Delhi, Day 7: The Culture Dash

By Randy Zwitch - February 20th, 2010 Category: CCMBA 2010D| Residency 3: Delhi

Day seven found (now) Section 1, Team six (-pack) wandering around the city, video cameras in tow, for the”Culture Dash” that’s at the center of each residency’s CCL learning.  Given the choice of observing economic landmarks, political landmarks, or societal (religious) landmarks, the team chose to observe several religious landmarks around Delhi.

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple

Sikh temple Delhi

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple

For the first stop on our ‘dash’, the team visited the Sikh Temple (left).  The religion, as I understand it, is somewhat of a hybrid of Islamic principles and Hindu principles, and most visibly observed as gentlemen wearing turbans with longish beards tied/twisted into various knots or curls.

Given the removing of shoes/foot bath requirement, as well as the need for visitors to be wearing a head-covering, the team decided to use the temple as a means of finding Sikh’s who would be willing to discuss their beliefs with us as part of the filmed interview process.  However, upon scouring the Internet for background information about the temple, I now realize what a boneheaded move I made by not going inside!  Seriously, visit the link above if you’re the type of person who likes majestic, historical buildings.  The outside, having scaffolding on the outside, fooled me into thinking that the temple wouldn’t be that impressive.  Stupid assumption!  Just goes to show, I still haven’t found the proper amount of preparation when I visit these countries.

Perhaps I should chance ‘Delhi Belly‘ again some time in the future so I can re-visit this temple.

Continue Reading

4 comments   Tags:   , , , ,  

In Search of India – Part 1: Identity

By Shailesh Nair - January 13th, 2010 Category: CCMBA 2010D| Residency 3: Delhi

The title of this blog “In Search of India” is an allusion to “Discovery of India” by Jawaharlal Nehru (1st Prime Minister of India). He found it but I’m still searching. This is Part 1 of 4.

India is a land where one is born with identities. For starters, being an Indian from India which is named after the Indus river (which is actually “Sindh” but for the Greeks who just had to make everything sound like a character in “Gladiator”). Today, Sindh is part of Pakistan (since the partition). But we are still called Indians.

Then there is the religious identity. Of course, 80% of the people here are Hindus but India is also the 2nd largest country with Muslims. Christians have been here since almost the time of Jesus Christ. And of course Buddhism started here. And so did Jainism and Sikhism. Jews and Parsis (Zoroastrians) also found a home in India. Funnily enough, apparently till the early part of 19th century everybody in this region we now called the Indian sub-continent used to be called Hindu – the people of this land; apparently it wasn’t uncommon for a Muslim in those days to be referred to as a Hindu-Muslim. Of course, the British found it convenient to divide and rule so we all have these distinct religious identities.

Continue Reading

One comment   Tags:   , , , ,  

Dissecting Dubai – Part 5: Epilogue

By Ian Comandao - November 17th, 2009 Category: CCMBA 2010D| Residency 2: Dubai

Well, the Dubai residency was certainly a surprise. And in more ways than one! The pace was certainly not as hectic as London, and for the most part the group was able to go out and actually see the city, find time to know more about each other, and ourselves, appreciate some not so obvious things, and welcome if not tolerate some of the more confusing aspects of living an international life. I’ve mulled over a whole lot of new things from the course of that week, and as the whole experience has left me with a rather dense collection of inner musings, I am left with little choice than to split up my next few blog posts.

This is the last of a series of 5

Though it’s part of the UAE, I find difficulty in approaching Dubai as anything other than a city-state. It’s not officially a city, mind you; it’s classified as a municipality. But whatever the nominal definition is, practically speaking, Dubai – the de facto city – is a country unto itself.

While the tone of the last few blog posts has ranged from perplexed to downright scathing, I do have to make it clear that despite all the smoke, and all the mirrors, I like Dubai. I really, really like Dubai.

I think what sold me on it was a slide that showed the whole of Europe, Asia and Africa – with Dubai right smack in the middle. It’s only a short 8 hour flight to over 60% of the world’s population, and all the spending power that comes with it. It’s setting itself up as the door to Africa, the commodities broker of choice for anyone who wants to source from the Dark Continent. Our friends from the Indus Valley are everywhere, working side by side with souk shopkeepers from the Middle Kingdom.

It’s amazing.

180 different races and nationalities, a thousand different languages and dialects, and foods and flavors from just about every corner of the globe. Everyone’s here to get a piece of the action, a real shot at prosperity, no matter how elusive.

During one of the hookah nights, sprawled out on the steps of yet another architecturally magnificent nouveau bazaar, I got into a very good conversation with some of my classmates. We’d snuck in some tinnies and, half-cut, began talking about how Dubai was built on the sweat of what was basically indentured Bangladeshi slave labour.

Continue Reading

2 comments   Tags:   , , , , , , , , , ,  
« Older Entries