No Official Plan

My one week countdown began August 8 after YFS ended. It felt so weird to only have tasks like shopping on my to-do-list. Which was such a change from the busy 3 months I just had. This was the first time my India trip had gone until August so I got to see 2 festivals in India!

The first one I got to celebrate is Raksha Bandhan where the sister ties a string to symbolize the bond between brothers and sisters. So I got to tie rakhis to my cousins and eat good food. The second festival I got to see is Janmashtami. One part of it is dahi handi where people form a huge human tower and a little kid is all the way at the top and breaks open a pot of dahi.

The rest of my week consisted of shopping on Laxmi Road 3 days, eating awesome food (like gulab jamun, missal pav, pav bhaji, bakarwadi), visiting people, and spending time with friends and family. It was so nice to have a week to relax despite the long list of little tasks that I had to get done before I left.

I also used most of this week to get ready to go back home. So in 7 days I repacked 4 times. Making 3 months of stuff plus all my newly bought clothes and food fit was no easy tasks. I had to buy another suitcase :)

This entire week was filled with so many emotions. It was fun going around Pune and spending time with family and friends. But then having to say bye to people and the city was so difficult. I know that I’ll end up coming back to India but still so hard to leave my motherland. Goodbye Summer 2012, I’ll never forget you! :)

VSSV

I’ll pick up right where I left off in the last post, because my trip is literally planned out so that I end YFS at 11:59 p.m. on July 20 and go into VSSV mode at 12:00 a.m. July 21. After some frantic packing we left to catch our bus to Hubli at 1:30 a.m. The bus decides to come an hour late and we finally left at 2:30 a.m. Thankfully Shrish Dada was with us or I don’t even know what Rhucha and I would have done at that late hour roaming around Swargate.

I fell asleep right away after getting on that bus so I could try and make up for the lack of sleep I’ve had for the past week. As we neared Hubli, there was another delay on our way to VSSV. There was a major accident on the road and we waited an hour in the middle of the road. But then our amazing host family who we had never met drove 30 kilometers, picked us up, fed us lots of yummy food from Karnataka, and let us sleep until we had to leave for the varg.

After all this we made it to VSSV expecting a campsite like we have back in the States. But instead we were welcomed into a huge marriage hall with music, flowers, and lots of smiles. I immediately felt like I was at home. The next 15 days were very exhausting but I learned so much. The coolest part was definitely meeting so many people from different countries. IT was interesting to learn about what life is like in 7 other countries (UK, Kenya, Trinidad, Mauritius, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and India) and how they blend in their Hindu traditions with the country they live in.

The varg ended the morning of August 6 and everyone packed up their stuff and headed their separate ways. There were a couple of us with bus tickets in the night so we slowly watched the hall become empty as we said goodbye to our new friends. By the afternoon it just started to get really sad being in that empty place so we walked out to the closest place with shops. Our eating adventures began with veg puffs and Limca. But then I went on to accomplish one of my goals for this trip: eating pani puri from a roadside vendor. After a lot of hesitation and anxiety we each ate 2 pani puris. Probably one of the riskiest things I’ve done this summer, but also one of the most fun memories. Our eating frenzy ended with the yummiest paan I’ve had (probably because it was also from a roadside stall). After all this we caught our bus in the night which came an hour late of course and arrived 1.5 hours late in Pune.

I just barely made it through the rest of the day with the weird incomplete sleep I got on the bus. In the afternoon we headed to our last visit to the Sewa Sahayog office and were reunited with our fellow YFS interns from Bangalore! It was so great to see the after such a long time and hear about all their stories from this summer. After our project presentation s in the evening, YFS 2012 officially ended :( 

Mixed Feelings

I was super busy for the last month of my India trip so I’m really sorry that I couldn’t give updates on time. But here’s what I had written but never got the time to post from July 8-20!

When I started YFS, 10 weeks seemed like such a long time. But they flew by crazy fast. These past 2 weeks have been so busy and fun and stressful and sad and unforgettable all at the same time. We’ve spent the past couple days going around to different vastis and said goodbye to all the karyakartas and kids from the abhyasikas that we had met and worked with. One of the funniest and most memorable stories was during the last week when we visited a vasti we ate far too much for dinner and had to get back to the hostel on time. There were 5 of us and 2 motorcycles. So I got to be sandwiched in between Rhucha and Bapu Dada (the coordinator of Samutkarsha). One of the most memorable and bonding motorcycle rides I’ve had this summer!

Along with this fun in the last 2 weeks of YFS the thing that was keeping me insanely busy was my project! I ended up working on designing a program which connects corporate volunteers with vastis every week for 40 minutes to teach science. They will use a handbook that I’ve designed based on the 7^th-10^th grade school syllabus, which guides them through an effective science lesson. The 40 minutes starts off with the volunteer clearing up all the basic science concepts for that day’s topics through discussion and interactive learning. After this, the student’s will apply this knowledge through a hands-on experiment which uses materials that are found in slums so that kids can see how science is all around them. The last section is an interactive discussion on science in everyday life based on inquiry-based learning. 

