Friday, March 25, 2011
Internship-Workshops
Tomorrow I leave for Varanasi for my internship-workshop for the week. This is where I'll be...I'm so excited!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Colors, Colors, Colors
This past weekend is better described in pictures than words.
Elephant Festival
Holi fire on SIT's street
Holi at Shri Niwas
Elephant Festival
Holi fire on SIT's street
Holi at Shri Niwas
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Adventures in Indian Healthcare
The 4 of us in the chair car stayed up until about 1:30 AM talking & listening to music together. After everyone went to sleep I started getting really intense stomach aches, and ended up spending most of the night in the bathroom vomiting. Let me tell you, though the only place on an Indian train you can get privacy, the bathroom is probably the least appealing place to spend your time. By some miracle there was a brand new, completely wrapped roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, and that definitely saved my life (or at least the cleanliness of my clothes). By the time the train rolled in at 6 AM I had gotten no sleep and felt awful. I made the executive decision to sleep through Hindi and try to get to school by 11. My decision was supported by getting a huge hug from my homestay sister when I told her what happened and she said, "Oh, I was so looking foreword to seeing happy Sally this morning!" I made it through the rest of the day, came home, and went straight to sleep. My host mother called me down at one point for dinner but I told her I didn't want food and promptly went back upstairs to sleep. My sister came up at about 10 and brought me a few biscuits, which I ate before going back to sleep until morning. I got dressed, ate a banana, and pulled myself together to go to school only so that I could ask to go to a doctor to see what was wrong.
At 10:30 Minojji (one of the program staff members) and I set out for the hospital. I guess there's no intermediate in India (at least for foreigners) - the hospital was the only solution to my problems. We walked in and I felt like I was back in the U.S. (except, of course, there were Indians everywhere) at, say, the U.C.L.A. hospital. We were at the Fortis Escorts Hospital, a nice private hospital that looked pretty new. We checked in at the front and then in the specific wing that the doctor I was seeing worked in. It was about 11 at this point and Minojji told me my appointment wasn't until 12:30, but he'd try to get it moved up. All of a sudden a family gets called in and he goes, "Ok, we're next." They were in & out in about 10 minutes, so I saw Dr. Gupta in no time. The visit was weird to say the least:
1. His first words to me were asking me how to spell my name.
2. He didn't take my temperature, even though I told him I thought I had a fever the day before.
3. He automatically assumed I was sick because I had eaten street food, and subtly chastised me for it, even though that wasn't the case.
4. The actual examination consisted of me lying down on a bed and him pressing on my stomach. When I told him it hurt he seemed satisfied that I had a stomach bug. Actually I think that part was actually pretty normal but I figured I'd include it.
5. After the examination, I sat back down at his desk expecting to be told about what he thought I had and what he was prescribing me. False, he spoke to Minojji in Hindi the whole time. All of a sudden we were walking out of his office and Minojji was telling me that he had suggested these other tests for me but it was my call if I wanted them or not. How am I supposed to know if I need these tests when the doctor won't even talk to me? After I said that I didn't want them Minojji said he agreed so at least there was that.
6. We went to the pharmacy and I got 3 prescriptions for about 100 rupees each (About $1.50). Again, no one told me what they were - Minojji just told me when to take them. (I did some Googleing today though - they're all for stomach/GI tract infections and are working so I'm fine with it)
At the pharmacy there was a husband & wife with their newborn baby. I think it was a girl because it was wrapped in a pink blanket. I melted a little bit.
After that we went back to the SIT center, where I caught most of that day's lecture (somewhat ironically on Public Health) and had an appetite by lunch. After lunch though things took a turn for the worse. I went to the meditation room to take a nap and when I woke up I felt really hot, sick, and dizzy. Deirdre and Aviva took me home, put me in bed, and somehow communicated to my host mother what was going on. When my sister got home she had me come downstairs where it was cooler and lie in the king-sized bed in one of the rooms. I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping and reading in the bed, and Deirdre came over for a little bit later which I really appreciated. I also ate all of my dinner (curd, rice, and toast), which I considered to be a good sign. I went to sleep shortly thereafter and woke up this morning feeling much, much better. I even had enough energy to shower! When I came downstairs for my breakfast, my host sister even said, "Oh I've been waiting to see that smile!" which definitely made me feel better. Also when I got home today I asked my host mother how she was doing in Hindi (aap ke se hay) and she goes, "no no no, first I ask YOU how you are!" so cute.
So all's well now - I'm taking my medicine and slowly re-entering the world of real-people food and keep getting more and more strength back. And I got all caught up on the Hindi homework I didn't do while I was sick.
At 10:30 Minojji (one of the program staff members) and I set out for the hospital. I guess there's no intermediate in India (at least for foreigners) - the hospital was the only solution to my problems. We walked in and I felt like I was back in the U.S. (except, of course, there were Indians everywhere) at, say, the U.C.L.A. hospital. We were at the Fortis Escorts Hospital, a nice private hospital that looked pretty new. We checked in at the front and then in the specific wing that the doctor I was seeing worked in. It was about 11 at this point and Minojji told me my appointment wasn't until 12:30, but he'd try to get it moved up. All of a sudden a family gets called in and he goes, "Ok, we're next." They were in & out in about 10 minutes, so I saw Dr. Gupta in no time. The visit was weird to say the least:
1. His first words to me were asking me how to spell my name.
2. He didn't take my temperature, even though I told him I thought I had a fever the day before.
3. He automatically assumed I was sick because I had eaten street food, and subtly chastised me for it, even though that wasn't the case.
4. The actual examination consisted of me lying down on a bed and him pressing on my stomach. When I told him it hurt he seemed satisfied that I had a stomach bug. Actually I think that part was actually pretty normal but I figured I'd include it.
5. After the examination, I sat back down at his desk expecting to be told about what he thought I had and what he was prescribing me. False, he spoke to Minojji in Hindi the whole time. All of a sudden we were walking out of his office and Minojji was telling me that he had suggested these other tests for me but it was my call if I wanted them or not. How am I supposed to know if I need these tests when the doctor won't even talk to me? After I said that I didn't want them Minojji said he agreed so at least there was that.
