Journal 4

Dear Journal,

Life in the country is definitely a whole different life than life in the city in India. This is what we have observed from our trip to the village of Pilly Polly.

We left the Guesthouse at 3 p.m. to leave for the “farmhouse” in the village and arrived after about two and a half hours in the car. We arrived at the farmhouse and started exploring the area. The house itself was very interesting and very nice, but VERY different. It was very simple and “open.” We ate supper outside and got to know our hosts, which was very nice. During the conversation we started talking about having servants and many of us realized that we did not agree with their view on this topic at all. Some of us even felt offended and upset. After fighting our fears and dislike for bugs we eventually went to bed. However, I lay awake for quite some time just thinking about what was said at dinner.

Why is it that people of different cultures feel so completely different about certain topics? I realize that most of it has to do with how we are raised and mostly what we observe as children. What we observe when we are young is what builds our character. Children watch how people treat each other and will treat other people accordingly, children will watch how people deal with anger and sadness and accept those actions and form their own character. But how much of our characteristics, our personality, OUR IDENTITY, is genetic. I mean, is all behavior learnt through the culture or do our personal characteristics play a part in who we become in the cultural context? Why is it that this very nice, well-educated couple feels so superior to others simply because they are poorer or less educated or simply of a lower caste? Why is it that they treat their “servants” the way they do? And why is it that the people in our group, all with very different cultural backgrounds, found this behavior so upsetting and frustrating? Is it because we were raised differently? Is it simply because it is so different from what we are used to that we are not comfortable with it? Does it have to do with what we feel is right and wrong?

I cannot answer this question, but I feel that the cultural differences are a main factor in this disagreement.