Packed Weekend

Yes we do actually work in the office :)

This past weekend was definitely one of the most exhausting couple of days I’ve had this summer! It all started on Friday when I did a ton of planning for my projects and visits to vastis and worked on my handbook. The new program that Sewa Sahayog is designing consists of implementing a weekly 2 hour session in vastis where corporate volunteers will teach science, computer skills, English, and music. So I’ve adjusted my project to help this new initiative and I am creating lesson plans that are consistent with the school syllabi and include hands-on experiments and lessons on science in everyday life. This handbook will have enough material for volunteers deliver for the entire year. The idea is to recruit corporate volunteers and provide them with readymade lesson plans and a science tools kit that they can use teach every week.

Then the first half of Saturday was a very ‘Puneri Day.’ Rhucha had some work to do in Tulsi Baug, so we figured we would get some shopping that we needed to do as well while we were there :) We shopped and roamed around the very crowded Laxmi Road and Tulsi Baug. Then for lunch we had the best samosas in the world and a cream roll from my favorite Green Bakery! It has the just right amount of actual food quality, dirt, and oil to be amazing. That sounds gross, but these are the 3 necessary qualities that make India’s street food the best. Then we had mastanis from the famous Kawre shop! Unfortunately we only had about 3 hours to do all this, or else I probably could have spent the whole day shopping around. Afterwards we went back to the office for our last Samutkarsha meeting with all the abhyasika shikshaks and coordinators and presented our projects.

Next I headed to Ambedkar Nagar with two other volunteers expecting to conduct activities for 2 hours like telling stories, singing, teaching a science lesson, and teaching self-defense. But instead, we had about 40 kids packed into the little abhyasika room in almost complete darkness (because the lights had gone out) ready with a whole different plan. We did the regular checking of good personal hygiene and told a story. Since I’ve been going there almost every day for the past 2 weeks to teach self-defense I’ve gotten very close with all the girls. I had so much fun just sitting there with them and listening to them sing songs, tell jokes, and tell me about their day. Then all the kids had brought dinner from home and sat in 2 circles and took one bite from their tiffin and passed it to the next kid. Half of them wouldn’t start without at least one of us shikshaks taking the first bite. Just seeing them make the most of what little they had just made me so happy :)

Sunday morning craziness at Ram Nagar

Sunday morning started off with our regular activities at Ram Nagar. We’ve been working on giving the older kids there some experience with taking the activities there for the past 2 weeks and it’s nice to see their leadership skills develop in such a short period of time. Then for lunch we went to this place called Peter’s Pan where they have an assortment of foods like waffles, mashed potatoes, burgers, pancakes, fries, and nachos. It was so yummy. But the whole time I was thinking this needs some spice. Some chilli powder would have definitely helped my roasted vegetables! After a nice lunch we headed to the office to work and I had meetings with volunteers helping with the science project.

Despite the crazy amount of exhausting this was one of the most memorable weekends I’ve had during YFS :)

Lot's of Laughing

I only have 2 more weeks of YFS left. So you would think that I would be wrapping up my project. Actually, my science project might be taking a new direction and I’m so excited :D I’ll be sure to update ya’ll soon!

We’ve been doing some serious work on our projects, but too bad our personalities can’t handle seriousness for too long. Earlier this week Rhucha, Shrish Dada, and I ate a fantastic dinner of pani puri, sev batata dahi puri, papdi chat, and chana bhatura (yes that was all in one meal) while being that obnoxious table at a restaurant. The nonstop laughter got us lots of stares, but what’s important is that we had a great time :) What’s also important to know is that this isn’t the first time that this has happened, and it won’t be the last.  

So I’ve heard that summer is hitting really hard back home. I’m a little glad I’m not there because the weather in Pune is the complete opposite right now. Everyone is pulling out their sweaters because the rainy season has finally started. When it’s raining, it’s pretty yucky. Walking around in that humidity and mud is terrible. But when it’s not raining, it’s absolutely wonderful. The bursts of cool air are so refreshing! This has just been the weather for the past week. There is definitely evidence of lots of sun before this from my farmer’s tan and sandal tan! 

Alrighty that’s all for now. Time for a full day of working! 

IST

So we’ve been making a list of top risks for a YFS intern in India. One of them is operating a vehicle on the road (only 2^nd to drinking the regular water here). This has led to a lot of interesting experiences with public transportation :)

The public bus system is the most cost efficient way to travel around here, but that doesn’t mean it’s the easiest. For some reason, sometime last week I had an especially off day for bus travel. We got to the bus stop at 9 a.m., which is rush hour, and waited for 40 minutes. In that 40 minutes, about 12 buses went by that could’ve taken us where we needed to go. Why didn’t we take them then you ask? Well basically there wasn’t enough room to jump on. There were literally people spilling out of the bus. No matter how much we pushed, we just could not get on those buses. Then when I was coming back from Ambedkar Nagar, I had to wait 30 minutes for a bus because the complete opposite happened. There were just no buses coming to the stop that I was at.

Thankfully we didn’t have an exact time to get to the office, or else we would have been in big trouble. But this is my theory on how IST developed. People here just don’t end up getting to places on time because of the unpredictability of public transportation. And now even though people have their own cars and bikes, their just so used to being late that it’s just normal to not show up on time.  Now I’m not complaining about IST, it’s just one of the many amusing realizations I’ve had here. 

