Detroit

The capital of the auto industry. This city traces its history back to 1701 as a fort established by a French officer called Cadillac. Rings a bell?

• History of Detroit


• http://www.historydetroit.com/>Another History of Detroit

Well, the graduate school had set up a day trip to Detroit and decided to go. It is something like an hour's drive to downtown Detroit near the waterfront. We were given little maps and told to not stray awya from the paths marked. So we legged it down to the waterfront. A pretty nice view of Canada on the other bank, with the Windsor Casino as the biggest landmark. There was a memorial dedicated to the brave men and women who operated the Underground Railroad which helped African American people escape slavery. Detroit was one of the jumping off points to Canada and freedom. The thing about this leetil walk downtown is something that still gets me here. The lack of people. On any given Saturday morning, any Indian city the size of Detroit will be, quite literally, teeming with people. Call it an anthill complex, call it what you will but here it is.

While walking downtown, we were accosted by a homeless/destitute/possibly mentally ill bloke who said some things about Indians making their own cameras and not eating beef. The connection escaped me. This brings me to another topic which puzzles me. The US of A is indeed a land of opportunity. This is the world's largest economy, there is more space than one uses and there is a functional social security system. Poverty in Asia means something. When you take away a bloke's job, you are, in effect, condemning his family to death by slow starvation. That is not the case here. Ok, so I do not really buy it when financiers talk about the 'creation of wealth'. To begin with, define wealth. How does one define something as intangible as wealth, except, maybe as material possessions which are indexed in value to some noble metal. But then, we cannot create wealth. We can merely move it around. And furthermore, in each 'cycle', there will be some 'frictional losses'. All we can do is make sure the cycle runs and runs as smoothly as possible so that the losses by attrition are minimised. But there will always be people who slip through the cracks. The point here being that the cracks are much finer here than in the third world and it is possible to carve out a life if one is willing to work to it. Why then, do so many people leave school and pick up guns? I do not have the answer to that, and what I fear is that the people whose opinions matter, do not either.

Anyway, we came to the 'eastern market' for brunch. Brunch was an omlette, a large one with corned beef, veggies, hash browns and a side of toast with marmalade. Heavy! The restaurant was crowded something awful and I guess I know why. The eastern market was like a somewhat posh Gariahat/Yesvantpur. But wholesale markets cannot be that much different, and this one brought back memories of home.

There was a shop which sold nuts. All kinds of nuts. It was full of nuts of every description. A Kabuliwalla would have walked away with a happy soul. Another shop advertised itself as 'Spices of the world', and it came pretty close. I picked up some Italian pasta seasoning. Yet another shop advertised sausages of all kinds. It beggars description. A meatlover's paradise.

After spending sometime there, we hopped into the bus for the trip to the Arts Institute. Now there are museums and then there are museums. Science museums, I like. History is also good. One loves looking at broadswords, tapestries and mummies. Art befuddles me. Show me a nice painting and I will say that it is great. Show me daubs and streaks and ask me to find meaning and I am flummoxed. I know it is old fashioned, but I believe that art should speak for itself and not necessarily need an explanation. The kind of painting that needs a note attached to tell you what you are supposed to be seeing appears to me as slightly silly. And the fact that people spend good money on that kind of stuff, well, it is better than spending it on nukes, so why not?

That was Detroit. Later, with a smaller group and no time restrictions, another sightseeing trip perhaps...