I failed to mention a couple of things in yesterday's blog. The first is that my first shower here was an event in and of itself. As I was showering, when I pushed on the soap dispenser to get more soap it crashed to the floor. Being that it was made of plastic it cracked open and the contents spilled onto the shower floor. So for the rest of my shower I had to reach out to the hand soap dispenser over the sink. After a couple of minutes I noticed that the drain wasn't working, and because of that the spilled soap was starting to effervesce, making a soapy mess. And to top it off the shower floor is not divided from the bathroom floor so my entire bathroom floor filled with soapy water - ick! While the cleaning staff immediately resolved the drain issue, I have not been provided with a replacement soap dispenser.
At breakfast a little mouse raced across the dining room floor - he was cute as can be!
Today was the first day of class. The lecture was "Incredible India." The professor talked about how in the U.S. we manage our individual selves, meaning we are independent, but that in India people are interdependent. The family supports you through to the highest level of education you want to go, but you must then sacrifice for your family for the rest of your life.
He spent a lot of time emphasizing the many positives that occur within Indian society and to dispel some myths. For instance, he said that snake charmers and elephants don't roam the streets, as far as I can tell thus far, that is true. He also provided a lot of statistics to try to impress us with how advanced the country is, such as, India is the largest producer of milk and leather goods. I thought that since cows are sacred here it is contradictory to be producing so much leather! Inquiring about it, he stated that they make leather from bulls. Given the bad temperament of bulls, I would like to see what the ranches are like that raise them.
He showed us several clips about innovative business models that have occurred recently in India. ITC e-choupal is a company that has improved the plight of farmers who were being cheated by produce brokers via manual measurement of their products. This company uses only electronic scales. By doing so they have eliminated a level of business cheats, and made it possible for farmers to get fair prices. Another company, SKG Sangha, created some biogas technology by creating fuel from cow pies and then turning the remaining ash into a sludge that is then turned into compost fertilizer. This has helped reduce pollution because the burning of the cow pies takes place in an enclosed system. Production rates and produce quality have also improved. Given that, from the moment I stepped off the plain I noticed that the air was quite polluted, this biogas technology is a good thing for all of us. Additionally, the fact that crop productivity has gone up the standard of living for rural people is being raised.
During the lecture when the professor became critical of the U.S. response to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, and then contrasted it to how India responds to tragedies, I think we were all highly insulted. The reason being, his conclusions probably came from what he saw and heard in the media, which of course failed to point out the positives that occured by Americans - like the fact that firemen went into the WTC at their own peril, citizens donated over a half billion dollars in relief after 9/11, and that companies sent truckloads of needed items to assist in the aftermath of both calamities.
He also stressed how M.S. Swaminathan created a Green Revolution within India by bringing hybrid wheat technologies to the country. And that the Swaminathan Research Foundation is being proactive in trying to avoid another tsumnami disaster, and other water related disasters. Rather than waiting for the government to do something, the Foundation is planting mangroves along beaches to act as a first break against surges. My question is, how does this affect the ecosystem along the beaches? Will it negatively impact some species that live there?
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