Friday, October 21, 2016

My Time in India – A Reflection

The purpose of my trip in India was to expand my global perspective in order to expand the perspective of my students. It did expand, but not in the way that I expected. I did not realize that racism against Black people was a global problem. I expected for other brown nations, like India, to be in solidarity with other people of color. This is largely not the case. I found out towards the end of the trip that all Black people who visit and live in India experience serious racism. A US embassy official told me. Black women are assumed to be prostitutes. They are sometimes attacked and raped in the streets – right in Gujarat state, where I was alone for a week.  (It seems I was protected when I got sick. My nausea made me stick close to the hotel and I never went out alone.) Black men are assumed to be drug dealers. The Black wives of US embassy personnel experience extreme racial discrimination, despite having diplomatic credentials. When I first returned home, I felt wounded and angry. Now, I am glad to have had the experience. I needed to know what challenges world – wide that people of African descent face. I also really appreciate my own Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement and Black is Beautiful Movement. African – American literally threw away a colonized mind for one that is liberated. I think of the different people that I met in India with affection. The musicians, dancers and educators are right now living full and productive lives, a full ten and a half hours ahead of mine. It was interesting to meet other productive adults who have a very different life from mine. People who are kind and complicated and caring. I think of them with deep affection.  

Ironically, I did find a remnant of the Indian Independence Movement while I was in New Delhi.
Another teacher on the trip, Judy, the former curator and history teacher from Boston, found the Gandhi Peace Foundation and got us an appointment with the director. This is the center of the Indian Freedom Movement. Activists from all over the country go there to study, network and organize. There is an extensive library of all works published by and about Gandhi. The center was founded by his followers after his assassination in 1948. And guess who studied there. Our Dr. Martin Luther King. He visited in February and March of 1959. A recording of a broadcast Dr. King made to the people of India on that trip in 1959 was discovered in 2009. In it he says:

Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a world since Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation. 

Judging from his words, we African – Americans owe India a great debt. Their non-violent resistance movement catalyzed freedom struggles on the African Continent and here at home in the US. The African – American movement triggered those in progress now with Blacks in Latin America.

Once I returned home, I started to research Blacks in India. There are communities of Blacks in Karnataka and Gujarat called the Siddis. It was even a wealthy Siddi man who built a mosque that we visited in Ahmedabad that is famous of its intricate lattice work. (Click here for more info) Learning about the Siddis and hearing their rich traditional music brought me healing.


 In one of her emails when I first returned, Maya Menon said that she hoped that I could accept India “warts and all.” My initial reaction was “Noo..I will never accept racial oppression!” However, considering the connected histories of African – America and India, Dr. King’s time there, the affection that I feel for my hosts, I am happy to say that I do accept India, “warts and all.” (smile)

New Delhi, Agra and the Taj Mahal

In New Delhi, the group stayed in a five star hotel called the Shangri-La. We enjoyed a cocktail party at a US embassy officials house and visit to the American center. In New Delhi we all engaged in some serious shopping. Shopping. I bought several pairs of earrings and bath products for all of the women in my family. I also found a great paper products boutique. India is the place for handicrafts. We taxied around the city and enjoyed ourselves.

We also took a two day trip to Agra, the location of the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is actually a huge and beautiful mausoleum made entirely of marble. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife who died giving birth to their fourteenth child. Her name was Mumtaz Mahal. It is built in the style of Mughal architecture, which combined Indian, Persian and Islamic influences. It is here that I must reflect on God’s blessings. What an honor…what a privilege…what a blessing to be able to visit the Taj Mahal.  I never thought I would ever be able to do something like that. AND it was a free trip! Wow!
The marble is decorated with inlayed lapis lazuli, jasper and jade. Some are fashioned into flowers and design accents. The front is adorned with calligraphy of inlayed sardis. It was completed in 1643. It took twenty years to build and it took us about sixty minutes just to get to the entrance. At sunrise, the jewels illuminate and sparkle. The structure is incredible.

