Woke up in Netarhat
this morning in beautiful hilly area of Jharkhand, far from the busy-ness of
Indian cities, in as quiet a place as Ooty (Udhagamandalam), in the Nilgiri hills, in the south in around 2004, - in the
south of India.
No hot water or
heat, or shower, or laundry machines, and a cool, damp room were part of it (so
I slept in my clothes, and relatively long and warmly), but after a sunset at Magnolia Sunset Point, -
on a road past the
beautiful Netarhat Regional School (which could almost be a Fettes College, in Scotland, which I attended from 1976-1977 – a British
Public School complete with multiple football pitches, with buildings in a
circle, beautifully) –
where Magnolia, a
British Maiden jumped her horse off a cliff because she couldn’t consummate a
relationship with an Indian shepherd, which is memorialized in quite plasticky
sculptures, and where I met Adit Ram (a journalist who has studied in
Cardiff, Wales, and who also works for the HT) and Prit Jh (with a Tourism MBA) and Gaut Sing and Amit, all from Ranchi, where Adit was ‘covering the sunset,’ and most of whom speak good English, the Prabhat
Vihar hotel (in a 'chain' of government owned hotelts with the Van Vihar hotel) was a nice place to stay. Adit and Prit are doing journalistic work on Tourism sites in Jharkhand. Like most
Indians, they are both encouraging and welcoming and supportive and warm, and
while these are quite educated, and modern, Indians have much less material
resources than people in the US. This morning they gave me a 2012 guidebook to
Jharkhand, called “Jharkhand: The Hidden Jewel” edited by Swati Mitra, New
Dehli, India: Goodearth Publications. Thank you!
Indians celebrate
a lot. This morning I had heard that people were going to get up for the
sunrise around 5:45 am. Two people knocked on my door, including my pilot / driver,
Tasauar-Ansari, a little after 6. I locked my door and went up to the roof. I
was surprised when most of the people in the hotel, it seems, were up for the
sunrise by 6:30 it seems – a sunrise party on the roof. Where else but in India
would one find a festive sunrise celebration, of people simply watching and
photographing the sunrise? And I was glad to see Adit, Prit, Gaut and Amit
again. We talked a fair amount more.
Traveling through
beautiful Jharkand
Various sites
Waterfalls
Farms
Life in rural,
beautiful India
Paying extra for
meals for Tasauar-Ansari (Driver) and Aman (Guide) unexpectedly was interesting
experience, since Vishwajit Giri (in Kolkata) and Mr. Roy (in Betla) hadn’t
talked about this, and while the amounts were nominal, it gave me a feel for
paying people eventually at World University and School, and wanting to pick
and hire the best possible people. I was a little annoyed at the 50 Rupee per
meal costs, and while all of 90 cents or so, for each meal, its unexpectedness
and our Jharkhand tours or Betla tours, took me surprise, and I felt caught in
a web of sociality. In a way, in this very small business situation, Tasauar-Ansari
was the driver, and hired by Betla, and Aman, as the guide, and a kind of tag
along, and I gave Aman 200 rupees yesterday as guide, and Tasauar-Ansari was
presumably going to get paid by Betla Tours. He was driving a nice and
comfortable Indigo brand car, his brother’s car, who lives in Dubai or Saudi
Arablia. It was a five hour trip back to Betla from Ranchi. And I was able to
hire this two Indian lads, so they earned some money over a couple of days.
(How could I pay more, but for different work is a good learning question,
vis-à-vis WUaS?)
Tasauar-Ansari
(Driver – around 26 and a skillful, relaxed driver) and Aman (Guide – around 20
with only slightly more English than Tasauar-Ansari)
Both are from
Betla
Tasauar-Ansari had
4 kids at home, and Aman isn’t yet married.
I rode with them
for 36 hours, and their norms and language were interesting to observe. I
definitely want to help in India.