My Projects

In my last 2 posts I mentioned that I sat down and did some intense project planning but it’s about time I told ya’ll some details of what I’ve been doing.

The exact title of the project I chose was “Developing tools and approaches to teach science in rural schools.” I didn’t actually understand what that meant until like a month into YFS. My focus has been on improving science teaching in the abhyasikas. The standard education system here is based on memorization, so the creativity and application-based teaching that we use in the States is not common. Back home we have easy access to a lot of supplies that are useful to show basic science concepts through hands-on activities. So my work has to do with improving the supplemental science teaching done in abhyasikas. But while finding experiments for my science teaching handbook, I realized that even simple things like baking soda and vinegar are not found in every home. So I’ve been working on using all the resources I have to find experiments that make the most effective use of materials found in vastis.

The first science demonstration I did was showing how oil and water don’t mix and then explaining that this is one reason why we need to use soap. It’s such a simple thing that we saw in elementary school, but the kids were fascinated by it and so eager to learn about why this happens. Their interest made me even more enthusiastic to explain the science behind this!  

Along with this science education project, I’ve started going to Ambedkar Nagar where they face issues such as low water supply, dropping out of school, poor hygiene, and sexual abuse and harassment. My focus is tackling the issue of safety of teenage girls in the vasti. Back home we learn martial arts for personal development. But the teenage girls in this vasti actually have a need to learn self-defense for their personal safety. Before going to teach them I was a little unsure of whether my time constraint of one month was sufficient for them to learn and make an impact. But I’ve only been 4 times so far and I can already see a change in them.

On the very long bus ride home on Monday, I basically could not stop smiling. Never have I ever felt such happiness after teaching. I’ve felt happiness after mentoring or teaching or tutoring in the past, but this was just something totally different. 

Random Highlights

I know I’ve been really bad about keeping my blog updated for the past 2 weeks, so I’m going to try and make up for that now. There have been lots of random stories that have occurred so I’m cramming them into this post!

First off, I’d like to mention my current wada pav withdrawal phase. I haven’t had it for like 3 weeks (which is a record). Now the craving is really hitting me so I’m probably going to have to get a wada pav soon. But our YFS Coordinator (Manik Tai) introduced us to this fantastic new food called rolls. It’s basically a wrap type thing made with roti and filled with a variety of yummy spices and vegetables.

On a completely random note, we needed to seriously wipe down our entire hostel room and had to use this cleaning solution called Lizol. We definitely pronounced it as Lee-zol for a while, but apparently it’s pronounced just like our normal Lysol. So confusing. But we still refer to it as Lee-zol just for kicks.

So due to a surprise situation and me being sick we stayed mostly at Manik Tai’s house. But that gave us access to a real kitchen and a chance to cook. I didn’t actually cook anything because I was sick, but everyone else cooked a wonderful feast of pasta with mushrooms in alfredo sauce, garlic bread, stuffed mushrooms, and chocolate cake frosted with nutella. Probably shouldn’t have eaten all that, but hey, it was some good comfort food. We’ve just made so many unforgettable memories at Manik Tai’s house because me, Rhucha, Manik Tai, and Ketki (her fantastic 10 year old daughter) are all so dramatic and punny. We’ve had many serious conversations, but equally as many sessions of insane laughter. It’s probably one of the top 3 things that I’m going to miss when I go back. But I try not to think about that. 

Slow Down

So I realized that I’m already done 6 weeks of my India trip and I really just want to slow down time. I feel like I’m on the home stretch of YFS and at this point I really just want to stay here forever and work with these NGOs. But for some reason or the other I didn’t end up getting completely focused on my project until the end of this week. So most of the week was spent in recharging which means either working at the office or chilling at home.

Probably the most interesting thing that happened this week was when coming back from a vasti on a 3 inch nail decided to puncture the tire of the motorcycle we were riding on! Oo but actually, more interesting than that was some of the food we ate this week :) First was Subway which definitely tastes so much better with paneer on it. I just love how putting a little bit of Indian touch into regular American food makes it amazing. Then I had the most magical drink ever called CadB. Basically it’s like an ice cold, super duper chocolate-y milkshake. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water…and now I really want another one!

But thankfully by the last half of the week I got my head straight and did some intense project planning and have a game plan for the next 5 weeks :) So hopefully my next posts will be far more interesting! But I also wanted to thank all of ya’ll who have been reading my blog. It makes it so much easier and fullfilling to write knowing that someone’s interesting in reading what I have to say :)

Orientation

So this week of orientation has been absolutely fantastic! There are a total of 8 interns out of whom 3 will be in Bangalore, 1 in Hyderabad, and the rest of us will be in Pune. We’ve all bonded so much just after one week and I’m bummed we aren’t just working in the same city this summer. There were way too many things we did and fun stories to write about all of them. So that’s why the stories in this post don’t really have a logical flow. But over one week we got to learn about and visit a variety of NGOs, understand the idea of sewa (selfless service), learn how to approach our projects, and hear about experiences of other volunteers.

