"India as a Stochastic Environment", or "Watch Where You're Goin', Buddy"

This first, high-falutin' title actually did occur me during a walking tour of the old ("Pink City") of Jaipur with Iowa Guru. The alternate title, however, is the true take-away line. Let me explain.

The fancy part of the title about a “stochastic environment”, comes courtesy of economist turned health and fitness expert, Art De Vany. De Vany used his skills and analytic train of thought as an economist to think about issues of health and fitness. Somewhere in his writings (this book and this blog), De Vany discussed the idea of Paleolithic man living in a stochastic environment. This is a fancy way of saying the life was very unpredictable. The availability of food was unpredictable; the weather was relatively unpredictable; and the physical environment was rather unpredictable. Of course, in the larger sense, climate is predictable and no doubt Paleolithic humans came to know about their environment very well. But from moment to moment and from step to step, things could be uncertain. Contrast this with daily life in Iowa, where most of our steps are taken on concrete sidewalks smoothed so the no discontinuity greater than about an inch and a half is tolerated on a city sidewalk and where we can check the latest weather forecast with a glance at our smart phone.

Now let me talk about walking in India. The first thing I should say is of the weather here, at least since we have arrived, has been very predictable: sunny, hot, and dry. But when walking, however, you really have to watch your step. Taking our tour of the Pink City, the oldest part of the city, one has to avoid electric wires (on the ground and handing overhead), open sewer lids, and various droppings from the animals of the Jaipur zoo. In other words, you really have to be careful each step you take here in India. Indeed, this lesson was reinforced at the very end of our long walk, when Iowa Guru pointed out that our ride back home was behind us. I immediately made an about-face and took a step forward only to land in a puddle. No harm done, but an inexpensive reminder about the care needed with each step.

As a lawyer who has sued business and individuals for failing to maintain their properties to a reasonable (loaded phrase) degree of safety, I was initially appalled at the thought of such an ill kept and dangerous environment. But the upside of this unpredictable environment is that it does require an alertness that is unimaginable in Iowa or almost anywhere in the US. The trade-off seems to me to be between a rather cozy and predictable environment that has a soporific effect, and a much more hazardous but mentally stimulating environment that India provides. Indeed, Professor De Vany and others who think along the same lines (e.g., I was introduced to De Vany by reading Nicholas Nassim Taleb), the making of an uncertain and unpredictable environment provides challenges that keep us alert and awake.

So if you come to visit India, come with your eyes wide open, watch each step you take, and think of yourself as experiencing life like that of your distant ancestors, who had to learn to thrive in an environment that had more than a few curve balls to throw at you.

Oh, yes, and look up, too. I still have a lot of learning to do, especially regarding low hanging objects. I've scraped my head at least three times on low branches and signs.

India, the great teacher.

Faces & Figures

Iowa Guru in her most recent blog gives a narrative of our walking tour last Saturday. I want to share some of the faces and figures that we saw on her tour (and a couple of a few of these are redundant of her post).

Starting at one gate into the Pink City with a few faces in the crowd

A typical Jaipur "school bus". The one on the left has had enough!

For those needing a munchie along the way

It wouldn't be India without the cow. By the way, is this cow face pose, yogis?

Making yogurt

Talkative school girls who hailed Iowa Guru with their English & ended up getting quizzed in an mini English class!

Making bowls, really.

Pounding out pans. Yes, that's a hammer!

Our brief fling as rock stars. Great smiling faces, even with Saturday school

Typical statuary.

Another big shot, although I don't recall whom.

A full-figured look

Gautama Sakyamuni, a/k/a Buddha

How'd he get in here?

I'm still working on this one.

Ah, this one, too.

A few of the faces and figures of India. All photos by the lovely Iowa Guru.

Too Late, Big Guy?

This article refers to an issue that Iowa Guru raised in her earlier blog. The issue of foreign retailers operating in India came to the fore shortly after we arrived, and the issue remains a hot political topic, as it's weakened the ruling parliamentary coalition.

