Today we had the first rains of the monsoon season...about time. The past two days have been around 100, cloudy, and humid. Das, my morning autorickshaw driver who knows every shortcut imaginable in Varanasi, and Dipti have both told me that now that the monsoons have come, the mangos will be even better! Here's a shaky video I took on my camera of the rain from our office.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Caste & Cooking
I forgot to include this in my last post:
Because we had spent the night at the office & wouldn't be able to bring food for lunch like usual, Dipti asked Sunil, the office boy, to bring lunch for all three of us on Saturday. He only brought enough food for two people, though. Dipti asked him why and he said that he didn't think I, a foreigner, would eat food prepared by a lower-class (caste) family. Appadurai would have a field day. It made me think that "Gastropolitics in Hindu South Asia" is still relevant. So now I'm hoping that Sunil hasn't been misinterpreting my insistence on doing things myself (ie. refilling my water bottle, plugging my computer cord in to the wall socket) as me not wanting him to touch my things. I'm just uncomfortable with someone doing things for me that I'm entirely capable of doing myself.
Because we had spent the night at the office & wouldn't be able to bring food for lunch like usual, Dipti asked Sunil, the office boy, to bring lunch for all three of us on Saturday. He only brought enough food for two people, though. Dipti asked him why and he said that he didn't think I, a foreigner, would eat food prepared by a lower-class (caste) family. Appadurai would have a field day. It made me think that "Gastropolitics in Hindu South Asia" is still relevant. So now I'm hoping that Sunil hasn't been misinterpreting my insistence on doing things myself (ie. refilling my water bottle, plugging my computer cord in to the wall socket) as me not wanting him to touch my things. I'm just uncomfortable with someone doing things for me that I'm entirely capable of doing myself.
Week Two, Sleepovers.
On Friday night my boss and I had a sleepover at the office. Yep. She wanted to work late, her husband was out of town, and she doesn't like to be at the office alone. So she asked me to stay on Friday night with her. We spent about an hour or two talking about our families and showing each other pictures of them. Except the most I could really do was show her pictures of me & Patrick (happy 19th birthday!!) because I don't have any family photos on my computer. There was also a wedding across the street, so we watched the procession, which I really enjoyed...especially because she had just shown me pictures from two of her siblings' weddings. And this isn't procession in the American sense - first, there was a kid with a giant sparkler on a huge stick. Periodically, he would stop and set off fireworks. Then, there was a marching band walking down the street in two lines. On either side of the lines were big light fixtures being held up by members of the groom's family (I think). Then there was a big van that I think was providing the power for the light fixtures. But it was also playing contemporary Indian music out of the back side. So naturally, behind the van were a whole bunch of men who I assume were related to the groom, dancing with one another in the way only Indian men can. I could've sworn a few of the songs were sampling M.I.A., but then I realized it was probably the other way around. Then there was a less active procession of men, and a horse-drawn carriage that the groom (and maybe the bride too, I couldn't get a good look at who was inside) in it. When it pulled up to the venue, guests would climb inside the carriage to give the groom gifts. At this point it got boring so I stopped watching but it was the first wedding procession that I actually got to sit and observe and figure out so I really liked it. It was very bright and loud.
Anyway, we've been working on an Ashoka Changemakers grant application that's due on Wednesday. She told me yesterday that my name is going to be included on the proposal because of how much I've been helping her with it. Whoa. She's also definitely the Indian person I've bonded the most with. No offense to my host family or anything, they were wonderful, but they've been hosting students forever. Same to the program staff. All wonderful people. But she & I get along really well.
We didn't end up going to a village this week, which I was a little bummed about because it definitely would help me to prepare for living there. I'm a very visual person when it comes to these things. I have a really, really hard time visualizing situations like this and anticipating what to expect. However, Dipti and Natasha, the business manager, will now be coming with me on Friday to drop me off in the first village. And will be in the second village at the end of the week, too. So I'm glad I won't be going in alone. Also, they're going to go with me to BHU and Sarnath before we go to the village. I was talking to Dipti about wanting to go to those places and she goes, "Well, who will you go with?" "I guess just by myself." "No, we will go with you. It's much better going with people."