The first talk was an overview of the history of India and the evolution of thought and ideas in the country over time. One point that really got me thinking was that Indians always go abroad to study or work and then don’t end up coming back. But in the end we’re still Indian and the idea of universal brotherhood ties us together. It’s our duty to come back to serve our country in some way. Just a little something to think about :)

One of the evenings we split up and had dinner with a host family and I had pani puri for the first time during this trip, and it will definitely not be my last time! But it wasn’t from one of those awesome little carts on the side of the road; it was made with mineral water from a restaurant. But obviously still amazing :)

We went to help out at the schoolkit drive 3 times during the week. And I’m pretty sure I built a lot of arm muscle from moving hundreds of backpacks and school supplies. But we collected over 25,000 bags, but more importantly provided over 25,000 students with smiles and the basic needs for the school year.

We had a few speakers on various NGOs and got to visit some as well just to get an overview of the different areas that sewa work is being done. But the one visit that had the most impact on me was Chaitanya Mahila Mandal. They have a home on the outskirts of Pune which rescues girls/women from human trafficking, abuse, and abandonment. It was so difficult to hear some of the horrifying stories of what these women had to go through. But they are in a much better place at the institution where they stay for about 3 years and receive counseling and are trained in various skills to make them financially independent and mentally strong when they go back into the real world. Next we went to a night care center for children of commercial sex workers right in the middle of a red light district. The children are dropped off there at 6 p.m. and stay till the morning and it provides a safe environment where they can learn various songs, play, and interact with other children. All the kids wanted was someone’s attention and care from another person. At some point I had 3 kids on my lap and 1 on my back playing and talking to me. For the hour that we were there I completely forgot about the kid’s situation and spending time with them was one of the happiest experiences of my life. But after we left I got some time to think and it just made me so incredibly angry to see and hear this. Why do people have to live like this, why does this situation exist here? We’re always boasting about how great our countries are and how mankind is so advanced. But I really don’t think we have any right to say that until these problems are fixed.  

After lots of muscle building at the Schoolkit Drive

The crazy animal faces of the YFS interns of 2012!

A Quick Catch Up

I’ve actually been super busy for the past couple days so now I have to play catch up again! So last Friday was just a regular day with going to Ram Nagar, interacting with volunteers at the office, and visiting a vasti. Even though this sounds like a pretty standard day there are some things that I want to share that made it quite interesting, but I’ll have to come back to that sometime later :)

So we’ve been going to Ram Nagar for about 2 weeks now and are now friends with the kids there. They’ve also finally realized it’s time to make lots of fun of my accent when I speak Marathi. I’m just going to take it as a sign that we’ve reached a good level of bonding and forgive them. Then Saturday afternoon, we went to the office for a meeting with all the shikshaks (teachers) from the abhyasikas. We had met all of them at the shibhir from 3 weeks ago and it was great to see them again! After discussing details for the schoolkit distribution and feedback from the shibhir (along with goofing off of course), we headed to a local volunteer’s home for dinner. Now this wasn’t just any normal dinner, his mom made us puran poli which is this amazing sweet stuffed paratha and a Maharashtrian specialty. I was afraid the motorcycle would topple over on our ride back because we left like 10 pounds heavier than we came! After this exhausting day we had to come back and finish up some planning for the official YFS orientation week. I knew that the week was packed with activities and helping the other interns adjust was not going to be easy, but I’ve just been so busy and tired…hence the late posts! 

Recharge

We headed off to Ram Nagar bright and early in the morning as usual to teach English, but ended up dancing there instead! They are having a program next week because it has been 3 years since their abhyasika started so the kids are doing plays and dances. I didn’t really expect to be doing choreo this summer during YFS, but hey, it definitely helped me bond with the kids more. They look absolutely adorable when they dance and I can’t wait till next week when they perform!

Afterwards we headed to the office to get some work done and then ended up doing more choreo so we could teach the kids tomorrow morning. One of the other volunteers called me over to see something, and I went expecting that it would be work-related. But then I see him holding a stick out of the window and a little bucket to catch the ‘zambhla’ which are this yummy little, purple fruit. I’m a fruit fanatic, and eating freshly picked fruit off a tree is just so much more fun :) After this lovely afternoon snack, we headed over to visit another vasti and got to see the initial stages of how an abhyasika is started by talking to local volunteers. Oh and I don’t know why I haven’t mentioned this already, but riding on motorcycles in India is so much fun, and equally nerve-wracking. It takes some real skill to maneuver those roads at high speeds.

But while we were at someone’s home, we find out that there’s supposed to be a ‘Bharat Bandh’ (literally translated as ‘India closed’) the next day. This is basically where shops and public transportation are closed for most of the day in protest for some sort of change all over India. In this case it was in protest of the hike in gas prices. You would think that we should have been told about this earlier, since sometimes there’s violence on the streets and safety is a concern. But thankfully we found out early enough to get water bottles for the next day!

However, we did not realize that we should have also figured out a million different ways to keep ourselves entertained for all of Thursday. We basically spent all morning/afternoon to ‘recharge.’ This meant staying in the hostel, sleeping, reading, and working on my project. This relaxing day will definitely keep me charged for all the work I have to do starting tomorrow! 

