settling down, gearing up

I’ve been in India a little over a month and in Mhaswad just over 3 weeks. I’m starting to settle down a bit and am finding my own rhythm and routine.

Things are certainly a bit slower and more relaxed here, a nice break from my high stress personality and lifestyle, yet also difficult to adjust to. Walking to the town from the farm, however, does provide me with a much needed mini-jolt of Indian chaos.

I’m finding that I enjoy long sunset walks to the middle of nowhere (the middle of nowhere isn’t very far) and staring up at the gajillions of stars that fill the super dark (fairly) pollution-free midnight sky.

I’m also turning into quite the sleeper! I’ve never slept this much in my entire life, but I think it’s a lovely remedy after years of sleep deprivation. To facilitate the sleeping process, I’m catching up on eight years of leisure reading that I missed out on due to high school and college. Those of you who have been to India will appreciate my current read, the tome Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. It certainly isn’t a great literary work, but it’s quite captivating and his portrayal of Prabakar will hilariously resonate with many of you.

Aside from sleeping and reading I’ve been spending a lot of time getting to know my family. They’ve been very open and welcoming without at all invading my personal space. The twin 13 year old boys are very sweet, offering advice on Bollywood music and films, translating the stories that their dad tells me, and sharing bits and pieces of their daily lives. But living with a family has its downsides too… the other night I witnessed my first family feud (awkward!).

And of course there’s the whole reason that I’m here: WORK. Some days are quite busy and others are tediously slow. We’re developing the projects I’ll be working on throughout the year- more on that to come later. So far I’ve written an application for an international competition, submitted a business proposal to a potential Swiss investor, and been coordinating the visits of four Deutsche Bank volunteers with a lot of additional smaller tasks mixed in. I’ve kind of been thrown into the mix and I think it’s helped me get to know the organization. Still, it seems as if there are an infinite number of questions I would like to ask, and an endless abyss of information for me to understand…

:( No pics... I'm still hoping for an internet card!
On Road India

4. I saw a dog get hit by a car yesterday. This is not at all an unusual occurrence in India, and although I’ve seen it happen numerous times to different animals, I find it equally traumatizing each time. I also grow incredibly angry that drivers only slow down enough for a person or an animal or a car to get out of their way. There are a lot of assumptions and expectations in driving here; cars rarely slow down with the intention of stopping.

5. I fell off a motorcycle. Because I was wearing a skirt I was riding on the back of it the “ladylike” way, with both legs on the same side (I wouldn’t mind riding with one leg on either side in a skirt, but I discovered how taboo it was at the Marathi film shooting when they wanted me to ride a bicycle. When they realized I was wearing an ankle length skirt, which would have fully covered me, it was adamantly out of the question). Anyways, the driver slammed on the brakes, rounded a sharp corner, and off I went! I wasn’t hurt… just surprised and amused.