The Lake Palace in Udaipur, now a Taj hotel (we did not stay here).
Kumbalgarh Fort - the journey there was as marvelous as the fort itself!
Ranakpur Temple, a 15th century marble Jain temple.
I know I know - I can't resist the food pictures! This one is of my extremely large and tasty Rajasthani Thaali.I returned from my trip from to the north in time to celebrate the new year in Chennai with an evening of Bharatanatyam dance (traditional Tamil Nadu style) and a visit to my favorite South Indian restaurant, the Murugan Idli House, where a delicious New Years dinner for two ended up costing us the equivalent of $4.
Many people are asking me about the cost of living so I thought I'd write about that topic a little. The dollar goes a long way here. In general I find that most things cost anywhere between one-tenth to one-fifth of the price of a comparable product in the States. My observation is that agricultural products and goods and services that are labor-intensive cost more like one-tenth. Some examples: a good lunch in a nice, air-conditioned restaurant costs about 60 Rupees or $1.25. A small cup of chai or coffee is around 5 Rupees ($.10). My morning trip to the fruit stand, yielding two pomegranates, two guavas, one papaya, and 10 small bananas, cost 80 Rupees ($1.75). Rent for a "posh" two bedroom western-style flat is around 15,000 Rupees per month ($300). The only things I've found with roughly equivalent cost are: 1)dried pasta 2)cocktails at a fancy hotel bar (both are purchased almost exclusively by foreigners).
A few words also about what I've learned people earn: a well-paid domestic worker working every day 4 hours per day may earn 1000 Rupees ($20) per month (note this is far less than one-tenth the US equivalent wage). The college-educated coordinators at my NGO earn 10,000 Rupees ($200) per month. It is not surprising that many Indians see Westerners and assume that their big backpacks are stuffed full of cash. When discussing this assumption with some colleagues, they were genuinely shocked to learn that there are poor people and homeless people in America.
It's hard not to want to help people here by giving handouts when American dollars go such a long way. But is it appropriate to do so? My observation is that giving handouts has a number of adverse effects:
-perpetuates a mentality of dependence
-handouts actually reinforce social inequality because they are distributed unequally
-encourages parents to use their children for begging
-handouts may allow the giver to feel good and move on, while doing little to truly alleviate suffering.
I'm interested to hear others' views since this is a topic I've been thinking about quite a lot.
2 comments:
Almost every kid asks me for a pen. I've gotten all Kafkaesque about it (Aaron Kafka, that is) and if they ask me for a pen I ask them for a chocolate (which is usually the second request after a pen). It kills me not to hand out a school supply, but I don't.
Kiril (the boyfriend) and I met a young man and and his grandmother last week. The grandmother is acting in a movie that I'm doing a small part in. The grandson was sharply dressed in jeans, a button-down, and new sneakers. Over the course of two hours he asked me if he could have my sunglasses, have my water, use my cell phone, or have Kiril's sunglasses. His grandmother cut to the chase and asked for rupees. It was the first time I was asked for money by someone seemingly well-off and it was surprising. And uncomfortable.
That's funny nobody's ever asked me for a pen before. But lots of complete strangers ask to drink from my water bottle. I'm good at saying no to that one.
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