*
Internet and wiki WUaS in Nalanda and Betla
Navin Kumar was
able to google the Indian Wikipedia in Nalanda on his mobile phone
And a man was able
to google both World University and School’s and my own home page – http://scottmacleod.com - on his mobile phone in front of the
Betla Tours office in Betla
There are
relatively few walls in India, in houses, in sociality, in driving (with few
lines on the roads, and a honk and move ahead style of driving), and metaphorically, as well.
Lack of money in
India, and relative harmoniousness, due to the religiosity, I’d hazard …
Talking with
Gaut, Prit and Ami this morning … about Jharkhand as a new state in terms of economics, history and politics - subjects Indians don't go to readily, in my experience.
The potential for
World University and School in India, - and in Jharkland, in particular?
So many people
need and want jobs here, and WUaS could hire them, but managing them would be
interesting … both lack of perfect English and lack of norms for work and good
work could be an issue …
Google Hangout
with Adit and vis-à-vis getting the WUaS word out … ?
Communication and
language in India … missed communication, miscommunication, and dropped
communication … language is spoken, not understood, and is dropped, and begins
again … in the car with two non-English speakers such as Tasauar-Ansari and
Aman
Just gave this
contact information to a young man from Orissa sitting next to me -
sgkmacleod@gmail.com
Heading on the
15:55 train to Bhubaneswar from Ranchi, where Rinku Nath will pick me up at 4:45
am and take me to Hotel Upasana and site seeing in the morning, now under the
auspices of a different travel agency, Akma Travels, organized by Gau Pod, whom I liked a lot.
Spending two days
in travel agencies in Kolkata a few days ago, about 4 and 5 visits to each,
with Main Majumder has been invaluable.
It surprises me
how few Westerners and foreigners I’m seeing, but also appreciative of even the
little bits of foreign currency that a few tourists bring in for India.
Prabhat Vihar
Hotel seemed to have so many people ‘on staff’ and probably could pay them a
pittance or even nothing at all.
How can WUaS tie its
education into the great need for jobs and income in this country?
And, like Google,
could WUaS first start an office here?
So many people
have come up asking to connect with “email ID” or take a photo, and with such a
huge population, there is endless need, and very little opportunity. And Indian
philosophy seems to soften people, and focus them inwardly, and on their
deities – someone just said Indians have 27 million deities, and everybody
bumps along, even as trash piles up on the side of the road, and so many
buildings are either dilapidated or unbuilt. The standard of engineering can
allow a large new bridge to collapse in two places (took a photo of this) over
the Koyle River where Tasauar-Ansari and Aman first had a picnic, and even a
focus on getting more money is probably problematic religiously, and the people
I’ve met haven’t found their way to the stock market in India or all the
financial thinking and culture that goes on in the U.S.
There are many
budding industries here that would involve great changes in cultural practices
in India. For example, a waste disposal industry would hire many, and involve
setting up dumps in every village and town, and a media education campaign,
could similarly create jobs. It’s big business in the U.S. for example. But I
wonder if there’s a kind of inertia to change. The trains are old, but much
used. There are a few nice cars, but many use bicycles, rickshaws and area on
foot. Workmen and work-women in saris do bridge repairs in bare feet (men), or carry
lumber on their heads (women). There’s kind of inertia here, and no clear plan
anyway with so many people, possibly partly due to religion, yet India is an
ancient beautiful song.
Harbin Hot Springs
on the India hotel model? Sort of …
India is an
ancient beautiful song.
Riding the
elephant with Imam Udin as the elephant driver was great. Was he the Imam of
the Mosque in Betla? He was delightful in quite a few ways.
And seeing the
teeming, ancient, monkeys (red-faced and with red behinds), deer, and other
abundant animals was cool.
The elephant
seemed to be dancing and smiling a little later as she came in from another
ride, and I was dancing with here.
Hope to get access
to the Internet and blogging today or tomorrow, and re WUaS’s monthly business
meeting on Saturday.
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