DAY TWO: LIGHTHOUSE HILL

Walking down Commercial Street, the beggars, the shops, and the side streets – India. It’s a beautiful place when you search and find the beautiful things, but when you just walk on by, you see what India has become, what Indians have become – beggars, liars, thief’s. Take cheap DVD’s for instant, they are filmed at the cinema’s, burned onto cheap DVD material, and sold to the public for a third of what they usually would be; Just as Xerox does with his books. I would have been shocked if I did not live in India about the Lawyer and the policeman breaking Xerox’s legs. I was disgusted at what they had done, and still believe that they had no right to do it, they may have been upset about him selling a banned book, but the law did not give them the right to break his legs, instead of getting drunk and being complete idiots, they could have stayed sober and taken him to a higher authority, or even addressed the books on what to do. My favorite part of this chapter was when Xerox came back on his crutches, with his daughter and broken legs and stood up to the policemen by saying that he was going to climb that hill, that he was going to get back up there with his daughter and sell him books, no matter what the law thought/said about him. He wanted his father to be proud of him, a man who could not read, selling books; Ironic. 

“DAY ONE (AFTERNOON): THE BUNDER”

Corruption is the main theme in this “chapter” it is seen everywhere in India although we never really talk about it, I really like the line in the book “Corruption,” Abbasi said. “Corruption. It’s like a demon sitting on my brain and eating it with a fork and knife.”

“The Bunder” reminded me of all the crazy silly things that Indians do that we don’t necessarily need but want: Fine patchwork, Jewelry making, Painting, Cleaning, Teaching, Pot making etc. To live in India has helped me to picture these stories a lot more than if I was still a snobby little kid from Australia. I wouldn’t have believed that any of these things were true and that everything was fair and equal, which we know, it is not. Driving home at night past the teahouses in Bangalore, you see men sitting around like Abbasi and his friends, with there tiny little white plastic cups filled with milky tea. Although when reading this “chapter” it reminded me of walking through my old street in Australia although when I thought about it deeply, Indian streets and the image I had in my mind, were completely different. Although I have not been to Kittur so I cannot completely imagine the town layout. I sometimes stand out on my roof as Abbasi did and look out at the view, how far I can see, the trees, the people, and the planes the cars, the noise. Sometimes I just sit up there and listen to everything that’s going on.  

“DAY ONE: THE TRAIN STATION,”

“DAY ONE: THE TRAIN STATION,”

The first time I picked up this book to read it, I thought I would hate it although after I read the first 2 pages I couldn’t put it down, it astonished me how much this book relates to my time in India, the fighting between the Hindu’s and Muslims, the packed train stations and bickering with Zia and his customers at the train station. Last year there was a protest between the Muslims and Hindu’s about who should own the temple that was on Hindu’s land although one of the great Muslim gods was born there, we were not aloud out of the house because of all the violence between them. You see a lot of Muslim/Hindu areas when walking through the streets of Bangalore. Although many seem to get along a lot more in the real world then they do in the book. He described the streets of India very well, the coolies bathing at the station in public – every morning I walk out my front door to see the street children bathing out the front of my gate, it is a bad thing to see but we can do nothing about it as this is not our home, we are just foreigners visiting for a few years. The trust between the Pathan and Zia is something that Zia has always been looking for, like a father/son relationship. He does not only work for the Pathan, but the Pathan is teaching him the way of the world although Zia does not seem to realize this and throws the chances of learning back into the Pathans face. Although the question has been answered, we know there is still something stronger than “they want to get rid of the Muslims”. Everyday the Pathan had Zia check the trains for: How many there were, who was in them and whether or not they had red markings on the back. On my drive to school each morning I go past the Indian Air force, last year there was a few weeks that they were looking for new recruits although when they said they were hiring they didn’t expect so many people to show up, there was a line about 20km down the road, some had blankets so they could stay the night to save their spot others just stood there, or just casually just driving to town or home behind a truck full of soldiers it amazes me how many people they can fit into one of those trucks. My favorite part in “The Train Station” Would be when the Pathan and Zia sit down to have a samosa and tea, how proud and happy Zia was of being a pathan and having money to buy his food with. Without being called a theft – the children in the slums around my house are always being shooed away from the shops and being called thefts or they are chased out when I get there, because I am white and the shop keeper thinks that I will leave if there are ratty little kids in his shop. 

Definition on Catharsis

A catharsis is an emotional release. According to psychoanalytic theory, this emotional release is linked to a need to release unconscious conflicts. For example, experiencing stress over a work-related situation may cause feelings of frustration and tension. Rather than vent these feelings inappropriately, the individual may instead release these feelings in another way, such as through physical activity or another stress relieving activity.

Source: http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/catharsis.htm