In the traditional Indian culture marriage is a symbol of adulthood. It is one of the greatest happenings in life and is celebrated with big parties where everyone are invited. The marriage is seen as essential for most of the people and are mostly arranged by bride -and groom’s parents. When looking for a bride or groom there are different important things to look for. Social status, wealth, and reproduction genes.

There are a lot of different ways and traditions when it comes to marriage depending on where in India you are from, and what kind of social status you have, rural or urban etc. Many parents start looking for a bride or groom when their child is between 17-23 but some decide when the child is new born. They ask their friends and relatives for tips or look in the newspapers for someone suitable. In the south it is even common to marry your cousin or uncle, which is often decided when the child is just a couple of years old. Some families arrange ”tours” where the son or daughter meet as many as possible. In the end either the parents or their child gets to decide who suits them best. There are both negative and positive things with this kind of relationship of course. I believe that many people in the west looks at the arranged marriages with disbelief. But still, this kind of relationship might be a deeper one that the ones we are used to in the west. There might be feelings that have been developed during many years without any disturbing affection that sometimes tells us a lie?

The matrimonial culture is deeply rooted within the Indian population and many girls know that they will never be able to date someone without permission from their parents. Sex is forbidden without marriage.

With this background in mind the new technology will twist a lot of things. There are still many Indians that have never used a computer or Internet. This because the range of computers is not enough. A computer is still very expensive for most of the people and Internet is not common if you are not in a bigger city. Basically, Internet in India is still public for a lot of people. When people can get online in private spaces a whole new world will open up. I believe that many people will start a search that has never been there before. The need for a husband or wife will be replaced by a want for something else. Something that will be available online. A superficial world that sometimes can be very shallow. The porn industry will get an opportunity to grow big, earning a lot of money. The ideals will change into something new. There will be no boundaries between countries which will give a new face to trafficking.
The arranged marriages are already on the Internet which means that more people will be able to see what kind of opportunities they have to chose. Facebook is huge in India and people are talking to eachother and new people each and every day. This will widen their thoughts about what love and sex is. Internet decreases the space we have between eachother. Men and women will be able to date people online without their parents knowing about it.

http://www.indiabook.com/matrimonial/

This will take a while since there are still so many places in rural India that won’t be able to use a computer in many years. A lot of Indians already have mobile phones, and those who don’t will have it in a couple of years since the prices are decreasing. Mobile phones will make people more reachable but also less reachable psysically. Laptops, mobile phones and tv’s could be a threat to relationships. Studies that have been made proves that just having a television in your bedroom can cut your sex life in half. If this problem gets to India, who are known to hold onto their family values, who would know what happens to the traditions. Anarchy?

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/In-Dharavi-a-celebration-of-dreams-unlimited/308243/

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1163631

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080049580

Min bästa film från Pangea:

More – By Mark Osborne

Igår träffade vi Tom och Virginia från den stora organisationen Pangea. De var imponerade av vårt arbete och filmade ett klipp som de lagt upp på officiella Pangeasidan. Riktigt kul!

Kolla på det HÄR. (http://share.ovi.com/media/PangeaDay.film/matthewtrost.10002?sort=5)

Ser verkligen fram emot att få se Pangea ikväll och veta att jag och miljoner andra människor världen över ser på samma sak. Den tanken är riktigt sweet.

Kolla på det ni med. Tyvärr ser det inte ut som det sänds på ngn kanal i Sverige. Men det är bara att klicka in er på Pangeas sida där det livesänds från hela världens stora event.

Rastafari-kabel, Inga Konstigheter.

Som sagt, jag klippte mig. Det blev jättefult. Frisören var duktig men han ville inte riktigt klippa sig som jag trott. Jag ser nu ut som en dålig version av Posh Spice eller Jessica från Arlöv. Ni får själv bestämma. Halvlång lugg och skitkort i nacken. Inte snyggt nånstans. Orkar inte riktigt bry mig och gör istället en indisk huvudrörelse. Ska förresten filma den rörelsen och lägga upp så alla fattar. Plus att jag ska importera den och sprida den i Malmö, Sverige, Europa, Världen. Tänkte iaf klippa om mig där hemma istället.

I fredagskväll la jag mig i sängen…och blev liggande. Har sovit och sovit, fastat pga mahsjuka, haha jag menar magsjuka. Har sett klart Entourage plus ngn film, haft feber, clearance med gruppen och ätit chips. Köpt en ny mobil med nr för ca 200 kr, testat den sjuka ficklampan som är inbyggd i mobilen och skrattat och insett att jag nog behöver glasögon.

Vaknade idag klockan 7 och var pigg och frisk. Helt underbart. Strax blir det frukost på Basilico med gruppen men innan dess så får ni mitt nya nr:

+91 98 67 45 22 01

Vi har medverkat på en ungdomsfestival som heter Yuva Vididha i torsdags, fredags och har några där idag också. Festivalen handlar om ny teknik och att lära sig genom nya medel och vi har haft 2 bord där. Det ena med vårt projekt ”I have  dream” – där barn målar vad de drömmer om. Och det andra med vårt movement ”Say it out loud” – där folk i alla åldrar filmas när de säger vad de vill förändra i världen. Vi fick massor av fina teckningar och jättemånga fina filmklipp. Kolla Kolla!