6. We went to the pharmacy and I got 3 prescriptions for about 100 rupees each (About $1.50). Again, no one told me what they were - Minojji just told me when to take them. (I did some Googleing today though - they're all for stomach/GI tract infections and are working so I'm fine with it)
At the pharmacy there was a husband & wife with their newborn baby. I think it was a girl because it was wrapped in a pink blanket. I melted a little bit.
After that we went back to the SIT center, where I caught most of that day's lecture (somewhat ironically on Public Health) and had an appetite by lunch. After lunch though things took a turn for the worse. I went to the meditation room to take a nap and when I woke up I felt really hot, sick, and dizzy. Deirdre and Aviva took me home, put me in bed, and somehow communicated to my host mother what was going on. When my sister got home she had me come downstairs where it was cooler and lie in the king-sized bed in one of the rooms. I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping and reading in the bed, and Deirdre came over for a little bit later which I really appreciated. I also ate all of my dinner (curd, rice, and toast), which I considered to be a good sign. I went to sleep shortly thereafter and woke up this morning feeling much, much better. I even had enough energy to shower! When I came downstairs for my breakfast, my host sister even said, "Oh I've been waiting to see that smile!" which definitely made me feel better. Also when I got home today I asked my host mother how she was doing in Hindi (aap ke se hay) and she goes, "no no no, first I ask YOU how you are!" so cute.
So all's well now - I'm taking my medicine and slowly re-entering the world of real-people food and keep getting more and more strength back. And I got all caught up on the Hindi homework I didn't do while I was sick.
Udaipurfect
Last Friday 8 of us hopped on a night train to Udaipur for the weekend. (For those who don't know, Udaipur is where they filmed the Bond movie Octopussy - we later found out that nearly every hotel has a nightly showing) 4 people had been able to get sleeper class seats, which have beds, but 4 of us were in the AC chair car, which is like a standard train car with upright seats. It wasn't so bad on the way there because the cabin was nowhere near full and everyone could stretch out over a couple seats. We got to Udaipur around 6:30 AM and had a nice and greasy breakfast at the train station on the super cheap. We then rickshaw'd to our guesthouse that was right next to the lake. Everyone remarked about how nice and clean the air felt and how there were virtually no horns honking. In retrospect that was definitely due to the fact that it was around 7 AM...Udaipurians love honking their horns just as much as Jaipurians do. After checking in to our hotel, we walked down to the lake and I thought to myself, "this is exactly where I want to be." It was so nice to be next to a body of water. We then visited the major temple (with incredibly intricate carvings on the exterior) and got some real (!) coffee in to our systems before going to the City Palace. Somehow we managed to swing the 30 rupee student group price to get in, which was GREAT. There was a 200 rupee camera fee though, and I couldn't hide mine well enough so it had to be checked. Some people snuck theirs in though so pictures exist. The City Palace was absolutely beautiful...the views were amazing and the colors in every room were so aesthetically pleasing. It was maze like - we kept on being led through various corridors to different parts of the palace we didn't even realize existed. From the outside it definitely doesn't look as big as it is. All in all I think we spent about 2 1/2 hours there, and could have spent longer had we not all gotten hungry. So we left and took a leisurely walk down the main bazaar road, across one of the bridges, and to a restaurant called the Food Club for lunch. Despite the very American-sounding name, they served delicious Indian food (but when isn't Indian food delicious?), had cushions instead of chairs, and was right on the lake. Yum.
We decided that we would take an evening hike to the Monsoon Palace to watch the sunset, so after lunch we went to a travel agent to ask for directions and how far it would be. Turns out the base of the mountain was pretty far away, and the hike was equally far up, so we decided to walk to the base and then rickshaw up. We set out and ended up going through the outskirts of Udaipur. I appreciated being able to see that side of India - it felt more real than central Udaipur did. Along the way we picked up a pineapple to enjoy at the top along with the wine we purchased earlier. The palace was more fort-like than anything else, and was part of a wildlife preserve (we didn't see any of the wildlife though). But the sunset was absolutely beautiful. We were so high up - we had a great view of Udaipur as well as the surrounding countryside. We noticed a group of about 6 guys while we were up there, and were trying to guess what country they were from. After the sun set and we were being yelled at to leave, someone finally asked and we learned that they were from all over, had gone to high school in India together, and were having their 10 year high school reunion. We said our hello-goodbyes and thought that was that. False. We were in the car on the way down when we passed them walking down. The driver decided to stop and let them in. So in came 3 - making our already packed car absolutely stuffed. It was one of those hilarious "oh, India" experiences. I ended up on the lap of an Argentine named Miguel who was living in Japan. After we got to the bottom of the mountain we attempted to find a rickshaw to take us back to central Udaipur so we could find dinner. That took a while - a group that had gotten down just before us had claimed the last 2 rickshaws waiting at the base. So off we went in to the dusk in the hopes of finding a ride to dinner. Eventually we succeeded, and got a bus-rickshaw hybrid to drive us to our restaurant. Again, right on the water with beautiful views. I guess there was a wedding going on somewhere in the vicinity (when isn't there?), and at one point fireworks went off over the lake. Our waiter jokingly told us they were for us, and it felt a little bit like they were. I had a paranta (fried bread) stuffed with cheese & tomatoes - delicious, tasted like an Indian calzone. Surprisingly everyone made it through the day without any naps and with high energy. I was impressed. The real coffee might've had something to do with it...
The next morning I walked to some gardens with my friends Deirdre & Hannah. We spent a couple hours just wandering around and met a Canadian tourist named Jamie. This is how our interaction began:
Jamie: Hey.
Us: Hi.
Jamie: If you walk down this path and go to your left, there are a whole bunch of monkeys everywhere.
Us: How long have you been in India for?
