Lunch!

Dr. Lall took the whole office to lunch Friday so we could try some authentic South Indian food and it was AWESOME. So much fun. It was located in this tiny little building and we had to walk past the two kitchens and see the people cooking as we made our way up the spiral stairs to the little room where we would eat. Dr. Lall ordered for everyone to be sure we tried all the specialties.
So first we drank a hot brew called rasam that acts as a digestive and it was the most soothing thing ever! It was packed full of coriander, ginger, lemon, and spices. I was sipping it happily in a daze looking at the little shrine on the wall when I realized Dr. Lall was giving directions. I caught the tail end about ‘taking it in a shot’ and I said, “oh! We’re supposed to take it in a shot?” to which everyone at the table leaned forward and yelled, “NO!!!”. Haha. Everyone is so sweet here. I guess it’s important to take it slow :)



Next we had a plate with idly (kind of a soft, light patty made of rice), sambhar (kind of a spicy soup that you dip idly in), and vada (an onion/vegetable bread in a doughnut shape then fried) which you could also dip in the sambhar.



On the side were three different types of chutney which we all differed on our favorites. We thought we were done since we were all very full, but then they brought out masala dosa which was a large piece of dough grilled with a potato curry mixture inside.



Everything was amazing and we were all ready for a nap by the time it was over. Luckily the best was yet to come. Dr. Lall ordered filtered coffee for everyone and it was absolutely delicious.



It is a mixture of milk and coffee that you pour from one container to the next until a foam develops on the top and the flavor is enhanced. It kind of tastes like a perfect latte, but somehow better…because it’s actually better or because you’re sitting in a tiny run down south Indian restaurant pouring coffee back and forth with your new Indian friends….I can’t be sure :)


A great summer afternoon in India filled with laughter and good food…a day well lived.

Reflection On Our First Two Weeks

Hello! This week has flown by with lots of work and afternoons at the bazaar. I unfortunately succumbed to the dreaded “Delhi belly” yesterday, but the anticipation was much worse than the actuality and I’m feeling close to a 100% again. We went down to a local market last night to get crackers, peanut butter, Gatorade and sprite to soothe my tummy and satisfy everyone’s tastes for home. We had a great time walking around the little shops and cooling ourselves down in the fat cool drops of rain that made their way through the sandy wind storm. We’ve had a few of these storms throughout the last few days and it’s cooled the area to the low hundreds. It’s almost a blessing that it was so abnormally hot when we first arrived, because now anything lower feels like heaven.

Work is going great and we’re in the final stages of preparation before our week in the villages. It’s getting more and more exciting as we prepare our surveys and plan for our exit from the city. We are each responsible for creating the surveys and information we want to collect and I’ve ended up with four different ones! Luckily, it’s by choice and I’m really happy with the content I’ll be covering. My surveys are targeted for the district officers, teachers, students, and parents. The schools are out for summer unfortunately, but they are arranging meetings for me and I’ll hopefully be able to visit the local school and tour even though the students aren’t there. The students and teachers all live locally so meetings should be convenient for all.

We are all getting more and more used to India life, though India does not make it easy. Every day you are blasted with sights, sounds, and smells that are enough to make the strongest of us falter. But nonetheless we assimilate. Last night, on a mad rickshaw ride home from our grocery run, I actually thought to myself that it was really rude of my driver to have not honked at another car…a sure sign you’re figuring things out. :) More importantly though, is the shock factor wearing off. Seeing the torn down shacks, piles of trash, crumbling infrastructure, children begging, the crippled, families living under the overpass...or more commonly under a tarp, weather beaten skeletal dogs scrounging for food, men sleeping on the sidewalks…or is it a body, ….it all wears on you in the beginning. You feel yourself tensed up and exhausted after just a few hours of trying to make your way. Before I arrived I thought to myself, “I really want to make sure I see the slums of the city too, so I don’t get a skewed view of what city life is really like for people.” As though I were in L.A. and wanting to see skid row or something. I simply laugh at the thought now. It is everywhere. It is in your face every day and there is no ignoring it. I also had heard, “People will stare at you, and try to scam you” and I thought oh, well, it will be weird but no big deal. I had this vision of easily walking down the modern, clean street to a grocery store or bank and then “going to visit” the old style bazaars and places in need where I would feel out of place and on guard. I had visions of learning the local customs as I glided through the city visiting all there is to see. And then I find myself here. Faced with the pollution, walking past sewage, facing a little girl covered in dirt asking me to buy a pen, a young boy sitting on the median barricade with no left foot, men with only skin stretched over their bones rambling some Hindi as they reach out to you, piles of trash and half finished construction at every turn, and people looking at you…because I’m western or because I’ve infringed into some community space where I’m not welcome…how can I know. Of course there have been amazing moments throughout as we see all there is to see, sharing moments of laughter with my companions, smiles from our trainers, and the happiness of our new friends, but it only fills the gaps, until you make your way back to your hotel room to wash your dusty feet, sit down and try to figure out how to get something for dinner. And then you would sit down to think, reflect, try to make some sense from the madness, but your body and mind are done with that for the day so you collapse into bed and sleep a dreamless sleep until you wake up at dawn with a quiet resignation to move.