The trip closed with much reflection. The leaders of the cohort encouraged me to share the discrimination that I experienced with the group. I was hesitant to do so, but I shared.
At the end of the trip, I got a great opportunity to hear more Indian classical music. New Delhi has a music scene and is the center of Bollywood. Interestingly enough, there was a band in one of the shops at the airport. Everyone was still shopping, so I went off alone. I heard the music and wondered in. There was a small pool in the middle of this boutique filled with rose petals and jasmine flowers. The fragrance was wonderful. Just in front of the pool on a small stage was a band. There was a tabla, flute, harmonium and sitar player.  I sat there for a good half hour before it was time to go to our departure gate just soaking in the sounds and enjoying delightful wafts of rose and jasmine. That was the end of my time in India. 

Gujarat Continued - My Week in Badora Part 2


Sitars in Navrasha's Music Department
I taught two workshops on civil rights movement protest songs for the high schoolers. I intentionally taught the African – American connection to the Indian independence movement. Even though they tried to stop me several times (by telling me to just get to the music) I went into African – American history starting with Africa and into slavery times. I would not be moved, as the song goes. I wanted them to understand how the music of the Black church essentially drove the Movement forward. I wanted to share the experiences of my people with them through our music. I hope I planted a seed in them that will lead to the uprooting of colonial mindsets.
Maya Cunningham Singing with Classical Indian Vocalists / Vocal Instructors at Navrashana


Indian Classical Raga Notation
Navrashana staff dancing at a fun restaurant outing



Classical Indian Dance Instructors at Navrashana
Classical Indian Dance Performance at Fine Arts College in Badora
A high point of the week was a staff dinner at a very fun restaurant. Just so you know, there are Chinese and Mexican restaurants in India. They enjoy all kinds of foods. In the restaurant, there was a drummer who circulated around playing in an energetic folk style from the Punjab in the Northeast region. He invited diners to dance along and I did so enthusiastically. It was great fun. The food was delicious. We also visited an international school. As the week came to a close, I was excited to get back to the group in New Delhi.  I left Badora with relief, a smile on my face and with my head held high. I had survived with dignity.  
Enjoying dinner at with Arts Department Staff at Navrashana

Street scene in Badora. These are coconuts that can be purchased to drink the water inside. Just poke a straw in and drink!
The classical Indian technique used to play violin. The instructor above teaches at Badora's Fine Art College.
Street scene in Badora
Badora's shopping district
Exquisite, intricately embroidered bags and other items for sale in Badora's shopping district
  

Gujarat Continued - My Week in Badora Part 1

Dinner with Kashmira Jaiswal and Family
Paan after dinner
I have to say that the teachers who hosted me and my colleague were very caring. When we returned to Badora from Ahmedabad we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Kashmira’s home. Westerners often think that everyone in India (and Africa) lives in poverty. This is not true. Kashmira and her husband raised two daughters in a lovely bungalow. They were a typical upper middle class Indian family. Kashmira’s husband owned a business that manufactured and sold surgical supplies. Their daughters were in high school and college. In India, dinner seemed to always involve multiple courses. Dinner begins with several kinds of appetizers that they call ‘starters.’ These were usually delicious and highly spiced pieces of chicken, shrimp or lamb. Very yummy. Then there is a main meal with involves several kinds of entrees that are shared. Then there is dessert and then tea. They also served paan which is a confection of betel leaves and rose petals. This is a traditional breath freshener. I had read about paan in a book I read about a young girl who lived in Pakistan and always wanted to try it. After we returned to the hotel, I fell into an exhausted sleep.