Ok so it was a lot funnier when it happened than when I wrote it just now, but the novelty of monkeys definitely wore off a while ago - probably around when we learned that they would steal from us. Anyway we ended up talking to him for a bit - it's nice to have a conversation with another traveler & talk about all the quirks of India you've experienced separately. (He had been in India for 4 days just in case anyone was curious)
That afternoon 4 of us took a cooking class at the Spice Box - the oldest cooking school in Udaipur. Our teacher spoke with an Italian cadence to his voice, which I found hilarious. We learned how to make a paneer dish, a potato dish, chapatti, and chai. He gave us the recipes in a packet that had a few other dishes in it as well, and afterwards we asked him how to make a couple more things and he told us. Oh and we got to eat the food we made. The class was at a semi-awkward time (1:30-4:30), so I spent the rest of the afternoon playing rummy in our hotel's rooftop cafe with my friends.
After journeying out for (a light) dinner we came back and went to the train station to catch our night train back to Jaipur. If everything was on time, we would get home around 6 AM, leaving me enough time to go home, change, eat breakfast, and get to school at 8 like usual. Our train left late on the way to Udaipur so I was hoping it would be on time to Jaipur, and it was. But the ride definitely didn't go smoothly. (Bum bum bummmm)
We decided that we would take an evening hike to the Monsoon Palace to watch the sunset, so after lunch we went to a travel agent to ask for directions and how far it would be. Turns out the base of the mountain was pretty far away, and the hike was equally far up, so we decided to walk to the base and then rickshaw up. We set out and ended up going through the outskirts of Udaipur. I appreciated being able to see that side of India - it felt more real than central Udaipur did. Along the way we picked up a pineapple to enjoy at the top along with the wine we purchased earlier. The palace was more fort-like than anything else, and was part of a wildlife preserve (we didn't see any of the wildlife though). But the sunset was absolutely beautiful. We were so high up - we had a great view of Udaipur as well as the surrounding countryside. We noticed a group of about 6 guys while we were up there, and were trying to guess what country they were from. After the sun set and we were being yelled at to leave, someone finally asked and we learned that they were from all over, had gone to high school in India together, and were having their 10 year high school reunion. We said our hello-goodbyes and thought that was that. False. We were in the car on the way down when we passed them walking down. The driver decided to stop and let them in. So in came 3 - making our already packed car absolutely stuffed. It was one of those hilarious "oh, India" experiences. I ended up on the lap of an Argentine named Miguel who was living in Japan. After we got to the bottom of the mountain we attempted to find a rickshaw to take us back to central Udaipur so we could find dinner. That took a while - a group that had gotten down just before us had claimed the last 2 rickshaws waiting at the base. So off we went in to the dusk in the hopes of finding a ride to dinner. Eventually we succeeded, and got a bus-rickshaw hybrid to drive us to our restaurant. Again, right on the water with beautiful views. I guess there was a wedding going on somewhere in the vicinity (when isn't there?), and at one point fireworks went off over the lake. Our waiter jokingly told us they were for us, and it felt a little bit like they were. I had a paranta (fried bread) stuffed with cheese & tomatoes - delicious, tasted like an Indian calzone. Surprisingly everyone made it through the day without any naps and with high energy. I was impressed. The real coffee might've had something to do with it...
The next morning I walked to some gardens with my friends Deirdre & Hannah. We spent a couple hours just wandering around and met a Canadian tourist named Jamie. This is how our interaction began:
Jamie: Hey.
Us: Hi.
Jamie: If you walk down this path and go to your left, there are a whole bunch of monkeys everywhere.
Us: How long have you been in India for?
Ok so it was a lot funnier when it happened than when I wrote it just now, but the novelty of monkeys definitely wore off a while ago - probably around when we learned that they would steal from us. Anyway we ended up talking to him for a bit - it's nice to have a conversation with another traveler & talk about all the quirks of India you've experienced separately. (He had been in India for 4 days just in case anyone was curious)
That afternoon 4 of us took a cooking class at the Spice Box - the oldest cooking school in Udaipur. Our teacher spoke with an Italian cadence to his voice, which I found hilarious. We learned how to make a paneer dish, a potato dish, chapatti, and chai. He gave us the recipes in a packet that had a few other dishes in it as well, and afterwards we asked him how to make a couple more things and he told us. Oh and we got to eat the food we made. The class was at a semi-awkward time (1:30-4:30), so I spent the rest of the afternoon playing rummy in our hotel's rooftop cafe with my friends.
After journeying out for (a light) dinner we came back and went to the train station to catch our night train back to Jaipur. If everything was on time, we would get home around 6 AM, leaving me enough time to go home, change, eat breakfast, and get to school at 8 like usual. Our train left late on the way to Udaipur so I was hoping it would be on time to Jaipur, and it was. But the ride definitely didn't go smoothly. (Bum bum bummmm)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Ranthambore Tigers
On Monday we journeyed to Ranthambore to visit some NGO's that work on conserving the forest and tiger population in the area. Ranthambore was India's first national park if I remember correctly (started by Indra Gandhi) and their main industry is tiger tourism. This was immediately evident when we entered the town. All of a sudden hotels lined the roads and there were tons of advertisements for safaris. Immediately after we got to our hotel, we were carted off on our very own tiger safari. Our group split up in to two cars, and my car broke down. The second safari I've been on in the past year, and the car I'm in breaks down for the second time. In Tanzania it was a flat tire, this time it was something with the engine. Since that's not as fixable and it was at the beginning of our adventure, we waited for another car to be brought and switched vehicles. The safari itself was interesting....our guide stopped the car for every deer we saw, but sped right past the peacocks and monkeys - you know, the things we don't have in America. Some other highlights include two crocodiles sunning themselves, a mongoose scurrying around the path, and a kingfisher bird. Oh, and a tiger. That's right, we saw ourselves a tiger. It was at the very end of the safari...all of a sudden our car kicked it in to high gear and we sped towards an undisclosed location. Soon enough, we came across about 8 other safari cars all piled up and everyone inside trying to get pictures of what looked like some intense foliage. Behind the leaves and branches there was indeed a tiger. He was lying down and kept bobbing his head up and down. At one point he rolled over and stuck his paws up in the air. Cute. Unfortunately the shrubbery was too thick for me to get a picture, but I swear it actually happened. I think someone else might've gotten one so I'll try to track that down as evidence. Anyway after fully immersing ourselves in the pileup we sped our way out of the park and back to our hotel, where we were given one bottle of beer each after dinner. Minus the 2-3 someone saw a hotel staff member walk away with. Oh, India.
