I’m experimenting with trying to keep the blog going by writing a short entry from work at lunch and limiting myself to just 15 minutes…
Im reading (on the train to work) a fascinating book now about India: In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India, by Edward Luce.
I’ve recently read several books talking about the rising economies of India and China–and the success of the software engineering, IT, and call center operations in Bangalore. And I experienced, working in Silicon Valley, the impressive presence of many Indian engineers and entrepreneurs. But that part of the economy represents a very small fraction of the population. Most Indians are living in conditions that have not changed greatly.
The political and social context there is really so much more complex than I ever imagined. This morning, I was reading about the Muslim-Hindu 2002 riots in Gujarat. You can begin to understand the degree of rage that must be pent up–and subsequently unleashed to devastating results–when you read these accounts of how mobs of people dragged Muslim women and girls from their homes, raped them, poured kerosene down their (and their children’s) throats, and burned them alive while their husbands and fathers were forced to watch.
How can this happen in a country where people are going to offices and writing computer code? How can it happen anywhere in this century? I think I would like to believe that modernization, globalization, and rising standards of living and education will combat this insanity, but the forces of globalization also produce a backlash in that we are perceived as forcing our capitalistic values on poor people. How can we overcome such evil?
15 minutes up for today!
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