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!