Author: Mark
Letter from India – January 1, 2012
Kamareddy is a village in south central India about 120 kilometers, or about an hour and a half out of Hyderbad. Getting there so quickly is one of the signs of what we now call “Modern India.” Cars, buses, trucks and 3 wheeled motorized rickshaws share a newly built national highway which stretches from all the way from the south to Srinagar in Kashmir: more than 3000 km, all told. Bikes and motorcycles are forbidden but that doesn’t seem to prevent them from taking to the road. We did still see many, often with a driver and 2 or 3 passengers, of all ages, and none of whom wore helmets or any of the other protective gear we now take for granted in Europe.
This road is remarkably engineered and those who produced it can be rightly proud of their achievement. The lanes are beautifully spaced and many parts are perfectly well lit. Yes, this is part of modern India and it’s a life-saver. On another road a few days ago, some weren’t so lucky. We saw two buffalos which must have been hit by something carrying a very heavy cargo and I did read in this morning’s newspaper of two bi-peds who, as they tend to say here, “breathed their last breath.”
I was welcomed to Kamareddy by a group of wonderful, devoted teachers who took time off from their family activities this New Year’s Day to participate in a seminar I was giving to English teachers.
We were hosted by the SEYWAC, a local NGO. People eager to learn. Hungry for cultural contact with others. Surprised by my sharing. Much kindness emanated from their eyes. Much gratitude was shown … if for nothing else than the opportunity for us all to spend this time together. I’m still very moved by the fresh flowers they had attentively put together for me.
Sushil and Shayam, who organized the seminar and accompanied me from Hyderabad, said that Kamareddy itself hadn’t changed much … yet. They compared it to their own home town of Warangal where we had been a couple of days ago. Warangal, they explained, looked just like Kamareddy … 10 years ago.
In a couple of years, these folk will be connected to high speed internet. You may judge whether that’s a good thing or not … but that will always depend on what you connect to. They are anxious to learn, to read, to hear … more than can be had … locally. The move from local to planetary only really depends on one thing: how well they can communicate … in English.
My hosts have invited me to return. I intend to. By then, some material things will have changed. And let’s hope that the most valuable, the human ones, remain the same.
For the life of me, I can’t remember a more fulfilling New Year’s Day.
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The Mona Bismarck Foundation
The American Center for Art & Culture – The Mona Bismarck Foundation
“The Wyeths: Three Generations of American Art”
Victoria Wyeth, granddaughter of Andrew Wyeth and niece of Jamie Wyeth,
will give a presentation at the Mona Bismarck Foundation next week, lecturing about the Wyeth exhibit there on Tuesday evening. Victoria is known for her lively style and personal insights into the Wyeth family and their work.
Place: Mona Bismarck Foundation, 34 avenue de New York, 75116 Paris
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Newsletter: 10 November 2011
Dear Friends,
Language is dialogue. This is a followup to my last letter in which I mostly talked about your own language, your own style, how you express yourself. But in fact, I have to admit that it stopped short – It didn’t get beyond you.
Language is dialogue. You’re not alone. If your language is like the clothes you wear and choosing your own style … well, it’s not enough to just talk to yourself in front of a mirror … Language is dialogue. And your choice of style has as much to do with yourself as it does with the community you live in and the people who make up your world. Yes, people first judge you by the clothes you wear and … even more, by the way you speak, by the way you express yourself.
Dialogue is feedback. Whether you’re talking to an audience of 2000 or whether you’re talking to one individual, adapting your speech to those you’re speaking to is like making the first move in a game of chess. You make a move. Your partner makes a move. You speak to a large audience; they respond. You feel it. You speak to someone you know. You get a response. It doesn’t matter who begins. It’s a dialogue. You’re always picking up where you left off.
Of course, we all know people who speak to themselves even when they’re speaking to others. How can I say that? We hear them every day. In person. In schools. In meeetings. People looking at themselves in a mirror … with polite onlookers. Have you ever seen anyone holding a phone at a distance from their ears?
Dialogue is listening. And reacting. Dialogue is pause. Dialogue is in time. Do you send and receive email? textos? How quick do you answer? What sort of dialogue is going on? Do you pick up on someone’s style and answer with the same tone?
It seems to me that so much misunderstanding between people comes from a failure to listen. In fact, talking back and forth … without a dialogue.
Two monologues. Each party listening to himself, herself.
When you take the time – and yes, I mean the time – to listen… or to read and take the time and make the effort to think about what others are telling you, are saying … then in fact, before saying a word, before asking a question, you’ve opened … a dialogue. A healthy one.
The best dialogues are those that last a long time. Those that never end.
Who are those with? That’s the definition of … friends. Friends listen.
When you practice the art of listening … you open a dialogue. And to do that, you need language. But you also need one thing more: courage. The courage to listen.
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