Into Kali's Kingdom

I have wanted to travel to India for more than a decade now. The finances being what they are, with our own expenses my family only gets to Tallinn or Stockholm for a weekend. Nevertheless, I have dreamed of India, made friends with Indians wherever the path has taken me, spoken its many languages in my dreams, worshipped its many gods and goddesses. Be it Shiva, Ganesh, Lakshmi or Kali, all Hindu gods and goddesses have a place in my inner universe. This is why I once decided to call this forum Shivani's kitchen. I wanted to be a female follower of Shiva, the neverending cycle of creation and destruction.

However, in my personal life, I am strongly approaching Christian Orthodoxy, a body of thought that in the local conditions does not accept yoga in its premises. It is hard to accept the narrow-mindedness of the local believers. Of course, if practiced mindfully, Orthodox Christianity contains most elements included in Hinduism. The attitude to food is different, but there is an idea of abstaining from earthly pleasures in both of them. There are days of abstinence and days of feast. Both belief systems allow scope on the individual, artistic, imaginary ways to worship God. Both are very physical and sensual ways of worship.

Yet in the local interpretation, somehow the two belief systems seem to be in controversy. (All Lutherans are allowed to do yoga. No such discussion two worlds as being far apart from one another. For me, they symbolize aspects of the same divinity. ) I find a more common one in Christian Orthodoxy, but doing so, I do not feel alienated from the Hindu belief system.

Last Sunday I participated in a wonderful Indian Cultural Evening with dozens of old and new friends, right here in the heart of Tampere. I have found my soul in the ragas and taal, they really communicate right through me, much more so than a decade of studies in European classical music. In my apartment stands a deserted piano, but my soul yearns for tabla or sitar. Possibly tabla. (I know my limits, and my fingers are very much keen to interact with the rhythms.)

So I am on my way to India's cultural capital, Kolkata, the city of Goddess Kali. Everybody speaks badly of the place, because of the slums, the overcrowding, the shadows of socialism (of which I am curious, not critical) so I am determined to make the most of it. There will be some teaching ahead, and hopefully some exploring. I am reminded that the narrative of my PhD started from the suburbs of Calcutta, where Shaista Suhrawardy was educated in the pressures of British colonial and ancient Muslim traditions.

I already have a tattered Bangladeshi copy of "Teach yourself Bengali" in my office. At one stage in my life, it must have been last year, I was overwhelmed by the drawing of the Bengali alphabet (tongue in the middle on my mouth) in my "Oriental languages" notebook. So far, it only contains Arabic, Urdu and Bengali.

I have the best vibes about Bengal. Please read this together with my friend Mari Korpela's (2009) PhD thesis More Vibes in India. I will miss the defence because of India. But I will write her a postcard ignoring or confirming what I saw.

Cash or Sodexo vouchers?

There has been a lot of discussion in the Finnish media lately about asylum-seekers' income support. At the moment, Finland seems to pay most generously for asylum-seekers in the whole EU. The fact that Finland continues to pay in cash, whereas some bigger EU countries only donate goods, vouchers or a social services credit card (called Azure card), causes a lot of bitterness and jealousy amonst the so-called "migration critics". In reality, the income support schemes in all countries are complex and not directly comparable. One should also remember that Finland has the highest food prices in the whole EU, and it is not possible in the winter months to pick anything edible from the nature. Warm clothes, too, are an expensive necessity. Food banks operate somewhere, but one cannot count on them.

Cash is the humane alternative that brings people (at least at a marginal level of everyday exchange=shopping) to the same level of respect with the locals. Giving people vouchers or charity store freebies sets them dramatically apart. It is a very robust way of interpellating people as denizens, second-class citizens or even non-entities.