I didn't sleep well on Friday night though, because I was in a new place (for sleeping at least), and it was windy, which would've been great except the windows kept slamming shut, and it was hot. I spoil myself with air conditioning in my room at my guesthouse. The wedding, surprisingly, wasn't loud at all. By any standards, not just Indian. So by the time we left the office at 8:30 PM on Saturday, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go home, buy a chocolate bar (I found out that Cadbury gets all (I'm pretty sure it's all) of the chocolate for their Dairy Milk bars fair trade and that sparked an intense ethical chocolate craving. Or, it validated the chocolate cravings I was already having. Though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if this wasn't the case for the bars they sell in India), take a shower, watch Gossip Girl on my computer (please stop judging me) and go to bed. But there's traffic in India. Lots of it. My cycle rickshaw driver took a different route to avoid the traffic, which I was very grateful for initially. Until it was so bumpy and he wouldn't pass other cycle rickshaws going slower than we were, and we had to stop so he could load up on chewing tobacco. Oh, and I'm pretty sure he was younger than me. I realized about halfway through the ride that I wouldn't hold up very well under torture, so let's hope that never happens.
Anyway, we've been working on an Ashoka Changemakers grant application that's due on Wednesday. She told me yesterday that my name is going to be included on the proposal because of how much I've been helping her with it. Whoa. She's also definitely the Indian person I've bonded the most with. No offense to my host family or anything, they were wonderful, but they've been hosting students forever. Same to the program staff. All wonderful people. But she & I get along really well.
We didn't end up going to a village this week, which I was a little bummed about because it definitely would help me to prepare for living there. I'm a very visual person when it comes to these things. I have a really, really hard time visualizing situations like this and anticipating what to expect. However, Dipti and Natasha, the business manager, will now be coming with me on Friday to drop me off in the first village. And will be in the second village at the end of the week, too. So I'm glad I won't be going in alone. Also, they're going to go with me to BHU and Sarnath before we go to the village. I was talking to Dipti about wanting to go to those places and she goes, "Well, who will you go with?" "I guess just by myself." "No, we will go with you. It's much better going with people."
I didn't sleep well on Friday night though, because I was in a new place (for sleeping at least), and it was windy, which would've been great except the windows kept slamming shut, and it was hot. I spoil myself with air conditioning in my room at my guesthouse. The wedding, surprisingly, wasn't loud at all. By any standards, not just Indian. So by the time we left the office at 8:30 PM on Saturday, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go home, buy a chocolate bar (I found out that Cadbury gets all (I'm pretty sure it's all) of the chocolate for their Dairy Milk bars fair trade and that sparked an intense ethical chocolate craving. Or, it validated the chocolate cravings I was already having. Though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if this wasn't the case for the bars they sell in India), take a shower, watch Gossip Girl on my computer (please stop judging me) and go to bed. But there's traffic in India. Lots of it. My cycle rickshaw driver took a different route to avoid the traffic, which I was very grateful for initially. Until it was so bumpy and he wouldn't pass other cycle rickshaws going slower than we were, and we had to stop so he could load up on chewing tobacco. Oh, and I'm pretty sure he was younger than me. I realized about halfway through the ride that I wouldn't hold up very well under torture, so let's hope that never happens.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Interning in India
So I figure I should say something about my internship aside from the fact that I work Saturdays...which I really don't mind. And I will say that I was given the option of not coming in & having a two-day weekend, but for the sake of cross-cultural immersion, count me in.
rangSutra (the website only talks about their Rajasthan division) was started in August/September through a grant given by the UNDP and Ikea. They work in two rural districts in Uttar Pradesh, outside of Varanasi on women's empowerment through business initiatives. The grant is for a 3-year pilot program that they are hoping to replicate in rural districts throughout eastern U.P., making it a sustainable business and development model. The UNDP/Ikea grant created women's empowerment and self-help groups that run savings and credit programs, village workshops, and campaigns about issues facing their lives. RangSutra focuses on using the traditional craft skills that the women have through capacity building initiatives including organizational building, management training, product development/marketing, and skills training to gain access to western consumer markets.
