A fellow fellows wedding

Here are some pictures from the fabulous Jaipur wedding!

Sevagram

So I’ve just returned from a 3-day conference at Sevagram. Sevagram is located in the middle of the country (in Maharasthra, nearest town in Wharda, nearest city Nagpur), and is where the Gandhi Ashram is located. Well where one of them is located. Anyway it is the site of many important meetings that happened between Gandhi and Nehru during the freedom movement so said the many signs posted there.

The conference was run by IFA (Indian Friends Association) and their partners, It was truly inspirational and it came at the right time for me. I’ve definitely been asking, ‘What am I doing here?” and this conference helped me answer that.

But first, what was this conference about? The topics discussed were broad and included things such as: the history of development perspective in India, present development models and livelihoods of poor people, community control over natural resources, and changing role of the states and fighting corruption using existing government policies, and state, corporate and other repression-the use of violence and crime for economic, political, and social ends. Some big topics right? The people who attended the conference are at the forefront of their field and have been doing this work for years, so I was extremely lucky to be there.
The conference addressed these topics but also was developing action items. One of the major goals was to bring these experts together so they can learn from each other but also so they can support one another. The other unique aspect to this conference was discussion about funding and what the relationship has been between the funder and the NGO.

Just some anonymous quotes I would like to share:

• Organizations are working in project mode, very few are working in mission mode
• A lot of our ills are due to the funds we receive
• The flow of funding decides the flow of concern
• Corruption is a disease in this country
• Weapons are for those without courage
• Nature can never be managed well unless the people closest to it are involved in its management and a healthy relationship is established between nature, society and culture.
• How do we recognize and fight a shift to corporate governance?

So, “Why am I here?” I’m here to learn.

Panchayat What?

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile, but my internet access isn’t what is used to be! So I’ve officially been in India for 3 months. It feels like I’ve been here for a year. Sometimes I can’t believe I have SEVEN months left. I’m not miserable but exhausted. India can be extremely overwhelming, the act of buying an apple can wipe me out. I also think things I used to love are now just annoying. Food is the number one thing. I really miss American Food, primarily breakfast. Breakfast in India is like any other meal, I often have chapatti or rice in the morning when what I crave is cereal. And brunch, hmm French toast, waffles, etc. I also really miss having friends and a social life. It would be unheard of here to be out after 9:00pm.

On the bright side work is definitely getting better. I almost have a project! I’m going to study and document how one village accesses local government services through public participation. The government at this level is called the Panchayat Raj. I don’t fully understand the system yet, but the legislation was enacted in the 1970a and has very Ghandian influences. Each Panchayat has elected members and has money to allocate to village needs. I like to think of the Panchayat as a Community Board except with more power since the Panchayat has money to allocate. However just like Community Boards, there are good Panchayats and bad.

Thanks for reading, miss all of you!

Being from Two Worlds

My parent were recently in India, which was amazing. Some of you know that I cam to India on more of a personal journey. To learn the language (need to get cracking on that!), get to know my family, and learn about the Indian in me. As difficult as I'm finding this to be,its much harder for my parents. They were born in India but left to come to the US when they were around my age-so they have lied in the US longer than they lived in India. So where is there home? They have changed dramatically in the 30 years since they left India, but India has also changed! They have a harder time relating to their relatives and vice versa. At least with my relatives they know I'm from a different country. With my parents its different, they are almost two different people-not that these two versions don't have similarities. My Mom still has little patience and is the best dressed and my Dad is still every one's favorite!

Seeing them was great, the only drawback it made me miss them more than I already do. But it was amazing to see them and I hope they come again!

Diwali!

Sorry I haven't posted in some time, but I'm having some Internet access issues. When my access gets better i promise to put up more pictures. So back to Diwali, the festival of lights winds down the festival season in India. I'm not sure the exact meaning of Diwali, but I'm sure you can look it up! My dad told me it celebrates the triumph of good over evil, which implies he doesn't know what it means either. However celebrating the triumph of good over evil is a great reason for a Holiday to me! Although celebrating in India can have different meanings-like getting up at 5:30am on the morning of Diwali to do Puja in your best attire! Despite the bad morning breath, Diwali is a very beautiful holiday. Everyone decorates the outside of their home with oil candles (deepas) and does Rangoli in front of the house. Plus all the stores have sales and that as we know is the best part of any holiday!

Dasara in Mysore

So we are in festival time people. October brings Dasara, next month Diwali. Dasara is different all over India, in fact its not even called Dasara everywhere, but since I'm in Karantaka and that's what they call the 10 day 9 night festival, lets go with it.

Dasara celebrates the triumph of truth over evil and the marriage of Laxmi to Visnhu as my family has told me. They also told me other things, but the names they were saying were very long and I couldn't process it fully. Dasara celebrations vary all over India but in Karnataka Mysore is the place you want to be and that's where me and 5 other Americans were!

