Yup. That’s me. Alone again, naturally. Rae has
gone to the US to help Becca and Ben with Isabel and to see all the family. I
will be joining her in about six weeks but for now, I am back to where I was a
year ago. In India. Alone. I am grateful we had frequent flyer miles so she
could go be with and support family. I am looking forward to joining them also
but for now: alone again, naturally.
We passed a milestone this week, one year in
India. That’s hard to believe. As is often the case in such situations, it
simultaneously seems much longer and shorter than that. Overall I am pleased
with what we have accomplished at MAII/Stratford, although we haven’t reached
the point I had hoped. I have enjoyed the service we have given in the Church
and the relationships we have made. We have been able to see some amazing
sights. I am learning more continually about the culture of India, and more
clearly identifying the aspects I just don’t understand. I am disappointed I
haven’t learned more Hindi than I have. I had hoped and assumed my
understanding and ability to use Hindi would be much more by now that I have
achieved. Overall, I would rate our impact a C+ or B- at this point. We still
have time to raise that performance.
Well, moving from my report card to politics.
Some of you will know I enjoy following politics. I am not political, per se, I
haven’t actively campaigned for anyone in many years, but I enjoy observing the
process and predicting what will happen. At one time in my life, I was excited
about getting involved in politics and thought I might someday end up running
for Congress. I am well passed that; I have no interest in the mud fest that
typifies US politics. However, I still enjoy studying the process, the give and
take, and policy debates. I guess I am somewhat like someone who enjoys
football but isn’t a fan of a particular team.
So now here in India, we are in the middle of an
election cycle (Thursday all businesses were closed for elections) and I have
enjoyed watching this process as well. I don’t understand all the fine details
of Indian politics by any means but I can identify and understand the broad
strategies the different parties and Parties are using. In some ways I think I
have the same relationship with Indian politics that I have with the great
passion of India, cricket. I don’t know all of the teams and players; I don’t
know the fine points of the game; but, I understand enough to generally
understand what is going on. Here’s a very brief primer.
On a national level, India has a President who is
the head of state and a Prime Minister, who is the head of the government.
There are two houses of Parliament the upper house that is elected by the
states and the lower house that is elected by the country as a whole. State and
local governments probably have more impact on the day to day life of Indians
than the national government. The relationship between the states and the
national government (and ostensibly everything having to do with politics and
governance for that matter) is controlled by a written constitution. The
constitution does have a huge impact, but from my observation, it appears in
this as in other matters that relationships are at least equally important. The
great commonality of Indian politics at all level is corruption. There is an
assumption (that I think is pretty well founded) that most politicians are
corrupt.
There are more political parties here than we
have in the US. There are six (I believe) national political parties including
two formally recognized communist parties. The big hitter is the Congress party
(formally Indian National Congress) which has been the dominant party since
before independence. It is the party of the Gandhis and Nehrus. The largest
counterweight, opposition party is BJP (Bharatiya
Janata Party). In the years that India has been an independently governed
country, as noted, Congress Party has primarily been in control. Periodically,
BJP has been able to ride nationalistic trends into power but even when they
have won enough seats to select the Prime Minister, they haven’t typically been
able to hold power through the typical five year cycle.
This is one of those
times that many observers believe BJP will break through. They have a very
charismatic leader, Narendra Modi (no relationship with the Modi family with
whom I work, or at least not closely related). He was able to lead a somewhat
economically backward state into a vibrant powerhouse. Many people believe he
can do the same for the country as a whole. There is baggage: Modi is accused
of (take your pick) arranging, sanctioning, turning a blind eye to an attack by
Hindus on Muslims in his state that led to the death of 2000 Muslims.
Given this last point,
there are many Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities who are
concerned with the kind of protection they might enjoy in a BJP government. On
the other hand, the economy in India has been bad enough, for long enough,
there are many people who looking for a new approach and think that a Modi led
government could be just that.
It takes over a month
for the election process to roll out across the entire country. It will be interesting
to see what the outcome will be and what impact, if any, the possible government
change will have on what we are trying to accomplish. BJP is quite nationalist
and in the past when they have been in power, outside investment and business
has been discouraged if not banned.
Shifting from politics
to religion (I know, I know; the two topics that should never be discussed).
Last weekend was the semi-annual General Conference for our church, The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For India, given the 11.5 hour time
difference between here and Utah, Conference is shown the following weekend.
This I knew from previous Conferences. I also knew that there were a small
group of people here in India who translate the Conference addresses into Hindi
so that those who do not understand English can hear the Conference in their
own language.
This is what I did not
know. This small group was online, real time with the Conference Center in Salt
Lake. With copies of the talks in front of them, and listening to the speakers,
they translate the addresses into Hindi. The translation is simultaneously relayed
back to the Conference Center in Salt Lake into the headphones of Hindi
speakers and recorded for future asynchronous listening and watching. Somehow the idea of a small cell of people in
India, being connected to a conference half way around the world, providing
simultaneous translation for that conference blows my mind. Conference is available
I over 80 languages. I have to assume this same process is being followed all
over the world. Amazing.
So, let me end this
blog entry with a little sugar. Here is the latest picture of the newest member
of our family, Isabel. Too bad she's not beautiful.
Namaste.
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