Britain has unsuccessfully introduced the Sodexo voucher scheme already twice in the 2000s. In the second modification of the scheme, vouchers are given to "failed" applicants who are waiting to be deported. The general public is disgusted and outraged; there are many humanitarian campaigns all over the country to outlaw this section 4 paragraph for "failed" asylum-seekers. Many ordinary Britons are trading the vouchers with cash, some out of charity, others to reap benefits to themselves. They don't mind becoming stigmatized at Tesco checkout; they voluntarily use the vouchers on behalf of the asylum-seekers.

One could think of the voucher scheme as an innocent example of everyday mathematics. But to give coupons to some people is a form of Othering. At a more philosophical level, how can we think of living in a country where some people are at the government level diagnosed as "failed"?

In Finland, the benefits are not generous for anyone, not for migrants nor natives, considering the high expenses of living. Migration minister Astrid Thors is pressurized soon make a suggestion for the future. It is highly likely that the benefits will be dramatically cut, because of the degree of the public outrage. The Sodexo voucher/Azure card option may also become a reality next year.

This citation from the magazine Egypt Today, in an article "Welcome to Finland",
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8708

written by journalist Dina Basiony, hit the migration-critical nerve big time:

"Like most immigrants, Ahmed and her husband took advantage of the free Finnish language lessons offered by the government, which pays immigrants 8 (euros) per day to attend. The government also provides immigrants with a free home, health care for their family and education for their children. In addition, they get a monthly stipend of 367 (euros) per adult to cover expenses until they start earning their own living. The government is able to pay for these services due to a progressive tax rate that can exceed fifty percent of a person’s income. Even so, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed that Finland needs immigrants and that, in the long run, they are not a burden on society."

The notion of monthly "stipend" is quite funny. No-one in their right mind would conceptualize income support as "stipend" in this country. Dina Basiony's story is a classical honeymoon article, describing a polished version of the official Foreign ministry rhetorics of both countries. Finnish "migration critics" read it as a piece of propaganda written for the Arab world to invite more asylum-seekers into the country. Others may read differently. I read the citation as black humour.

I want to ask from everyone supporting a possible voucher scheme, how they position themselves as possible future welfare recipients. Because once the food coupons have been introduced to one group of people, it won't take long until they become a powerful mechanism of differentiation cross-cutting whole society. Who will come next? Pensioneers, those in a wheelchair, caretakers of the terminally ill?

Asylum seekers are human beings just like anyone else. If we fail them by giving them freebies, coupons and vouchers, we fail all of us.

Glory of the 80s

is a Tori Amos Song, which I borrow here to refer to last night's movie watching. We watched ET on an old VHS tape. The last viewing dates from some years back, when we watched it with my daughter, perhaps then around the same age when I saw it first (10). And now with a ten-year old son. The movie is now 27 years old, and seeing in on that "original" crackling tape with hideously bad Finnish subtitles is a total nostalgic treat!

I remember when ET hit the movie charts in Finland, and we were still quite modestly equipped with movie paraphernalia, but my British penfriend sent me some stickers and other things that made the locals green with envy. It must have been the first "commodified" movie in Finland, at least as far as I can remember. Those were the days when some families already had video recorders, but my family only acquired one in 1985. I have bought my original ET VHS in the 2000s from a flea market.

ET is more a depiction of ordinary American family life than of extraterrestrial life, the most revealing detail is that the mother doesn't notice the goblin's existence in her house for days. It is a story of a family crisis, and the kind of blindness a crisis can cause to all external events in the closest surroundings. Of course, it is also essentially a parable of becoming familiar with otherness, any kind of otherness that might cross our paths these days. From the perspective of the challenges today's children face in their everyday life, ET might not anymore seem so alien as it did in the 1980s.

What really endears me in the movie is how fresh the actors look without plastic surgery and recent techonologies of image manipulation. Drew Barrymore in the role of the youngest child, daughter Gerd, is a total darling. I love the "messiness" of the film: especially the home decor aspect, the layers and layers of tacky things - the kind of ordinariness of American living, which one hardly sees anymore on the screen. Or am I just watching the wrong movies?

