The Blind Touch
As I was setting up the camera for the interview, he asked his assistant to get some awards to put on the table. He then asked another staff member to put a banner of the organization behind his chair. While I was doing a sound check, I saw in the corner of my eye he was straightening his hair. After everything was set, he tells me “I think everything looks good now”…This was a blind man speaking.
This weekend I spent time in Bangalore (IT hub of India) at Samarthanam, an organization that teaches the visually disabled how to operate a computer. HP and Microsoft provided a computer lab and software to this organization. Every key that is pressed and every sentence that is formulated on the computer, a voice comes out of the system to tell the person what has been typed. There is even a software that reads books, newspapers and magazines for the person. There are people in that computer lab who can type faster than me.
When I walked through the hostel where these people stay, I came across many people my age. It made me wonder why it was them who received those pair of eyes. When they approach you, they put their hand on yours to have you guide them. Every time this happened to me, I felt this uneasiness in my stomach. It was a feeling I can’t explain. There were many times where I found myself wanting to pull back.
One woman I met stood out. She was in her 60s and lost her vision a few years back. She told me, “At least if I was born with this, I could deal with it.” Her face told the story of her brokeness. I can’t imagine how hard it is for someone who once could see the world and now cannot. Maybe one day she will find comfort in her life again…
In India, the blind are the lepers of society along with the drunks, widows and orphans. While some like this organization have given them a chance, most have not. For them, technology is their way to be accepted in the world. I hope that this technology can be the answer they need in their lives. I hope it can offer them some type of comfort. I hope one day they won’t need anyone’s hands to guide them anymore.
Toast
The best breakfast bargain in my town is a hotel next to my apartment. For a dollar, you can have an all-you-can eat buffet. Unlimited fruit, cereal, eggs and toast. This morning I sat down in the empty hotel restaurant and began to eat. It was a plate full of amazing. Well, the toast was a bit stale, but the jam made up for it.
The waiter, early 40s, comes up to me and starts a conversation. I don’t mind, so I begin talking to him while eating my food:
Waiter: Where are you from sir?
Me: Around the Los Angeles area…
Waiter: What you do here?
Me: Media work for the Foundation here, I’m just here for a year
Waiter: Ah
He continues to stand there
Waiter: Sir…I been trying to get a visa to U.S and U.K.
Me: Oh yeah? No luck?
Waiter: Yes, I try for years now, but it’s very hard.
Me: Ah yeah I’ve heard it takes a while. It’s a hard process, but you should keep trying…goodluck
I resume eating my food in hopes the waiter would leave me alone, but when I look to my side a few seconds later, he’s still there starring at me.
Waiter: …can you help me?
Me: What?
Waiter: Can you help me go there?
Me: Well…I don’t know anyone in the government, so I don’t think I can help you out…
I start to eat again. I don’t want to deal with this anymore, but he’s still standing there.
Waiter: If you can help me…my family is very poor
Me: Just keep trying, I’m sure you will have luck soon
The waiter keeps starring at me. He then finally responds
Waiter: Yes sir, please, eat your food
He then walks away.
I try to put the food in my mouth, but I can’t. Everything tastes stale now. Part of me is angry—-screw this guy for putting this on me, how can a 25 year old help a 40 something year old man and his family? Part of me is helpless—- I came to this country to help people and now I can’t do anything. Part of me is sad—-this world is truly a messed up place. All of me is ready to leave.
I get up, pay my bill and take off to work. So much for a bargain…
Departures
We were driving into the old railroad town. It was me and two college students. The sky set the tone for the day—-dark clouds hoovering. It looked like it was going to rain any minute. We were visiting an orphanage to donate clothes that was collected from the community. I was there to photograph the exchange to put in a short commercial I’m working on.
As we pulled up, I saw a few children peeping through the windows. They were probably wondering what we were doing there. Looking around at the run-down buildings and the locals starring, I began to wonder the same thing.
When we walked into the small classroom, there were about 20 kids. If you looked at their clothes and shoes, you couldn’t tell they were the forgotten ones of society. But when you looked up at their faces, it told a different story.
As the clothes were being passed out, a partial smile was seen from the mouths of these kids. Maybe they were happy. Maybe they didn’t care. Maybe they wondered how it all came out to be this way; how come in life they weren’t the ones passing out the clothes…
I finished taking pictures and asked if we could have all the kids stand outside with the college students. This would be the money shot. This is exactly what I needed for my commercial. But for some reason, I didn’t feel right about it. After taking each shot, I felt guiltier and guiltier. This whole thing was a show. I was the director and they were just actors in my movie…
As we got into the rickshaw, all three of us felt horrible. Why is the world way one way for some, and another way for others? Why would the same people who created these children destroy them? Not even a fucked up Jackson Pollack painting could sum up what we felt.
We got back into the vehicle to head back to our office. As I looked out, the kids all waved at me and screamed “goodbye”. I smiled and waved at them. As the driver was about to go, his vehicle stalled. So I looked out again thinking they were going back into the classroom, but they were still standing there…
The rickshaw finally started and we left. Once again, someone in their life departs…never to be seen again.
