Sunday, February 23, 2014

Hostel night


Yesterday was the "Hostel night" for a friend's dormitory. He cordially invited me and another person from our program, which was very nice of him. "Hostel night" means that each person can buy tickets to attend a fancy-schmancy dinner that is coordinated for the residents of that dormitory. The food was quite good. I managed to eat too much and didn't end up staying for the dance party afterwards but it was an okay night



The theme was apparently "nostalgia" which I didn't really understand but I guess makes sense if you've lived in the hostel for more than this year...

The night got quite crowded. So many people in their fancy clothes eating their fancy food in the fancy atmosphere.
I quite liked this piece of art made of colored powder on the ground. It's very transitory and to me represents the fact that nothing is permanent. I'm sick right now and not in the best mood so it was a nice reminder at the end of the night. 


Monday, February 17, 2014

Free Tibet

This Sunday, I had the interesting opportunity to visit the Tibetan Refugee Colony in North Delhi. Now, when one hears the word "refugee", a number of connotations spring to mind. I went into this thinking about the systems of power that cause oppressions like the statelessness of refugees and without a real, tangible image of what refugees actually are: human beings. Our tour guide answered our questions about the difficult political situation between Tibet and China and helped me to get a much better understanding of their relationship and the lives of the people living here.
Part of our trip included visiting the headquarters for the Delhi chapter of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT). There we were educated about the fact that the Indian government has given land to Tibetan people so that they can live and work within their communities. This has made organizing easier, as there are Tibetan schools, hospitals, and other such infrastructures within India. Our tour guide explained to us a number of issues that ultimately make it easier for the central Chinese government to exercise their imperialism over the Tibetan people and region. One thing that he mentioned was that, as he is studying at JNU (like me) he is technically not allowed to return to his home country. This struck a chord in me because, while I am not in a comparable situation bureaucratically or politically, I, too, have not seen my family for a long time and will most likely not see them for a while longer...but I suppose that is an issue I can address in another blog post. 

After all was said and done, we went to a nice Tibetan restaurant and had many delicious dishes, family style. Everything was yummy and satisfying and was a good end to our vacation within/away from Delhi.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Pleasant

What a week! Things have been quite eventful for me here at JNU. I started off the week normally, going to classes and whatnot. Then Tuesday there was Puja, a festival celebrating the beginning of springtime:

Thursday was also an interesting day. It started off normally but then around 3, the President of Germany gave a speech at the convention center here on campus. I wasn't terribly interested in what he had to say (politics blahblahblah) but I was interested in the rhetorical ritual of the whole event. One could easily see his background as a pastor in the way that he spoke. The whole speech centered around India and Germany as strategical business partners, which I think glossed over a lot of systemic issues. Oh well, it was a nice thing to see and I ended up being on German television (for literally one second) because of it. 
He's the one in the middle...ya know, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany...NBD.

Then Friday I went to an LGBT talk given by a group called DHANAK here on campus. I didn't realize there would be such a thing, given the heteronormative, exclusionary nature of what I've seen of Indian culture.There were 4 speakers: two of which who left a bit to be desired and two of which who were amazing. 

There was also a musical performance group associated with DHANAK, which makes me want to get involved even more. We'll see how that goes, I guess. One thing that I noticed about the whole event was even though it's supposed to be a Queer community, there was definitely an in-group/out-group dynamic that left me feeling a bit excluded. People knowing/socializing only with each other, Panelists speaking Hindi (or Bengali)...it wasn't as much of the "home" (as one Panelist put it) as we'd all like, I suppose. I think it might have a bit to do with my personality but, oh well, I had a pleasant time nonetheless. 

Saturday was also quite cool. I went to our specially organized Hindi lesson, which ended up not happening. However, we decided on a new time that would be more convenient than Saturday morning. Went to my Arabic class afterwards, which was so productive. The teacher also wants me to teach him the basics of Spanish, which would be great because I feel a bit like I'm getting more out of the arrangement then he is. Language reciprocity!

That afternoon, there was also an event arranged by the Music Club. I hadn't realized there was a music club (they even have instruments!) here on campus. The room was nicely decorated and the performances were interesting for the most part. I'm hoping to get involved in some sort of music while I'm here. I didn't bring my trumpets for nothing!

All in all, this week has been great. Doing a lot, learning a lot experiencing a lot. That's why I started this adventure. 


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Political life


 The student body at this campus is very, very active in terms of political activism. Here is a photo of a performance of revolutionary songs and speeches. It's nice to be on campus and really get to see and be involved in all of the happenings.
I must admit, the campus does seem to be a bit of a bubble. It's different from the rest of Delhi (a lot safer, not as much glaring poverty, etc.) This also means getting outside of JNU is a bit of a trek. Last weekend, a few of us went to protest several injustices within India that coincided with "Republic Day", a very patriotic celebration of India's constitution
On the way to the counter-parade, we saw a lot of Indian flags as well as floats. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of the floats but they were pretty extravagant. 


Here is a picture of the symbol of the theme of this march. I really love how inclusive it is, with many aspects of the diversity of the country represented visually. Many organizations came together to protest the patriarchal, systemic injustices perpetuated by the government and some of the people of India. One of the many important issues addressed by the movement was Section 377, a portion of the constitution that criminalizes "sexual acts against the orders of nature". The language of the actual section of the penal code doesn't specify the "criminals" against which it acts but the law seems to ignore any possible application towards heterosexual sex acts (or even sex acts between two women) and stigmatizes male/male interactions. Unfortunately, there was a review of this section on the 28th of January that was dismissed by the Indian Supreme court and I'm not entirely sure what happens now. Hopefully, the people who are fighting this intense battle will turn out victorious.