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!