Right now I am staying with a friend and his family in Hyderabad Andrah Pradesh. I will be here till the 20th of this month, then I fly to Nepal, with a little stop in Delhi on the way. I have had a wonderful time here in Hyderabad, getting to know many people around my age. Yesterday, I went to church with my friend’s sister, who is studying Software engineering via her father’s wishes. Indian's career fate is decided by a flip of a Rupee I think? either you will be a Doctor or a Software engineer! Lol! After church I met all her friends that she goes to school with-- all engineers because she goes to an engineering collage. Very interesting to talk to a bunch of girls who are studying to become Software, Aeronautical, and Mechanical Engineers! Some of them were just studying to please their parents and pass the time, others were interested in their field of study. I had a good conversation with one of them about materials of construction for the auto industry.
I ask one of them, "are you planning on using your degree to get a job?" her answer was so different from most U.S girls, she said, "of course.... well... if I get married and my husband can't provide me then I will have to work, but if he can provide me then I won't have to."
One thing that is so lovely and so “right” about India is that the women don’t give up their femininity to do what, in the U.S, we think of as a masculine job. Instead of a female Mechanical engineer wearing a western suit, (Men’s attire, don’t care if you want to argue) you have her wearing a Sari or a Churidar, in the most beautiful colours known to man, covered in glitter and gold, and most likely fresh flowers in her hair, creating the most feminine identity of all! Which to me is what it is all about. It simply says, I am an engineer, and a woman, and the two aren’t related. I don’t need to try to deny who I am to have the authority I need to work in my field. I feel that when a woman “wears the pants” and puts on the shoulder pads, she is telling the world for herself that a woman just isn’t enough for this job; I am going to try to add some “man” to myself. I have no understanding for you western girls that don’t want to dress like woman!
You should see these female cement workers, gracefully carrying bowls of sand on their heads helping each other lift their loads in rhythm, onto each other’s heads. It made me laugh one time watching them work... the men were caring the gravel while the woman carry the sand, the men would lift the large bowls of gravel by themselves, quite a struggle, while the woman simply lifted each other’s in rhythm, ego fellas… haha
India is still confusing me about the woman’s rights “thing”... on one hand they don’t have much say in anything, and on the other they are far more powerful then they are here in the western world. Especially in politics: don’t forget that India was the first country to have a female prime minister. While staying here in Hyderabad, there is a huge political campaign going on. Parties are trying to divide the state of Andrah in to two states. Again there were these woman that had great power as leaders of this whole thing. I asked one of my Indians friends about this: how the women can have such a voice in politics yet none in other walks of life. He also didn’t know why it happens this way. I haven’t seen woman as oppressed here in India as most US Christians seem to paint them, I see the people as whole oppressed, both men and women don’t have the rights I feel they are due in family structure.
The more I am here the less and less I feel that India “needs help”-- honestly, people, I would love to know who is telling us in the U.S. that India is a poor country and needs so much help. Everyone I have seen here, has a “way of life” that they aren’t about to change. It is so foolish to judge the status of wealth and poverty by our likes and dislikes. After watching my hosts wash my clothes on the back porch on a rock, while there is a washing machine sitting inside, I really understand that Indians DON’T want to change their way of life. It is wrong for us to think that, because someone is living “below” what we think is not “nice” is poverty. India also has food rations for all, there are nearly as many people over weight here as there are in the U.S! this is due to the RICE diet. Most all south Indians truly eat a diet of 70% to 98% white rice!!! This is the cause of the lack of nutrition, again this is a life choice, not a “problem”-- they love rice!!! They have all manners of the finest fruits and veggies on earth for very little cost. One of my friends here says you can count on your fingers the people that eat raw vegetables in India!
On the note of poverty, I have seen very little. I was all geared up to let the LORD change my world outlook on how I spend my money, thinking that I would be very moved by the people that had nothing compared to what I have. NOT SO, haha. oddly the other way round. India is very rich; they just don’t like the same things we do. After talking with a woman riding a little old scooter that owns more that 2.25LBs of pure gold jewellery which would be worth as much as $40K in GOLD alone. I realized never to judge the people on two wheels. I would tease her about selling a little gold, and coming to visit the U.S and she would laugh and say, “Gold is for keeping, not for selling!” It’s true though, I have never seen so much fine gold in my life, even the “poor” people that work in the fields for $2 a day, manage to have a pure gold nose stud, or earrings. I won't be able to forget the way one woman summed up what Indians live for: “We live for gold, food, and clothes!”