Cravings

So I’ve had plenty of interesting experiences on the bus but this was probably one of the scariest ones ever. We actually got seats on a pretty crowded bus on our way to the Sewa Sahayog office this afternoon. I looked up and saw this man looking back at me. And every time I looked up I would see him looking back at me. That wasn’t the scary part; it was that he looked exactly like Bob Biswas from the movie Kahaani. For those of you who have seen Kahaani you can understand how shocked I was. But if you haven’t seen it, Bob Biswas is this ridiculously super crazy and creepy hitman. I basically sat there frozen with fear until he got off the bus.

But we made it to the office and I actually had a very productive day. I’ve been planning out more details of my project after getting a better idea of their needs. The two main aspects I’m focusing on right now are improving the teaching of science in abhyasikas and generating interest in the kids about science. I’ll eventually explain more once I’ve figured out more details and tried out some of my ideas :)

After an exhausting day at the office and finding a bus that goes directly from the office to our hostel, we decided to get some ice cream. I had this yummy thing called a ‘Black Forest Swirl.’ It was basically like the most magical thing ever with fluffy vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, crumbles of chocolate cake, strawberry syrup, and chocolate syrup. Now that I list out everything that was in that, I’m not really sure how I actually finished it. We decided to walk off all that sugar and when we were halfway back to the hostel we got a whiff of pav bhaji from this restaurant. I tried to fight off the immense craving that I had, but we turned right back around and ate this amazing pav bhaji. I’m still trying to figure out how I managed to eat all that, but hey, I only come to India every few years so I might as well indulge, right? :)

Pasta in a Slum?

 So there are these crazy birds who live in the tree outside our window and they just love to be as loud as possible early in the morning. After waking up because of the interesting squawking we headed to Ram Nagar to teach English again. We teach in a room smaller than the size of a regular freshman dorm room using a blackboard and broken pieces of chalk. Although there’s a fan in the room it still feels like a sauna in there. Despite these conditions, it’s been so enjoyable to teach and spend time with the kids! We tried to teach the entire class in English so that they would become familiar with the language, but they just had so much trouble understanding our accents that we switched back to teaching through Marathi.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch (I had wada pav again, no surprises there!) and headed to the Sewa Sahayog office to get some work done. The rest of the YFS interns are coming next week and we planned the schedule for their orientation.  The intense planning session got me super pumped to meet everyone in a few days :) Then we went to an area where various projects are just getting started and the abhyasikas are not as established. We went with a local Sewa Sahayog volunteer and it was interesting to see how new volunteers/teachers are created from the slums. It’s one thing for an outsider to come into an area and teach the kids, but it’s much more effective when the teacher lives in the slum itself because the people feel a stronger connection with the teacher.

As we were walking on the small stone pathways between the houses in the vasti in the evening, for some reason I smelled marinara sauce. Yummm :) Obviously, no one was making pasta there so the only explanation I could come up with is that I’m clearly missing home! A big shout out to everyone back home, I miss ya’ll :) 

The kids at Ram Nagar.

Work Hard, Play Hard

I just realized that I’ve written about almost everything else except the details of my project. The project area I chose to focus on is education because of the significant impact that education can have on shaping a person’s life. I’ve spent the past week interacting with kids, parents, and other volunteers from various slums where Sewa Sahyog projects currently run trying to understand the current views and problems faced in slums related to education.

Kids grow up seeing that finding ways to get money quick leads to less stress. So the concept of education being an investment that will lead to greater financial stability later is not explained. One major way that Sewa Sahyog is working to keep kids in school is through abhyasikas. Abhyasikas (study centers) are run by older students from the slums and volunteers every day of the week. It provides a good environment for the kids away from the distractions in their homes so they can focus on their homework and spend time with other kids.

It’s been so much fun going to visit various abhyasikas and interact with the kids and teachers. We’ve been going to Ram Nagar to teach English the past couple mornings and while we teach them how to have a basic conversation in English and sing the song “head, shoulders, knees, and toes…” to learn body parts, I’m pretty sure they secretly giggle at our silly sounding American accents. They all come running up to us with their notebooks and pencils ready to learn, but kid’s attention spans can only last so long. We’ve played chess, carom, badminton, and cricket with them and I noticed that my skills in all of these are clearly not up to their level. We visited Jay Prakash Nagar and Ekta Nagar after that and played some of the same games. I think I’m going to be really good at chess and carom by the end of the summer :) Cricket on the other hand is something that might take me a lifetime to get good at. But baseball is something a bit more familiar and we taught the boys at Ram Nagar how to play baseball with a cricket bat and ball.

Today we got to go to an event part of the schoolkit drive currently going on to provide basic school supplies for the upcoming year. The volunteers were all from IT companies in Pune who helped to pack notebooks, pencils, crayons, and drawing books into backpacks for the kids. The assembly lines we formed worked so well that in a few hours hundreds of backpacks were ready to be distributed to the slums. It was fun to work with everyone but it made me even happier thinking about the smiles on the kids faces when they got their backpacks filled with school supplies getting ready to work hard this school year. 