Modestly Christian

Today I thought of writing something about "the modesty movement" in different Christian churches. Most of the evidence was found on US sites; I was curious to find European modesty sites, but so far haven't found any. I must have visited hundreds of websites, and I am too confused. Some modesty sites are "interfaith", as the point is to cover up as much skin as possible, doesn't matter if a Christian, Muslim or Jew has stitched them.

The most ladylike items were found at Lydia of Purple's site:

http://www.modestapparelchristianclothinglydiaofpurpledressescustomsewing.com/

The so-called "cape dresses" are specially meant for homeschooling moms and daughters. There were also father-and-son pyjama sets.

Here a sample of "dress without a cape". Go and check the rest yourselves!

Anu Kaipainen RIP

Koska meille ei tällä hetkellä tule aamulehteä, enkä TV-uutisiakaan ehdi joka päivä seurata, minulta jää huomaamatta esim. kuolinilmoitukset.

Tänään kuulin, viikon myöhässä, että kirjailija Anu Kaipainen on poistunut tuonilmaisiin. Tämä sävähdytti siksi, että olin juuri hänen viimeisinä aikoinaan lukenut hänen tuotantoaan "apinanraivolla".

Nuorempana Kaipainen kuului äitini hyllyn lukemattomiin aarteisiin. Niputin hänet mielessäni "Karjala-kirjailijoihin", joihin kuuluivat myös Eeva Kilpi ja Laila Hietamies. Kilpeä ja Hietamiestäkin olen yrittänyt vuosien aikana ymmärtää sekavin tuloksin. Kaipaista minulle on vinkattu moneltakin taholta, ja jossain vaiheessa aloin kantaa kirjastojen poistokärryistä hänen teoksiaan "pahan päivän varalle". Kirjoja on myyty pilkkahintaan, epäilisin siksi, ettei Kaipainen ainakaan vanhemmilla päivillään ollut samanlainen mediapersoona kuin esim. edellä mainitut kirjailijattaret ovat olleet. Vaikuttaa siltä, että hän on antanut romaaniensa puhua omaa kieltään. Osaako suomalainen lukija enää tarttua kirjaan, jonka kirjoittaja ei ole Uutisvuodossa, Mark Levengoodin haastateltavana tai messuilla hymyilemässä?

Olen yrittänyt aloittaa hänen kirjojaan moneen kertaan, mutta aloitin väärästä päästä. Arkkienkeli Oulussa (1967) ja Magdaleena ja maailman lapset (1969) olivat hänen romaaneistaan vaikeaselkoisimpia ja monisyisimpiä. Pääsin niihin käsiksi vasta luettuani pari-kolme helpompaa teosta. Varsinkin Arkkienkelin historiallinen kerroksellisuus on huikea.

Toistaiseksi hauskin lukemani Kaipais-romaani on Kellomorsian (1977). Se on maagis-realistinen kertomus teollisuuskaupungista ja lomautettujen työläisten henkisestä heräämisestä karismaattisen kuoronjohtajan johdolla, jonka ympärille kasvaa kaupallisestikin kannattava kultti. Kellomorsiamessa ei ole mitään vanhentunutta, sitä lukee kuin tapahtumat sijoittuisivat 2000-luvulle.

Kuin kuulta kummultansa (1991) muistutti minua monista paremmista amerikkalaisista romaaneista ja elokuvista, joissa teemana on kiitospäivän juhla. Tämä on suomalaisen sukujuhlan kuvaus, jossa ikäpolvilla on vuosikymmenten aikana hampaankoloon jäänyttä kaunaa. Moni voisi pitää aihepiiriä kuluneena. Kaipaisen käsittelyssä tästä kumpusi kuitenkin uudenlaisia juonenkäänteitä, joita voisi vuonna 2009 sanoa "näkemiseksi". Ihmettelen esimerkiksi, kuinka tarkkaan Kaipainen näki monikulttuurisuuden haasteet perheiden tasolla tuona aikana, kun ei vielä joka perheessä ollut vähintään yhtä muualta tullutta vävyä tai miniää.