Over time, though, while it’s not something that disappears completely from your mind, it is at least something that begins to grant you reprieve. You are able to see more now that your mind has accepted the new information as true. It’s time to accept it as reality and begin building. And so you start to see the trees again, the street children laughing with each other while on a break from pandering, a group of kids playing cricket out in a barren lot, parrots and hawks swooping overhead, a particularly lush and clean shaded block of the city, a tranquil garden with an ancient tomb looming over you somehow making you feel safe in your smallness, a woman with a beautiful sari walking with her goods balanced gracefully upon her head, the beautiful art and goods only India can make (a bizarre fact of life that such extreme contrasting visions exist in one place) a family settling down to take their meal in their lean-to, a father throwing stones with his daughter by the construction heap… and slowly you feel yourself slip back to your place in humanity…to where you belong…no longer peeking through the window with uncertainty and fear. So, signing off tonight with my feet placed firmly in India, and with a lighter spirit, promises of good dreams, and a strengthened heart. A toast to life I raise to you…Goodnight my friends :)

AGRA

So… the trip to Agra was pretty funny. We got up at 5am to leave by 6:30, left at 7 and got home at 2 am. So we were going almost the length of time it took to get to India! Basically we traveled with a huge bus full of religious tourists. Luckily it was a/c'd but the drivers would keep cutting the a/c for just fans and just plain cutting it completely when we stopped some place none of us wanted to go. The drivers make commissions from shop owners they stop at, so quite often we would have to stop and listen to shop owners give a long dramatic spiel on goods we had no intention of buying. :) We also stopped at a couple local highway restaurants which are outdoor restaurants with some plastic chairs and tables under a tarp, and (hopefully) a basic bathroom. Also, India has a method of driving that uses high pitched horns for communicating passing, frustration, or passing intersections…and we forgot my ear plugs so it was an assault on our hearing the whole time. Anyway, we made our way down the long highway toward our destination. When we arrived in Agra, we went to Agra fort and toured around a bit before we couldn’t take the heat anymore. When we arrived I noticed people taking my picture as they walked by and when we entered the main campus of the fort, Leah (my roommate) and I had a hard time getting very far since many people would stop and ask us to pose for photos with them or their children. We obliged many and it was kind of fun to meet them, but we learned quickly to keep our eyes down and to walk with purpose if we wanted to get anywhere in a short amount of time. By the time we got to the Taj Mahal (Which is absolutely gorgeous) we were all so hot we could barely manage a half hour, but that time was quite beautiful and awe inspiring.

As for the heat, it is something I've never experienced before, especially since there aren't always a/c places to escape to and the water from the vendors is never cold...and that gets blazing hot within 30 minutes. It was about 114 that day with widespread dust. We experienced a little bit of rain at one point (the first time so far!!!) and everyone was smiling and happy as we let the huge drops cool us down. {Picture: Wild dogs cooling themselves in the mud}

The best part of the evening was at about10:30 at night where we stopped in this little village so all the religious people could go to a temple (which our companion told us not to go to since it was simply a scam for all the different tour operators who split all the offerings they told the tourists they had to make). They turned off the fans of the bus and we were blazing in the heat so we all got out and started walking the dark dirt streets to enjoy the dusty hot wind. We stopped at a little shack for barely- chilled Sprites that tasted Fabulous, when there was a common power-cut and the vendor lit a candle to give us our change by…it was a cool sight seeing him sitting up on his platform glowing in the night. We also went for a bathroom break in a little outdoor cubby with monkeys sleeping on the sign above our heads, and where two women were so excited to try and speak to us (I’m pretty sure they told us we had picked a very good place to stop and go to the bathroom). When I walked in at first I was like, “ack! This is crazy!” but it was shockingly really clean.

{Picture: Monkeys sleeping (those dots are all the dust in the air being reflected in the flash!} There is a hole in the ground and when you are done you take one of the cut-open oil jugs to get water from the common large well (which one of the Indian women did for me since I hadn’t figured it out…and thank goodness because the water was very dark and intimidating!) and then pour it down the toilet. It’s pretty simple and works well! Then we sat on a bench as the locals operated their little businesses and socialized in the dim light coming from their vendor shacks. Meanwhile we watched wild dogs scrounge for trash and cows walk by or cool themselves in the soft dirt. It was really cool because none of us would have felt comfortable just sitting there in the midst of their night community time without Bachon (one of our guides from SDS..he speaks limited English but is very protective and kind). We’re all still getting used to everything and would have felt as though we were invading their space or something, but everyone was nice and just kind of went about their business as we rested.

