Question #3
Ron Pompei is the next man in line to ask us kaospilots a question concerning our outpost.
Here’s his question: Will India be able to learn from the West regarding ecology, economy and education?
Will they recognize earlier in their economic and social development that material resources are finite yet human resources (such as creativity, innovation and expression) are infinite?
Will India achieve true global consciousness that recognizes the unique contribution of all cultures?
These are a lot of questions that tangents a lot of different fields of study and something that is hard to sum up briefly in a blog post however. Still waiting to come down and join my team-mates in the exciting chaos that seems to be Mumbai on Monday.
Will india be able to learn from the west regarding ecology, economy and education?
First of all they have already learnt a lot through the British occupation for good or bad. Education has been based on british standards for a long time should be just as good as anything we learn over here. In fact Indias huge population of extremely well-educated workforce might soon make our western workforce redundant on the global labourmarket together with china. Their biomedical and computerscience student are for example just as qualified as any of us only they can be hired for a tenth of what we would require to live decent. Reality check!
Will they recognize earlier in their economic and social development that material resources are finite yet human resources (such as creativity, innovation and expression) are infinite?
As India traces through the social and societal development process a lot faster than the west have done I’m sure we will se inspiring and unexpected bursts of creativity shaped by a very foreign and different cultural, philosophical and enivronment than ours. Isn’t it time for us to learn from them instead?! Already now the bollywood industry, the bangalore silicon valley and other parts of India are creating a lot of synergy effects, and as soon as everything is in place I’m sure we will see an enormous rise in creativity. However the things that are up against it are the enormous class and economic chasms in the country between rich and poor. It is possible this has to be settled before creativity really can really rise to the forefront as one of the major transforming economic factors for INdia , or maybe creativity will be one of the keys to resolve todays problems. Who can tell for sure, but the future looks very interesting
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Will India achieve true global consciousness that recognizes the unique contribution of all cultures?
I think India already know of the importance and benifit of this. With a history of facing endless invaders from the north, the Indian subcontinent have again and again been under the influence of a lot of different cultures, merging, influencing eachother and eventually leaving different cultures and religions living side by side in peace and happiness. I believe the syncretism of India is a good thing. WIth Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Bahai living side by side and interacting people tend to be more humble and not think that their reality-tunnel or viewpoint is the only valid one. I’m aware that this has not been the case for the last period of Indias history, but still the clues and traces for how to live in harmony is still there.
So these are my non-empirical opinions right now. It will be interesting to see if they modify or change after spending a month over there.
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Question #2
Uffe Elbæk the founder of the Kaospilot school and now project manager for World Out Games Copenhagen 2009 asked us this question: “What are the living conditions for homosexuals in India. Socially, culturally and politically?”
Many people have tried to answer this question in our class, but since I’m in Milan and don’t have the opportunity to do any empirical groundwork myself I will delve deeper into something one of my classmates touched upon.
Ylle wrote an interesting post about the strangeness of the acceptancy of the so-called hirjas (transvestites) in india but the utter non-acceptance of homosexualism. So let’s dig a bit deeper.
Hirjas are percieved as being of a “third sex” instead of the normal man or woman.
Here’s my rant:
In indian religious tradition the gods are traditionally percieved as being androgynous. In effect they have internalized and transformed themselves to embody both the feminine and masculine energies/qualities.
This is parallelled in greek tradition where plato speaks about humanity as originally being made up of two halves masculine and feminine parts that at one point got split from eachothers. Hence the longing in everybody for ones choosen soulmate or “other half”. In various esoteric spiritual traditions around the world there is also a recurring theme where the adept on his/her path to spiritual enlightenment must develop/aquire the polarity/qualites/energies of the other sex in order to be a full being. These energies are then eventually fused into a non polarized third state. The androgynous being. Superior to the average human.
