Pieces of Daily Life

I thought I should probably write something about daily life here at Visthar.

Because we're very close to the equator the sun more or less rises around 6:00 and sets around 6:00. We eat breakfast every morning and I love it. Toast, eggs, fresh fruit, coffee or tea. Watermelon, pineapple, papaya. Apparently mangoes are in season in May and I'm already excited. Lunch and dinner are similar: chapatis, rice, a few different kinds of dal, sometimes a meat curry, sliced cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, sometimes yogurt (curd), and dessert such as pasayum or rice pudding.

It is spring here (strange to think about Holden still being sledable) and flowers and cacti are blooming all over. There are puppies and kittens on campus! The mama dog had four puppies, and I think there are the same amount of kitties. Hakash, our 3 year old neighbor, is very fond of them. I'm not sure if they are so fond of him, however. They are usually squealing quite forcefully as he awkwardly thrusts them our direction. This morning I heard a distinctive bird call on my way to breakfast and looked up to see a whole flock of beautiful green parrots. Apparently they are migrating. There are other interesting birds here, including white birds that surround the cow, something large and bright blue, crows and hawks. (Are you reading, Peg, Juanita or Allison?) I told you a little about the monkeys, which I'm not very excited about. They are big and although fellow primates I don't feel much kinship. A few snakes have been spotted lately. Apparently they are coming up out of the ground because the weather is changing.

Last night as I was brushing my teeth I turned around to see a pair of eyes looking at me from inside a rolled up shower curtain. My first thought was, "Oh, a frog." Then I realized a snake was a much more likely prospect. I realized that my options were to leave, toothbrush in hand and go to sleep in fear, go back in, or swallow my pride and get some help. The next thing I knew I was slipping on my sandals and marching down the path. I saw Mahadevi's beedi glowing in the distance and felt a wave of relief. I explained my situation to him and he replied, "Snake. Bathroom." He grabbed a large stick and took off down the path. He surveyed the bathroom and as he unraveled the shower curtain he jumped, because the large yellow tree frog had jumped out of the curtain and onto him. It was wet and sticky. It was actually quite cute, but I preferred it to live in a more natural habitat than my curtain. However, we couldn't get it to leave. I'm thankful it was only a frog, but a little jumpy at the idea that if a frog can get in, other creatures probably can as well. I learned to live with mice at Holden (well, maybe...Matt may disagree), so perhaps this is my current task at hand. However, the house is currently being mosquito proofed (thank God) so I may live alone again soon.

I'm really enjoying many little nuances of living in India. The most common greeting we hear in the morning from our co-workers is, "Have you taken your breakfast?" Rather than saying, "yeah" while someone is talking to you it is common to say, "acha, acha." I think of Matt Perry every time someone says, "Well, it depends on the timings."

There are differences of course, but Ambryn and I have exchanged many glances and giggles at the universal nature of office culture. There are the abstract leaders who rarely speak in specifics (and leave the staff who work for them wondering exactly what they expected to do), there is the young i.t. coordinator who is frequently being beckoned to assist in a technical emergency, rarely able to complete his projects, there are email forwards that give laughter mid-day (an elephant doing "exercises"), and there are birthday cards circulated and frantically signed moments before they are presented at a thrown-together office birthday party. There are eyebrows raised as tensions rise or as new projects are presented that no on wants the responsibility for. We've been loving it all.

We have a staff meeting with tea every morning and it has been very interesting. Sometimes it is very joyful with a lot of laughing and teasing. Sometimes we hear very sobering yet inspirational sermons (David is quite the orator). Sometimes the staff argue and stand up and say things like, "Don't tell me about..." From what we've observed, there is much love and respect amongst the staff. They use affectionate terms with each other, yet aren't afraid to disagree, sometimes vehemently.

And through it all, we sit here and look at this pond, or walk a few feet to stand in the sun, or drink chai while being inspired. We're very lucky to be here.

