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The next couple days will see less in the way of blogging and certainly less in the way of picture taking. We are spending our days in the classroom in the morning and on interviews in the afternoons. It is refreshing to have a set schedule. Perhaps that means I’m getting old and like routines, or perhaps it means I am maturing. I hope it’s the later. So my research topic was supposed to fall in line with my senior capstone on untouchables in India. I’ve found through a number of preliminary interviews and informal conversations that my continued research would yield a paper that hundreds of people have already written. So I am left with the need to focus my research on something contemporarily under debate or at the very least, interesting. As I spoke with Manvendra, our group’s fearless Indian leader, he explained that the reservation system in India is under constant debate. After Independence in India, when untouchablility (a social distinction below the caste syste) was eliminated, the government and others devised a way for ex-untouchables and other less privileged society members to be included in government positions. He mentioned that Dr. Ambedkar, the man for which I advocate in my capstone, was a supporter of the reservation system in a finite sense. It was simply a vehicle to allow some unrecognized people in society an ‘in’ for government jobs. However, as the social lines dropped, as they have in the cities, (according to Manverndra and AJ Singh the hotel owner of Mahrdahsa Pradesh both noblemen of the Mewars) the reservation system now actually will create social turmoil instead of sooth it. The reservation system allows people who are classified by the government as needing an advantage in society, to have reserved jobs in society. Of the three main groups are the SCs (Scheduled Classes), the STs (Scheduled Tribes) and the OBCs (Other Backward classes). According to Mukesh Savli, my ex-untouchable, the order of importance for the three main distinctions is (from greatest to least important) OBCs, SCs, STs. According to Manvendra children of ex-service men, the handicapped and women are also included in the reservation system. He gave an example that is the government was looking for a collector for Rajasthan and offered 5 seats, 2 would be reserved for SCs and STs. So now 40% of the jobs were off limits. Compounded on the reservation system itself are the new social issues some feel it creates. For example, if the government can not find qualified SCs or STs to fill the positions due to lack of education or lack of skills, they simply do not fill the positions. The next year those two seats, if unfilled again, combine to four unfilled seats. This will not only cause further inefficiency in the government because of the lack of jobs, but create what is called ‘backlog’ of reserved jobs that can not be filled. This, Manvedra adamantly states, is a BIG problem. So my topic is beginning to be focused.

So what else? As I interviewed Mukesk showed me the positive sides to India and the cities. I love it here. I know that this is a place I will return again and again and possibility even live. My stipulations are simply that I know I could not live in a place without electricity. I hate to say it, but living without some western comforts would be fairly impossible for me? Am I limiting myself or am I being realistic? What an interestingly fine line that can be…