On Tuesday we visited with the Prakartik Society - an NGO that works on developing the communities around the reserve so that they're less dependent on the forest. They've built an amazing school that a lot of the children attend on scholarship/for free and emphasize environmentalism and saving the tigers. While we were touring the school we met Jim & Sue, a retired British couple that comes to the school for 4 months at a time to give individualized tutoring to the students. When they're back in the UK they do a lot of fundraising on behalf of the school. They seemed like such a cool retired couple - I want to be them when I'm older. As opposed to the other schools we saw in Bikaner, I felt really inspired by this school and what Prakartik was doing for the students. It seemed to be a really well run institution and everyone involved was very invested in making the school succeed. Their first class of students is in the 10th Standard right now, but the school is equipped to have students up until the 12th Standard. There are science labs and other classrooms equipped & waiting for the students to be old enough to use them. Afterwards we drove out to a rural village that has Prakartik-initaited programs in place: biogas systems (taking cow patties and transforming them in to gas) for cooking and lighting and aforestation initiatives. Though this part of the day was really interesting, it was also really hot out and I was dressed in all black, so I lost steam really quickly. They receive money from J.P. Morgan's climate change fund for the biogas programs - I thought this was really interesting, especially because when we were in Bikaner we found out that Merrill Lynch donates money to the URMUL trust. I never thought I would encounter either of those firms in rural India but such is globalization.
That afternoon we visited the hospital Prakartik built in the area as well. There was a ton of art in the lobby that emphasized/promoted the fact that the people of Ranthambore are dependent on the tiger population being alive and thriving. The hospital itself was definitely not up to American standards in terms of cleanliness and privacy issues, but we were told it was way better than a government hospital. I'll take their word on that one. At one point we walked in to the delivery waiting room in the maternity ward. We had previously been told that all the doctors were gone for the day and in my mind I associated that with us not encountering any patients either. However, to our left was a curtain drawn. Someone asked what was behind it and our guide goes, "oh, there is a woman in labor." Uh, why would you let 22 college kids who had spent the morning with a whole bunch of cow dung in to your maternity ward? Oh, India.
The next morning we met with the Tiger Watch, Parkartik's sister NGO that works on the forest conservation side of things, including anti-poaching initiatives, habitat restoration, and community awareness. They started their presentation off by saying that people and nature walk hand-in-hand, but I don't think they followed through on that statement, considering that they called the indigenous community in the area, the Mogya, secretive, semi-nomadic, cold-blooded killers because they poach the tigers. This was definitely an instance of new colonialism - the people in the position of least power are being made to pay for society at large's destruction of the forest. It's so much easier to make these villagers move and change their lifestyle than going in to say Jaipur and making our host families drastically change their consumption patterns. Because the Mogya are poaching the tigers it's a lot easier to point a finger of blame at them rather than acknowledge the fact that the tiger reserve was once the private hunting grounds of the royal family of Jaipur.
As a whole though, I really enjoyed the excursion. It definitely had a summer camp-y feel to it for some reason, I think because it's been getting way warmer out. On Wednesday night we went to a much nicer resort for dinner. It's owned by a cousin of Ramaji, our homestay coordinator (also a cousin of my host sister because she & Ramaji are cousins), and as an elephant on the property. It was a part of his wife's dowry, and we got to meet her. And pet her. It was SO cool. He said that she's been in the family for 60-something years. Also there was pasta for dinner. Enough said.
On Tuesday we visited with the Prakartik Society - an NGO that works on developing the communities around the reserve so that they're less dependent on the forest. They've built an amazing school that a lot of the children attend on scholarship/for free and emphasize environmentalism and saving the tigers. While we were touring the school we met Jim & Sue, a retired British couple that comes to the school for 4 months at a time to give individualized tutoring to the students. When they're back in the UK they do a lot of fundraising on behalf of the school. They seemed like such a cool retired couple - I want to be them when I'm older. As opposed to the other schools we saw in Bikaner, I felt really inspired by this school and what Prakartik was doing for the students. It seemed to be a really well run institution and everyone involved was very invested in making the school succeed. Their first class of students is in the 10th Standard right now, but the school is equipped to have students up until the 12th Standard. There are science labs and other classrooms equipped & waiting for the students to be old enough to use them. Afterwards we drove out to a rural village that has Prakartik-initaited programs in place: biogas systems (taking cow patties and transforming them in to gas) for cooking and lighting and aforestation initiatives. Though this part of the day was really interesting, it was also really hot out and I was dressed in all black, so I lost steam really quickly. They receive money from J.P. Morgan's climate change fund for the biogas programs - I thought this was really interesting, especially because when we were in Bikaner we found out that Merrill Lynch donates money to the URMUL trust. I never thought I would encounter either of those firms in rural India but such is globalization.
That afternoon we visited the hospital Prakartik built in the area as well. There was a ton of art in the lobby that emphasized/promoted the fact that the people of Ranthambore are dependent on the tiger population being alive and thriving. The hospital itself was definitely not up to American standards in terms of cleanliness and privacy issues, but we were told it was way better than a government hospital. I'll take their word on that one. At one point we walked in to the delivery waiting room in the maternity ward. We had previously been told that all the doctors were gone for the day and in my mind I associated that with us not encountering any patients either. However, to our left was a curtain drawn. Someone asked what was behind it and our guide goes, "oh, there is a woman in labor." Uh, why would you let 22 college kids who had spent the morning with a whole bunch of cow dung in to your maternity ward? Oh, India.
