Wednesday, September 27 Hindi, Reasons to Hate China, Indian Girls

I spent today online publishing my blogs, etc. Then, I had my Hindi final. The teacher left the room to go test each of us orally. So, inevitably, cheating was rampant. It was pretty easy, even though Geeta told me, “Tyler, you need to work on your vocab”. For the oral part, she talked to me about my trip in the upcoming break, and I had to lie because I didn’t know how to say my real plans in Hindi. In terms of Hindi, I’m by no means good. However, I’m starting to think in Hindi rather than English. For example, I was emailing my mom, and instead of typing “luggage”, I typed “samaan”. I’m starting to like Hindi. The spelling makes sense, the script is easy to read and write, sentence structure is constant, and it is simliar to English in many ways. I was walking home from the test, and they had installed a new police booth in the neighborhood. It has certain hours of operation. That’s like having a part-time security guard for your house. Or a part-time hospital. Or a part-time Freebirds. You kind of need around-the-clock service for these things. I don’t see how that makes any sense. Today was the last night that the whole house spent together. The girls are moving out tomorrow, and everyone is leaving for the two-week break soon. It was kind of sad. Everyone went out to Berco’s for Ro’s birthday, and then came back for cake. Being the pyro that I am, I had the great idea to burn hand sanitizer. Everyone got a kick out of the blue flames, and we were so intrigued we filmed it and made designs on the marble floor. It got everywhere. Afterwards, we discussed politics. We were saying how the world is supposed to come to an end on December 21, 2012, according to the Mayans. That might be nuclear war, it’s not impossible. So we were talking about safe places to be. The best we could think of was Canada. Nikhil said India is safe. I’m sorry but India’s in a Cold War with Pakistan, and did you not hear about the Mumbai Terrorist bombings? I’ve decided there are tons of reasons to hate China: 1. China holds half of the US dollars in circulation, 2. China is a growing economic power that will soon rival the United States for hegemony, 3. China hates India, exemplified by the dispute over Kashmir, its disapproval of harboring Tibetan refugees, and China’s massive aid to Pakistan. 4. China is Communist and a Repressive Society, with massive government controls on transportation, communications, and economy. 5. China has a 1.3 billion people. 6. China graduates hundreds of thousands of science and technology students each year. 7. China’s culture is no longer what it was, as a result of Communism. 8. China hates Japan, because of the latter’s wartime aggression during the 1930s. 9. Chinese food is bad. 10. China is nuclear. 11. China is closely allied with North Korea. On a completely different tangent, as far as Indian girls go, I’ll explain the situation. Well, let me say that things are different than in America. In America you can go out with a girl, no problem. I feel really invasive and uncomfortable simply looking at a girl here. Here, that’s not really allowed, because it will bring shame on the girl’s family. Even communication between members of the opposite sex is shunned. This is because in India, sex is an inevitable outcome when men and women interact. And premarital sex brings shame on the woman’s family. It is also seen as an attack on the woman, and her brothers, uncles, cousins, and father are allowed to beat up the assailant. Non-arranged marriages account for only 5% of marriages in India. But that’s not to say that women are protected. Many cases of sexual abuse occur all the time, and their husbands are chosen almost exclusively by their families to benefit the family. And they have to move to the husband’s village. As with most places in the world, in India, the domestic realm belongs to women, and the public sphere is dominated by men. In India this is blatantly apparent. Men pee on the streets and no one cares, they can defecate on the side of the road any time, they can look at women but women can’t look at them, porn is sold and displayed openly, men bathe in village wells on the side of the road, spitting is not considered rude, they can be as dirty as they want, they fight, they yell, burping and farting are done without thinking twice, and women are not supposed to travel (and never alone), and women are expected to cover up their faces so other men won’t see them. It’s almost as if men invented the whole social system of cultural norms to their convenience, with no consideration for women. The only comparison I can think of with Western culture is when a bunch of guys are hanging out. They don’t care about being clean or good-looking to impress women. Except in India this is in public, all the time here. In India there is definitely an enormous double-standard where women are supposed to be modest, while men are allowed to do anything they please. It’s extremely unfair and sad to see. This inevitably leads to other problems, too. Parents want boys, not girls, because boy children are seen as a blessing, and girls as a burden. This leads to female abortion and infanticide. This is why the sex ratio is unhealthily unbalanced. Plus, men carry on the family name, continue to live with and contribute to the family, and they conduct their parents’ funeral rites. Because of this divide between the sexes, men are much closer to men, and women are much closer to women. How on earth were one billion people in India conceived? I don’t know. With groups of school kids, the boys will all be talking with each other in one circle, and the girls with each other only. And this is why Bollywood films never have kissing (also because the actresses don’t want their reputations ruined for kissing). Also, this is why I see men holding hands every day, and women doing the same, but never both sexes. This is not homosexual at all, it’s just a way of showing friendship and brotherhood. Ok, so back to scoping the girls’ scene. I’ll compare in terms of ages. I think white children are ugly, and Indian girl children are much cuter and happier, complaining a lot less. Indian children are really loved, and have freedom to do whatever they want with relatively no discipline. Indians love kids. I feel like a pedophile, but I’m just saying. When it comes to young women (aged 13-35), Indian women are mediocre compared to girls in America. First of all, many times they don’t shave their legs here. Second, they don’t do their hair. Thirdly, they don’t use makeup. Fourth, they wear unflattering acid-wash jeans and t-shirts. These are the ones that I see on a day-to-day basis at Delhi University and at Civil Lines going to nearby IP College. The ones on TV are beautiful, and they look more white or Persian than Indian. Basically, I like Indian girls, but the ones in America as compared to in India. There are some hotties, but they don’t pretty themselves up like American girls. I’ll take the typical made-up, trendy, pretentious blonde Santa Barbara girl over most Indian (or Seattle) girls any day. Indian women (above age 35), on the other hand, are a lot better-looking than in America. While old American women wear nylon track suits, mumus, and tapered jeans, older slim Indian women wear beautiful saris, scarves, stunning jewelry, and high-heels. They look good. Ok I sound like a creep. I’m just going to stop now.