My second week was by far my most interesting week here in India in terms of my work. I was informed my first week that on that Monday a group from the EU was going to come and visit our NGO. I was given little information about the visit as the reasoning provided to my NGO on the visit was not very detailed or specific.

The day they were arrived everyone seemed to be pretty excited and eager to meet them. The team had been working hard all week preparing for their visit and even had their Delhi representative fly into Jaipur for this meeting, as well as some of the head farmers CECOEDECON had been working with. When the EU delegation arrived, everyone was waiting in the conference room ready to welcome them. I had little to do with the preparation so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect in the meeting, but I was just happy to be able to listen and watch. We first went around the room, everyone briefly introducing themselves. There were around 15 of us, so it took awhile, but it was nice seeing my coworkers proudly detail their roles at the NGO.

Everything started smoothly, until the delegation mentioned they only had an hour with us before meeting another NGO, which made me feel a bit stressed and frustrated. We had been preparing all week for this meeting and expected it to run without a stop-clock, something the delegation failed to mention in their prior communications. The meeting felt very rushed at times in order to present everything that the NGO wanted to. Despite all of this, with what I assume is Indian custom, there was chai, food, and dessert served for everyone, all while the meeting was taking place. The food frustrated me even more because all the shuffling of plates and making sure everyone was served, for me, took away from the meeting itself and shifted focus at least to a certain degree. Additionally though, it made me a little annoyed with the delegation. I couldn’t help but think “here is a group of people who have graciously accepted you into their home (so to speak), and you neither give them the appropriate time nor respect thy deserve.” A significant part of the meeting left me feeling uncomfortable, as it seemed we were doing most of the accommodating with little appreciation from their side. Perhaps this is just the way business is conducted in France; I’m not sure. Eventually the meeting ended and of course, we took a photo to commemorate the occasion.

Later that week, two coworkers mentioned they were going to Delhi for a conference on child rights in India. I asked my superior if I could join, and the next day I was on a bus headed to Delhi. The first day was very introductory but also informative. The speakers went through information detailing everything that the NGOs from across the country had achieved in the past year as well as reflection into what could be improved. Most of the conference was in Hindi, but the slides presented were in english so I was still able to follow along. Of the professional meetings I’ve attended, most have been in Hindi which is a bit unfortunate since my Hindi knowledge is essentially zero. It unfortunately hinders my participation at times, especially when I want to add something that I think would benefit the conversations. Because my work mostly revolves around social work at a domestic level, almost everything is in Hindi. It was explained to me that if I had interned in a different sector such as computer science or business, most would be in english because those deal with other nations on a daily basis. Luckily though, Hindi uses so many english words in the language, especially when the speaker knows both languages, making it easier to follow the general idea of the conversation.

The second day I attended only the morning before being quietly kicked out. To be fair, I wasn’t directly invited by the Child Rights organization so I didn’t protest at all. Actually, I was happy because it meant I would be able to do some sightseeing. I spent the rest of the day going around Delhi to all the main tourist attractions and ended my day by watching the sunset at India Gate. This left me with a much better impression of Delhi than what I previously had. When I had first arrived from the US, Both the taxi driver scammed me, as well at the hotel I booked. Note: If it seems too good to be true, In India it definitely is. It turns out the Hotel I had booked didn’t even have my reservation on file when I arrived, and once they said they had a room for me, they tried to get me to go to follow them though a dark alley to a different location where they had “my room”. For future reference, If you’re near the airport, never stay in Mahipalpur and only go to Aerocity hotels.