culture; culture

here's something sad:

At least 177 people have been killed in a stampede at a temple in the popular tourist city of Jodhpur in north India, the third such tragedy to hit the country in a matter of months.

The disaster happened early this morning as thousands of devotees gathered to mark the start of the nine-day Navaratr festival at the Chamunda Devi temple at the top of the Mehrangarh fort, in the state of Rajasthan.

Several hundred people were injured after being trampled to the ground.

what's more sad is that it was the fourth such stampede this year. and what's perhaps most sad is that after the third, in which 145 people were trampled to death (which took place very near where we went in june), constance and i realized that we simply weren't surprised. we just felt like this sort of thing was on the verge of happening in 15 different times while there. con witnessed it to a small degree on this bridge in rishikesh:


a minute later the rain poured, the bridge swayed, and people on motorcycles started running over old ladies.

loved india. im pretty sure it's the most interesting country in the world. met wonderful people. hate to make generalizations. i feel like i have a reasonable understanding of common humanity in general, but hate to infer that i know indian culture on any sort of level of depth after just a couple weeks there (even if con's been there much longer). but.. i suppose.. that's why i'm so curious.

what shapes these things? why, in similarly crowded bangkok, do people stop at stoplights? people here are almost maddeningly polite and reserved. what's the difference?

some odd combination of a billion people, breathtaking and cyclical poverty, unprecedented opportunity in a rising economy, a free market, a caste system, hinduism with a healthy dose of islam and mysticism, cricket popularity, the arrival of mcdonalds, giant mountains, open sewers, outdoor urinals, fantastic architecture, sikhs (the most photographable people in the world), a bewildering mix of subcultures, 22 official languages, colonial remnants, independence, bollywood, and an abundance of chicken tikka masala all in the nine thousand year-old cradle of eastern religion.

somehow from all that you get temple stampedes. i could explore this stuff for the rest of my life.