Bismillah
(Notice there will be a lag between the time these were written and when they were posted. I will try to always include the time written at the top of a post)
I’m writing this on the plane, although I can only hope to post it in New Delhi if my hotel delivers on the promise on free wireless. I was somehow under the impression there would be free wireless on the plane. I don’t even have the option of paying exorbitant amounts for it under the excuse of suffering the severe and mind-numbing symptoms of gmail withdrawal. Oh how I miss those pretty blue little boxes…
In case you haven't heard, I am spending 7 weeks in India. Yes, I remember the time I gave a ride to those kids and they robbed me. Yes, I promise to be a little more discerning in my interactions with friendly strangers at markets, train stations and any other place American visitors with no common sense tend to fare poorly. Now that the formalities are out of the way, this is my travel blog. Given the aforementioned news (see the first 2-3 sentences of this paragraph), I don’t think this blog requires further explanation.
Here’s the itinerary:
Flight from Detroit to Amsterdam: Monday Evening
Flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi: Tuesday Morning
Arrive in New Delhi: 11 pm on Tuesday
One night and most of the following day in Delhi
Train to Bhopal at 9 p.m on Wednesday
Arrive in Bhopal: 7 am on Thursday
So it's been a few years since I last flew international and I'm learning a few things:
1) In the world of cramped, economy international flights: practicing Muslims never win. This is another situation in which we are forced to test our willingness to bend gender interaction limitations for the sake of comfort in the modern world. Cross my arms to avoid the awkward arm touching and have numb arms for nine hours or just relax and suffer the consequences in guilt? I can only hope that the rest of the world is not smart enough to realize that the only efficient way to enjoy this situation, besides being impossibly skinny, is to abolish the social norm that bans leaning on a stranger for comfort.
2) Uh airplane food.
3) There will always be people who speak loudly in some non-Western tongue during the portion of the plane ride that is intended for sleep, who get up despite multiple instructions not to do so during landing, who don’t know how to work the remote to their individualized screens and end up accidentally repeatedly calling over the flight attendant in the process. I guess this one is not so much a lesson as It is a question waiting to be a lesson: Can I detest the patronizing tone in which a flight attendant addresses non-Westerners and still wish in the bottom of my heart to be dissociated with their clueless, norm-breaking behavior? Does that make me a hypocrite? Does it make me an elitist? A little of both?
Salam Alaikum,
ReplyDeleteYou're writing is so content rich, that there's much I'm inclined to respond to, but I'll try to be concise and respond to your last question: Does that make me a hypocrite?
It's a question I ask myself considering my experience at Hajj. At Arafat, it was visibly clear and verbally noted that certain poorer South Asian camps had less favorable tent positions than Arabs or Americans. As a South Asian American, I found myself in prime real estate despite knowing the real demeaning attitude that my tribal brothers and sisters were facing. Would I have traded my comfortable position to live in solidarity with my brown brethren? Or would I feign outrage and enjoy my preferred position... Needless to say, I was in 8th grade, so my parents were anxious about letting me walk out to the bathroom alone versus actually walking out of our sheltered camp. But, more to the point, even if the circumstance happened if I were to go on Umrah today, would I share my comfortable hotel with those who spent their life savings to struggle to the holy land, yet find themselves under temporary shacks under bridges? In all honesty, my heart isn't that generous, so there's definitely hypocrisy in my heart: not wanting for my brother what I have myself. So, the real remaining question: how do I find my way to the sirat-al-mustaqim?
AllahuAlim