A few photos of our celebration:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
26.11.09
Happy Thanksgiving!
My roommate and I just hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house for 7 of our friends, complete with mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, turkey, gravy, apple crisp, and much more!
A few photos of our celebration:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
A few photos of our celebration:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
15.11.09
Is Star Wars a Walking Contradiction, Even in a Galaxy Far Far Away?
I’ve been sick with a nasty sinus infection the past few days, and have therefore had the opportunity to catch up on my Star Wars. By catch up, I mean watch them for the zillionth time. I watched them in order of release: IV, V, VI, I, II, III, and while watching The Empire Strikes Back (my favorite) it suddenly dawned on me.
Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader starts when he can’t forego his love of Padme. He’s terrified of losing her. According to Yoda, this kind of love is a path to the dark side. When Darth Vader throws the emperor down the huge shaft in Return of the Jedi, is he doing it because his son is being killed or because it’s the right thing to do? To me, all evidence points to the fact that he’s trying to save his son because of the same kind of familial love that got him into trouble in the first place.
Now, obviously Star Wars’ good-evil binary doesn’t reflect the real world where everything is in colors and shades of gray; it just reflects the political situation of the time when it was made.
Okay, I’ll stop babbling. I just thought I’d offer you my loopy ponderings.
Thoughts (Nads)?
Work Culture
This post is another written for Deshpande Foundation's blog. To read what others have written on the same topic, click here.
I arrive at the office every day at anytime between 9:30 and 11 am. Sometimes my coworkers are already at their desks and other times they stroll in an hour behind me. As much as I like to try to convince myself that I’m a morning person and that I can get much more done early in the day, the truth is that India’s work schedule is much better suited to my body’s time clock.
After I enter the office I am offered a hot cup of sugary milky chai (what I have affectionately come to call a hot cup of diabetes- it really has that much sugar in it!), a staple in the Indian workday. I’ve never needed a caffeine jolt and never liked coffee, but that cup of chai seems to pick me up, calm me down, and keep me going all at once.
At present, my work day largely consists of research—sitting at my desk meticulously planning with occasional meetings and trips to the field. After spending a year and a half in India, though, I have come to learn several things key to surviving in a local non-profit work environment:
1. Meticulous planning may be a great exercise, excellent in theory, and is certainly a worthwhile skill to pass on to your colleagues, but most people don’t plan, and even when they do, the plan is often ignored.
2. Meetings never start on time, most participants don’t actually participate, and meetings often run late because people’s mobiles repeatedly interrupt meetings.
3. Your superiors are “sir” and “madam” or “ma’am”, unless otherwise instructed. Those thought of as your inferiors will call you “madam” no matter how many times you tell them not to.
4. Your personal life and professional life will not be separate.
I think Giselle and Mari have described a great deal about the importance of personal life in a professional environment. I’d like to hit a little bit more on point 2, more specifically the idea that a meeting will have 8 attendees but only two of them will be making any sort of verbal contribution. Aside from the lack of personal-professional divide, this is the most important difference between my work life here and in the US.
Most people don’t participate in meetings because aside from senior officers, staff are not encouraged to voice their ideas, inside or outside of meetings. Even when they are, they often don’t speak up. At the risk of making broad generalizations and not offering much complexity where complexity is due, I see this as a broader product of India’s educational system and hierarchical society, where creativity, critical thinking, and confidence are not inculcated in the system and encouraged as much as they should be.
I see this as one of my greatest upcoming challenges as I pursue my work at Bhageerath. My top priority is evaluating Bhageerath’s programs, but I also want to leave knowing that the staff can work together to carry out evaluations in the future. This means forming a committee to oversee the evaluation, and training them in evaluation by doing evaluation. I will be using new and unfamiliar training techniques and require constant feedback and ideas.
What makes me confident that we can succeed at this is the personal relationship that I have built, and will continue to build, with my colleagues. Their acceptance of me as a person has made them more open to my professional ideas, and vice versa. Now we just have to wait and see how it works!
