My Colors

Sari Market in the Pink City

As I stood in one of the many bazaars in the pink city this afternoon, admiring all the beautiful colors, I thought how the United States is going to look so bland in comparison. Especially when I think about the bleak brown, white and particularly grey hues that characterize Chicago winters. I love walking past the colorful spice shops that smell sweet and bitter, past the street markets with 20 different fruits and vegetables stacked so perfectly,and  past the shops with beautiful saris hanging from their doors. The hills on the outskirts, the trees in the city, and the flowers along the mediums have become even more beautiful in the monsoon as their colors deepen or explode for the first time. My favorite color in the last week was seeing REAL blue sky for the first time since arriving in India- there were a few spots in the sky where the blue showed through without any haze or cloud obstructing it from my hungry view. I think I see blue sky less here, in this season, than I do in the Pacific Northwest winters- I see the sun here more more but it always hidden by the India haze. It was wonderful in the past couple days for the haze to clear. 

So what color am I? Predominately white, even though I getting more and more proud of my 

Our Morning Tea Stop

burgeoning foot tan. This coloring certainly makes me stick out a lot. Recently though my clothes have been dying me blue, but I cover it up with orange scarves and orange nail polish. In the last weeks however, I'm begun to learn that I'm more Red, White, and Blue than I ever realized. I have never considered myself particularly patriotic towards the United States, and still I don't feel as if I can say that I love my country, but I am undoubtedly an American. Haven been part of a majority my whole life- white, english speaking, Christian, heterosexual- I nonetheless took pride in not that American. I've had Chinese and Turkish friends tell me that I'm not that American. Most of this definition rested however on what I wasn't: I'm not a huge partyer, I'm not particularly loud, and I don't disrespect parents (or try not to at least). Living in Jaipur has revealed that there are distinctive marks that I carry with me from the US. 

1. Though I believe community is important, I still think that our marks as individuals and agents of free choice and control of our own live is important 2. I believe that women should be given the same opportunities as men. They should be thought of as more than just family makers 3. I think giving a time for parties, appointments, or other meetings helps things to run more efficiently- sometime does not count 4. I think it's impolite to shove someone off of a bus or crowd them at a ticket window if it is taking more time than expected for them to finish their order

5. People, regardless of their class, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, religious beliefs, gender, age (etc. etc.) are still people. Everyone is 100% human. I find the classism here chilling. Jaipur and Rajasthan in general are known for having a more  entrenched caste system still. I'll meet people who I think are kind and generous, treat their servants badly, or call their drives an idiot, or tell me to avoid "those working class" people. As I look at the poverty and injustices in India, and the US as well, I feel like a lot is caused by the excuses that people of more advantage use to justify why those below them deserve their situation. They can treat them badly if they believe that the other is somehow inherently different and inferior to them. I have met many Indians, who blatantly acknowledge their suspicion and derision of other classes and types of people. And it makes me cringe. I have to wonder how much it is the same in the US though. Whether we truly believe in equality, or just disguise or prejudice and contempt for others more than Indians choose to? Still as I look at what I've observed about Indian society in Jaipur, and the attitudes of Chicagoans, in general I feel like Chicagoans look less at class as a definition of human worth as those I've met in India.

Another day at the Amber Fort

Quick life update: I worked 5 days this week, 9:30am to 6pm, working on my reports and doing a lot of research on mineworking. I will never be able to look at the stones and forts in India the same, when I think of the back breaking labor, and horrendous living conditions, of those who extract the stone. I enjoyed spending more time this week speaking with family and friends, as well as exploring some new cafés and restaurants in the city. I spent the day with Amanda and Ece climbing around the Amber and Jaighar Forts and doing a bit of shopping in the Pink City markets.

Things I'm struggling with: where my Christian faith puts me in the midst of a Hindu culture and non-Christian friends, is God good to those who do not know him and live in physical misery, allowing myself to be vulnerable so that I can depend on the Lord, whether or not to give money or anything to beggars, and what is the balance between safety/fun

Things I'm looking forward to: painting my toe nails orange, sleeping for more than 7 hours, learning more hindi, drinking mango lassi, going to an Anglican/Presbyterian (?) church tomorrow morning , and traveling to a village, Bundi, next weekend that has some beautiful waterfalls close by. 


(Here are some more pictures of the weekend)

Huddled in the back of Rickshaw.

Posies

Elephants at the Amber Fort