My thoughts about my money have greatly changed while being here in India, in the aspect of wanting to be more generous with what I have, with people that are dear to me. Enjoy life more, possibly spend more on such things as gold, food, and clothes...haha.
I ask one of them, "are you planning on using your degree to get a job?" her answer was so different from most U.S girls, she said, "of course.... well... if I get married and my husband can't provide me then I will have to work, but if he can provide me then I won't have to."
One thing that is so lovely and so “right” about India is that the women don’t give up their femininity to do what, in the U.S, we think of as a masculine job. Instead of a female Mechanical engineer wearing a western suit, (Men’s attire, don’t care if you want to argue) you have her wearing a Sari or a Churidar, in the most beautiful colours known to man, covered in glitter and gold, and most likely fresh flowers in her hair, creating the most feminine identity of all! Which to me is what it is all about. It simply says, I am an engineer, and a woman, and the two aren’t related. I don’t need to try to deny who I am to have the authority I need to work in my field. I feel that when a woman “wears the pants” and puts on the shoulder pads, she is telling the world for herself that a woman just isn’t enough for this job; I am going to try to add some “man” to myself. I have no understanding for you western girls that don’t want to dress like woman!
You should see these female cement workers, gracefully carrying bowls of sand on their heads helping each other lift their loads in rhythm, onto each other’s heads. It made me laugh one time watching them work... the men were caring the gravel while the woman carry the sand, the men would lift the large bowls of gravel by themselves, quite a struggle, while the woman simply lifted each other’s in rhythm, ego fellas… haha
India is still confusing me about the woman’s rights “thing”... on one hand they don’t have much say in anything, and on the other they are far more powerful then they are here in the western world. Especially in politics: don’t forget that India was the first country to have a female prime minister. While staying here in Hyderabad, there is a huge political campaign going on. Parties are trying to divide the state of Andrah in to two states. Again there were these woman that had great power as leaders of this whole thing. I asked one of my Indians friends about this: how the women can have such a voice in politics yet none in other walks of life. He also didn’t know why it happens this way. I haven’t seen woman as oppressed here in India as most US Christians seem to paint them, I see the people as whole oppressed, both men and women don’t have the rights I feel they are due in family structure.
The more I am here the less and less I feel that India “needs help”-- honestly, people, I would love to know who is telling us in the U.S. that India is a poor country and needs so much help. Everyone I have seen here, has a “way of life” that they aren’t about to change. It is so foolish to judge the status of wealth and poverty by our likes and dislikes. After watching my hosts wash my clothes on the back porch on a rock, while there is a washing machine sitting inside, I really understand that Indians DON’T want to change their way of life. It is wrong for us to think that, because someone is living “below” what we think is not “nice” is poverty. India also has food rations for all, there are nearly as many people over weight here as there are in the U.S! this is due to the RICE diet. Most all south Indians truly eat a diet of 70% to 98% white rice!!! This is the cause of the lack of nutrition, again this is a life choice, not a “problem”-- they love rice!!! They have all manners of the finest fruits and veggies on earth for very little cost. One of my friends here says you can count on your fingers the people that eat raw vegetables in India!
On the note of poverty, I have seen very little. I was all geared up to let the LORD change my world outlook on how I spend my money, thinking that I would be very moved by the people that had nothing compared to what I have. NOT SO, haha. oddly the other way round. India is very rich; they just don’t like the same things we do. After talking with a woman riding a little old scooter that owns more that 2.25LBs of pure gold jewellery which would be worth as much as $40K in GOLD alone. I realized never to judge the people on two wheels. I would tease her about selling a little gold, and coming to visit the U.S and she would laugh and say, “Gold is for keeping, not for selling!” It’s true though, I have never seen so much fine gold in my life, even the “poor” people that work in the fields for $2 a day, manage to have a pure gold nose stud, or earrings. I won't be able to forget the way one woman summed up what Indians live for: “We live for gold, food, and clothes!”
My thoughts about my money have greatly changed while being here in India, in the aspect of wanting to be more generous with what I have, with people that are dear to me. Enjoy life more, possibly spend more on such things as gold, food, and clothes...haha.
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