One of the greatest mysteries is that privately maintained public places - such as the Baha'i lotus temple - are a stark contrast to the dirt and disarray that India pretends to fight bravely. I think it is only partly because of the suspicious amount of wealth this "Baha'i" group has and deploys to maintain the complex. Somehow, the more "theirs" Indian people feel something is, the more they apparently don't give a shit. Tragedy of the commons?
After that, I went to the Iskcon temple. Some Krishnas tried conning me into paying several times the ticket price for some booby video show, having the gall to switch increase prices midway from the "local" starting price. Reminded me of a foreign friend who said she was hounded at one of their temples as well. The highlight was definitely see the Krishnas "Tubthumping" (jumping stupidly, for the kids reading this).
There was no dearth of enthusiastic, unshorn young men joining in this. Remember that chestnut about selling refrigerators to the eskimos? I thought India was a crucible of faiths. Go figure.
2 comments:
I thought it was because Indians sought only to keep that is considered 'theirs' clean - is why what is common is one humungous garbage dump. Actually Asians as a whole lack civic mindedness - a place like singapore employs an army to clean after Singaporeans - in India - you have mini landfills behind houses, between buildings, on the roadside..... etc
This is part of my thesis. It is also interesting that almost nothing ever gets finished. Even at 5-star hotels, you can find dirt in the corners. How does a nation like that manage to complete the act of copulation successfully a million times a night and be on track to be the most populous in the world?
I guess it's all about incentives, as the economist would say. Somebody please shoot him.
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