Kaihoja kukkuvat käet (1983) ja viimeiseksi kirjaksi jäänyt Vihreiksi poltetut puut (2007) ovat Kaipaisen omaelämäkerrallisimmat teokset. Ensimmäinen on kirjoitettu fiktion muotoon, toista hän kutsuu "autofiktioksi". Omaelämäkerran tutkijoille jää näistä kahdesta tekstistä pohdittavaa. Mikä sai Kaipaisen kirjoittamaan saman tarinan uusin sanoin?

Olen lukenut vasta 5 Kaipaisen teosta ja olen täysin koukussa. "Autofiktion" aloitin vasta tänään ja seuraavaksi haluan lukea Larin Parasken elämästä kirjoitetun romaanin Poimisin heliät hiekat (1979). Toistaiseksi jaksan vain ihmetellä, kuinka näin tuottelias kirjailija on onnistunut olemaan toistamatta itseään. Vaikka lähestulkoon kaikkia kirjoja yhdistää joku mytologinen ulottuvuus, niissä ei ole tyypillisiä paljon julkaisseen tuotantokoneiston manerismeja.

Tässäkin blogissa olen tilittänyt vaikeaa suhdettani suomalaiseen kirjallisuuteen, erityisesti naiskirjailijoiden tuotantoon. Olisinko koskaan ihaillut ketään muuta kuin Minna Canthia? Nyt tuntuu, että ihailen vähän Kaipaista. Hänen romaaninsa ovat hämmentävän poliittisia, mutta ei dogmaattisella tavalla. Uskonnon, politiikan, historian ja mytologian yhteenpunojana hän on täysin omanlaisensa mestari suomalaisen kaunokirjallisuuden kentällä.

Lusomania

Innostuin portugalinkielisestä kulttuuripiiristä lyhyen Lissabon-visiitin aikana niin, että keittiössäni minua viihdyttää nyt Teach Yourself Portuguese-CD-kurssi.

Mitään en vielä ymmärrä, mutta maistelen sanoja.
Ja Cesaria Evora laulaa.

Mietin paikkoja, joista en tiedä oikeastaan mitään: Cap Verde, Angola, Goa, Itä-Timor, Macao. Mosambikista tiedän Portugalin siirtomaista eniten ja Brasiliasta toiseksi eniten. Kielen opiskelua motivoi ehkä eniten haave lukea Paulo Freiren Sorrettujen pedagogiikkaa alkukielellä.
Portugalilaisten maine hallitsijoina oli kammottava, he jättivät taakseen verisiä sisällissotia ja keskeneräisiä luksushotelleja. Kielipiiri on silti edelleen olemassa.

Mosambikin itsenäistymisen aikaiset julisteet puhuvat omaa kieltään.

Oriente

I left my soul in Oriente, the furthest stop on the red metro line in Lisbon. I have never before been tempted by science fiction landscapes, but in Oriente I saw a high tech future that did not look threatening at all. The Park of Nations at the shoreline was the kind of landscape that automatically calmed people down, and the acoustics was so designed that one mainly heard the cries of seabirds. Somehow the noise of traffic was eliminated.

I hope not to bore anyone in this blog about the technical details of the construction of the place - actually that side doesn't interest me either, but I am interested in the soul food aspect.

And the political aspect: building beautiful places for all people to enjoy, without charging fees, is a socialist cornerstone. There was of course a high-tech mall at Oriente station, but after seeing the sublime park the mall didn't depress me. The antithesis of socialist architecture is a mall that has plenty of Securitas guys monitoring that no-one takes photos or distributes illicit leaflets.

During four days in Lisbon I had a feeling that the city was quite tolerant of activists. And the feeling of being constantly under surveillance was not there.

After Oriente, I have become a fan of water sculptures. You can say so much more in a fountain than in an academic thesis.