7.11.09
Flooding
I'm sure many of you heard about the somewhat recent terrible flooding in India. One of the most affected areas was the villages surrounding Hubli and Dharwad. Today I had the opportunity to go out into the field to see some of Bhageerath's work and the village that we visited was affected by the flood. Throughout the ride I saw fields and fields of crops (maize, millet, cotton, onions, etc.) that had been flattened by the flooding, and areas where the water still had not dried up. What's worse is that the soil is completely cracked and ruined.
Unfortunately, the Indian government is doing very little in the way of assistance (i.e. providing farmers INR 2,000 for ruined crops that would normally produce INR 60,000). Much of this has led to the aforementioned onion farmer strike (see post "Day One"). Still, there are many non-profits attempting to alleviate the impact. What I wonder is what happens a few years from now when farmers are producing low quality crops because their soil is so poor.
But there's nothing else for them to do besides move on. Many of them were clearing out their ruined crops, removing waste from the fields, and re-plowing the soil with their bullocks. It's sowing season now and all the farmers are picking up the pieces and looking towards the future. I wish I had brought a camera so that you see what they're up against.
Unfortunately, the Indian government is doing very little in the way of assistance (i.e. providing farmers INR 2,000 for ruined crops that would normally produce INR 60,000). Much of this has led to the aforementioned onion farmer strike (see post "Day One"). Still, there are many non-profits attempting to alleviate the impact. What I wonder is what happens a few years from now when farmers are producing low quality crops because their soil is so poor.
But there's nothing else for them to do besides move on. Many of them were clearing out their ruined crops, removing waste from the fields, and re-plowing the soil with their bullocks. It's sowing season now and all the farmers are picking up the pieces and looking towards the future. I wish I had brought a camera so that you see what they're up against.
6.11.09
"a tale of two indias"
Sometimes other people say it best. I found this article on BBC and although my opinions on India are constantly changing, feel that it very succinctly explains a lot of what has been going through my mind. To see the piece with photos: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8342664.stm
India is often described as the land of extremes, rich and poor, hot and cold, forward and backward. Chris Morris reflects on what it is like to live in a country which has 'two faces'.
In the fading light of a Himalayan sunset, men strip down to their underwear and plunge headlong into the icy waters of Mother Ganga.
It is late October, winter is coming, and this is Gangotri - the place where millions of devout Hindus believe the River Ganges descends to earth from heaven. It is a place of pilgrimage high in the mountains, just a few miles from the source of the river.
The Gangotri temple is dedicated to the goddess of the Ganges.
People believe that by washing in this freezing holy water, they are purifying their sins. But this is extreme devotion.
The last afterglow of the sun is reflecting off the snow-capped peak of Sudarshan - a perfect cone-shaped mountain.
Bells are ringing in the temple, incense drifts through the chilly air, and prayers to the goddess are being chanted.
A visitor takes a photograph of a temple shrine from the wrong place and is sworn at enthusiastically in earthy Hindi. Offence is taken and curses mingle with the incense.
India is always an interesting mix of the sacred and the profane.
Cheap souvenirs
Just outside the temple gates groups of men are crouched around small fires, trying to keep warm.
And from a long line of makeshift shacks, locals are selling plastic bottles in which to collect holy water, along with cheap souvenirs and other bits of plastic tat.
I am offered a postcard with a photograph of a mountain which is so out of focus that it is hard to tell whether it really is a mountain or just a white blob.
"Very nice picture," the man says. "No it is not," I think to myself, "it is rubbish."
So what sticks more firmly in my mind? The devotion of the devout, or the tattiness of the tat? It is honestly hard to tell because India's always a bit like that - as an outsider it does not give you much middle ground, on anything.
There is so much here that is wrong, that is cruel, and that is unjust. Poverty, caste violence… and for many millions a chronic lack of opportunity.
There is shocking treatment of women, who are killed for providing insufficient dowry, or for making the fatal mistake of falling in love with the wrong man.
There is shocking treatment of children, who are trafficked, abused or forced to work 16 hours a day in sweatshop factories.