I share this article because it points out one of the peculiarities about India and other developing countries. Sometimes a nation like India leap-frogs over technologies that evolved more slowly in the developed countries. This article notes the jump in telephone service almost directly to cell phones with a relatively limited number of land lines, even though phones have been in India for decades. We saw the cell phone phenomena in Cameroon as well. At the present, I doubt very much that a sufficient number of Indian consumers have access to internet services to make a big difference in retail practices, but that number should be increasing relatively quickly. India has an average per capita income that is very low and a huge number of people that live on or below even the local standard of poverty, but the absolute numbers in India are so great that it still encompasses a significant middle class. I could foresee middle-class Indians migrating quickly to greater use of online services and shopping, while poorer Indians would likely remain more loyal to the traditional small shopkeepers. Thus, the author's forecast that Wal-Mart and Carrefour (French equivalent) would have a hard time breaking in here may prove correct.

I do wonder how India's the small shopkeepers will survive with so many people apparently on the payroll (even if they are family members). Perhaps if small shopkeepers were driven out of business in sufficient numbers, massive unemployment could result. Right now, I see massive under employment in the sense that labor productivity has to be so low because so many persons are holding so many jobs with so few duties. The history of capitalism has been one of dislocation followed by consolidation. The dislocations almost inevitably affect the poorest and most vulnerable in society, but those changes have usually provided long-run benefits for that same group. I don't think that there is an easy answer to these questions, but watching the process unfold here in India will be a major development.

Have you been to the Jaipur zoo?

"Have you been to the Jaipur zoo?"

I considered the question carefully, as I was having a pleasant conversation with three locals who were quizzing me about my experiences after three weeks in India. I quickly ramshackled through my mind to try to recall if I’d read anything about a zoo in Jaipur, but I couldn’t find anything. I answered slowly. 

" No, I haven’t."

Also most in unison, my conversation partners responded,

 "Don’t bother, it’s in the streets."

At this point, perhaps because I looked a bit puzzled, they began to list the animals in the Jaipur zoo: 

"Camels, elephants, cattle, donkeys, pigs, goats, dogs, and horses".

Oh, yes, now I get it. The streets of Jaipur are a sort of zoo. I might add that I’ve yet to see a cat. Iowa Guru has spotted a rat, and we’ve both spied one monkey (which are quite numerous in some cities). 

Yes, it’s quite a collection here. Through in all of the people and vehicles, and you have a better sense of what it’s like to take to the streets of Jaipur. And I have no idea if Jaipur has a traditional zoo, but if it did, I can't help but think that it would be a disappointment compared to the what's on display in the streets.

A Room with Two Views

The view shown above is the view that I see when I step outside our door onto the landing, looking down to my left. Our apartment is part of a larger compound, the "Jaipur Heritage Home" where we live. Several other units are available, but for right now we're the only guests. As you can see, it's a lovely enclosure. We're surrounded by trees, a wall, and a variety of plants and birds. The seats and bench you see in the lower left hand corner provide a great place to read or talk in the late afternoon. You can't see them, but the exterior walls of the buildings have some paintings of Rajasthani scenes. We've enjoyed a couple of lovely breakfasts in the patio on the upper left with our landlady (actually nice enough that I hate to use the term--shall I say 'hostess'?) and two other sets of guests, a German university student and two British social workers touring for an NGO. All in all, a lovely place for us to spend time. 

Look closely

This if the view from our landing taking a few steps to the right. This looks out on the street past the gate to our compound. As you can see there's a great deal of trash strewn in the street. If the image comes out well enough, and you look closely, you should see the pig that it rooting around in the garbage. I've learned that this is not a unique seen, as I saw a herd (mom & piglets) on other occasions. In addition to the pigs, male passers-by seem to like to pee on the far wall. Further down you seen a stream, where trash collects as well. If you could travel further up the road, beyond the camera shot, you'd find a slum and, for lack of a better term, a garbage dump. (This apparently keeps the pigs in business; remember, neither Hindus nor Muslims eat pork, so the pigs are for clean-up only.)

Also, to the near left is an abandoned property (where the peacocks like to stay), as well as an abandoned lot across the street. Out of view, separating us from these areas, is a high wall surrounding the compound topped with glass shards and barbed wire. 

More and more I come to realize these scenes are typical of India: a juxtaposition of extreme poverty and deprivation along side ultra-modern malls,  communication centers, and homes. You can step from one world into another in a moment. Amazing. 

P.S. Because the photo above doesn't show the pig well, I'm attaching this photo taken at a later time at street level. 

Our apartment to the left out of scene