We stayed with my cousin Padma her two sons and my uncle. They were amazing to us and showed us around Mysore-the Princely State. Celebrations for Dasara started in Mysore around the 15th Century, so its safe to say that its a time honored tradition. The palace is lighted for all 9 nights and is truly a spectacular sight. The last day ends in a huge parade that draws 1000s of people. 1000s and 1000s. A lot of people. We saw the parade away from the downtown area which was much safer! All in all, despite some delhi belli, it was a wonderful trip! My family is amazing and I'm gald some of my friends got to meet them!

Village Visit

Today I went on my first real site visit. I visited three different villages and met several SHGs (Self Help Groups) and met with one VFC (Village Forest Committee). SHGs are groups of mainly women who pool their savings together and then are assisted by SPS in obtaining low-interest loans to buy things such a sheep, cows, bulls, or other livlihood items. The VFC is the next level of organizing. Members of a VFC participate in community control over their natural resources. So they ensure that common lands, in this case forests, remain accesible to village residents for food, fuel, and fodder.

Things at work....

Are staring to pick up slowly. One of the field workers (Pulli) will now be based out of the Dharwad office which is great! It means that I can help him with grant reports, collecting of data, reporting and in turn I get to go to the field. It is what they call in the US a win-win (I had to say this, people at work use it all the time). Which brings me to some funny phrases in English that I've heard at work:

• Put down the glass meaning Roll down the window


• I really banged him meaning I yelled at him severely


• She/he is a crack person meaning That person is not nice


• Shaking of the head from sided to side meaning yes, no, or maybe
  

Back to work. My favorite part of the day is lunch. I eat with the accountant and the office assistant. We all bring dubbas (lunch boxes) open them up and share. Now I don't know much Kannada but I do know the words for food, plus I can eat rice with my hands, this has earned me mucho brownie points. The first time the sharing happened I was confused because they piled the food into my tiffin, and then didn't take any of mine, until this week. This week people took food from my dubba. Its not much but I'm counting it as a victory.

Being an NRI

Some thoughts on being an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) in India. Please note that these are my thoughts only!

• Its hard to look the part. I'm an Indian-American, dressed in traditional garb, but I don't speak the language and don't know the customs. I am constantly expected to know every prayer, ritual, holiday, etc. When I don't the look of shock on people's faces is priceless.
• I'm tired of talking about marriage and I haven't even been here for one month! I don't care what the custom here I am not of marriageable age and as a matter of fact no one will determine what that 'age" should be but me!
• Its hard to know what my gender role is, even though people expect me to know it! I have to be home at a certain time, know who is okay to talk to, etc etc. Sometimes I think it would just be easier to look totally foreign, then I would have an excuse for not knowing!

Walk to Work

So, I know I've been a bit, as one of my friends likes to say, crab apply, on my blog recently, so I wanted to write about my favorite part of the day, my walk home. So my aunt recently told me that "Dharwad is a zoo!" and it kind of is. On my walk home I pass pigs, cows, bulls, goats, dogs, cats, roosters, and the occasional monkey klan (yikes!). But also I see autorickshaws bursting at the seams with school-children, children on bikes, people selling all sorts of stuff on bikes, a small forest, and the train station. I also pass my uncle's house, which used to make me sad but now I look forward to it because I think he's watching over me.

India wins!

Before I post anymore I must take this moment to thank Brian Heilman for teaching me the rules of cricket. It's a fantastic game and tonight India won the Twenty 20 World Cup in South Africa. It was an amazing match as India beat their arch rivals Pakistan by a mere 5 runs! People are celebrating in the street and I'm about to join them! Go India!

Funny Quote

My cousin is going to New York for a couple months through work and my aunt asked, “Can you buy rice in New York?” I love it.

Frustrations.......................

I wish I knew Kannada. Its Kannada non-stop around here. I know some words here and there but not enough to communicate effectively. Also people speak ten times faster here with far less English. Kannada is everywhere, with my family, at work, and on the signs. There are very few English signs. Also all of the names are incredibly long here, street names and people’s names. So I have a hard time remembering anything. At work I was introduced to people but very quickly, i.e. this is “vanketeshwara swami, blah blah”. Street names are similar.
My first day at work at SPS, was okay. My desk space is separate from everyone else’s so its feels isolating. Also I’ve been given a lot of books to read, which I’m grateful for, but I already feel like I’m going to be useless. They want to know what I would like to do, and my answer to be useful to them, isn’t really working out. I hope it gets better.

Pictures of Dharwad!

Some pictures of the market place and the outside of my aunt’s house, also a a picture of the kitten named Putu.

Ganesha Chachurti !

