Why am I so angry?

I've been asking this question to myself for the last half an hour. I just visited the blog of a very famous blogger, as I was going through her posts as I eagerly do with any new blog, I found a photo series titled 'Indian village image'. There are shots of village folks (one post consisting entirely of women) performing various their chores . Why should I be angry? I ask myself.

Then it came to me, if someone took a picture of me at work or at home and then put it up on the internet in a way that it obviously implies that I needed pity I would be pissed! And I hope so would others be on my behalf. I agree with this blogger that the conditions in our country is sad, we have the one of the worst records for respecting individual rights. Our rural (and in many cases) urban infrastructure is very bad. BUT contrary to international belief, we don't lead a sad life. Coz this is the only life we all know. This feature looked too curiously like a virtual tour of the 'poor' India for the 'suffering' junkies.

Let me just expand this thought further, put a man in an A/c room for all his life and then one day take that room away from him. Now thats a guy for whom one should feel sad about. But if there is another man who works hard everyday in a farm for a daily wage, his family living in a hut all their lives and him sleeping under the stars all his life then he is no different from you or me. It is one thing to highlight the corruption or exploitation of an uneducated person or people (like in Annie Z's post titled 'Pick one village', I urge you to read it) or to write about someone's loss, but its a whole different thing to pity someone going about his or her day to day life. A big difference! A very big difference! How would you like it if Bill Gates took your picture now?


Dear Ms. Blogger,

If you ever do find your way here. Welcome! This really isn't a hate blog so relax.

Firstly, I would like to mention that most cellphones are as cheap as landlines (especially a Reliance CDMA phone), hence if yours could work there the chances are good that someone else in that village could also get one to work (Hence the argument of just five landlines and six mobile phones does not hold water). Did you ever think in the lines that this form of communication is probably not needed by the subjects in question?

Secondly, lets take electricity. Why would a village need it?

a) To pump water for their crop - None of your subjects look to be farm owners. They look more like farm workers or daily wage earners and in one case a petty shop owner. Hence they couldn't be bothered about this reason. If they were farmers, there are a few other methods of getting water like wells, infact you've photographed one of them. If you press the point by saying how would someone work a borewell, I have to admit, you've got me.

b) To light up their houses- If you notice rather carefully, all the houses you've captured are thatched huts. I do not think they would be electrified even if they get the electricity

c) To run fans, microwaves, washing machines etc- We know t he answer to this one

More than 60% of India's villages do not have power, despite the continuous growth in power generation. This is due to the growth in Industrial demand as well as the urban demand. Only off-late are some states becoming power surplus and starting to export power to other states. People live a hard life in these villages and yet manage a smile everytime a camera is pointed at them, would we be so kind? (Ever wonder about that?)

You have an eye for detail, so I would really advise you to highlight the ills that are faced by people in villages. I would be among the first people to applaud if you did. But to put up someone's day to day activity or their homes in a way that evokes pity just isn't correct, even if they were totally unaware of this.

In reality, there isn't two kinds of India but only one. The one from which we need to remove corruption, poverty, social inequalities and this feeling of pity. Paradoxes are of our own creation now its up to us to undo them, not the Government, not the politicians (the highly priced fall guys) but us. One thing I would have to tell you though is that, if you were intending to do anything more than just posting these photographs for international view, you have my most sincere apologies.

(As all bursts of righteous indignation, this one could be misplaced anger at a rather innocent photo feature. A Picture tells a thousand words and the words that I picked up tell this story. Hence I have to be true to my thoughts as I write this blog even if every other viewer may think differently).

To be fair, I wanted to post the response by the blogger in question:-

dina said...
Thanks for this detailed expression R ... its funny but as i was reading what you said, i couldnt help feeling we both believe much the same thing !My observations from the villages i visited are just those on a specific research project - and i personally was struck by the dichotomy that exists and felt like sharing it. And they are happy pictures - no pity intended whatsoever. Taken with their permission. It certainly wasn't meant to be a commentary on corruption or social change or the structure - just observations as an ethnographer - i was intrigued by the various activities women were involved in as i walked through the village.And btw - I was thrilled to see the use of cell phones there - despite there being no electricity or landlines - i suspect you just missed the point :)

My response: I still miss the point.