| Description | Interview with Dorothy Banta, an American woman who lives in Bombay with her Indian husband.
Track 1: Dorothy Banta's children Vijay tells Dilip Hiro his name, how old he is, and that he was born in Bombay 0.41 mins
Tracks 2-8: Dorothy Banta talks about coming to India in 1961 after marrying her husband in New York, where he was working. She talks about her upbringing in New Jersey and the preconceptions she had about India before she arrived, attending a course on Indian civilisation at the University of Chicago and reading about the history and politics of the country to gain a better understanding before coming to live there. She discusses her views about India now, describes her first visual impressions of the Malabar Hill area of Bombay and the impact the city still has on her when she sees new things. She describes travelling to Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Calcutta, Darjeeling and Ceylon during her first year there, and her feelings at the time that her experiences were like being at a party, and the changes that took place after her child was born when she became more aware of the problems and difficulties associated with making a home and bringing up children in India. She mentions her surprise at the remoteness of Indian villages and the high levels of education of some of the people she met in rural areas. She goes on to discuss her concerns about sanitation and cleanliness after having a child and being less able to tolerate some of her living conditions, and her pleasure in meeting and socialising with Indian friends and her husband's relatives who were kind to her and helped her to feel at home
Track 9: silence 2.54 mins
Tracks 10-15: Dorothy Banta continues to discuss the process of getting used to her life in India, the sense of freedom and tolerance of other people that India offers her, and the impact of foreign cultures on Indian people and their ability to transcend these influences. She goes on to discuss the things she misses about the United States such as choice in department stores and supermarkets, the variety of entertainment and the difficulties in planning social activities. She talks about her return visits to America since living in India and her impression of the changes that have taken place in New York, her greater awareness of the poverty and racial tensions in the city and her feelings that it would be difficult to live there again. She acknowledges the difficulties that Bombay has, particularly the poverty and population problems, and the need for something to be done about them, and considers how her experiences of living in India have changed her over the last ten years. She expresses her affection for the country and her feeling that she is at home there, gives her opinions about religion as it is practised in India and talks about her children's Hindu religion and her second Hindu marriage ceremony in India, with her husband's family, following her first marriage ceremony in a Christian church in New York
Total: 32.45 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0561180 |