The next morning we met with the Tiger Watch, Parkartik's sister NGO that works on the forest conservation side of things, including anti-poaching initiatives, habitat restoration, and community awareness. They started their presentation off by saying that people and nature walk hand-in-hand, but I don't think they followed through on that statement, considering that they called the indigenous community in the area, the Mogya, secretive, semi-nomadic, cold-blooded killers because they poach the tigers. This was definitely an instance of new colonialism - the people in the position of least power are being made to pay for society at large's destruction of the forest. It's so much easier to make these villagers move and change their lifestyle than going in to say Jaipur and making our host families drastically change their consumption patterns. Because the Mogya are poaching the tigers it's a lot easier to point a finger of blame at them rather than acknowledge the fact that the tiger reserve was once the private hunting grounds of the royal family of Jaipur.
As a whole though, I really enjoyed the excursion. It definitely had a summer camp-y feel to it for some reason, I think because it's been getting way warmer out. On Wednesday night we went to a much nicer resort for dinner. It's owned by a cousin of Ramaji, our homestay coordinator (also a cousin of my host sister because she & Ramaji are cousins), and as an elephant on the property. It was a part of his wife's dowry, and we got to meet her. And pet her. It was SO cool. He said that she's been in the family for 60-something years. Also there was pasta for dinner. Enough said.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Pushkar and This Week in Jaipur
18 of us spent last weekend in Pushkar, since it was on the way to Jaipur from Jodhpur. What an interesting city. It's a mecca for western hippie tourists, and at points I definitely felt like I was in Venice Beach rather than India. On Saturday afternoon a few of us walked around the lake, looking at the various ghats. We took our time, and it was nice and isolated away from the crowds of tourists - pilgrims or otherwise - that flock to Pushkar. We visited two temples afterwards. The first was for Vishnu if I remember correctly, and we definitely walked in on the priests smoking weed. When they realized we were there they came out of their little side room and told us it was "just incense." Sure. The next was a Brahma temple and was much bigger. We were told we had to leave our things outside, so we went in in shifts - two stayed and held shoes, bags, etc. while the other two went in.
There's a pretty significant Israeli influence in Pushkar, and that combined with all the hippies meant delicious, western food for us. For dinner that night my table of 6 devoured about 5 plates of hummus between us, and I had pesto pasta for dinner. Yum.
The next morning we all woke up for a 5:30 hike to the top of a temple to watch the sunrise. When we set out it was pretty dark, and we didn't exactly know where the trail started. Luckily, everyone we asked pointed us in the right direction. Along the way, this little puppy started walking next to us. And stayed. The whole way up the mountain. Eventually someone picked him up and carried him the last bit, but he was a trooper. After throwing around a few names we came up with Otis Redding. He was really shakey and wouldn't take any of the food or water we tried to feed him, so we think he was still being fed by his mother. There was chai on top of the mountain though, and he drank a little bit of that before sneezing it everywhere. Anyway, watching the sunrise was so beautiful. It was so nice to finally be moving and get some physical exercise. The path was pretty vertical, and was made of stone steps for parts of it too. There were tons of other tourists at the top, but it was still definitely one of my favorite things I've done so far. Afterwards we had a delicious breakfast (muesli with yogurt, honey, mixed fruit and real coffee), and spent the rest of the morning wandering around the stores before our bus to Ajmeer, where we got a train back to Jaipur. It left right on time and was much shorter than I expected it to be.
It was really nice to be back in Jaipur after about 10 days of travel. I unpacked my room more permanently too, so now it looks like I actually live there.
So that concludes last week's travel adventures. On Sunday some of us are going to a village called Laporiya to see their water harvesting system, then next week we're going to the Ranthambore tiger reserve, where we're going to be meeting with some NGO's and going on a tiger safari! I'm pumped. Then Udaipur for the weekend.
Now in this week's news...
I just took my Hindi midterm, which was stressful to say the least. Language for me is like math - it needs to be laid out very clearly with no tricks or ambiguity. Which there's a lot of in Hindi (or at least there is in the way we're being taught).
We had a really good lecturer on globalization and climate change for two days this week - Pradeep Saha ("just Pradeep" as he said on the first day he came). He's an editor at Down to Earth, an environmental magazine. He was definitely the best lecturer we've had so far...it felt like I was back in an American college class. He spoke both very theoretically and very concretely about globalization and climate change, and took a very holistlc approach rather than limiting his talk to specifically India like most lecturers have. Also he was the definition of an Indian hipster. So cool!
And I'm meeting with someone for my ISP tomorrow.
There's a pretty significant Israeli influence in Pushkar, and that combined with all the hippies meant delicious, western food for us. For dinner that night my table of 6 devoured about 5 plates of hummus between us, and I had pesto pasta for dinner. Yum.
The next morning we all woke up for a 5:30 hike to the top of a temple to watch the sunrise. When we set out it was pretty dark, and we didn't exactly know where the trail started. Luckily, everyone we asked pointed us in the right direction. Along the way, this little puppy started walking next to us. And stayed. The whole way up the mountain. Eventually someone picked him up and carried him the last bit, but he was a trooper. After throwing around a few names we came up with Otis Redding. He was really shakey and wouldn't take any of the food or water we tried to feed him, so we think he was still being fed by his mother. There was chai on top of the mountain though, and he drank a little bit of that before sneezing it everywhere. Anyway, watching the sunrise was so beautiful. It was so nice to finally be moving and get some physical exercise. The path was pretty vertical, and was made of stone steps for parts of it too. There were tons of other tourists at the top, but it was still definitely one of my favorite things I've done so far. Afterwards we had a delicious breakfast (muesli with yogurt, honey, mixed fruit and real coffee), and spent the rest of the morning wandering around the stores before our bus to Ajmeer, where we got a train back to Jaipur. It left right on time and was much shorter than I expected it to be.
It was really nice to be back in Jaipur after about 10 days of travel. I unpacked my room more permanently too, so now it looks like I actually live there.
So that concludes last week's travel adventures. On Sunday some of us are going to a village called Laporiya to see their water harvesting system, then next week we're going to the Ranthambore tiger reserve, where we're going to be meeting with some NGO's and going on a tiger safari! I'm pumped. Then Udaipur for the weekend.
Now in this week's news...
I just took my Hindi midterm, which was stressful to say the least. Language for me is like math - it needs to be laid out very clearly with no tricks or ambiguity. Which there's a lot of in Hindi (or at least there is in the way we're being taught).