Anyway after a few more hours bouncing down the highway we all came home, showered, and passed out. I slept later than I ever have: 10am!!! Today everyone is resting and taking time to just relax. Leah and I are indulging in only things from home after our full on Indian immersion yesterday. HaHa. We ordered omelets and toast for breakfast in our room, and are watching American movies all day in the A/C (minus power cut times). The whole team is going to get together in a bit and try to order Domino's (we've seen guys on bikes delivering before) for dinner. Ridiculous I know, but SOOO needed today!!!! So all in all it was a great full on INDIA experience, but very exhausting!

Work!

Being silly at work. Namaste!

Ok! So it’s Friday and I FINALLY have a spare minute!! We just got back from the bazaar where we spent a couple hours sweltering in the tightly packed streets fending off vendors and having the new friends we’ve met at the India Habitat Centre (where our office is) haggle for us. One shop owner got annoyed and evidently said, “Why are you bargaining for them? They are foreigners.” To which Asta replied that Leah was her brother’s wife. Haha.

Anyway, back to basics! We have had an intense week working at Society for Developmental Studies (SDS). Dr. Lall is the director and he’s pretty awesome. He refuses to take it easy on us and expects us to take our training extremely seriously. In his words “I’ve been given permission to be ruthless.” On the other hand he is hilarious, kind, generous, and a lot of fun. We went to dinner with him last night and had a blast trying all the wonderful Indian foods he insisted upon. So we work M-F 9:30-5 and some Saturdays. We are taking lectures on the SDS community empowerment model along with information about how to approach and develop strategies for community problems. The training is invaluable and we all agree that while we were (and sometimes still are) overwhelmed by being thrown into one of the most intense internships ever, we are all going to be so much better for it. The professional development we are receiving is amazing and it will reach so much farther into work with our own communities and beyond. The India Habitat Centre where we work!

So basically Alwar is a city with many outer lying rural villages. There are many artisans who live there that have passed down their trade over the generations, but who have been pushed into labor jobs due to their work not being as marketable (think potters who were valuable for pots which kept water cold, but the introduction of refrigerators cutting their demand) or middle men coming in and stealing profits and taking advantage of the artisans skills with little payment. Then congestion in the villages, wide spread poverty, and little if any infrastructure (piped water, toilets, etc.) led to even less ability to practice their trade or store their goods. The community also was split due to competition with each other over a limited market. So SDS came in and taught the artisans business skills. They taught them how to circumvent the middle man, how to manage finances to improve their business, ways to make their products more marketable (pots with designs, shoes with embroidery), how to reduce waste (kiln improvements to reduce breakage), technical skills (sewing machine), and how to work together to form alliances and get loans for their homes and businesses…just to name a few. Then they assisted with what the community specifically asked for such as literacy training for the adults. The goal (and what SDS has been incredibly successful at) is to only offer services and support that are sustainable by the people without further outside assistance. So, for instance they don’t buy a large machine that relies on gasoline which they don’t have access to without them, etc. It’s an amazing model that has had incredible results…which we will get to go see in about a week!!!!!! So for our own work we are each responsible for our own research report consisting of two parts. The first is an overview of the rural villages we will be visiting in a week and how the interventions and strategies SDS have developed affected them. The second part is specific to each of our focus. I am focusing on primary education and literacy as related to community empowerment, Leah is dental hygiene, Kireeti on planning and governance, and Kidan on media. We each are creating surveys for local officials and community members related to our focus. For instance I plan on surveying district officers, teachers, and students. We will then use this data to analyze any road blocks and causative factors that hinder further enrichment of these goals along with strategies to help. IT’S CRAZY!!! But also awesome, and so exciting to be part of. We head to Agra tomorrow just for a break from work and to see the Taj Mahal. It’s supposed to be blazing hot, but we’re all still very excited! Other than that we just try to keep cool. It was 118 degrees yesterday and expected to be worse in the deserts where we’re headed to work. Even the locals here have said the heat is extreme and much worse than normal. I guess even in the rural villages they talk about global warming even though they haven’t heard the term, reasons for it, or anything about it from outside sources!! Amazing stuff, and really sets in the reality of the situation.

Mornings

Breakfast!

But let's be honest...sometimes I just feel like this....

And the view during breakfast EVERY day!! They wash the sidewalk and all the cars EVERY morning (and sometimes evenings)

Quick Update

Ok, so our work schedule is crazy!! And we have a ton to do so I apologize for the lack of posts! We have dinner now with the director of the program, so I will try to post tonight after dinner or tomorrow after work. Everything is going really well. It's been hard to get used to everything, but we're all getting into the swing of things! I'll fill you in soon!

Bazaar Shopping!!!!!

The team! After a very long day at work. More photos and info tomorrow I hope :)