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Show EDWARD G. LUEDERS February 1, 2000 our restrictions are not the same things that they have and our opportunities for mu ical expression are not the same. That caught me. WIN: It caught the Beatles too, for a while. EDW: It caught the Beatles, and for all the right reasons! Because it's an extension of your own musical education, which is full of limitations! The contact I had directly with our bearer, because there were hirelings of Indians on the base- particularly those who had more than a smattering of English, it would be British English and might be colorful - like our bearer, who cleaned up and did the tough work around our bashas, our housing, I got very close to him for a while. And he took me into his place, and where his family lived, so I had some access to that part of life. But otherwise, I was hampered in the uniform of the United States of America. And that not only labeled me everywhere I went, it prevented me from being anything but that. And consequently, I didn't get acquainted with India in Indian terms very frequently, or at any great depth. I had a growing sense of the culture, and the background, and the history, but only when I went back to India, later, in the 1970's, did I have a full feeling of that. WIN: Well, military seldom prepares its personnel for the cultural shock that occurs when they visit these other cultures. EDW: Very little of that. WIN: So, I can see where that comes from. EDW: And you just drop right into it, without any of your own volition involved. 45 |
