SUVARNA APTE


I first went to the site with our group...Chung, Pong, Felipe, May, Yu-Wen, and Wu-Lei...on our bikes...from 9:30 to 1:30...
Because of my background I thought that it's OK...what's the big deal ?...that was my first reaction... but I guess when you see it from an American point of view and consider American standards the situation is bad...
Maybe if I would have gone alone I would have been uncomfortable but we went in a group of six...it wasn't that bad...
On 49th street a woman called out to Chung and both of us went there ...she was the representative for the Mill Creek East...she asked what we're doing and said that we should help her out because she is trying to improve the place but she's upset because she's getting all this bad publicity...from the outside...no one can say anything positive...she took us to her living room and showed us pictures of her children and grandchildren...they were all educated and all moved away...
There was a whole group staring at us...because Pong, Chung and May were trying to listen for the water sound in the sewer...and when we entered that new housing development Chung put his bike on the grass to take pictures and a guy told him to pick up his bike and get off his lawn...Anne told us that it's the first time these people own their property...
Comparing this place to India...the climate makes a big difference... and the streets are much bigger...we have very narrow streets because form April to October it is above 100 degrees and very humid...the buildings are close together to keep the temperature low inside...and the population is very high...what you call high density is low for me and what you call low is really lavish...in India you never find vacant lots ...
Each area even if it's very rich is mixed...there are no separate good or bad neighborhoods...I live in a flat and the value of it is very high and right across the street is a big slum but it does not effect the cost of the property...there is no problem with walking after dark...you are safe everywhere and unsafe everywhere ...rape is common but it's not talked about like in America...in India if a woman would say she has been raped she would be thrown out of her family...
I was very upset about this studio at the beginning...I thought "what the hell is this?"...I couldn't relate at all... "this is their problem" I thought....but now that I have been reading more about American culture...Jackson helped me reconstruct how it all happened...
In India it's all opposite...The rich live in the center and the poor on the outside... They don't have any permanent structures for living...the low income areas are built on the outskirts because of the price of land in the center...there is a trend for the very wealthy to buy land in the villages...2 or 3 acres and build whatever they want...the slums are not removed from the center because every person in the slum can vote and they have a large population...the politicians don't want them to move because the whole voting bank would move...


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