Sunday, November 29, 2009

Response to Chase's Food blog 11/29

I'm with you... eating is one of my favorite parts of traveling, if not my absolute favorite. And more so, the street food in particular. It gives you a feel for the local spices and flavors, all the while being nice to the pocket book. I still remember many of the street food meals I have had while traveling, they have been some of the best.

Part of becoming a tourist destination is ensuring that your guests will be able to eat without getting sick. Stomach problems while traveling are the fastest way to ruin your trip. I can't believe I am writing this because I am usually so against standardization and generic products. However, safe and more expensive street food is a sure fire way to make sure that people can enjoy the flavors of the place they are traveling to and enjoy the scenery of the place they are traveling to, instead of enjoying the hotel room bathroom of the place they are traveling to. Maybe it does affect the cultural mom-and-pop feel, however without it tourism won't thrive. Tourism creates a ton of revenue and can help increase the GDP. Most other tourist destinations have done the same thing with their food.

Hopefully, offering some sort of clean, standardized street food doesn't mean that traditional street food will disappear. Locals will still eat at traditional places, and visitors who are feeling adventurous can too. But creating a middle ground seems like a good step towards sanitation and a good place for entrepreneurs to create a niche market.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Response to Jay's "buzz" post 11/22

You mentioned that the techniques for harvesting Apis dorsata, the Giant honeybee, are antiquated and out of date. It seems that with all the technology we have in the world, we should be able to come up with a way to utilize this amazing resource (I don’t mean technology in the modern, electronic sense of the word).

If they the Giant honeybee hives were able to be harvested efficiently and safely, they wouldn’t have to worry about importing the Italian honeybee or the mountain bee. This would eliminate any disease or damage to the surrounding ecosystem that can result from introducing new species to a place.

Maybe it could be as simple as a project for the global service club at Calpoly. A couple years ago, they took a bicycle water pump (that was designed by some mechanical engineers as their senior project) to Malawi and introduced it to the local people. They got feedback and tested the design. Or on a bigger level, maybe it could be a project for an organization like USAID.

It seems that expanding the honey production could greatly benefit the communities in India, giving people livelihood and an income. Like any expanding industry, there are many factors to consider and many directions that it could go in. Individual families may be able to distribute both internationally and locally, as many of the large companies in India are family run.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Kashmir Blog - Fall Quarter

What about Kashmir? (and I don’t mean the sweater…)

When my alarm went off on Tuesday morning, NPR was playing softly in the background. As I lay there listening, a story about Indian relations with Pakistan came across the airways. http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3&prgDate=11-17-2009

As India emerges on the international stage as the most populated democracy in the world, there is always talk of the future. But there is one large aspect of the past that still may still play a large part of the future, the Indian relations with Pakistan and the conflict in Kashmir.

In 1947, the British declared India an independent secular nation, and Pakistan a Muslim nation. The already existing rivalry between Muslims and Hindus only grew stronger. Since 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars. The geographical area called Kashmir (located in the North of both countries) is still a disputed territory. Each night at the boarder between India’s Kashmir and Pakistan’s Kashmir, there is a flag ceremony on both sides. Bleachers full of hundreds of people come to watch and cheer for their respective country and yell taunts at those across the boarder.

There is a group in Kashmir that wants their own autonomy. They want to separate from Pakistan and India, and become their own country. Earlier this week, Indian leaders held secret meetings with Kashmir separatists. Kashmir has requested that India’s troops file back and the release of some prisoners before they continue the talks. At the time I am writing this, I could not find any information on whether or not India has complied.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi, of India’s ruling Congress party, and son of the party’s president, Sonia Gandhi, has spoken out for a change in attitude toward their Pakistani neighbors. “I actually feel we give too much time in our mind to Pakistan. We are now becoming a serious international player. Pakistan is a very small piece of our worldview.” Many people share this view, and are ready to forget the tension of the past and move on to a peaceful future. Many youth of both nations don’t care about the rivalry and have already moved past it. This may be easier said than done.

Can you sweep a deep seeded religious conflict under the rug in a generation? How similar is this to the conflict between Israel and Palestine and the debated region of Jerusalem? Can we draw any conclusions and similarities? Can diplomacy work to resolve this conflict?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Response to Erica's post 11/11/09

Your post reminded me a lot of some consumer goods they created in Kyrgyzstan. I spent two years there (July 2006-July 2008) living with a Kyrgyz family in a small village. The car for $2,200 and the cell phone for $20 with $.02 per minute are very similar to items they have in Kyrgyzstan.

The car in Kyrgyzstan is called the Tico. It is $2000 and very small, similar to the Smartcar, only with a tiny backseat and four doors. They are affordable to the villagers and everyone wants one. It is a sign of pride and modernization to drive a Tico.

Cell phones are inexpensive with inexpensive plans. Usually people buy pre-paid phone cards with a set amount of units. They use the phone until they run out of units and can afford to buy more. Similar to the Tico, it is a mark of pride and modernization to own a cell phone.

The villages have very little heat, very little food variety, and very few possessions. But they are anxious to join the "modern" and more specifically, "western" world. The money they have, they are willing to spend on these inventions and this type of commerce.

You posed some interesting questions..."How will India’s success in leveraging the untapped growth potential of its’ poor constituents influence the direction of innovation and marketing for other countries?" I don't know if Krygyzstan is being influenced by India directly, but it seems that there is an emerging market and growth potential of commerce for the poor constituents. As you mentioned, these are not poorly made items either. They are made to be less expensive, but also made to last.

"What do you think this will do for the standard of living in India and abroad?" As far as standard of living, it increases in someways and it stays the same in others. A Kyrgyz family may own a car and phone, but still not be able to afford proper winter clothes or proper heating. As far as basic standard of living, they made a life choice to own a car, instead of heat their house for the winter. One would think that heat and warm clothes would increase their actual standard of living, but the Kyrgyz family seems to think that owning a Tico and a cell phone does. I guess this brings up another issue... What increases the standard of living? What factors do we include when measuring?

New to blogging

This is my first blog... I have no idea what I am doing. I know I have to create it for my school's trip to India next summer, hence the name "India 2010." I also know I have to post assignments for the trip on it. Other than that, we'll see what kind of life it takes on!