FML-The Indian Version
If you don’t already know, there is this amazing website called FML—-www.fmylife.com. Here, people post up some of their most ridiculous life occurrences. Here’s an example:
-Today after dating my girlfriend for about a month she decided to change her Facebook status to taken. When I saw the update I immediately clicked “Like”. Then I looked up and saw I wasn’t the person she had put herself in the relationsihp with. FML
There are many things that perplex me about Indian society. Rather than rail on the norms and traditions of this society and come off as a culturally insensitive person, I wanted to create FML-the Indian Version-and come off as a witty-culturally insensitive person. Enjoy.
1) I always knew that I was going to get an arranged marriage, but never thought it would happen when I was 15. When I got home last night, my parents told me they found a wife for me…it was my cousin. FML
2) I’ve been dating this American chick for two weeks now, so I made her a mixed cd to show her how much I knew about American culture. Some of the bands I put on there was Chumbawamba, Smash Mouth and Jewel. She stopped seeing me after this. Apparently it’s not 1993 in the U.S. FML
3) For our two-year anniversary, my girlfriend promised me that she was going to give me a “wild” night. Last night, we got super drunk and she stayed the night…I finally got to first base. FML
4) My town is very conservative, so I have to cover most of my body. Today when I was walking to the market, I tripped over a rock and fell. When I got up, the local men started to stone me. Apparently I was showing too much ankle. FML
5) There are multiple languages spoken in my town, so sometimes I can’t communicate with other people. Today while walking down the busy street, an old man came up to me and said something. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but he was holding his hand out, so I thought he was begging for money. After I gave him a few rupees, he took off his pants. Apparently he’s the town stripper. FML
6) Our local dvd store rarely carries American movies, so when I heard they just got “The Dark Knight” in, I rushed down to the store and was the first one to rent it. When I came home and popped it in the dvd player, instead of seeing Christian Bale, it was Michael Keaton…but the movie wasn’t the first “Batman”, it was “Multiplicity”. FML
7) My whole life, my parents have wanted me to become a doctor. One day, I told them I wanted to be a bollywood actor. Surprisingly they were very supportive and told me the next day they would sign me up for acting classes. The next thing I remember was waking up in a drug rehab facility. FML
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Lost in Translation
“Although as humans we do not communicate very well, we all share the same spiritual spine”
In the movie Babel, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu conceptualizes his movie around the story from the old days where men tried to be equal to God. These men built the tower known as Babel to reach the heavens. God, angry at man’s arrogance, confounded man’s communication by creating hundreds of different languages.
The language barrier out here is tough. Even Indians who speak English sometimes don’t get what I’m saying. I find myself having to repeat things multiple times. I had quite an interesting experience with the language barrier this week.
My intern loves American movies, so I wanted to break the ice with him a little. As we were both riding on his motorcycle through the town, I asked him if he was into the Bourne movies. He responded with excitement and said “yes!”. I was like “awesome”
For the next five minutes, he starts talking about sex—-from positions to movies… The roads in India are a little rough, but this ride just got a little bumpier. I’m wondering in my head “what the hell is this guy talking about.” I don’t want to be rude, so I just agree with everything he has to say.
When he drops me off at my place, I ask him if he wants to borrow The Bourne Ultimatum. He looks at me with his mouth wide open. “Ohhhh, you said Bourne?” Apparently earlier, he thought I said “porn”.Here I was trying to talk about Matt Damon and this kid is talking about the missionary position.
The language barrier frusrates the heck out of me sometimes, but during moments like this, you just gotta laugh…
P.S: The Porn Identity hits stores soon
the blind man
“When you look into one’s eyes, you can see a story”
Three mornings a week, I take classes to learn the local language. My instructor is an older man in his 60s—-rough skin, frail eyes, but always carries a smile.
One day, I was filming something and he came over and sat next to me. As I was working, he began to observe my actions very closely. His bemused look prompted me to stop what I was doing and explain to him the process of filiming and photography. I’m not sure this former English high-school teacher has come across many cameras in his life…
I allowed him to operate the camera and film what was going on. Never have I seen an old man get so giddy. It was like a child playing with a new toy.
We then began to talk about life. He asked why I came out to India and where else I’ve been. When I asked him about the places he has seen, he told me he has never been out of Hubli. With a smile, he said, “I was born in Hubli and I will die in Hubli.”
How could a man who has lived so long not seen a town different than his? I initially felt bad for him…he’s never had the opportunity to taste new foods, see new buildings and interract with other kinds of people. It was like he was blind to the rest of the world.
Many people in this town have never been outside of Hubli. To them, the world is a small place. It would be easy for me to say that I have had a more experienced life seeing the things that I have, but that’s the wrong way to look at it. Experience is not about where you go, but it’s about what you do in that moment. Although I’ve been to so many countries, I don’t feel like I’ve experienced things in the moment. Part of my job is to capture people’s stories. They say to find out one’s story, you must look into their eyes. I hope to find many stories out here and begin to experience things differently.
While I was working at my desk today, my instructor came up to me and asked me how I was doing. He then asked, “Can you bring your camera to my desk and take a picture of me?” I just smiled and said “sure”.
This old man may never see the world, but through this picture, the world will see him…
