India, at last

Can you believe it? One week in Bangalore and already I’ve organized myself enough to post my first blog entry. Here is a not so brief overview of my orientation and 40 hour train ride south to my new home in Bangalore.After arriving at my hotel in Delhi at 2am, we wasted no time in resting up or recovering from jet lag. By 9am the next morning we were off and running with the program orientation. The orientation is designed to give AIF service corps fellows an overview of life in India, as well as the three social issues that the American India Foundation is trying to address. The three areas are livelihood, education, and public health. Overall they did a fantastic job of providing a birds eye view of each of these areas through a combination of presentations given by respected leaders in the NGO/business world, film screenings, and site visits. I was pleasantly surprise by the caliber of the speakers, and the level of organization on AIFs part overall. A few examples of the thought leaders that they assembled for us include a high ranking government official, the managing director of ICICI bank (India's largest national bank), a world renowned leader in the Indian (and global) feminist movement, etc.

One outstanding part of the orientation for me was a private, after-hours tour of India's National Gallery of Modern Art, which was accompanied by a private talk by the director/curator and India's most famous artist, Anjolie Ela Menon. The evening was introduced to us as being comparable to going to the MET in NY, and receive a 1.5 hour talk from the director and Georgia O'Keeffe, and then walking around the museum after hours, with them at our sides to answer questions. For me, it really gave context to everything that we have been learning about. The director reminded us to always look at art with an open mind without thinking of the history that surrounds it. Without doing this, he pointed out, you cannot genuinely experience the art. This is a piece of advice that I generally will carry with me and apply to my work and life experiences here in India.

Another highlight of the orientation was when one of the advisers hosted a dinner for us at the most swank restaurant I've ever been to. It was on the outskirts of Delhi, and had just opened 3 weeks before. It had a series of misters go off every five minutes so that it felt air conditioned, even in the 90+ degree heat. The food, decorations, ambiance, music, lights were all impeccable. It was a nice contrast to the incredibly deep issues that we had been learning about 10 hours a day, each day.

The most amazing experience however, was our rural site visit to several NGOs in Rajasthan. It was on this trip that I really had that “ahha” moment, where I thought to myself, “Oh this is why I’m here. This is why I’ve decided to work in this field.” I first had the opportunity to participate in a national polio vaccine day. In the particular village we visited, children have built up such a resistance to the vaccine that they need to receive 20 doses of the vaccine in order for it to be effective. Me and a few other westerners were asked to participate basically to attract more children who would be interested in “seeing white people.” We drew quite a crowd, and I even had the chance to give a vaccine to one of the children. It was incredible to see mothers drive up in rickshaws, pass their kid through the window to receive the vaccine, grab their kid back, and take off.

Next we spent some time at an NGO that is attempting to provide quality education in towns with particularly low early education attendance rates. This was really an eye opener for me. In one classroom with no desks and a dirt floor, one teacher taught three separate grade levels (about 40 kids). As he taught one level, the other two levels were given assignments and quietly did their work. Seeing how my two sisters struggle as teachers in the states, with comparably lavish resources, made me wonder how teachers working in these conditions could have the energy to go to work each day. And more importantly, how kids could ever reach their full potential and advance on to higher education.

Finally we visited a microcredit organization that helped rural women expand their farming business. As I sat in a circle with a group of borrowers, and listened to them sing their opening pledge, I felt both a sense of honor to be in their presence and a sense of validation in the work that I have been dedicating myself to for the past few years. They finished up their meeting and answered our questions, and when given the opportunity to ask us a question, they had only one request: that we sing them a song. Pathetically, we sang several rounds of row, row, row your boat, because we couldn’t quickly come up with something else that we all knew, but they appreciated it anyway. Afterwards they proudly led us through the plots of land that they were able to purchase through the micro loans, and offered us a few ears of corn.


Scattered throughout the orientation we had an opportunity to see some of the sites in Delhi, including; a massive and intricate mosque, Gandhi's tomb, Hindu temples etc. It was during these excursions that I saw first hand some of the harsher realities of life in India. Poverty, disorganization, corruption, disease, etc. One image in particular stuck in my mind and I want to share it to highlight the situation that exists in this country. My first trip off the grounds of our hotel was in search for an internet café. On our walk over, there were the standard stray dogs filling the sidewalks. I noticed one lying down, and as I walked past it I saw that it had a massive gaping and festering wound on its back. The dog was not dead. It was actually being eaten alive by maggots. I know this is disgusting and terrible and sad, and I wanted nothing more than to put it out of its misery. Thousands of people walked past this dog that day, none of which did or even could do anything about it. Thinking about this, I realized that the dog is very much experiencing the same things that hundreds of millions of people in the country are experiencing. Disease, life threatening conditions, apathy from those around them, and an inability to do anything about the situation, but sit around and wait for death to come.

Fortunately, not all wildlife is in such a terrible state as the poor dog on the street in Delhi. The abundance of exotic flora/fauna has been one of my favorite parts about my time in India. There are the basic things that you expect like monkeys, cows, camels (that’s right Catherine) and elephants. I've seen several of each so far, including a monkey that enjoyed taunting me as I was held up in my room both scared it might attack and curious to take a picture. Some surprises have been a beautiful green and yellow parrot, which flew freely around one of the ancient Hindu temples we visited; Grey and white striped chipmunks that are apparently the Indian version of squirrels; Lizards that roam the ceilings in search of a meal at night; and of course, the myriad of insects. By the way, if you don't like insects, don't come to India—or at least not to Delhi in September. Our room had a full on infestation of crickets. It was not uncommon to kill 20 or more crickets that ran alongside my bed before going to sleep--or to wake up with one hoping across my forehead in the morning, for that matter. I kind of think this is payback for when I have fed crickets to various reptile that I had growing up.

As the orientation wrapped up I said my goodbyes to the other fellows who I developed surprisingly strong friendships and bonds with in a short period of time. The train ride was somewhat worse than you would imagine a 40 hour train ride in a crammed compartment with 3 Americans with tons of luggage and 3 angry Indians would be. Why? Because as luck would have it, I came down with a horrendous cold the very morning of my departure. Fortunately a doctor gave me some meds and I mostly spent my time sleeping and reading.

So here I am in Bangalore settling into my new apt, my new job, my new life, and my new shower that doesn’t have any hot water. My next post will have lots more stories, and should hopefully be more concise. Till then, take care!