place for everything. In public is not the appropriate place to advertise to everyone around that you're getting some!

Honestly... I wouldn't want anyone I don't know putting their lips on me ~ and even if I know you, I don't like it very much. It's just unappealing. As Kelly Rippa said about the guy who put his hand in front of her face, "I don't know where that hand has been". Well, I don't know where that mouth has been.

So please... spare me the public displays!

:)


Peace,

~Chani