My working week

We start work a bit later here, which I have gotten into the swing of. Rather than rising before 7 and getting organised for 20k bike ride to work, I am awoken by the chiming of the temple bells across the road. When they ring 8 times I get up, call down for a bit of brekky, Chai and omlett toast sir!! And off to work by rickshaw at 9.25 for a 9.30 start. Very sedentary and I think my fitness has gone to the dogs. Ive started running a bit but it is so muggy I end up sweating about 10 buckets, drink loads of water and get bad calve cramps, which I think must be something to do with electrolytes. This morning I think the bell ringer got it wrong and I got to work an hour early and had to wait an hour before I could get in..

Last week I gave a few lectures and attended a conference on Afro-Asian philosophy. What has Afro-Asian philosophy got to do with my work you ask?? Well, a focus of the conference was rights, particularly in the context of womens rights and the impact of growing islamic fundamentalism, but the rights issues are transferable to disability or whatever. Some of the panel discussions got very heated. The discussion is really about whether the western notions of universal rights are transferable to a eastern context. Having this debate in a philosophical context is really interesting as the discussions are rooted in the philosophic traditions. There is not agreement about this issue with one school arguing that there are no absolute values/rights and all is context based and thus cultural/religious gender etc considerations important. The other school arguing that even without absolute measures you can have aspirational values to which all should subscribe regardless of context. Very interesting and I do have a better understanding of how importantly the critique of Western scholarship/cultural influence is viewed. Based largely on the central role spirituality plays in Indian society, which is seen as being absent in Western discourse.
My presentations went well. I gave 2 to staff in education and development, and one for students in the Masters Social Inclusion program. The student lecture was about social inclusion in an Australian context. The students were really interested and asked loads of questions. It freaks people here out when I tell them that Australia is twice the size of India and has the population of Mumbai. Helps explain issues of regional exclusion. The staff sessions went well also with a fair bit of discussion about the similarities and differences in the Higher Ed systems and inclusion.