Yet another day of class at Delhi University. The first class was canceled, so we were all going to get some coffee at Barista. However, it opens at 11 am. Obviously India doesn’t have a coffee culture. Who needs coffee after 11 am? That’s pointless. The second class was also boring. However, I spent the whole class reading my travel book and making a detailed itinerary for my upcoming trip over the two-week break. I’m pretty anal-retentive when it comes to taking trips in short amounts of time, and I usually make detailed itineraries. You should see the one for New York. It was so Japanese; planned to the quarter-hour. We had to show our proposals, so we waited for the teacher to stand huddled in a corner texting (what is she a drug dealer?), eat and drink tea, go to a meeting, and probably bathe because all the OBCs in the political science department are polluting her Varma status, before she could see us. And the only thing that came from it was her saying “Let’s meet on October 16”. Thanks for wasting two hours of my time. But I’m extremely scared of her, so I just smile and say, “Ok”. The thing you have to remember is that labor costs nothing here; time is not money like in the United States. That’s why when shopowners say something is handmade, this has no bearing on the actual price. The only thing you’re paying for is the material and shipping costs. It’s like transportation, too. Bicycle rickshaws take twice as long, and they cost half the price as auto rickshaws, because you’re paying for gas and the motor. Drivers will even wait for you while you run errands and shop, so that they can get your business. There is a disproportionate amount of labor for the industrial capital in India. As a result, people are far less productive with less resources. Students don’t have computers, so it takes longer for them to research and turn in assignments. At restaurants like Fiesta, ten people are employed, one waitor to take orders, another to bring the food, one to refill water, five to cook the food, one cashier, and one to open the door. . That’s what a labor surplus will do. And another thing that a labor surplus causes; it lessens the imperative to modernize industry. For example, why invest in motorized construction equipment when there are tons of people willing to do the work for half the cost? This is one result of their labor supply; underdevelopment. Also, the quality does not need to be as high, when there are tons of people do a certain aspect of the job. This is why Indian products are made cheaply (the drying machines only dry clothes halfway), cars constantly break down, and my headphones stopped working within a week of purchase. I went to Connaught Place to find books for my Delhi University papers. One is on the Kashmir Conflict, and the other is on Economic Liberalization of India in 1991 and the Effects on Foreign Policy. The latter has to be really good because it’s for Shanta Verma’s class. I was looking around, and the Jain Book Mart had a bunch of books on foreign policy. One stood out, that was written by a Korean who is an honorary Delhi University alumni. I was looking through it, and on the second page it read: “To my teacher Prof. Shanta Nedungadi Verma”. Yes, as in the same teacher whose class I’m writing a paper for. So of course I bought it, and I’m basically going to paraphrase exactly what he says, because I know it’s exactly what my teacher thinks. It’s amazing. What’s not amazing (but makes it easy as a student) is the fact that in this country, teachers are always right, so in order to get a good grade, all you do is just regurgitate their lectures in your papers and tests. I did some packing for the two-week break to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mumbai, and Goa. I’m stoked for this trip, and my parents are coming to Mumbai and Goa (conveniently the two most expensive cities in India muahahaha), so I can’t wait to see them. But while it’s going to be a culture shock for them, I’m already so accustomed at this point to the beggars, touts, dirty streets, pollution, oppression, and crowds, that nothing really seems to shock me anymore. I’m kind of sad, because I enjoy being awed at new things. I still have felt no real sense of culture shock since being here, which I think is kind of strange.
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