Alltså  – sayitoutloud08.wordpress.com

Det blev väldigt uppskattat och i slutet av första dagen hade vi 99 hits på vår sida. Sprid budskapet och gör en video även du!

Fick en skön Delhi-belly igår och ligger lite smått utslagen just nu. Plus när vi åkte taxi hem från Bandra och Yuva Vividha gled min mobil ur min ficka och landade i en av 19 000 taxibilar som finns här i stan. Ringde upp mitt nummer men avstängt. Gone gone gone. Och gone gone gone är alla mina indiska kontakter jag samlat på mig under min tid här. Jag är lite matt. Ska fixa en ny skräpmobil på gatan inom några dagar, dvs när jag orkar släpa mig upp ur sängen. Tills dess finns jag här på internet.

Börjar bli aningen hungrig men tror jag kan mätta hungern med lite Entourage. Såg förresten en fantastiskt bra film igår som heter Awake. Jag grät ungefär halva tiden, haha. Tror det var en blandning av trötthet och en saknad av min Wille. Snyft snyft. Plus att jag tyckte filmen var vacker.

Godnatt igen.

According to what I’ve been observing I find it difficult to answer the question if India will learn from what Ron Pompei calls ”the missteps of the West”. My answer is yes but in a long time but still I find it is a huge question and all I want to do is wobble my head just like the Indians probably would have done.

First of all, I don’t believe that India as a whole feel the growth of the country. In big part of India people do not know anything about the world outside of India. Some of the people do not know nothing about anything. All they know is that they don’t know anything. Alas, they do not know about any missteps of the West or in India. As in many other systems that develops there has already been a lot of missteps in India. For example: How can a country that is becoming one of the super powers in the world still have a population where 1/4 are poor? (living of less than 1 dollar per day)

I think India could develop into a very conscious and sustainable country but to spread this knowledge throughout the whole country will take generations, because of the geographic and cultural size of the country. There is a modern India, which already shows a very sustainable side of the country but the part is too small compared to the size of the country.

In Bombay and other metropolitan cities, the picture of ”the West” is reflected very strongly. There are many people that mimic the western world. People at the call centers speak English with an American accent. People wear Levis-jeans and trendy t-shirts. They drink coffee and order take-away food. They try food from all around the world and drink Evian water. The young modern Indians drink beer and liquor. They smoke weed and take kokain. They are not religious like India as a whole. Imagine if the whole county with 1 billion people would start adapting this behaviour. 1 million people doing drugs regurarly. Could be a great problem, but they are not there yet, which means that they will not realize this problem until it hits them in the face.

At the Japanese restaurant at the big 5-star hotel Taj Mahal they buy the tuna at the famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo and ship it to Bombay, which is not the most environmental friendly thing to do. This happens on a weekly or maybe even daily basis. The 1 lakh (3000 dollar) car will soon be out on the market which means that many people will be able to own a car, which in turn will mean more pollution. Many of the modern Indians want to have 2-3-4 cars just like the Americans already have had the chance to have for 50 years. Should India be pushed down to save the world? Should India keep their pollution level down when the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto agreement? We in the West can’t tell the Indian population to keep their carbon discharge down because of the missteps we have already done. To do that would be to hinder a natural development and could even lead to a Third World War.

The right thing should be to accept what is happening but make it into a green development. A development that Indians could be proud over. I don’t believe that this should come from us, but from the Indians themselves. There are a lot of people that want to change things in India, and India and the whole world should listen to them and make India a great example for the rest of the world.
I believe that countries develop in different ways. There is no right way or any rules to follow. Look at Cuba for example, a country that many people think is terrible because of Castro, and still it hits 69 on the ”Happy Planet Index”. (Sweden gets an average of 38 )

The missteps a country makes is their personal misstep and it does not matter if another country has done the same misstep before. You have to make the misstep yourself to understand the meaning of it. You have to burn your hand on the stove as a child before you understand that you should keep away from it. To keep away from it can mean that you stay out of the kitchen or stay 5 meters away from it – it’s up to you.

As I mentioned before I believe in the young population in the cities. They want to change India. (Take a look at our project SayItOutLoud to see some things the people want to change) They want to stop pollution and open people’s minds. They start Facebook groups about several different causes. They start movements in the newspaper about the pollution of Mumbai. They write blogs about the problems in India. They start NGO’s to help implement solutions for the problems. Among the young people you find many social entrepreneurs with a big action competence and ability to make things happen. The answer is empowernment, which is already going on. By empowering people you can both keep the cultural enheritage and sustain the income for people in the rural areas for example. India is up and coming but it will take a while. We all have to be patient, the boom has just started.

Gatan utanför mitt hem

Folket som bor på trottoaren utanför mitt hem. Varför just där?

Sopbilen stannar där vilket gör att de kan samla på sig saker att tjäna en hacka på.

Min favoritnudelsoppa, 7 kr

På denna supermarketen handlar jag bananer

De här chipsen äter jag

Detta pendeltåg tar jag mig runt i stan med

Här tvättas mina och alla andras kläder. 7000 män jobbar här varje dag.

Så här många indier åker tåg

Titta, en vit!

Så här vill jag ha det hela tiden. Paradis.

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