This years celebrations were subdued but I thought I would included some pictures of our Ganesha. The bigger Ganesha’s are in the market place. Ganesha Chachurti celebrates Ganesha’s birthday. Ganesha is the remover of all obstacles so people have been celebrating like crazy. There are firecrackers going off all the time but they sound like bombs so sometimes I feel like I am in a war zone!

I've been avoiding this post..

I’ve been avoiding this post for sometime, wondering whether or not it’s even appropriate. But my experience to date in India has been defined by this event so to not write about it I think would be wrong. As some of you know my uncle committed suicide on September 11.
The news, as one can imagine, was quite a shock. He did suffer from depression but nobody expected this. That I suppose is the beast behind the disease of depression. Even the best doctors don’t fully understand it.
In the past few days I’ve been able to slowly digest what has happened. My uncle lived in Dharwad, the town I am currently residing in for my AIF fellowship. In fact his house is less than a five-minute walk from the NGO I am working at. His house is amazing, with both a great porch and a deck. He was a statistics professor at Karnataka State University and an overall genius. I was particularly excited to come to India to spend more time with him because out of my extended family in India he understand what I was doing here. He also as I’ve stated before a genius, an encyclopedia of information, he knew a little bit about every topic. I think that’s what makes this especially hard, how could someone so intelligent do this?
Besides being devastated for the family he has left behind, I can’t believe this happened 3 days before I was to come to Dharwad. Didn’t he know I as coming! We were supposed to sit on his porch, drink chai, while he told me things I wouldn’t understand, but would pretend to anyway.
I thought things would be better when I got to Dharwad but it hasn’t been really. I don’t know the language or Hindu tradition so I’m not helpful. Grief is also a difficult emotion and I wish it could be avoided. People are very closed here in their emotions. Combined with the fact that the only time I am really alone is in the bathroom, which seems to be the only place where I can express my emotion.
Above is a picture of my family in Dharwad; my uncle is in the button-up shirt. He looks scholarly doesn’t he? Uncle, wherever you are I love you and miss you.

Rajasthan Visit-Farmers Rule

Pictures from our Rajasthan visit.....

More Orientation Pictures.......

My roommate Diana and I, Maria and I drink up to Milk of Mag to help with our stomach woes, and Becca and Ann sweat it out at Hunaman's Tomb.........

I stole all of these images from Brian's Blog at http://bharoterdinratri.blogspot.com/ You should read his blog its much better :)

I wasn't kidding we really did learn Bollywood Dance!

Made it to Dharwad, without the train!

So I decided against the typical Indian experience and flew to Hubli-the nearest town to Dharwad. Flying within in India has become much easier in the last few years so there are a number of people who are new to this mode of travel. For example the man checking in front of me didn't really have luggage, instead he had 8 plastic bags that were duck taped shut.



It's been raining here nearly everyday and everything is incredibly green and muddy. Also I have to learn Kannada (local language) here ASAP as nobody speaks English, and most signs are also not in English. Also most of the roads don't have any names next to them.



I also met with my NGO today and talked to my mentor. He is incredibly nice there are about 5 people working there. The organization is known as SPS or Samaj Parivartan Samudaya.

SPS works to protect the environment in Karnataka by advocacy and organizing people dependent upon natural resources, mainly forests, land and water, for their livelihoods. SPS has been implementing a five year livelihood project since 2002. The main objective of the program is to contribute significantly to the livelihoods of 3,841 families in 26 villages in two districts of Karnataka - Davanagere and Haveri. I met briefly with the Executive Director today and he gave me several books to read. I think I will be working on policy issues specifically the Right to Information Act (RTI) and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). RTI is a much better version of the Freedom of Information Act. NREGA guarantees 100 days of wage employment to households in rural areas.



I promise to post pictures soon! Hope everyone is doing well!

No Train Ride for Me!

So... I'm still in Delhi and i can't wait for some SOUTH INDIAN food. I'd take yogurt over paneer any day! We are still in orientation and have some amazing speakers from government officials, to huge non-profits, and those from the corporate sector. I found out that I'm living with my family, but since I was told that I am suppose to take the train by myself, I'm opting to fly.
Yesterday we went to the National Art Gallery of Modern Art and we had it to ourselves! I definitely feel like I'm a celebrity here and am learning what a powerful network the America India Foundation has. Miss everyone!

I made it!

Hey everyone! I made it to Delhi safe and sound! We are staying at the Vishwa Yuvak Kendra (International Youth Centre). Its a great place, very clean (besides the dead crickets that keep drowning in the bathroom) and the food is excellent. We leave for our destination cities on September 12th and I will be headed to Dharwad which in Northern Karnataka. Its about an 8-10 hour train ride north of Bangalore. The train ride from Delhi is about 40 hours. Yep 40 hours. That is very long. Our class is great and so far we have bonded with some Bollywood dance! Who doesn't love that!
More coming soon!