Collaboration workshop with Gallatin - NYU

View From The Top.

Looking back on this trip, I am reminded of the back blurb of a suspense novel. Something like, “...now see how these seemingly unconnected events, places and people come together and weave a whole new meaning as you read along.” In my opinion the trip was something very similar to that description because of all the zooming in and zooming out we did. A monolithic rock sixty kilometres from Bangalore city, an organisation working on employment and income generation in a backward district in Kerala, a bustling flower market, interaction with students from NYU. How are these things connected? Do they come together?

Through the course we had numerous discussions about development, globalisation and culture. These discussions threw open more questions than answers. I began to see how the geography, topology and past of a place are very much the reason for the present of that place and is also definitely determinant of the future of it. It seemed as though I was time travelling during the Bangalore heritage walk with Arun Pai. I learnt things about Bangalore that I didn’t know about even after living here my whole life. I thought about how my great grand parents must have been outsiders to this land when they migrated here and how I feel as much an insider now because of that.

When we went up to the top of the Savandurga rock there was one point from which a three sixty degree view of the topography was possible. It was a splendid sight. I could see a big catchment area, few smaller water bodies and vast expanses of land. In that vast expanse a small portion was Bangalore. This is when I started thinking about perspectives. How Bangalore is just a patch of buildings looking at it from upon the rock, but how it is so huge and busy, looking at it from inside. We had been talking about macro and micro with the Gallatin folk and along the trip, many such examples came up. Throughout the trip I also kept in mind that three sixty degree view and subconsciously tried to apply it in every place and event I witnessed.

Applying the three sixty degree view on development, globalisation and culture especially was a very difficult task. In fact, there are so many aspects to consider for each, many that I am not aware of, that it was an impossible task. Is development measured in numbers? Is it a mere statistic? If it is not measured by Gross Domestic Product or per capita, what should it be measured by? Happiness? Security? Power? Freedom?

During a discussion with my group mates for the final presentation, all three of us agreed that development is not only monetary. Ideally, overall development of an individual or a community is what everyone needs. But in a country like India, with its population only increasing, this can only be ideal. Who takes the responsibility for development? Where does freedom come in?

I had done a project in my first semester talking about power and fear. These two attributes are there everywhere. Take a boss and employee for instance. The boss fears the employee because in truth the employees are what make the company. The employee fears the boss because the boss is the hand that feeds him. This works the other way around too. Boss has power over employee, he can fire him anytime, promote him anytime. Employee too has power. He can quit anytime and protest. In the scenario of capitalism and globalization, there is a very uneven distribution of power and fear. In other words, the people in fear do not know their own power. The capitalists get their large chunk of money through resources. The path to get the recourse is only through the people who do the dirty work.

Hierarchy is inevitable. Simply because in a system certain jobs has to be done by certain people because of their skill in that field. The caste system also started out that way but now it is polluted by the powers on the top just to benefit them.

I enjoyed the trip to Waynad very much. Here was a micro world that was macro in its own way. The home-stay that I stayed in was self sustainable. They grew everything they needed and housed French, American and Bangalorean people to promote such a kind of tourism. Uravu was also in a way self sustaining for the purpose of development. They utilised the resource they had to empower and generate income for the people of that village.

In recent times there has been a growing trend of eco-homes where they use the material they dig out from a plot to build the structure or home above it. I think such trends are healthy and will lead India towards development. Nike, Pepsi, Jockey etc are global trends. Globalization in India can be recognised by these very names. If only this same trend was to catch on for something really worthwhile, like self-sustainability, the scenario would be much different.