Sunday 2nd March 2014
On Friday (28th February), I attended the event
celebrating 25 years of Saath. It was a truly delightful evening of speeches,
stories, and the launch of a book about the organisation, followed by a
delicious dinner. I had the chance to meet many great people involved with
Saath, including staff, community members, and other acquaintances from the city
and beyond. Being there made me realise just how honoured I am to be part of
such a wonderful organisation. It also gave me the opportunity to meet all of
the other lovely people from the FedEx team and learn about the work of the
other groups with SEWA and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
Over the weekend I got through
another couple of books (have a look at the Reading page if you're interest in which ones) and roamed around my suburb a little more. I found a
supermarket with an ‘international food’ section, which turned out to be a
collection of rather randomly assorted Waitrose products. I have also reached
the decision to no longer use pavements along main roads unless strictly
necessary, as they seem to frequently serve as public urinals. This evening I
went for a stroll around Vastrapur Lake and the surrounding park, which are
nice enough, despite the dust and endless couples trying to hide their (quite
obvious) displays of affection – this is apparently problem enough to warrant ‘No
Romance’ signs in the area. Apart from that, the weekend was relatively
uneventful. I am very relaxed.
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| Vastrapur Lake and park. |
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| This evening's sunset at Vastrapur Lake. |
Tomorrow, interviews resume! I’m
aiming to do around thirty in total, and have these finished by early April, so
that I can get my interim report in on time (due in mid-April). My research is
about the experiences of male youth in Ahmedabad. Why youth? As Chetan Bhagat
(2012) writes in What Young India Wants, “India
is the youth. This is something you will hear often, mainly because India’s
median age is twenty-five, and 70% of the population is below thirty-five…the
youth have little say in mainstream political or national issues. The youth are
under-represented.” Youth are such a vital demographic in contemporary India,
in many ways, and understanding their experiences may be key to development now
and in the future. My focus on male youth comes from both my interest in gender
relations, and the various (mis)perceptions of male youth in the Global South.
It’s important to remember that gender is not just about women, that every
binary of course has two sides, both of which it is important to understand in
order to improve the lives of all concerned. Issues regarding women in India
are of vital importance, and with this research I hope to increase knowledge
and understanding of the under-studied male youth and their experiences and
perceptions of life (including gender relations), to allow for better policy in
the future.
If anyone would like to read my
research proposal in full, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Any chance you could get a copy of the No Romance sign? That would be fun to see. --Robert
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