Thanks for reading!

Bandhavi Program

Yesterday Ambryn and I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany a woman from a German NGO, Kinder Not Hilfe, a partner of Visthar, in a sort of "tour" of Visthar and the Bandhavi program in particular. We learned a lot about Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a champion of the Dalit (untouchable) liberation movement (and an author of the Indian constitution), when we were here with the SJP program in 2001. Yesterday we were reminded of one of his more famous statements which has directed the mission of Visthar: "My final words of advice to you are to educate, agitate and organize. Have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle...For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual."

For those of you who are not familiar with Visthar, it is a support NGO based on equity, justice, and peace and the foundational values of all religions. They are committed to the transformation of individuals and communities toward just peace. They work for people-centered advocacy and peace and development education. "To care, to create, to celebrate and reclaim the Earth for us all." The Bandhavi program is a strategic intervention for the abolition of the Devadasi system.

Devadasis are women dedicated to the goddess Yellema who essentially become prostitutes in the temple. Being intimate with them is seen as being intimate with the goddess. The girls in the Bandhavi program come from dalit communities where they are at risk of becoming dedicated. There are many superstitious beliefs that if a girl is not dedicated she (and her family) will be haunted by the goddess, etc. Visthar works with partner organizations in the girls' home communities to identify families with a willingness to give their girls a chance at greater life.

At Visthar, the girls (ages 8-16) live in community and attend school. They are also trained in several vocations and "electives", with an emphasis on the traditions of their home communities: theater, dance, animal husbandry, medicinal herbs, agriculture, yoga, paper-making, tailoring, computers. They follow a sort of "liberal arts" model of education. Our time with the girls has been inspiring, to say the least. We have done yoga with them the last two mornings (at 6:00am) and enjoy conversing with them throughout the day. ("Hi Auntie!") They are brave, creative, and bright. They have a strong desire to change the unjust system into which they were born. My words cannot describe the potential of this program, the intention behind it, or the spirit of these phenomonal girls. Here is a short video clip of their presentation:

In the past three days we have assisted Mercy, associate director of Visthar, in preparing for a conference Visthar is hosting next week, "Gender, Conflicts and Disasters in South Asia." We will continue to help prepare this week, will participate next week, and simultaneously will work out a curriculum of English and dance, which we will teach to the girls. Tomorrow we begin Kannada (the state language of Karnataka) lessons! We are very excited.

Last night Mercy brought us into downtown Bangalore. We purused a few shops (including a very trendy, yet very Indian organic-esque clothing and housewares shop), had orange-ginger juice, puris and samosas. We ended the evening with dinner at the home of Sateesh, who works in the Bangalore office of Kinder Not Hilfe, and his large family. It was our first time in an Indian home this trip. The familiarity of the "Indian home" was very comforting. At lunch today we were invited to a family party of another Visthar staff member, Christine. I am astounded by the hospitality and generosity we have experienced thus far.

Integrating into the Visthar Community

Today has been a very good day. After being greeted first thing this morning by Hakash, my 3 year old neighbor, and a new puppy, an excellent breakfast and tea (and a run-in with an elderly and agressive monkey) we met with the Visthar program staff, who were back after the weekend. First we saw Mercy, one of the directors, a bright and fiesty woman I so respect and admire. We promptly sat in the sun and caught up after the six years since we've seen each other. Next came the same with Sham (who directs the Bandhavi program), a man I remembered for his kind spirit. It was so joyous. Coffee came soon, and we joined the circle of people sitting on cushions on the floor in the morning staff meeting. The woman facilitating shared a reading with the group and we all introduced ourselves. Sham asked us, "How many months or years will you stay?" After being so graciously received and being so inspired (yet again) by this beautiful place and these strong and gentle people it's so hard to say, "two months." There have been moments since I have arrived when I've thought, "Oh, I already don't want to leave!" and our experience this morning was one of them. I feel so lucky to belong to this group.

