Dalit Seminar

Last night there was a seminar on the Dalit experience and it turned out really well. I had organized this seminar for those Delhi EAP students who wanted to come. About 15 (half of all the Delhi EAP students) showed up. For me, I wanted to share a little about what i have been learning through all my volunteering and talks with these friends of mine. I often feel like I live in two worlds here in Dlehi, one that is with my American EAP student friends and one that is with my church/Dalit friends doing volunteer stuff and discussing Dalit and other injustice issues. For this night, the two worlds collided and it was really good, although also quite strange. It was strange to see Evan or Dana or Rebbecca stand in the same room as Marang and Madhu.

Nonetheless, the conference went really well. There was a short movie on Dalits in India and their situation. That was followed by a speaker named Dr. John Bayal. He is an amazing man who is quite involved in Indian high politics, meeting with senators, chair people, and other Indian political figures on a fairly regular basis. He also has just an incredible depth of the subject and asked really interesting rhetorical questions; it was a very high-level conversation. We finished with some questions form the UC students and it worked out really well. They were engaging and interested. By the end of the conference, a few people were talking about what they could do when they get home. I passed Dana and said to her that she could now see what I mean when I say I feel like I live in two worlds here in India (I have talked about this with her before) and she responded with an excited yet overwhelmed face saying, "I can't see how you don't just explode with activism!" And that was the nest response I could get from an event like this: people caring about the situation of some truly oppressed people.

Overall, it was a huge success for me personally as well as for the event. It felt like a good closure to my experience in India with working with my Dalit friends and church members. It brought my Western friends and my Indian friends together. It let me begin to share what I have been doing here with people who, despite that fact that I live with them, have very little idea about these things. And since I will not be able to go to volunteer except maybe once more (because I need to finish papers... something I am far less interested in), it felt like a good wrap-up to my experience in the slums. All in all the seminar was as much about closure for me as I prepare to leave in India in two weeks as it was about a conference to spread the word about Dalit issues. Overall, I was very happy with it.