A Reflection from September 7th, 2015
Our incredible professor in Delhi, Sunil Kumar, lead us through a very conventional, western-style mall today. The inside was extremely clean, brightly lit up, air-conditioned, and consisted of expensive stores and Western brands. We walked through, used the bathroom (which was very clean, western-style, had toilet paper), and then left to go a street market just a couple of minutes away. This market was outdoors, loud, in the dirt, and consisted of “ma and pa” shops and stands. Vendors were sitting on the ground or with a cart, selling everything from clothing and toys to fruits and vegetables. The stark contrast between these two sites, located right next to each other, brought up a lot for me–emotionally, and critically.
I had a great talk with Abby about how uneasy we actually felt in the mall. The bright lights and strangely familiar smell haunted us. It was obvious that we were in a place that as Americans we “fit into” culturally, but we are so repulsed by the consumeristic, stereotypical, sanitized Western notion of beauty and livelihood– and were uncomfortable about the reality that we are connected to it. For example, the vast majority of the models in the mall white women. Complicating my feelings, Sunil mentioned that these more sanitized shopping spaces both provide easier, often safer, means of acquiring goods, but also are taking business away from the poor, local merchants.
Despite whatever discomfort or skepticism I felt comparing these two places, and despite economic changes taking place, no one can deny that these two locations are very different. Moreover, their close proximity highlights the contrast even more. This got me thinking about juxtaposition, and how so much of our time in Delhi has centered around comparing the past and present, the Hindu faith and the Muslim, the historical sites and the modern development around them, men and women, India and the West. The list goes on. Even just visually, India is full of these contradictory images. I encountered elephants in the street next to modern cars. I see women in colorful, traditional saris, next to youth in jeans and t-shirts. I will step out of an expensive hotel and see beggars on the street with no limbs and no food. These stark differences can’t be ignored. It is through this dualistic discernment that we’ve been able to define and attempt to rationalize what we have been seeing. It is through this juxtaposition that our most important questions arise. I am also realizing though, much due to Sunil’s guidance, that it is important not to lose sight of the nuances.
Juxtaposition is apparent all over India, and we can observe this and learn from it, but we must remember to take it a step further and ask where those dividing lines blur to allow ourselves to see the multiplicity of realities converging. We must remember that we are outsiders looking in, and with that we are bound to bring bias, stereotypes, and generalizations. These communities and locations we are contrasting aren’t as homogeneous as our initial thoughts may lead us to believe. There isn’t just the wealthy and the poor– caste and class and many other factors create a spectrum of differences in income, socioeconomic positioning, and social standards. There are many different ways to practice Hinduism and Islam; these faiths can be compared and contrasted, but never in a definitive way that encapsulates all versions and all people within them (not to mention the abundance of other religions India is also home to). All of these seemingly opposing realities are part of a bigger picture, wrapped up in varying time, locations, and traditions.
While strolling through the street market by the Western mall, Sunil bought fruits and vegetables from the street vendors, but told us that Anjali, his wife, prefers buying lentils from the store because they are cleaner, better quality, and a better price. They don’t have to choose one or the other location to shop. They support both. These economies are coexisting and are interwoven for many people, both competing with and supporting each other. While in India, we can’t help but use juxtaposition to make sense of our experiences, but we must–especially as scholars–take it further, to include intersectionality and multiplicity with whatever it is we are analyzing. To do otherwise is to undermine the rich diversity that makes India the unique and complicated center of life that it is.