For the first two weeks of my internship, I'll mainly be working on building a big list of potential western companies for them to partner with in the future. I'll also be working on getting them organic cotton & fair trade certified.
Then, I'll be living in their artisan's villages for two weeks doing fieldwork for them. I'm going to be talking to them about how they think the business model can be improved on the village level, what challenges they face, and what they think about the future of the company. When my boss Dipti told me she wanted me to do this last week, I very quickly said I would, even though I was (and still am) nervous about it. Mainly because of the language barrier, but she said I'll have access to translators. Plus, non-verbal communication is equally important for rapport building. And Dipti keeps telling me that all the women are nice. It'll be a challenge, but will also be really u fieldwork experience.
When I finish in the villages, I'll be back in the office for a week preparing a final report for them. At this point I should also have some ideas about their U.P. branch's specific brand identity and how they can incorporate that in to rangSutra as a whole.
Tomorrow we're going to one of the villages I'll be working in, and I'll get to meet one of the women who will be hosting me, so I'm sure that will put me at ease. I'm really excited that Dipti and Natasha, the business & accounts manager, are letting me come with them.
I've definitely learned a lot already about the amount of fair trade retailers out there...before starting this research I thought that companies like Ten Thousand Villages were basically the only fair trade retailers. Wrong. Though they are the only national one I've found so far, I've found tons of great small retail outlets. And partnerships between small businesses, in my opinion, speak more to the values of fair trade. I've also learned a bit about organic/fair trade cotton production in India, since they're looking for organic cotton suppliers. Did you know that Gujarat produces a lot of organic cotton? I didn't, and I lived there for a month.
rangSutra (the website only talks about their Rajasthan division) was started in August/September through a grant given by the UNDP and Ikea. They work in two rural districts in Uttar Pradesh, outside of Varanasi on women's empowerment through business initiatives. The grant is for a 3-year pilot program that they are hoping to replicate in rural districts throughout eastern U.P., making it a sustainable business and development model. The UNDP/Ikea grant created women's empowerment and self-help groups that run savings and credit programs, village workshops, and campaigns about issues facing their lives. RangSutra focuses on using the traditional craft skills that the women have through capacity building initiatives including organizational building, management training, product development/marketing, and skills training to gain access to western consumer markets.
For the first two weeks of my internship, I'll mainly be working on building a big list of potential western companies for them to partner with in the future. I'll also be working on getting them organic cotton & fair trade certified.
Then, I'll be living in their artisan's villages for two weeks doing fieldwork for them. I'm going to be talking to them about how they think the business model can be improved on the village level, what challenges they face, and what they think about the future of the company. When my boss Dipti told me she wanted me to do this last week, I very quickly said I would, even though I was (and still am) nervous about it. Mainly because of the language barrier, but she said I'll have access to translators. Plus, non-verbal communication is equally important for rapport building. And Dipti keeps telling me that all the women are nice. It'll be a challenge, but will also be really u fieldwork experience.
When I finish in the villages, I'll be back in the office for a week preparing a final report for them. At this point I should also have some ideas about their U.P. branch's specific brand identity and how they can incorporate that in to rangSutra as a whole.
Tomorrow we're going to one of the villages I'll be working in, and I'll get to meet one of the women who will be hosting me, so I'm sure that will put me at ease. I'm really excited that Dipti and Natasha, the business & accounts manager, are letting me come with them.
I've definitely learned a lot already about the amount of fair trade retailers out there...before starting this research I thought that companies like Ten Thousand Villages were basically the only fair trade retailers. Wrong. Though they are the only national one I've found so far, I've found tons of great small retail outlets. And partnerships between small businesses, in my opinion, speak more to the values of fair trade. I've also learned a bit about organic/fair trade cotton production in India, since they're looking for organic cotton suppliers. Did you know that Gujarat produces a lot of organic cotton? I didn't, and I lived there for a month.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
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