weekend in Delhi
I brought my aunt Mira’s illicit cargo to Delhi and achieved all my goals for the weekend: see Robyn, Ravi and go to the beauty salon at IIT Gate. I went to the plenary session for the Women and Health conference Mira was attending and heard a presentation by a Filipina woman who was forced into the ‘comfort’ service by the Japanese military. She was married for 50 years and never told her husband.
I also wanted to write about economics, especially the economics of cycle rickshaw wallas, but I don’t have a lot of time. Here are the basics: it costs 400 rupees a month to rent a rickshaw (a new one costs 8,000, the exch rate is 44 rp to $1 ). On average they ride about 100 km a day, but a lot of that is not with fares. Most of their fares are taking children to and from school. You can go about 4km for 50 rupees. If there is a crash, the rickshaw wallas don’t have insurance and have to pay for damage out of their own pocket. There are no cycle rickshaw unions, though there are for bus drivers and tempos. Cycle rickshaws have been ubiquitous in Indian cities since about the 1980s.
Now on a personal note: while biking to school last week I saw a rickshaw walla stop at the big pile of trash and look for food. It was about 8:30 am. It struck me, later, while talking to John: this is why New Orleans is not big news here, or even very interesting.
A lot of the Lucknow we see is that of the streets. On the way to school, to shop for food, and back home. It’s the Lucknow of outside public spaces.
I have to give a presentation tomorrow on the northeastern states, where I will probably spend my fall break. Soon I’ll figure out how to get the photos off my computer and on to the internet. One that I wish I got: Two men carrying a 40 foot bamboo ladder by bike, one on each end, navigating the chaotic intersections without hesitation.
