Sean Paul Kelley's Comments
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Apr 22, 2009 | rating: 9.6 | comments: 58
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 22, 2009, 10:21am EDT
That Strange One is absolutely correct. It is about interaction. And as much as I would like to interact I just don't have the time. That a lousy excuse, but true nonetheless.
Apr 15, 2009 | rating: 9.5 | comments: 17
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 15, 2009, 9:03am EDT
Excuse me, interesting? Not to be an ass, but really now, is 'interesting all you can muster?
Apr 14, 2009 | rating: 10 | comments: 16
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 15, 2009, 4:35am EDT
Nope, not all of them are Turkish girls. But, due to the fact that I am a man, that I am single and am enjoying just looking at their magnetic beauty, for time being they might as well all be women! ;-)
Apr 14, 2009 | rating: 10 | comments: 16
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 14, 2009, 12:45pm EDT
Jyoti has a good post on the purpose of architecture, here.
Apr 13, 2009 | rating: 7.8 | comments: 17
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 14, 2009, 12:36pm EDT
Aye, architecture is near and dear to my very own heart! As a matter of fact I wrote about 'sacred architecture' today. http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977655666&nav=Namespace

Great post, and a great way of explaining in a modern context how envisioning something on paper and then putting into practice can be so difficult!
Apr 12, 2009 | comments: 1
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 12, 2009, 11:40am EDT
try www.couchsurfing.com where the lodging is free!
Apr 11, 2009 | rating: 9.1 | comments: 14
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 12, 2009, 4:12am EDT
Erica, are you kidding? Or are you just being a 'concern troll'?

When you are a tourist/traveler/etc. . . do you walk around with a stack of papers and ask people to sign releases before taking their photos? How in the world could a photo ever be authentic in that case? I do, however, as a general rule ask people before I take their photos. But I won't apologize for the 5% of the time when I don't.
Apr 9, 2009 | rating: 9.4 | comments: 12
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 10, 2009, 3:51am EDT
Georgiana, yes, Istanbul is an old friend.

Madame, Gordon, Debra and Kathryn, thanks for all your continued kind words. They make posting my stories here worthwhile!
Apr 4, 2009 | rating: 9.1 | comments: 14
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 4, 2009, 9:45am EDT
You are most welcome.
Apr 4, 2009 | rating: 9.1 | comments: 14
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 4, 2009, 9:33am EDT
Photos can be found here.
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Apr 2, 2009, 12:10pm EDT
Jyoti,

Thank you for writing. I really appreciate your candor. And I do hope that India moves forward. I do agree that literacy is a key place to being. And that weapons purchases are one of the things that prevents education from being done across the whole of India. No doubt, as well, that your neighbors are difficult to deal with. I also look forward to reading what you write about India as well. Please keep in touch!
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 30, 2009, 3:30am EDT
Like I said, Ashish, you're unwilling to face the truth of the matter, even when photographs are in evidence of 'my exaggerations'.

Sure, we can end the discussion there if you like. Denial is good thing I suppose.
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 29, 2009, 9:03am EDT
Ashish, address the real questions at hand: you pick out the easiest photos to criticize and yet you avoid the photo of filth on the beach at Varkala and the filth in Delhi? You avoid any comment on the ports, even after I provided excellent, solid and indisputable proof that Indian ports are in extremis. So, take the easy shots, that's fine by me. But it's obvious by what you omit; you simply can't be honest with yourself. And you know what, that's ok. Lord knows I know plenty of Americans who believe everything the USofA does is right and true and a part of God's plan and thus perfect and never to be questioned. I happen to not be one of those. My country has problems and I would always be the first to admit it. Why is that? Because I want my country to get better, live up to its truest values. Be an blind Indian patriot if you want. After all, it is your birthright.

Now, that being said, this comment betrays a true High Caste Hindhu, at a minimum, or maybe you are a Kshtriya who's family has become wealthy, regardless, your comment says and awful lot by what is not said:

digging in the trash for anything that could be reused so as to sell it.


You want to lecture me about human dignity? Look in the mirror pal.

How about building a country where people don't have to, you know, dig in the garbage so as to feed themselves? That is the basic standard for a nation that is developing. Just ask Amyarta Sen. He'd agree with me.
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 29, 2009, 3:48am EDT
Ashish, compare the port at Kuala Lumpur, the capital of a nation that has many, many fewer resources than India versus the Port at Chennai, India's second largest. Chennai has six cranes versus Klang's 50+.