Optimism
But for many millions of other Indians, there is also something else - a sense of looking upwards, a sense that things are getting better, that the horizon is widening, that in this young society, with the oldest of cultures, this is their time.
Wherever I travel in the world, I tend to keep a mental barometer in my head - an optimism index if you will.
In India, certainly in urban India, it just feels like the mercury is rising. Compare that to parts of Europe, my previous posting, where many people have plenty of everything. They are not pre-occupied with the hope of moving up, but with the fear of losing what they already have.
India, of course, could get it all wrong. The have-nots could remain stuck in their rut, increasingly angry and marginalised.
Hundreds of millions of people still survive on very little in this country and as they watch the new buoyant India flourish around them, there is bound to be a reaction.
A peasant-based rebellion, taking inspiration from the revolutionary teachings of Chairman Mao, is fermenting dangerously across a vast swathe of Indian territory. Unchecked, it could well spread fast. "That," a senior security official once told me, "is what really keeps me awake at night."
Commonwealth Games
But middle class urban India will party on - Mumbai obsessed with Bollywood, Delhi increasingly obsessed with traffic jams, flyovers and next year's Commonwealth Games.
The Games are supposed to showcase the new India, and announce Delhi as a 'world city'. But there has been mounting concern that it will not be ready in time.
I suspect the event will end up being a triumph. A combination of last minute panic, natural charm, and maybe a few prayers to whichever god or goddess is most appropriate to a major sporting event will see the city through.
The runners will run, and the drummers will drum. And the slums will be screened off behind bamboo fencing. People will see what they want to see.
So back down in Delhi, I wonder whether I too should not have broken the ice by the bank and plunged into the freezing currents of the River Ganges. It might have given me a sense of perspective, which India's assault on the senses often does not allow.
Love it or hate it? I feel like I am being battered from both sides.
India is often described as the land of extremes, rich and poor, hot and cold, forward and backward. Chris Morris reflects on what it is like to live in a country which has 'two faces'.
In the fading light of a Himalayan sunset, men strip down to their underwear and plunge headlong into the icy waters of Mother Ganga.
It is late October, winter is coming, and this is Gangotri - the place where millions of devout Hindus believe the River Ganges descends to earth from heaven. It is a place of pilgrimage high in the mountains, just a few miles from the source of the river.
The Gangotri temple is dedicated to the goddess of the Ganges.
People believe that by washing in this freezing holy water, they are purifying their sins. But this is extreme devotion.
The last afterglow of the sun is reflecting off the snow-capped peak of Sudarshan - a perfect cone-shaped mountain.
Bells are ringing in the temple, incense drifts through the chilly air, and prayers to the goddess are being chanted.
A visitor takes a photograph of a temple shrine from the wrong place and is sworn at enthusiastically in earthy Hindi. Offence is taken and curses mingle with the incense.
India is always an interesting mix of the sacred and the profane.
Cheap souvenirs
Just outside the temple gates groups of men are crouched around small fires, trying to keep warm.
And from a long line of makeshift shacks, locals are selling plastic bottles in which to collect holy water, along with cheap souvenirs and other bits of plastic tat.
I am offered a postcard with a photograph of a mountain which is so out of focus that it is hard to tell whether it really is a mountain or just a white blob.
"Very nice picture," the man says. "No it is not," I think to myself, "it is rubbish."
So what sticks more firmly in my mind? The devotion of the devout, or the tattiness of the tat? It is honestly hard to tell because India's always a bit like that - as an outsider it does not give you much middle ground, on anything.
There is so much here that is wrong, that is cruel, and that is unjust. Poverty, caste violence… and for many millions a chronic lack of opportunity.
There is shocking treatment of women, who are killed for providing insufficient dowry, or for making the fatal mistake of falling in love with the wrong man.
There is shocking treatment of children, who are trafficked, abused or forced to work 16 hours a day in sweatshop factories.
Optimism
But for many millions of other Indians, there is also something else - a sense of looking upwards, a sense that things are getting better, that the horizon is widening, that in this young society, with the oldest of cultures, this is their time.
Wherever I travel in the world, I tend to keep a mental barometer in my head - an optimism index if you will.
