I've been here almost two weeks, and I've had the chance to discover some unexpectedly lovely parts of India. Mumbai is more than twice as dense as New York city. Obviously it is crowded, but with that comes a sense of communality. Maybe at times, every man is for himself, but I sense togetherness at many turns. The women in my group have traveled from Thane to Mumbai in the all-female compartment of the train, and every time a spot opens up on a bench, our fellow passengers frantically look around for someone who is standing to fill it. Actually, the train-bench-standing choreography seems very intricate, and I don't understand it yet. It involves asking people where they're getting off and shifting up and down benches. The women are so curious as to what we are doing here, how long we're staying, whether we like it here, and whether the food is too spicy (affirmative). I played tic-tac-toe with a girl sitting next to me, and the surrounding crowd was rapt. She was good, too. She trapped me a couple times.
It is not uncommon to see a man casually draping his arm over another man's shoulders, walking with interlocked elbows, or even hand in hand, sometimes fingers intertwined. It was startling, at first, and now I can't stop myself from smiling whenever I see it. Viraj, our Hindi teacher, said it's something that friends do, a sign of affection, and that it doesn't signify a sexual relationship. While there are aspects of Indian society that are hard for me to swallow, I love the idea of platonic physical expression, especially between men. Alternatively, maybe they hold hands because otherwise, they'd lose each other on the crowded streets.
I mentioned how much I love the hand holding here, and I received mixed enthusiasm from my co-volunteers. So in related news, it turns out I am quite liberal! I've had several fascinating conversations about the role of women in Judaism, and on feminism in general. Having grown up and spent most of my adult life in Massachusetts and in relatively open Jewish communities, I had been taking tenets of my life perspective for granted, at least among other westerners. At home, I was probably the most religious Jew many of my coworkers had ever met, and here, I could be a heretic. Who knew!
Finally, one of our group shared a booklet of thoughts from the former chief rabbi of England, and the whole book is basically a quote-mine. Profound stuff. I especially like this though:
It is not uncommon to see a man casually draping his arm over another man's shoulders, walking with interlocked elbows, or even hand in hand, sometimes fingers intertwined. It was startling, at first, and now I can't stop myself from smiling whenever I see it. Viraj, our Hindi teacher, said it's something that friends do, a sign of affection, and that it doesn't signify a sexual relationship. While there are aspects of Indian society that are hard for me to swallow, I love the idea of platonic physical expression, especially between men. Alternatively, maybe they hold hands because otherwise, they'd lose each other on the crowded streets.
I mentioned how much I love the hand holding here, and I received mixed enthusiasm from my co-volunteers. So in related news, it turns out I am quite liberal! I've had several fascinating conversations about the role of women in Judaism, and on feminism in general. Having grown up and spent most of my adult life in Massachusetts and in relatively open Jewish communities, I had been taking tenets of my life perspective for granted, at least among other westerners. At home, I was probably the most religious Jew many of my coworkers had ever met, and here, I could be a heretic. Who knew!
Finally, one of our group shared a booklet of thoughts from the former chief rabbi of England, and the whole book is basically a quote-mine. Profound stuff. I especially like this though:
"Hard times remind us what good times tend to make us forget: where we came from, who we are, and why we are here. That's why hard times are the best times to plant the seeds of future happiness."
--Letters to the Next Generation, Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
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