Unity in Diversity

I walk through the streets with half my attention focused on avoiding getting run over by motorcycles, dogs, carts selling street food, and other pedestrians. But the rest of my attention gets bombarded with the colorful diversity around me. People from a wide array of jobs, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds mingling together on the same roads with the bright sun beating down on the colorful clothes. Over 1.2 billion people squeezed into a landmass 1/3 the size of America thus eliminating the concept of personal space. Small roads and disregard of rules leading to constant traffic jams. Bargaining for everything from buttons to food to furniture. Kids playing cricket in any open space they can find. The mad rush to jump onto a moving bus.  Smells of food, pollution, incense, and dirt all mixing together.

Growing up with the happy upper middle class in the stereotypical suburbs of America you never get to see such diversity and people from different lifestyles on a daily basis because of geographical distance. But in India there’s not enough space to separate these various conditions. You see beautiful shining apartment buildings towering over the city and right next to it is a slum with houses made of thin metal. Someone comes out of the IBM building after work in his suit and walks right past a man who makes his daily wages selling cheap shoes on the side of the road.

For some reason that none of us will ever know, India functions through this diversity and frenzy. As the days go by I look closely and realize that there’s actually order in this chaos. I really can’t find any words to describe it, so you’ll just have to come see Incredible India for yourself :) 

Exploring Pune

I’ve been to India 5 times before this and I usually spend most of my time in Pune because my closest relatives are here. I know the major areas and famous places in Pune but traveling around the city without people who actually know the city is seriously an interesting and different experience.

Our exploration began right after the shibhir on Sunday with a friend (Shrish Dada). For those of you who know him and his spunky personality, you can only imagine how enthusiastic he is about making sure Rhucha and I visit like every place in Pune and eat as much as we can. Despite our post-camp exhaustion we decided to go out to avoid being bored out of our minds at the hostel. Our splurging began with pav bhaji and a mixed fruit milkshake which just happen to be my favorite foods in the whole wide world. This was the first time in a while where I had been so full I was sleepy and just didn’t want to move.

The combination of being drained of energy from the camp and being really full from amazing food Monday an extremely slow and lazy day where all I did was plan out details of my project and blog. Around 2 p.m. we decided that we should eat, but didn’t feel like going down to the mess/cafeteria outside our building or find a restaurant. In these lazy situations, Maggi is the best thing to eat. If you want more details on exactly how we made these noodles with our very, very limited resources you’re going to have to ask me personally :)

After the ridiculous lethargy of Monday, I decided that Tuesday was not going to be the same. If you think going shopping in America is fun, you’re quite mistaken. The real shopping happens in India; and in Pune specifically on Laxmi Road and Tulsi Baug. Laxmi Road is a very long street lined with a variety of shops on both sides and Tulsi Baug is this market sort of thing packed with shops and street vendors. Both these areas for some reason are always filled with people. It’s always been an enigma to me how shops in India are constantly bustling with people. But pushing through these crowds, sorting through piles of colorful clothes, bargaining, and looking at shiny jewelry hanging from carts creates the most exciting and tiring shopping experience ever.

After my shopping spree, we met up with a friend and went to a carnival near Deccan. The stalls that were set up had everything from toys to clothes to kitchen supplies to typical carnival games. We finished our cotton candy (which is apparently called candy floss here) and decided to take some rides. The first ride we wanted to take was one that swung like a pendulum and rotated at the same time. There was one problem though, the gears needed to be oiled and a maintenance guy decided to climb up the ride while it was running and pour oil. I’m not sure why he didn’t anticipate this but oil spilled all over the people on the ride. All I could do was stand and laugh at this sight. The sketchiness of this should have been a huge warning sign to avoid riding anything else. But instead, we rode 3 other rides which were so much fun!

We got back to Karve Nagar and had about 2 hours to kill before meeting up with a friend. Our first stop was Domino’s. I’m pretty sure we got a lot of incredibly weird looks there because we ate that pizza like we were eating for the first time. But it was just so comforting to eat garlic breadsticks, pizza, and a Coke after what seemed like forever. Now that we were ridiculously full we still had some time to kill and walked off that amazing dinner for an hour. One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is to be walking outside in India in the evening. There are still lots of people on the streets, no hot sun beating down on me, the entire city is lit up, and a nice cool breeze just makes the entire atmosphere peaceful. It was the perfect end to a day of adventure around the city :) 

The broken ride being oiled with people still on it.

An Eye-Opening Camp

Well it was time to see how this 3 day camp (shibhir) was going to work out. The kids were coming from 19 different slum areas (vastis) where there are afterschool programs called abhyasikas every day run by older kids who are also from the slum. We got to the campsite in the afternoon and about half of the kids had already arrived. Mass chaos. Kids running all over the place, whistles blowing, people yelling. I paused for a second and laughed to myself at this sight, this was actually going to be so much fun! I absolutely love working and interacting with kids, but I also realized then that handling 300 kids aged 10-16 was going to test my limits. But flexibility and enthusiasm were essential to ensure this camp was a great experience for the kids.