In India, certainly in urban India, it just feels like the mercury is rising. Compare that to parts of Europe, my previous posting, where many people have plenty of everything. They are not pre-occupied with the hope of moving up, but with the fear of losing what they already have.
India, of course, could get it all wrong. The have-nots could remain stuck in their rut, increasingly angry and marginalised.
Hundreds of millions of people still survive on very little in this country and as they watch the new buoyant India flourish around them, there is bound to be a reaction.
A peasant-based rebellion, taking inspiration from the revolutionary teachings of Chairman Mao, is fermenting dangerously across a vast swathe of Indian territory. Unchecked, it could well spread fast. "That," a senior security official once told me, "is what really keeps me awake at night."
Commonwealth Games
But middle class urban India will party on - Mumbai obsessed with Bollywood, Delhi increasingly obsessed with traffic jams, flyovers and next year's Commonwealth Games.
The Games are supposed to showcase the new India, and announce Delhi as a 'world city'. But there has been mounting concern that it will not be ready in time.
I suspect the event will end up being a triumph. A combination of last minute panic, natural charm, and maybe a few prayers to whichever god or goddess is most appropriate to a major sporting event will see the city through.
The runners will run, and the drummers will drum. And the slums will be screened off behind bamboo fencing. People will see what they want to see.
So back down in Delhi, I wonder whether I too should not have broken the ice by the bank and plunged into the freezing currents of the River Ganges. It might have given me a sense of perspective, which India's assault on the senses often does not allow.
Love it or hate it? I feel like I am being battered from both sides.
4.11.09
Day One
I have officially left Mann Deshi—for reasons I will discuss later—and joined a new NGO. During my interim 2 ½ weeks I worked at the Deshpande Foundation revising web content for one of their programs. Yesterday, I began working at my new NGO, Bhageerath, which works in public health, livelihoods, and agriculture, on issues of sanitation, water, and irrigation in rural villages.
On my way to work I was reminded of something I love about India. I was stuck on a bus in two hours of traffic that didn’t move more than 10 feet during that time period. At first we all assumed there must have been an accident, but later came to learn that farmers were on a strike because the price of onions had fallen so low. Everyone on the bus was patient and nobody showed any visible sign of irritation.
People in India organize unlike anywhere else I’ve seen. On any given day you’ll find dozens of demonstrations or strikes throughout the country. People organize around political issues, lack of infrastructure, something they don’t like about their job (usually pay), and whatever else you can think of. Strikes and demonstrations are sometimes not very effective, and half the time I have no idea what they’re about, but the mere fact that people feel like their organizing will make a difference is inspiring.
(This is, of course, in stark contrast to the complacency that most people exhibit towards government corruption).
So how was the rest of my day? Excellent! I’m working with a very small team of people on TONS of work that they requested and therefore wholeheartedly support. The staff treated me like it was my first day in India (something I found very endearing) and the project support started right away! I’m not getting my hopes up yet, but so far I feel very positive about this change!
On my way to work I was reminded of something I love about India. I was stuck on a bus in two hours of traffic that didn’t move more than 10 feet during that time period. At first we all assumed there must have been an accident, but later came to learn that farmers were on a strike because the price of onions had fallen so low. Everyone on the bus was patient and nobody showed any visible sign of irritation.
People in India organize unlike anywhere else I’ve seen. On any given day you’ll find dozens of demonstrations or strikes throughout the country. People organize around political issues, lack of infrastructure, something they don’t like about their job (usually pay), and whatever else you can think of. Strikes and demonstrations are sometimes not very effective, and half the time I have no idea what they’re about, but the mere fact that people feel like their organizing will make a difference is inspiring.
(This is, of course, in stark contrast to the complacency that most people exhibit towards government corruption).
So how was the rest of my day? Excellent! I’m working with a very small team of people on TONS of work that they requested and therefore wholeheartedly support. The staff treated me like it was my first day in India (something I found very endearing) and the project support started right away! I’m not getting my hopes up yet, but so far I feel very positive about this change!
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