Now, try to tell me I am exaggerating?

As for filth, well, this is my definition of filth: here and here and here and here. One simply does not see this kind of filth in China, in South East Asia--not even in Indonesia, not in Mexico or Eastern Europe, Turkey, Central Asia or the Middle East. The photos above are filth, whether you are honest enough to admit it.

Now, you may have never traveled outside India in your life, and if so your definition of filth will quite obviously be different from mine, which is indeed the exact point I am trying to make.

As for the electrical issues, one would never see this in the capital of any country, outside of maybe Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The proof is right before your eyes.
Mar 28, 2009 | rating: 10 | comments: 15
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 28, 2009, 10:00am EDT
Yes, peace does come from within. I've never disputed that. But peace is not why I went to India.
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 28, 2009, 3:49am EDT
Ashish: Actually, having to provide a passport to use the internet is simply onerous and unacceptable. As I have said before, I have traveled in 50 countries and none of them have rules as onerous as India's.

30 minutes for a SIM card? It's border line, but still within reason, if only. So, in the spirit of generousity, I'll concede your point on that issue.

That being said, you've said nothing, absolutely nothing about my main points in my essay, only picking out the small defects, as opposed to the glaring 'elephants' in the room, which are: electrical grid in horrid shape--to which I provided an typical example in this photo, trains in very poor condition, filth and squalor on a scale unimaginable--to which I provided a few examples in my photos and roads and ports that are in extremely poor condition. If you want photographic proof of the ports in India being in extreme disarray I will be happy to provide it.

Ashish, I'll make you a deal, I'll concede your qualms about a 30 minute wait for a SIM card and the internet rules being ok, if and only if you concede that I am in no way exaggerating the scope of the filth, electrical and port and road and rail issues. How's that? Can you be honest enough with yourself to admit it?
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 27, 2009, 5:30am EDT
One last thing: I wish I had made it to Calcutta to see Kushal. My one regret traveling in India was not going straight to Calcutta from Chennai. Kushal, if you ever visit the states, my home is your home.
Mar 26, 2009 | rating: 8.9 | comments: 42
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 27, 2009, 5:26am EDT
Ashish, you are clearly very sensitive. But that's ok. If you want to deny the problems in India that is your right, as an Indian. As for when my trip was, well, I left India three days. As for a poorly planned trip, I dispute that. I began in Chennai, followed the coast down to Cape Comorin, then up through Kerala, which, as I mentioned before, was quite wonderful. Perhaps it's because Kerala has a functioning government interested in the common good and did some very serious land reforms and caste reforms in the 50s and 60s.

As for the SIM card: I bought it in Chennai, from Vodaphone. It took thirty minutes. I was required to produce a passport, a photocopy of said passport and fill in triplicate forms. If you don't believe me, I really could care less. In Oman it took 5 minutes--at the airport no less. In Vietnam getting a SIM card up and running in my phone took about 30 seconds.

How, pray tell, am I to use the IRTC online service when one wants to go to an internet cafe one must provide a passport just to use the internet?

As for my view being cynical. Like I said in the post, if you don't like what I say, that's fine. I'm certainly not trying to score points or win over 'concern trolls' like TJI. I was simply being honest. Are their amazing things in India? Yes. But in my opinion, which after three trips to India is unlikely to ever change, is that the rewards of a trip to India do not outweigh the trials and frustrations unless you do it five star all the way.

And as a final comment, as I said in my post,

Now, have at it, call me a cultural imperialist, a spoiled child of the West and all that. But remember, I've been there. I've done it. And I've seen 50 other countries on this planet and none, not even Ethiopia, have as long and gargantuan a laundry list of problems as India does. And the bottom line is, I don't think India really cares.


I stand firmly behind that comment: I'd return to Ethiopia before I would return to India.
Mar 25, 2009 | rating: 10 | comments: 9
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 25, 2009, 11:25am EDT
Oh, I'll do it some day. Of that you can be assured. Just not on this trip. :-)
Mar 19, 2009 | rating: 10 | comments: 14
Sean Paul Kelley Mar 19, 2009, 1:12pm EDT
Indian women do not go to the 'bhang' shops. Foreign women, however, do. The lot of women in India is very, very, very bad.
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Sean Paul Kelley
Currently Somewhere in South-East Asia

Vertimus et non redemur
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