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RE: Diary Travelogues | Eastern Europe | 1994 | September 16 to 18 | Part 6 – Russia
I'm beginning to get interested in reading Crime and Punishment. Hopefully get the time, I still have a book which I haven't finished reading. Some parts are also set in Russia - The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared. It's contemporary and funny. But I should read more classics.
I also see that scenario where you see the rich on one side and the poor on the other. But there are also some exclusive places for the rich and the poor are isolated. It's getting easier to be numb for those who have the capacity to help, sadly.
Off to to the next chapter! :)
Ya, there is something about the classics that has made them classic over and above the convention that determines them to be so :D ... I certainly think so, and I'd defo. reccommend C&P to you @wanderlass! Its so deliciously psychological, exploring those dark places in a (for the reader) safe manner. The build-up slow and imperceptible at times, until you are in the middle of a total mindfuck that good ol' Dostoevsky will untangle (my recollections 24 years later!). The copy I read was the Penguins Classics, translated by David McDuff, 1991.
The rich/poor divide in India is so in your face it's just seen as 'normal'! The rich largely have the attitude that people want something from them, and they are forever boxed into a defensive mindset that only relaxes with their own kind. The sadness is, as you say, that they are numb to the suffering of others (and, actually, to their own psychological suffering), and they can't see how utterly easily they could make people's lives easier....this may not even involve putting hands in pockets, it could simply be treating 'servants' and other 'lower beings' with dignity and respect, and just not being an arsehole about having money... I do think things are changing (of course they always are :), but it's ugly to observe! There are exceptions of course, but these can also only be partially illuminating in a society where innate differences are accepted as fact, thus eliminating the notion of equality (especially regarding entitlement).
Nice selfie there! And I'll defo.(like that shortened version) read it. I think the Penguin Classics are available here in Manila.
The situation here in the Philippines may be similar to that in India. And I agree, helping doesn't always have to involve money. Most of the time, the treatment (with respect and dignity) helps those in need more because it will encourage them to do better in their lives.