The “P” Word- “In every place in every country.”

It is probably impossible to see India and not feel the need to talk about poverty. I wanted to wait as long as I could to observe and ask questions before I blogged about what it was like for me to witness poverty I saw from town to town. I hesitate even now of course because I know I don’t have enough information and experience to make an assessment, but i am writing about it because it was part of my awareness, part of my trip.

I am from Baltimore City and I know poverty is a complex story. When I drive down Pennsylvania Ave in my hometown and I witness the abandoned buildings and what I think of as the "living dead"-- black men barely standing on the corner in a stupor, I know the whole story- the part that is about past sins and recent events, the part that is about the government, about parenting, about personal responsibility, about personality, about the drug trade, about the “conspiracy” against black men, etc. So be forwarned, I don’t know those things about India, so any theory I put together is fraught with ignorance and probably racism.

So mostly what I have is a bunch of questions:

How different is poverty in India from poverty in the U.S.? I think about a song on India Irie’s latest album called, “Ghetto,” where she says:

"...there are places in Havanah that remind me of Savannah, parts of West Virginia that might as well be Kenya… parts of Tennessee that look like another world to me… to be hungry in LA is just like starving in Bombay… the ghetto might as well be another country… if you look around you live in another country too…it is in every place in every country… if you look around do you see your brother when you look around, it’s a small world after all…"

So why does it seem different to me? Is it the scale- just so many people? Is it the level of poverty- people living under a poverty level that I can’t conceive of – some reports say 250 million making only 20 rupees a day, that’s less than 50 cents. The average income per capita in 2008 was $977.

Is it that the basic standard of living in the U.S. is so much higher and our general infrastructure, government programs and assistance are better because our government has more money and we have fewer people to take care of? Is it that our middle class is much larger than those who are really poor here? Truthfully i don't know our numbers and in this recent economic downturn, who knows? i do know the gap between the really wealthy and everyone else has been growing.

Until I got to the Mumbai slums, I thought it might be that the poverty isn’t clumped in India, it’s everywhere, sitting among the temples, the buildings, the train stations, the farms, the small stores, whereas in the U.S. we try to keep our poor people all in the same place, which means that if you don’t go to that neighborhood, you don’t really know those people exist. I remember when I was in law school, there was this amazing photo exhibit going around where a guy had gone to the south and taken pictures of poverty in the rural areas in the southern U.S. It was arresting and i realized that i had forgotten these people existed. I was hermetically sealed in the leafy town of Cambridge. Like at some point, when i wasn't paying attention, someone fixed that whole "poor thing"; after all, look at the TV and the commercials. Everyone is working hard to make sure they have the right mop for their beautiful kitchen floors, the best food for their cute pets and the perfect shampoo for their troublesome hair. It was a reminder to me that what we advertise as America is not the only America. By the way, Indian TV is looking a lot like US TV with one exception; there is a cricket game on at all times on Indian TV.

One thing that I noted and I was not alone, some Indians that I spoke to voiced the same observation-- I don’t see the anger and frustration in India that I would expect, i guess based on what i see in the U.S. I don’t want to go as far as to say, the poor are happy. That sounds like, “the slaves were really happy; they were always dancing and singing.” I hate that. But I do think there is a level of acceptance. Some say it probably has to do with religion and the belief that if you live a good life now, you get a better one later. Fate is something they believe in.

The people i saw are moving, they are living, they are going to temple/mosque/church with their families, they want to work; if they have work to do, no matter how difficult or menial. In the US, I think there is resentment and anger if you don't have- is it because of those commercials? everyone wants, thinks they should have a shiny new car and a big house with a fabulous kitchen? Is that about the American Dream? Is there an Indian dream? What does it entail?

Also, I know some people point to small and large scale corruption in the Indian government as a reason for slower progres in the betterment of Indian lives, but that doesn’t seem that different from the US right?

I don’t know, but I see on the streets, towns, cities and countryside a great deal of pride, surety, vibrancy and fertility of all kinds.

The professor we spoke to said that some days she thinks India is never going to get it together and other days she meets some woman who is from a lower social economic class who travels 5 hours everyday to take a course to improve herself as a teacher and who has managed to raise two kids who are doing well in the best schools in India and abroad. She also said that while people are open and tolerant of course there have been recent trouble between radical Hindus and others and they are still recovering from those troubles in Mumbai. The Lonely Planet says there are major HIV/AIDS, prostitution, child labor issues, etc.

So India is not perfect, but it is perfecting and it was my great fortune to be able to experience all of its richness even amidst its struggle.
I feel blessed to have had the chance to be there and India is now in my prayers (that's a lot of folks to pray for) :))
I think i have one more blog entry in me- stay tuned. Also if you have answers/thoughts to any of the above questions, I'm interested.