Most Americans have never heard of Andhra Pradesh (called "A.P." in India). I know I hadn't before coming here. A.P. is one of the 35 states in India and its capital, Hyderabad, is where I spent the better part of the past seven weeks. A.P. has a fairly large Muslim population, most of which is in Hyderabad, and the language spoken here is Telugu, not Hindi.
Upon arriving in Hyderabad, I learned that the U.S. State Department had A.P. on its "watch list." This put Hyderabad - a modern city in a safe country - on the same short list (although, nowhere near as severe) as Iraq, Pakistan and North Korea. Great... After consulting with students and administrators at ISB and doing some additional research, I deemed it would be safe. And, now that I am in Thailand, I can say that it absolutely was.
A.P. has been in the news recently and made Hillary's "watch list" because some members of the community are attempting to split the state of A.P. in two and create a separate state called Telangana. In December 2009, a number of politicians resigned from Indian Parliament to show support for the creation of this new state. Also, and probably the reason for Hill's concern (aside from Slick Willy's shenanigans), a school in Hyderabad, Osmania University, held several protests, which shut down local mass transit as a result of a few students committing suicide. Some climbed cell phone towers and lit themselves on fire. Idiots.
Like the other American students, I thoroughly evaluated my options and made an informed decision. ISB is more or less a fortress and is far, far away from the "troubled" university (about 26km). Also, the protests, which only happened once or twice while I was there, were very organized and were announced several days in advance. Throughout my time in Hyderabad, I only went into the city once, with a group of about 40 students and we were nowhere near Osmania University - and on a non-protest day. At no point did I ever question my safety. To make a comparison, it was far more dangerous when I lived in the District of Columbia.
The entire movement by the Telangana is interesting, but as an outsider, it seems sort of foolish to me. The same fight has been going on for fifty years now and nothing has happened. From what I can tell, only a very small percentage of the population wants to see this gain momentum. I knew nothing of this before, but going forward I will definitely have an interest.
Your "American" is showing through not knowing about the strife in A.P. We are so censored in what makes the news here in the US. It seems other parts of the world are much more informed as to what is actually happening outside the US both politically and socially...Not your fault of course, I just wish the news sources here would print stories with more outside interest than the usual pabalum they stuff down our throats...
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