Welcome Assembly at Navrashana
A Welcome to Navrachana
The women teachers told me that I should wear a scarf to cover my arms during my time at the school. Bare arms are considered to be immodest. At that point, I had one scarf that I had brought from home. I wore it every day that week.  There was a wonderful assembly the first day we arrived at the school. The school is called Navrashana. It is a Kindergarten through 12th grade school private arts school. The students learn traditional Indian dance, classical Indian instruments, like the tabla drums, and classical Indian singing. For the assembly the girls danced two styles of Indian classical dance, one from the north and one from the south. The southern style was my favorite. It involves very intricate and syncopated footwork that is danced in sync with the tabla drum rhythms. The table drums are very tonal as well. The assembly was a warm welcome.
Me and my colleague with Ms. Bazmi, the Principal of Navrashana
Students perform a classical Indian dance style from north
Highly skilled Tabla and Classical Indian Voice Instructors
Very skilled arts teachers at Navrashana.
Caring ladies prepare huge amounts of rice, chapatis and all kinds of healthy Indian foods for Navrashana students

Heritage Class at Navrashana. Students learn to identify India's precious and semi - precious stone.
Unfortunately, there was a major difference in the way my colleague and I were treated. In group discussions, all eyes were on him the entire time. If I asked a question, he was given the answer. They only addressed questions to him. During our dinner with the principal on Saturday evening, when she arrived, I could tell that she was surprised to see me. I could tell that she had been expecting me to be white. She stared at me coldly and directed all conversation to my white colleague. The only question she asked me was where I got my degree from. In other words, “How are you qualified to be here?” If Chris was asked if he wanted coffee or tea, and he said coffee, then we both received coffee. When we visited a textile factory later that day, the presentation was directed towards him. All communications about the schedule were given to him to tell me. With their treatment, they made him the leader of our team because he was white. The children asked him if he was in the movies. They asked me about my hairstyle. One student tried to give me a pound. Special workshops were arranged for the students with Chris, who was perceived to be a more knowledgeable musician. He did nothing to stave off or stop the discrimination. It was as if I was invisible. The next day, I woke up sick with a throbbing headache and fever.  And here lies the paradox. Although they racially discriminated against me, my host teachers showed me extraordinary care when I “fell ill,” as they put it. Kashmira brought me medicine and other items that I needed. With rest I recovered and made it through the rest of the week. When I spoke to Kashmira about my being treated differently from Chris, she at first denied it. I asked about the eye contact issue and if it was because Chris is a man. She said no, because most of the school’s staff were women (and there is a women’s movement underway in India.) I asked if it was because he is taller. She slowly nodded her head and said “it is because he is taller.” Lol : ) Bless their hearts. After this conversation, the eye contact issue resolved to a certain extent. She must have said something to everyone else. They really created a wonderful itinerary. In between class visits there were teas, refreshments and sumptuous lunches. The cafeteria was fragrant with traditional Indian food from that region. (US Indian food only really comes from the northwest region.) Huge numbers of woman prepare fresh chapattis, veggies and other nourishing foods for the children every day. I was able to observe a class where girls were learning about traditional Indian jewelry. They were learning how to identity quality and value in a piece. The teacher used several necklaces from her private collection. She gave me a beautiful necklace on my last day. I miss them.  It was a very special time.


Ahmedabad & the Gandhi Ashram

Rest stop on the way to Ahmedabad
Example of Color Hierarchy in India
We took a two hour drive to Ahmedabad. It is a city named for an Islamic royal named Ahmed. Two host teachers hired a taxi for us. On the way, at several rest stops, I began to notice people staring at me with contemptuous looks.  They were not looking at Chris in the same way or our Indian hosts. It was because I was Black. I almost started crying in the taxi. You have to understand how isolated I felt. I was isolated in a country that seemed to hate blackness, even its own. I prayed a small prayer in my heart and held my emotions in check. I was polite. I was gracious. I was dying inside. How did this first trip portend of the week to come?