We had a really good lecturer on globalization and climate change for two days this week - Pradeep Saha ("just Pradeep" as he said on the first day he came). He's an editor at Down to Earth, an environmental magazine. He was definitely the best lecturer we've had so far...it felt like I was back in an American college class. He spoke both very theoretically and very concretely about globalization and climate change, and took a very holistlc approach rather than limiting his talk to specifically India like most lecturers have. Also he was the definition of an Indian hipster. So cool!
And I'm meeting with someone for my ISP tomorrow.
Jodhpur
Last Thursday we migrated from Bikaner to Jodhpur. We arrived in the late afternoon, and since there was nothing else on our agenda, we all went up to the fort to get our tourist on. It had some pretty amazing views of Jodhpur. It's known as the Blue City because a bunch of the houses are painted blue. I heard that it was to denote the Brahmin homes in the city, but I fact-checked this with my host sister when I got home on Sunday and she didn't know if it was true or not. Anyway, there were a lot of French tourists which was interesting - we hadn't (to my knowledge) encountered many French tourists before. A lot of people that I've talked to have said that they studied French in addition to English and Hindi in school though so maybe there's some connection there.
The next morning we visited a Hindu-Pakistani refugee camp outside of Jodhpur. After Partition, Pakistan declared itself a Muslim state, leaving the Hindus in the country feeling threatened (and rightly so as they were often discriminated against & had acts of violence committed against them). Many Indians also traveled between India and Pakistan to visit family and to work as laborers. So when the border closed, a lot of Indians were left trapped on the other side. There's one train a week that runs from Pakistan to Jodhpur. Hindu-Pakistanis have to come over with Indian visas, then begin a long process of extending their visas until they finally gain citizenship. However, citizenship doesn't get them much, as they're on the lowest rung of society (most were already scheduled castes/dalits so that didn't change once their citizenship did), so their economic condition hasn't really improved. However, being in a majority-Hindu nation where they feel safe and at home is the primary concern for many. The settlement that we visited is illegal - like the Basti, the government considers it occupied land and comes by every couple months and tells the inhabitants to leave because they're going to tear it down. They never have, but it's a constant worry. They can't register for below-poverty-line cards to get subsidized foods & supplies from the government...I'm a little unclear as to why but I think it's essentially that they don't know how to go about starting the process.
We asked one woman if, had she known about the conditions in the camp in India, she would have still come over. She said yes - and that she did already know - because of the increase in available technology she had been able to communicate with family members in India about what the settlement was like. However, when her mother-in-law crossed over she didn't know what it would be like. I talked to a woman later who had never lived in Pakistan - she was from Jodhpur and had married a refugee who had gained his citizenship (gaining citizenship allows refugees to participate in Indian social society as they can travel through the country, attend festivals, and get married). Because India is a patrilocal society though, she had to move to the illegal settlement to live with her husband. That they both have citizenship makes getting things like healthcare and education slightly easier for them - and she doesn't have to work - but not by much. I was confused about why she couldn't help to secure a BPL card for the family, and my Hindi teacher, who was interpreting, didn't really answer my question. But I think it's a case of Indian bureaucratic red tape - applying for anything from the government is a long, convoluted process that people simply don't have the time to invest in.
Right before we left for the organization we met with the head of an advocacy NGO that works on behalf of the refugees. We were given two articles to read that described the refugees' situation and what sorts of things had happened to them in Pakistan. I think that going to the camp immediately after reading the articles made it a much more powerful experience - we were able to connect the abstract notion of "Hindu-Pakistani Refugees" to the people sitting in front of us.
After a quick lunch at a restaurant that was decorated with pictures of Mickey Mouse and Miley Cyrus - though probably not affiliated with Disney and thus a lawsuit waiting to happen - we were off again to GRAVIS, a development NGO working in the Thar Desert. They basically gave us an overview of their projects (elderly care, revitalization of indigenous knowledge with modern technological improvements, reforestation with native plants that require less water, etc.) via power point. Interesting, but in conjunction with the fluorescent lighting in the room, our energy level quickly declined. There was a mystery white man sitting at the table that we were all curious about - we later learned that his name is Ben and works for Traditional Medicinals, a tea company out of Berkeley. He's in Jodhpur working with GRAVIS on their development projects on behalf of the company, because they source some of their plants from the Thar. We invited him to dinner at the same Disney-fied restaurant we had lunch at, mainly because we had seen pizza advertised and wanted a break from Indian food. It was nice to be able to talk to an American in India (outside of our group) about being an American in India, and also to learn more about his work, since that sounds like the kind of job I would potentially want in the future.
The next morning we visited a Hindu-Pakistani refugee camp outside of Jodhpur. After Partition, Pakistan declared itself a Muslim state, leaving the Hindus in the country feeling threatened (and rightly so as they were often discriminated against & had acts of violence committed against them). Many Indians also traveled between India and Pakistan to visit family and to work as laborers. So when the border closed, a lot of Indians were left trapped on the other side. There's one train a week that runs from Pakistan to Jodhpur. Hindu-Pakistanis have to come over with Indian visas, then begin a long process of extending their visas until they finally gain citizenship. However, citizenship doesn't get them much, as they're on the lowest rung of society (most were already scheduled castes/dalits so that didn't change once their citizenship did), so their economic condition hasn't really improved. However, being in a majority-Hindu nation where they feel safe and at home is the primary concern for many. The settlement that we visited is illegal - like the Basti, the government considers it occupied land and comes by every couple months and tells the inhabitants to leave because they're going to tear it down. They never have, but it's a constant worry. They can't register for below-poverty-line cards to get subsidized foods & supplies from the government...I'm a little unclear as to why but I think it's essentially that they don't know how to go about starting the process.