The administrative building of Visthar is sprawling with several offices, desks, reading spaces, and meeting spaces with a large open-air pond in the middle, complete with blooming lotus flowers. All day Ambryn and I (both having worked in the social service sector in cinder block buildings or dreary basements) marveled and wondered what it would be like to work in such an environment for a significant period of time. I so value the culture of work here. They work incredibly hard and are so dedicated, but also take the time to sit with each other and drink coffee or tea and eat cake (or biscuits or pekoras...), twice a day. They also eat lunch together with other members of the community. There is so much laughter.

Ambryn and I began our work day by rearranging some desks and setting up our temporary office. Today we did research on India's five year plan relating to disasters, preparing for an upcoming conference on Gender and Disaster in Asia, which is happening here, next week. Tomorrow we will particpate in programs the Bandhavi children are performing for a donar/funder from Germany, and Wednesday we will map out exactly what this internship will look like. Ambryn is excited because it looks like she'll be able to do dance/movement with the girls, as creative endeavors are so valued here. You can see some of the art around Visthar in the link to my photos.

For someone who was wary of blogging I find myself so excited to share what I'm learning here. (To those of you who know me well I'm sure this is not a surprise.) I will probably blog somewhat regulary during these first days when everything is "new." But don't fret, dear reader, once we settle into more of a routine I'm sure I won't write quite as much. We also have especially good access this week as the SOP students are gone, but we may have more of a struggle for computer access later.

Arrival in India

This morning Ambryn and I arrived in Bangalore. As I stepped off of the airplane and smelled a familiar and distinctly "Indian airport" smell my "we're here" excitement hit. Our trip through customs went very smoothly, as did all of our travel, for that matter. Our packs were even some of the first onto the conveyer belt! The Bangalore airport was refreshingly simple after time in various tunnels, trams, buses, concourses, and gates in Chicago and London. With our backpacks on our backs we stepped outside into a slightly cool, waking-up Bangalore. I think I said outoud, "I remember why I love India." There were men in flip-flops trying to find taxi customers, flowers blooming on trees and bushes everywhere (red, pink, orange, yellow, purple), and a rising sun making everything look a little hazy. I was thankful to see familiar sights as we made our way to Visthar, including a beautiful lake where we saw adolescent boys dropping large Ganesha statues into the water during the Ganesha festivals when we arrived in 2001.

Visthar is as welcoming as ever. There are several new buildings and several new staff, but the spirit feels the same. We've mostly spent the day introducing and re-introducing ourselves to people. There are a handful of familiar faces...Indrani, Sarojamma, Nazer. We'll see more folks we know on Monday. We've been able to meet many of the new staff and have been received very warmly. Ambryn and I have been marveling at how polite everyone is. I think it is more pronounced for Ambryn, coming from Chicago, than for me, coming from Holden. Just now a man knocked on the door and said, "Please, take this torch (flashlight)." We have found that when we apologize or thank someone, the response is always, "Thank you, thank you, thank you" with the characteristic head bobble.

We ate three meals here today, (I was waiting for a bell, so felt relieved when someone actually came to get us to eat.), walked around the campus and neighborhood, settled into our rooms, and were formally introduced to the girls. They initiated us by teaching us a handshaking game. More have spoken to us individually: about yoga, about their cow, giving us cake from their baking class, or other little comments after, "Auntie, please come..."

There are a group of students about our age from countries all over Asia here right now enrolled in the "School of Peace." We met their professor/facilitator, Max, in Hong Kong six and a half years ago. We've been able to speak with them on and off today. Their curriculum seems somewaht similar to our "Social Justice, Peace and Development" program. They just left for a week of field trips. Half of them went to RASTA in Kerala, where I spent two weeks with Becca, Lonnie, and Andrew in 2001. I was going to send a note along with them, but needed to nap this afternoon, sleeping all the way until dinner at 7:00. I'll try to get a good night's sleep tonight.