So my theory is that the strive towards androgynism is supported and backed up by indian religion, hence the acceptance of hirjas in Indian society. After reading some more I seem to be somewhat right:
Hirjas and Religion
In Hindu contexts, hijras belong to a special caste. They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata, and/or Shiva. In Tamil Nadu each year in April/May, hijras — or aravanis, as they are called there — celebrate an 18-day religious festival. The aravani temple is located in the village Koovagam in the Ulundurpet taluk in Villupuram district, and is devoted to the deity Koothandavar. During the festival, the aravanis reenact a story of the religious epic Mahabharata: the mythical wedding of Lord Krishna (who had assumed the form of a woman) and Lord Aravaan, son of Arjuna, followed by Aravaan’s subsequent sacrifice. They then mourn Aravaan’s death through ritualistic dances and by breaking their bangles.
Here’s more:
Hijras also perform religious ceremonies at weddings and at the birth of male babies, involving music, singing, and sexually suggestive dancing. These are intended to bring good luck and fertility. Although the hijra are most often uninvited, the host usually pays the hijras a fee. Many fear the hijras’ curse if they are not appeased, bringing bad luck or infertility, but for the fee they receive, they can bless goodwill and fortune on to the newly born. Hijras are said to be able to do this because, since they do not engage in sexual activities, they accumulate their sexual energy which they can use to either bestow a boon or a bane.
and here:
Becoming a Hirja
Becoming a hijra is a process of socialization into a “hijra family” through a relationship characterised as chela “student” to guru “teacher”, leading to a gradual assumption of femininity. Typically each guru lives with at least five chelas; her chelas assume her surname and are considered part of her lineage. Chelas are expected to give their income to their guru, who manages the household. Hijra families are close knit communities, which often have their own houses.
Even the great indian sage Ramakrishna dressed up as woman during one period in his life in order to understand/get closer to and know “the mother” (Kali) more intimately. Developing the servicing, loving and feminine sides of ones personality like this can definitely be seen as a form of Bhakti yoga (Devotional yoga)
Hope this brings us one step closer to the mystery..
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Some Pictures from Milan
Looking good at the Duomo
Gotto De’ll Oro - från början en ful rusdryck som senare blivit
vårt buzzword här nere. Fritt översatt till “Guldgott”
Fulkrök i parken med Gotto d’ell Oro.
Följt av finkrök på snobbig Aperitivo
Vi besökte MiArt en stor internationell konstmässa för lite
inspiration. Självklart ordnade vi gratis inträde.
Ce Vero!
Reflexer är fint! 
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Question #1
Alan Webber the man behind the business magazine Fast Company asked us this question for our outpost:
“How is the western world experiencing the effect of globalization and in specific, India as growing world economic?”
There are a lot of different opinions about Indias growth as a large economic factor in the world. On one hand there are enormous class differences supported by old customs like the caste-system. There are a lot of money being made in India today but the question is whether it trickles down to the poor in the rural areas?
“With an annual growth rate of 9% over the past couple of years, India is close to rivalling China’s economic boom. Yet while China’s achievements have been credited with lifting 400 million people out of poverty, the benefits of India’s growth have not spread beyond the top 10% of its own massive population. According to Merrill Lynch’s world wealth report, India now boasts an incredible 93,000 millionaires, as well as the world’s second-fastest growth in “high net worth individuals”. Yet in a parallel universe within the same country, 350 million people (more than in the whole of Africa) still live in desperate poverty on less than a dollar a day, while a total of 900 million scrape by on under two dollars a day.” from the Guardian 21st of Jan
However the comparison with China is not that easy since information flow is restricted and there seems to be no safe figures. There are claims that the process of growth is going slower in India because it is a democratic country where decisions take longer to be decided on contrary to China
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First post
Welcome to my new outpost blog. I’m a student at the Kaospilots Öresund in Malmö, Sweden. The Kaospilots is an education focused on projectmanagement, processmanagement, entrepreneurship, social innovation and personal leadership. During the second year we all go abroad somewhere for minimum 2 months to explore and learn somewhere in the world where there things are happening. Our team decided to go to Mumbai! However me and four of my teammates are going to Milan first for a month before going to Mumbai. So this blog will be about my experience with Milan & Mumbai plus answering some questions asked by the staff. So enjoy!
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