Entrance to Gandhi Ashram
Visiting the Gandhi ashram was a wonderful experience, but it was bitter sweet. India was the first nation to throw off British colonial oppressors. They gained independence in 1947. This movement was led by Mahatma Gandhi.  An ashram is a hermitage or a monastic community. The ashram has his room on display – the room where he would receive guests from all over the world. Why did Gandhi always spin cotton? Why did he always wear that simple cotton shroud? I learned that these were visible acts of protest. Let me explain. 

During the time of the Silk Road one of the many trade items from India was cotton. Others were pepper and all kinds of spices. Other items were jewels like diamonds, rubies and pearls. The first diamond mine was in India. It was cotton traded via the Silk Road that excited the European demand for cotton. Hence, the cotton plantations in United States and the Deep South (and Peru and other New World countries.) After the cotton gin was invented, enslaved US Blacks produced raw cotton that was then shipped to textile factories in England. From there cotton cloth was manufactured and sold all over Europe. At the start of the British colonial period in India, the British chopped off the thumbs of the Indian cotton weavers. Why? To stop cotton cloth from being produced in India in order to limit competition in the world market. Very evil. The result? Once the British destroyed that generation of cotton weavers, the craft knowledge was lost. Indians were forced to purchase cotton cloth from the British, a textile that they originally produced. Gandhi instituted weaving cotton cloth as an activity in the ashram to protest this violent history and to boycott the purchase of the fabric manufactured in Britain. This is  the reason why he spent his days weaving cloth and always wore a white shroud.
Garden Space at the Gandhi Ashram
Gandhi's Spinning Wheel
Photo of Gandhi and his wife
Gandhi Ashram
Gandhi Ashram
Beautiful Grounds at the Gandhi Ashram
















These and other non – violent resistance methods inspired Dr. King to lead the non – violent African – American civil rights movement. A photograph of Dr. King is in the ashram’s museum. When I saw it I started to cry. Look at the impact of the leader of my African – American nation. His life and work honored thousands of miles away on the other side of the world. I took many pictures and bought five or six books about Gandhi’s life and work. My visit to Gandhi’s ashram was definitely a high point of the trip. 

Why was it bittersweet then? While I was making my way around the ashram, groups of young Indian women kept pointing and laughing at me. Not my white colleague, but me. Our hosts offered me no explanation and no apology. I was left to deal with it on my own. I made the best of the situation and tried to learn as much as I could. There was more of this soon to come.
Salt March Bridge where Gandhi led the first non-violent protest of the Indian Independence Movement - March 12, 1930.
It was a 24 day direct action campaign against the British salt monopoly

Gujarat

We arrived in Gujarat in on a Saturday morning. The Indian airline was comfy – great food. The city is called Vadodara, but everyone calls it by it's former name, Baroda. Baroda has a small airport with tight security. Our host teachers were waiting outside to greet us with flowers. Kashmira was the woman I had been corresponding with through email. Since I was in Ghana during the planning, I allowed my fellow teacher Chris to choose the hotel. It was pretty nice. Very nice staff. The schedule that Kashmira planned for us was packed with activity. We were set to visit Gandhi’s first ashram in Ahmedabad early on Sunday morning. The next day we were off.

Beautiful Bangalore

Arrival at Bangelore Airport at 1:00 am
When I arrived in India I was afraid. I had been on a plane from DC to Germany for 9 hours and then another 10 hours from Germany to India. I am grateful for the trip, but the journey seemed endless. We left on Monday July 11th and arrived in Bangalore in the early morning of Wednesday July 13th.  I was really, really far from home and felt uneasy about it.