After interacting with the kids and listening to their discussions during various sessions, I was very shaken by hearing about the conditions that they live in and the issues they face. Imagine being the oldest sibling in a family. Your dad drinks and is unemployed. Your mother is the breadwinner of the family and always has to be out working and comes home exhausted. You must take care of all your younger siblings and all the household tasks. This very common situation robs children of their childhood and often their education as well. Boys may be influenced by their peers and fall into bad habits and stop going to school. Girls are married off at around 14 or 15 and stop going to school. They may face harassment from men from the community and even from their own household. But that’s not all, due to lack of education and awareness there are poor hygiene habits, malnutrition, dirty water, and trash strewn all over the place.

In one session where the kids were split into groups by vasti, they were asked to talk about the conditions they live in. The kids spoke about all these things so casually because it’s all that they’ve ever known. I was sitting in a group holding back tears just listening to them describe this. It hit me that for them to come to a camp like this and run around, play games, and socialize with their friends was a treat. They got the chance to be who they really are. When they were all out on the field playing games, joking around, and laughing, you would never be able to tell whether they were kids from slums or the suburbs.

The weekend went by so quickly, and before I knew it they were all waving and saying “Bye Tai! Majhya ghari naki ye!” (Bye big sister! Make sure you definitely come to my house!). Little did they know how much their words and big smiles had pulled at my heartstrings. It took a little while to process what I had experienced this weekend and I was so thankful for everything that I have. Suddenly the hostel, traveling by bus, washing my own clothes, and having to spend so much on bottled water seemed like petty issues. It just takes one weekend to put your life into perspective. 


The pictures from the camp can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101205498181339945161/ChildrenSPersonalityDevelopmentSummerCampMay2012

New Lifestyle, New Experiences

After over 1 week of adjusting I was ready to tackle anything that India threw at me. Well, except for a few things like crossing the street without getting run over or yelled at. And freaking out every time I sat in a car or rode on a bike because traffic laws basically just don’t exist here. And weaving through masses of people while trying to figure out where I am. Actually all these things sound pretty funny and make me love being in India even more :)

We were told yesterday that there is a shibhir (camp) this weekend for boys and girls from the Surajya and Samutkarsh projects here. There were about 300 kids that we had to organize activities for and about 50 shikshaks (teachers) to help with the various activities. I’ve been to and organized a lot of camps before this, but never ever for this many people. But I’m actually really excited to see how everything works out! Rhucha and I went to visit the Rani Laxmi Bai Mulinchi Sainiki Shala (a girl’s military school) in Pirangut where the shibhir was going to be held.

Today was actually full of a bunch of firsts, starting with taking the public bus. I’ve always heard about how squished and crazy the buses can be, and it’s definitely an experience I will never forget. We had to get to the Sewa Sahyog office which is in Model Colony, quite a distance from where we were staying and the most efficient and cheap way to get there is by bus. Everyone I asked gave me different suggestions on which bus to take so I was already confused. We literally jumped onto a bus and then asked to make sure that the bus was going to Deccan. We got to the office from the stop by rickshaw and then worked for a little while. Then began a day of unhealthy eating. First we went to the famous Joshi Wadewale’s and ate my favorite street food ever, wada pav. I definitely should not have eaten the chilies on the side and had my mouth sizzle. So totally worth it. Then we went back to the office, finished up our part of the planning for the shibhir, and took an ice cream break. I don’t know what’s so different, but Indian ice cream is so crazy good and might just be better than American ice cream.

We came back to the office to find that some Sewa Sahyog volunteers had conveniently decided to come back when we were taking our break. I had assumed that the shibhir was all planned out and they were just there to straighten out a few minor details. But no. It was quite the opposite and they appropriately called themselves the ‘crisis management team.’ But after a couple of hours, amazingly everything was figured out! Never have I ever seen a camp being planned like that. And after all that hard work we all ate wada pav…again :p

Rhucha and I got dropped off at a bus stop about 3 kilometers away from our hostel and instead of trying to figure out what bus to take again we walked the entire way back. And the best part was we actually had no clue exactly how to get back. It was dark outside, there are no street signs, and we knew no landmarks. So we asked at least 7 people for directions and actually made it back :) The day ended with drinking cold coffee (which is also so much better in India) with a friend.

Traveling like the common man, crazy eating, and chaotic planning definitely made this day the best I’ve had on my trip so far :)

Girl Power

Took me about 1.5 hours to fall asleep last night, and then woke up sweating this morning because it’s just so hot in India. But I think I’ll get used to this room soon enough. We went to go see the museum here to learn about the historic Karve Stri Shikshan Saunstha (http://www.maharshikarve.ac.in/index.php). The actual museum was really nice; it was laid out in a timeline format of Maharishi Karve’s life and a timeline of other world events going on at the same time. It was helpful and surprising to see how recent his work for the women of India was. We watched a summary documentary of his life and work and it was disconcerting to see what kind of social issues women had/have to suffer. His first work was with widow re-marriage. Widows were required to shave their heads, stay inside the home, do menial housework, and suffer physical and verbal abuse from others in their home. Karve fought for the rights of these women and said that they should be allowed to remarry and he himself remarried to a widow after the death of his first wife. He then created a safe home for these women where he focused on women education.