We asked one woman if, had she known about the conditions in the camp in India, she would have still come over. She said yes - and that she did already know - because of the increase in available technology she had been able to communicate with family members in India about what the settlement was like. However, when her mother-in-law crossed over she didn't know what it would be like. I talked to a woman later who had never lived in Pakistan - she was from Jodhpur and had married a refugee who had gained his citizenship (gaining citizenship allows refugees to participate in Indian social society as they can travel through the country, attend festivals, and get married). Because India is a patrilocal society though, she had to move to the illegal settlement to live with her husband. That they both have citizenship makes getting things like healthcare and education slightly easier for them - and she doesn't have to work - but not by much. I was confused about why she couldn't help to secure a BPL card for the family, and my Hindi teacher, who was interpreting, didn't really answer my question. But I think it's a case of Indian bureaucratic red tape - applying for anything from the government is a long, convoluted process that people simply don't have the time to invest in.
Right before we left for the organization we met with the head of an advocacy NGO that works on behalf of the refugees. We were given two articles to read that described the refugees' situation and what sorts of things had happened to them in Pakistan. I think that going to the camp immediately after reading the articles made it a much more powerful experience - we were able to connect the abstract notion of "Hindu-Pakistani Refugees" to the people sitting in front of us.
After a quick lunch at a restaurant that was decorated with pictures of Mickey Mouse and Miley Cyrus - though probably not affiliated with Disney and thus a lawsuit waiting to happen - we were off again to GRAVIS, a development NGO working in the Thar Desert. They basically gave us an overview of their projects (elderly care, revitalization of indigenous knowledge with modern technological improvements, reforestation with native plants that require less water, etc.) via power point. Interesting, but in conjunction with the fluorescent lighting in the room, our energy level quickly declined. There was a mystery white man sitting at the table that we were all curious about - we later learned that his name is Ben and works for Traditional Medicinals, a tea company out of Berkeley. He's in Jodhpur working with GRAVIS on their development projects on behalf of the company, because they source some of their plants from the Thar. We invited him to dinner at the same Disney-fied restaurant we had lunch at, mainly because we had seen pizza advertised and wanted a break from Indian food. It was nice to be able to talk to an American in India (outside of our group) about being an American in India, and also to learn more about his work, since that sounds like the kind of job I would potentially want in the future.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Bikaner part 2
Last Wednesday was the BEST day of the program so far. We went to an URMUL trust cluster office out in the desert and learned more about their rural development programs. The office serves as a kind of community center too I think. We continued on to a rural village called Nathusar where we had some men map it in the dirt for us. We then broke down in to smaller groups and met with individuals in the village. My group met with the panchayat (local governance unit) representative, a 50 year old, illiterate widow. On the way to her house we encountered a man on a camel carrying a load of sticks. Everyone whipped out their cameras and when he saw us he stopped his camera to let us take pictures! It was SO cool. I'm in awe of all the camels I see - I can't believe that they're still an efficient mode of transportation after however many thousands of years. I digress. Anyway, we talked with her about the village, its needs, how the people get food, water, etc., and her life in general. She was surrounded by her grandchildren who I'm sure were fascinated by our presence. After we finished our interview she showed us her home. On our way out, she said something to me in Hindi that I didn't understand so I just smiled and nodded - my go-to response in those kinds of situations - and continued to walk out. She grabbed my arm and pointed to my camera, to have me take a picture of her and her family:
Afterwards we met with two women's heath workers in one of their homes. They talked to us about their work and we asked questions about the health concerns of the community and the whole process of how they treat their patients and visit the various homes in the village. At one point we got on the subject of family planning and we asked if anyone in the village was actively using contraceptives to space the birth of their children. There are 8 families doing so, and to follow up we asked if the men supported this decision. A male village elder who was facilitating our visit immediately scoffed and said "no," which I found...I wouldn't say disturbing but definitely not in line with everything else we've been learning. However, I will say that it was nice to hear a man's candid opinion - a lot of the information we've been getting has focused solely on women.
That whole day made me realize how much I do love doing field work like that. Even though I'm pretty sure it's not what I'm going to be spending my life doing, I definitely want to do it for some amount of time. And at one point our program staff interpreter asked me & one other person if we wanted to do development work after we graduated from school, and I answered "yes" without even thinking about it.
The desert landscape is SO beautiful. It looks like California and Africa got together and had a baby. Also, on the same "random cultural similarities" note from yesterday, we saw so many of these on the drive out:
They look nearly identical to the huts that the Maasai build and, again, it blew my mind.
That evening when we returned to Bikaner, we actually made it in to the Old City. It was nowhere near as touristy as Jaipur's, so it wasn't at all what I had expected. We passed under a gate and encountered the same types of shops as we had on the other side. We ended up wandering up a couple alleyways in to a more residential area. It was pretty cool to see a more urban residential area.
Afterwards we met with two women's heath workers in one of their homes. They talked to us about their work and we asked questions about the health concerns of the community and the whole process of how they treat their patients and visit the various homes in the village. At one point we got on the subject of family planning and we asked if anyone in the village was actively using contraceptives to space the birth of their children. There are 8 families doing so, and to follow up we asked if the men supported this decision. A male village elder who was facilitating our visit immediately scoffed and said "no," which I found...I wouldn't say disturbing but definitely not in line with everything else we've been learning. However, I will say that it was nice to hear a man's candid opinion - a lot of the information we've been getting has focused solely on women.
That whole day made me realize how much I do love doing field work like that. Even though I'm pretty sure it's not what I'm going to be spending my life doing, I definitely want to do it for some amount of time. And at one point our program staff interpreter asked me & one other person if we wanted to do development work after we graduated from school, and I answered "yes" without even thinking about it.
The desert landscape is SO beautiful. It looks like California and Africa got together and had a baby. Also, on the same "random cultural similarities" note from yesterday, we saw so many of these on the drive out:
They look nearly identical to the huts that the Maasai build and, again, it blew my mind.
That evening when we returned to Bikaner, we actually made it in to the Old City. It was nowhere near as touristy as Jaipur's, so it wasn't at all what I had expected. We passed under a gate and encountered the same types of shops as we had on the other side. We ended up wandering up a couple alleyways in to a more residential area. It was pretty cool to see a more urban residential area.
