I leave for India in 36 hours. Over the course of this summer I have typed and erased this sentence more times than I can count, the measurement of time gradually shortening. Writing has always been difficult for me, and trying to organize my thoughts for what I know will be a public blog has been more fear inducing for me than the whole traveling alone across the world for 7 weeks thing. I deliberately chose to spend the latter…
Over the past week and half, I have had the opportunity to do some field visits with SKA. For the particular project I am working on, the field visits have involved meeting with women who are in rehabilitation programs provided by SKA. These women are all of the lower caste and the majority have been employed in manual scavenging at some point in their life. They were selected by SKA to join a rehabilitation program due to how bad their…
My good friend, Allie, once wrote a lovely poem about the people you meet on airplanes. You may walk off and never see these people again, yet there’s some mystique behind those unforgettable conversations you create, sky high. So, as I was flying into Mumbai, it was nearly 1 am, and I had been traveling for about 24 hours since Tokyo. I wanted to curl up and put my head down, but my neighbor was feeling chatty. He seemed genuine…
Erin Haley When I first arrived in Pune a few weeks ago, I was entirely overwhelmed. I wasn’t used to the crowded streets or the spicy food, nor was I prepared for the communication difficulties I would soon face. After settling into the hostel, I had given myself a few days to adjust to the time difference and overall culture before going to work. During that time, my phone broke and I discovered that my computer charger would not fit…
In the time I’ve spent in Udaipur since I last blogged, I’ve often found myself with the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody stuck in my head. Mostly this is because I’ve been asked multiple times, whenever my coworkers get together in a group whether it be the car ride to the field or a celebration, to sing a song and found myself suddenly unable to recall any song lyrics. Thinking back to my days in my school choir, I luckily remembered…
The intensity of my work has drastically picked up these last two weeks. I haven’t been leaving the office until around seven and will probably start working 6 days a week moving forward. The environment of SKA is very different from what I am used to. People tend to work seven days a week. Instead of every one sitting at their own computer station/cubicle to do work, people often sit together and are relatively social. The head of SKA, Mr….
So much of what I’ve experienced in India is so mind-blowing to me, not least the fact that it’s already been one month. Given all the challenges associated with being so far from home, I expected May to plod by, but in reality I can’t believe that I lived in India for an entire month. Especially now that I’m back home, it’s hard to properly reflect on the reality of my time in India. It’s incredible to me how quickly…
I’m late in posting this, but here are my thoughts from my last week (!) in India. As I prepare to head back to the United States, I’m spending a few days in Mumbai playing tourist and catching up with some extended family. I’m having such a great time sightseeing, shopping, eating, and conversing with cousins whom I’ve never before been old enough to have a real conversation with, on previous occasions when we’ve met. More than anything, though, Mumbai…
While in Delhi I am working at an NGO called Safai Karmachari Andolan. This NGO focuses on eradicating the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitating those who have been employed in the practice. My first day at work involved a bit of shock when I learned that my boss had anticipated that I would be able to speak Hindi. Luckily, the majority of the people in the organization speak some English, though for most it is not a comfortable mode…
Oop, there goes that horn again. And there Reenu goes with that pot again… Funny it’s taken me three weeks to figure out that this daily routine I’ve observed almost everyday since I’ve arrived is the milkman coming by and making his rounds. There are so many horns going off nearby and so many people coming and going and bringing and taking in this household that I simply assumed that the horn was some driver on their scooter and coincidentally…