After seeing the situation that widows and women had to suffer through, it made me really thankful for the education and rights I have. I feel that my generation often takes these rights for granted, and it’s quite unsettling to know that women still have to suffer through these conditions in this day and age. Seeing things like this just light this fire in me to help those in need fight for their rights so they don’t have to suffer. 

Blending In

I woke up the next morning ready to use everything that I’ve observed over all my visits to India and blend in with the rest of the almost 2 billion Indians. Which is actually quite difficult seeing as for some reason they can just take one glance at you and realize that you don’t live in India.

But I made it back to Pune alright and then spent the rest of the packing and getting ready to move into the hostel that the Yuva for Sewa interns will be staying at. I should probably explain what that is because that’s what the next 10 weeks are going to be about! Yuva for Sewa is basically a volunteer internship offered by Sewa International. You get the opportunity to focus on a project in the area of education, healthcare, women’s empowerment, rural development, or environmental awareness for 10 weeks. Read more at http://sewausa.org/yuva-sewa-appeal. I visited a slum In Yaroda where these projects are run in the summer of 2007 and saw the conditions that they live in and got an idea of how important and effective these projects can be. I’ve always been very passionate about volunteer work and I’m excited that I get to volunteer 100% of my time and efforts to a project for the summer!  

On Tuesday, I left my aunt’s house to go live in the hostel that Sewa Sahyog had arranged for the YFS interns to live in called Maharishi Karve Stri Shikshan Sanstha. But Rhucha (another YFS intern) and I are starting our internships 2 weeks early since we’re going to VSSV right after so we’ll be the only ones staying here until the rest of the interns come.

The entire hostel campus is a really nice environment with lots of people talking and playing outside. We walked into the room and it was just like a typical hostel in India: old furniture, a fan and windows for air, and normal Indian bathrooms. I’m not so sure how well I’ll be able to adjust in these living conditions. I feel so stuck up for even thinking this, but it’s only naturally do so if I compare these conditions to what it’s like back home.But I have to think of everything in a positive way. It’s all a learning experience. 

Our lovely room...don't pay attention to the mess :)

Week 1: Finally in India

Well I probably should have decided to blog about my India trip this summer like 2 weeks ago. But that’s alright, better late than never! Here's a quick summary of what I did during my first week! 


After 32 hours of hectic packing and shopping for a 3 month trip I started my journey to the other side of the world. After saying bye to my mom and brother and entering the security line, little did I know I was about to endure the most boring 22 hour journey. The unfortunate combination of not being able to sleep at all on the flight + no tv’s on the backs of the seats + unsocial people on the seats next to me led to having too much free time to think. It finally hit me that I was leaving my normal life for 3 months to travel in a foreign country alone. All I could think about were the things I was leaving behind: my family, friends, lots of space, quiet surroundings, and of course nice bathrooms. But I slowly began to get pumped about seeing all my relatives, finally being a Yuva for Sewa Intern, and VSSV! Then massive wave of heat, humidity, and a plethora of smells hit me as I walked out of the flight. I was finally home :)

My dad had already been in India for 2 weeks and thankfully our trips overlapped for a week so he, my cousin, and a family friend (Dineshji) came to pick me up from the airport. I can’t even describe how great it was to see familiar faces and finally talk to people after a day of traveling. We got to my aunt’s house at around 4 a.m. and I woke up my grandma with a big hug while yelling in her ear and then she gave me 2 besan laddus to eat (yummm my favorite). The first of so much yummy food I will be eating! Now began a few hard days of getting over my jet lag. We spent all of Tuesday distracting me with driving around Pune, Sarasbaug Ganpati, vada pav, visiting relatives, and packing. We left for Solapur really early in the morning and used the 34 hours we had there so efficiently. But visiting family and friends and going around Solapur is incredibly exhausting in that heat. Despite the heat and dehydration I still love the famous Solapur bhakri and spicy shenga chutney!

Back in Pune on Friday and I went to my first live cricket match (Pune Warriors vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore) at the new Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune! Being in a crowd of 55,000 was absolutely crazy and loud. Don’t get me wrong, cricket is an awesome game and pretty fun to watch once I started understanding it, but I don’t know how people can stay so enthusiastic and cheer for like a slow 3.5 hour match. By the end I think I was more entertained by people being crazy than the actual match.  

Saturday afternoon we left for Mumbai and went straight to Tunga- Regenza. It was so ridiculously nice to be in a nice hotel after a few days in India. And the best part was there was toilet paper there! We went to my cousin’s reception that night and a big shoutout and congratulations to them! Weddings always make me realize how fast time goes by. The next morning we got complimentary massages at the hotel and then went to Fashion Street and ate amazing street food with family friends! But that night we went to drop off my dad at the airport and I realized that I was actually going to have a fantastic time living a new lifestyle in India alone!

It took me a week, but I finally adjusted to life in India. The loud noises, crazy traffic, yummy food, loving relatives, unsafe driving, fantastic shopping, crowds, and rich culture. Everything that makes me love my country :)