personal geographic history 3

2012-2014 Mumbai i see from here

One of the things that I started off with and that have been complex to decipher and then decide about is what kind of identity I should have here because it’s not what I have in Mumbai . It is different I am different here.

 In the three semesters I have been here the first one was about Norwegian interest in second homes and the changing nature of second homes, the broader idea here of second homes is identifiable to the farm house craze people with money have in Mumbai where you have been urbanized enough and earned enough to yearn for a different life a life of simplicity and simplicity of means. OF course the means don’t remain simplistic.

The relationships between the concepts were largely similar however in Norway the idea of the home and the second home became a part of the national identity a part of being Norwegian. Which I don’t believe is the case in Mumbai at all. It is almost the other end of the spectrum being temporary with respect to housing might be counted as a part of the identity of Mumbai.

Even with all the similarities and connections my easy acceptance of the double homes is may be not what I should have done as an outsider. I was one of the three non-Norwegians on the course.

Before I came to Norway I spent 6 months on the south west coast of Finland doing a winter internship in a city about the same size as Bergen called Turku. Our boss gave us some tips on the first day, he said if people don’t smile at you in the street; don’t think it’s you it’s because people here are not social on streets. It’s too cold for that. Most Finnish people couldn’t fathom why or how we left our warm country to come to this frigid land. In the summer it was like a new city with different happy people.

In the second semester here, I took a course that took us to the migrant villages of China, Guangzhou in specific. Here I was a representative of a Norwegian (European) group. The environment and climate is very similar to Mumbai, the food, the language very different. It was a strange negotiation of comfort and discomfort also no clear thought on how I was perceived, based on how I looked more European or more Chinese or just Indian? Also in terms of environments it was easier to pick out the differences and not the similarities (as in semester 1)

The third semester was an investigation of the city lying between the discourses of security and freedom. We looked at London and Israel as case study cities for different reasons. London’s population consists of about 7% Indians which is the largest ethnic minority group.

The city is so diverse it’s hard to tell who is local and who isn’t which makes the question of identity in relation to ethnicity/ nationality questionable; thus making for an interesting case.

In Israel it was like being in china again, but strangely enough I don’t look Israeli and they can tell that I am not local and it wasn’t because I was constantly in a group of mixed white people. I was told it was my eyes. I looked around me and always felt that it would be very hard to distinguish between or identify correctly a person of Indian, Spanish, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Arabic, Iranian, Pakistani Origin.

Also changes when I am the only one from India and then another guy shows up! Effectively in a position to challenge all that I have stated. I instantly fear that he is one of the Indian clichés / stereotypes that obviously exist just like on American TV.

This leads me to ask is identity relative always comparing to the context. Also we are at will to establish new definitions for a national identity for every new audience.

On a different but not disconnected note,The distances between places are at an all-time lowest at this point in time where it is possible to get from any point A to any point B fairly quickly. Also the need to make the journey is reducing. The everyday details which would be the things most missed by distance can be shared via skype, whatsapp and other such applications.Every destination is a *window away. A world of portals and wearable accesspoints. The limitless liminal spaces expandes constantly cableless and growing forming loops and new connections.Looks like physically the liminal space is largely under water in the inner space(term from scuba diving manuals)where the cables connecting the world wirelessly lay.