1 February - Rice & Literacy
Settling into my nice seat, I start one of my favourite activities ever in a life so full of excitement…debunking various bags from items I don’t need. This includes discovering stuff I’ve carted around for weeks unnecessarily or coming across something that would have been very useful … a few days ago. Darn, should have read the papers before …leaving India. Turns out as I leaf through magazines and newspapers I’ve still got with me and intend abandoning on the plane, that
the finance minister of Tamil Nadu, is a woman, who’s forged ahead and in three years has improved the life of the region to a great extent with savings, quality of life etc and has kept a kilo of rice at 3.5R which is just a few pence (boy have I been scammed royally if that’s the case). 45% of the subcontinent population lives in the 3 or 4 northern states which explains why ‘down here’ I was not feeling so overwhelmed by crowds like when in Delhi etc. Those same states are the ones with 90 infant deaths per 1000 whereas in the south it's 11 per 1000. The same goes for literacy, down to 45% up north, 90%+ in the south. What's to learn? Elect a woman, she’ll fix it? Like their old beloved Indira and her ‘no more poverty’ slogan? That you can’t somehow manage to implement the same laws and regulations in the same country? Which is a huge shame. There are also now only 750 girls per 1000 boys born up north, looks like they kill off a few too many. In other states it's up to 900 something per 1000 - there's no wars on, so no men dying in their droves, so stop killing the girls yeah?
The papers also inform me that I missed the a giant book fair and some other major concerts, all happening whilst I was too busy wandering about aimlessly and making sense of the Alien tongue translations. Then again it’s fashion week in London when I’m back so surely avoiding a book fair or a few gigs was the right thing to do. I also realise have not written much about temples and art but I’m still templed out from a few years back. I now visit them but can’t be examining them in any great details and boring you with it would be unforgivable. Was reading Geoff Dyer’s and his ‘Yoga for people who can’t be bothered to do it’ and he says the same in some much better phrase. Top travel observations too. Though his are generally influenced by heavy use of dope and mine aren’t. But he never got to wonder why Indian babies don’t wear nappies and yet never seem dirty. Their mothers must have a sixth sense of when it’s all about to come out and act accordingly. He also never wonders why said babies/toddlers never seem to cry much or have tantrums or can spend hours on a train with no toys to play with. Or whether florists exist in these parts as I never saw one and at some point had a craving for roses, tulips and something that wasn’t jasmine.
the finance minister of Tamil Nadu, is a woman, who’s forged ahead and in three years has improved the life of the region to a great extent with savings, quality of life etc and has kept a kilo of rice at 3.5R which is just a few pence (boy have I been scammed royally if that’s the case). 45% of the subcontinent population lives in the 3 or 4 northern states which explains why ‘down here’ I was not feeling so overwhelmed by crowds like when in Delhi etc. Those same states are the ones with 90 infant deaths per 1000 whereas in the south it's 11 per 1000. The same goes for literacy, down to 45% up north, 90%+ in the south. What's to learn? Elect a woman, she’ll fix it? Like their old beloved Indira and her ‘no more poverty’ slogan? That you can’t somehow manage to implement the same laws and regulations in the same country? Which is a huge shame. There are also now only 750 girls per 1000 boys born up north, looks like they kill off a few too many. In other states it's up to 900 something per 1000 - there's no wars on, so no men dying in their droves, so stop killing the girls yeah?
The papers also inform me that I missed the a giant book fair and some other major concerts, all happening whilst I was too busy wandering about aimlessly and making sense of the Alien tongue translations. Then again it’s fashion week in London when I’m back so surely avoiding a book fair or a few gigs was the right thing to do. I also realise have not written much about temples and art but I’m still templed out from a few years back. I now visit them but can’t be examining them in any great details and boring you with it would be unforgivable. Was reading Geoff Dyer’s and his ‘Yoga for people who can’t be bothered to do it’ and he says the same in some much better phrase. Top travel observations too. Though his are generally influenced by heavy use of dope and mine aren’t. But he never got to wonder why Indian babies don’t wear nappies and yet never seem dirty. Their mothers must have a sixth sense of when it’s all about to come out and act accordingly. He also never wonders why said babies/toddlers never seem to cry much or have tantrums or can spend hours on a train with no toys to play with. Or whether florists exist in these parts as I never saw one and at some point had a craving for roses, tulips and something that wasn’t jasmine.
posted by Lisa Taylor @ 6:04 AM
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