Bikaner Part 1
On our way to Bikaner last Monday, we stopped at a girls' education camp run by the URMUL trust, a development NGO that started in the '80's. The camp brings in illiterate, uneducated girls aged 11-16 from rural villages in Rajasthan and educates them up to a 5th standard level in 6 months. In addition to an academic education, the school also teaches them basic hygiene (bathing and brushing their teeth daily) and socializes them in to group play. They didn't learn these things in their home villages because they were girls and thus not as valued in the family. 18 of them were married but hadn't gone to live in their in-laws' homes yet. We learned that poorer families will often marry off their daughters at the same time despite their age to save on the costs associated with a wedding. They looked so young for their age because they had probably been malnourished as children - no one could believe that the youngest girl there was 11. One of the teachers was an alumna of the program and working on her masters, and the director said that a lot of the alumna do go on to higher education or some kind of career. This past weekend URMUL had a reunion for alumna of the school. We didn't get to go but I like that they're actively promoting the success of the program not just to the rural communities but also to larger areas like Bikaner.
The girls showed us around the camp - their dorm rooms, their chests of clothes, soap, and toothbrushes, and then we went in to an open area and played Indian versions of Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover with them. We tried to teach them Down By The Banks but it got lost in translation and visual demonstrations weren't working in our favor. After we had exhausted ourselves playing, one of the teachers brought out tubes of henna and the girls sat us down and did henna on our hands and forearms. I thought of it as the Indian version of French braiding hair because it a) is really pretty and b) some girls are better at it than others. The girl who started doing mine couldn't get it right so she got up and called over another girl to do it.
After leaving the camp we continued on to our hotel and a few of us went out to explore Bikaner. Our destination was twofold: the Old City and a sweets shop our homestay coordinator recommended to us. Naturally, we made the sweet shop our number one priority. As we were walking there we kept asking people for directions, and the cool thing was that everyone's directions matched with the previous person's. We weren't getting led astray at all and I suppose it's enough of a well-known place for everyone to have an idea of where it is. We got these delicious toffee sweets that had cashews in them. I tried to describe them to my host sister yesterday to find out what they were, but she didn't know - I guess they don't use the word "toffee" in India and I couldn't think of another way to describe it.
The next morning we met with a man from the URMUL trust who talked more about their development projects and how they get their funding. Surprisingly, Canada's foreign aid agency is a large donor. As a whole the application process seemed very elaborate and, well, Indian.
Afterwards we went to the fair trade store that URMUL runs next door. Right up my alley, especially for my ISP because I want to focus on craft products. Except, none of the program staff told me we were going beforehand so I didn't really use it as a fieldwork experience. I just shopped. What surprised me the most was how much a lot of the designs resemble South American patterns and textiles that I've seen before. I can't think of any way that these two cultures would have interacted in history, and yet they're producing designs that are SO similar to one another. It blew my mind.
In the afternoon we visited a girls' college outside of Bikaner.
In our hotel, I'm rooming with two other girls. There were two beds between the three of us, and we didn't find any problem with this and assumed that everyone else had a similar situation. The next day we found out that that wasn't the case and everyone found it funny that we just rolled with it instead of complaining. Also there were pigeon eggs outside of our window.
The girls showed us around the camp - their dorm rooms, their chests of clothes, soap, and toothbrushes, and then we went in to an open area and played Indian versions of Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover with them. We tried to teach them Down By The Banks but it got lost in translation and visual demonstrations weren't working in our favor. After we had exhausted ourselves playing, one of the teachers brought out tubes of henna and the girls sat us down and did henna on our hands and forearms. I thought of it as the Indian version of French braiding hair because it a) is really pretty and b) some girls are better at it than others. The girl who started doing mine couldn't get it right so she got up and called over another girl to do it.
After leaving the camp we continued on to our hotel and a few of us went out to explore Bikaner. Our destination was twofold: the Old City and a sweets shop our homestay coordinator recommended to us. Naturally, we made the sweet shop our number one priority. As we were walking there we kept asking people for directions, and the cool thing was that everyone's directions matched with the previous person's. We weren't getting led astray at all and I suppose it's enough of a well-known place for everyone to have an idea of where it is. We got these delicious toffee sweets that had cashews in them. I tried to describe them to my host sister yesterday to find out what they were, but she didn't know - I guess they don't use the word "toffee" in India and I couldn't think of another way to describe it.
The next morning we met with a man from the URMUL trust who talked more about their development projects and how they get their funding. Surprisingly, Canada's foreign aid agency is a large donor. As a whole the application process seemed very elaborate and, well, Indian.
Afterwards we went to the fair trade store that URMUL runs next door. Right up my alley, especially for my ISP because I want to focus on craft products. Except, none of the program staff told me we were going beforehand so I didn't really use it as a fieldwork experience. I just shopped. What surprised me the most was how much a lot of the designs resemble South American patterns and textiles that I've seen before. I can't think of any way that these two cultures would have interacted in history, and yet they're producing designs that are SO similar to one another. It blew my mind.
In the afternoon we visited a girls' college outside of Bikaner.
In our hotel, I'm rooming with two other girls. There were two beds between the three of us, and we didn't find any problem with this and assumed that everyone else had a similar situation. The next day we found out that that wasn't the case and everyone found it funny that we just rolled with it instead of complaining. Also there were pigeon eggs outside of our window.
Shuffling
Last night during dinner I got a phone call from my friend Anne, saying that her host mother (the homestay coordinator) told her that my family was having people stay with them for the next two days, and she invited me to come stay with them so I wouldn't have to deal with a ton of new people at the house. I knew nothing of this save for a snippet of a Hinglish phone conversation I overheard that made it sound like guests were coming. Annoyed that I was kept out of the loop, I accepted the invitation and just chalked it up to "Oh, India." When my host sister sat down to dinner I told her about the conversation and she goes, "Oh, yes, I was going to suggest that to you but I didn't want to say anything until the plans were solid." Which I then realized is exactly what I would have done (and have done with telling her about Agra and Pushkar). She then went on to tell me that there would be 5 people and a baby coming, and they would be using my toilet because the guest toilet is broken. So while I'm glad to be getting out of the house for all that chaos, I'm a little bummed to have to be packing all my stuff up again right after getting back from 10 days of travel.
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