Darjeeling is the “Queen of the Hills.” It was one of the most famous of the British hill stations, places developed as respites from the hot climates. At 6700 feet, Darjeeling is still overshadowed by Mt Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak at 28,169 feet, which is a few miles north of Darjeeling. Like most …
Continue reading 25. Darjeeling’s Toy Train and Tea Plantations
The Ramakrishna Mission is a middle-aged Indian religious service organization. Over the years, it has impressively tried to put into practice the practical philosophy of Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda wrote: “Do you love your fellow men? Where should you go to seek for God- are not all the poor, the miserable, the weak, gods? Why not …
Continue reading 24. Ramakrishna Mission: Notes and Observations
Thomas Merton, the great Roman Catholic poet, contemplative, and social critic, creates one frame for viewing Kolkata. This evocative paragraph about Kolkata comes from his 1967 Asian Journal. “Calcutta, smiling, fecal, detached, tired, inexhaustible, young-old, full of young people who seem old, is the unmasked city. It is the subculture of poverty and overpopulation.” He continues …
Continue reading 23. Framing Kolkata through Four Feminine Figures
I walk through the alleyways of Kumartuli in northern Kolkata a few minutes from the Hooghly River. I watch the potters responsible for making many of Kolkata’s Kali, Durga, Shiva and Parvathi statues. I don’t see all the different stages, but I see several. In a shop, a man in the alleyway is cutting wood …
I see a statue of Vivekananda everywhere. Below my room at the Ramakrishna Institute of Culture’s International Scholars House, I see a tall, proud Vivekananda with arms folded. Outside the Institute of Culture, another statue shows him gazing west toward downtown Kolkata, toward modern India. Who is Vivekananda? Born in 1863 to a wealthy …
Continue reading 21. Vivikenanda as Proud Indian and Astute Organization Builder
The people of India are incredibly diverse. These photos from Rajasthan and Punjab show some of that diversity. Here is a future Michael Jackson and a future Dennis Hopper for Easy Rider II. No photographs of Jaisalmer are complete without a camel and rider. Although I wrote a blog on "Mr.Desert 2017," I have to …
Status is important to most Indians. Although the Indian Constitution made caste-based employment illegal except for certain “schedule classes and tribal groups,” most Indians can pick up a person’s caste after a series of questions. Despite politicians in the world’s largest democracy giving speeches on “all are equal before the law,” Indian voters know that equality isn’t the …
Continue reading 19. “Not on the Same Page” and Swat Team Escorts
As a one-time ten-year old paperboy, I still love getting my hands stained with the ink of newspapers. More than that, I enjoy reading papers to get a sense of local events and local interpretation of national or international happenings. I’m not the only one in India who loves to read the paper. In 2010, …
Continue reading 18. Reading the Newspaper: Various Traditions Meeting in Contemporary India
Morning Shave along Ganga 2 I am staying at a Jaipur BnB. Kul, an executive for Reliance, and Shweta, a teacher, designed and built this lovely home. After children left the home, Shweta has turned it into a BnB. While sitting at their dinner table discussing India, Shweta comments: “Money, Money, Money. That is what …
I watch the lowering of the Indian flag at the Wagah Border crossing which is only 12 kilometers from Amritsar. The tourist brochure likens it to the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Even before attending the event, I have my doubts! To put this in context, India and Pakistan have always been at …