Beautiful Bangalore. Bangalore is in the southern part of India in the state of Karnataka.
We arrived at the Lemon Grass Premier Hotel in the middle of the night, early Wednesday morning. The hotel was beautiful and chic. Colorful paintings adorned the walls. The Indian visual aesthetic was apparent. I tumbled into the plush, king - sized bed and slept. And slept. And slept. I didn’t wake up until 6:00 pm for dinner. I opened the window and there was a view of the city, full of palm trees.
Beautiful Bangelore
 Dinner was marvelous. Chutneys, Naan…pickles…delectable meats. The buffet breakfast in the morning was even better. They had watermelon juice and cucumber juice. All kinds of fruits. No pork and no beef. Only chicken sausage. During our time in Bangalore we toured the city. There are rickshaws everywhere. Most people, from grandmothers to grandsons get around on scooters. India has completely different driving rules from the US. Horns are used in a unique communication system. Several honks can mean, “Please move to the side so I can pass,” or “I’m coming through!” People drive in between and over the lines, sometimes drifting between lanes! (without the use of a signal.)

I traveled to India through a program called Teachers for Global Classrooms. There were fifteen members of our cohort. There were teachers there from Hawaii, New York, Boston, Alaska and Vermont. All had very different life experience. I enjoyed getting to know them. One teacher was a former curator who had a fascinating career putting together Picasso exhibits. I learned a lot from her. I was one of two African – Americans in the group. Conversations about race and class, along with the US presidential election were constant. (Our trip was during the Democratic National Convention, which was constantly on the news on the televisions in the hotel’s public spaces.)

The Wonderful Staff of the Teacher Foundation
Maya Menon, Executive Director of the Teacher Foundation
Our hosts in Bangalore were from the Teacher Foundation, which is working to reform India’s
  educational system. Their opening seminar was intriguing. The Director is also named Maya. Maya Menon. She and her colleagues had on the most gorgeous saris, earrings and bracelets that I have ever seen. (I am sure that you can guess that earrings immediately went on my shopping list). And when they took us shopping, I saw some beautiful earrings. This was the India that I had come looking for. Intricately crafted adornment. Some of the boutiques we visited had exquisite body products. Everyone in our group began shopping for Indian scarves, and didn’t really stop until we boarded the plane to come back to the US. Indian scarves have breathtaking colors and stunning patterns. The Pashmina is from India.

A highlight of our time was a visit to a craft market at the Bangalore art school. First of all, the sculptures that adorned the entrance gate were so interesting. There were all kinds of crafts to buy. I learned a lesson from Ghana however. I didn’t want to overload my luggage with too much – especially since I was flying to two other cities during the trip. So, I paced myself.
Beautiful Indian Scarves
Vendor at Craft Bazaar
The Earrings of India

We had one visit to a government school. Our conversations with the teachers were interested as we played quid pro quo. They asked us about schools in the US and we asked about their experiences. What I noticed about their students was the absolute respect given to teachers and all adults. During one teacher’s lesson we observed, a little girl dropped her pencil. She met eyes with the boy sitting across from her and they both shrugged their shoulders and smiled. Their look said, “Oh well.” They knew not to get up in the middle of their teacher’s lesson – especially not with visitors present.
Maya Cunningham at School Visit


Part of the trip required the cohort to travel in twos or threes to different areas of the country. Up to this point, I had been very sheltered within our group of Americans and by the exclusive hotel. By sheltered, I mean that everything we did was in the group – we traveled together, ate together, visited different sites together. This was the first week. For the second week, I was assigned to travel to Gujarat state with a Caucasian man from Chicago. His name was Chris.  As the time approached for us to leave a little niggling fear arose in my heart. I was afraid of experiencing racial prejudice and for good reason. The print media in India depicted that a premium was placed on light skin and whiteness. And I mean all print media – from billboards to postcards. Images of extremely light skinned Indians, or whites, permeated all visual culture. The disconnect was that all of the Indians that I saw were brown. Some even dark, dark brown. The kind of brown that is associated with Africa. What did these images mean? Did they indicate a color hierarchy? If so, I knew where I would fall in as an African – American. I had felt no discrimination up to that point. Could it mean that I had just been sheltered? As I sat with my white male colleague discussing our upcoming trip to Gujarat, I began to wonder how I would be received. Would I be treated differently? We had our meeting on a Friday afternoon and were due to leave Saturday morning. My questions would be answered soon enough.