His Majesty the Aga Khan and a bit of Wellesley

The school I teach at is one run by the illusive Aga Khan, he is one sect of Islam's (Ismaili) version of the Pope. It is so paradoxical that this man is not only white but lives in France of all places. It is an unwritten rule in this place that there must be a picture of him in every room of the school...and sure enough, he is always there grinning in clothes that do not suit him. The Muslim section of Bombay is so different than other sections in its appearence. It is far mor run-down, and there are more stray dogs in each block than in the whole town of Boston. The women are dressed in burqa and the men in traditional attire. Although this paints an alarming, hyper-conservative image of the community it is one of the places in Bombay that is just that...a community. The people all seem to know each other and walking through the gates of the school families always chat cheerfully. There is one downside to this scenario, the way they react to me. I accept that I will always be met with blank stares in this country but it is the sexual harassment that I am irritated with. Disgusiting, middle-aged men gazing lustfully after me day-after-day, block-after-block is enough to make me barf and turn to lesbianism.

Anna and I are also living with an Indian roommate, her name is Jayanti. She is 23 and works in a bank in Bombay and is originally from Delhi. She is not married (unusual at her age) and seems desperate for her parents to find her a husband. I cannot imagine what she thinks of me... Just last night she said that women cannot be authoritative because men will not think of them as dainty/fem/beautiful anymore, but as more masculine. She then went on to say, "this is a problem because at the end of the day EVERY woman just wants a man to take care of her." I laughed instinctively, but then realized that she wasn't exactly kidding. I told her that that kind of thinking is what led to this crazy, male-dominated culture in this country. The fact that only masculinity can be associated with authority or intelligence just makes me puke, honeslty!

I haven't seen my lizard in a few days and I hope my landlady didn't hurt him, he is quite cute....

I had a new suit made yesterday and get to pick it up on Wednesday! I am very excited!!!