The Many Faces of India

Well, as the title suggests and as can easily be assumed, India is not a one-sided coin and presents a mirage of different experiences, places, peoples, cultures....you name it.  However, in the past few weeks I have been witness to some of the starkest extremes in Indian living: megacity and rural village.  I was able to do some traveling give the Diwali holiday (read below), and conducted some field visits for work in the visits around my NGO.   The differences between the two showed me how people living in the same country can lead completely different lives.

November 5 marked Diwalli – basically the most awesome celebration in all of India.  I’m not sure of the religious significance (and neither are most of my companions here), but it is the Indian New Year and the “Festival of Lights”.  For me, that means 5 glorious days off from work and the opportunity to explore!  So, I packed my bags and made my way to Pune and Mumbai, crashing at the apartments of my fellow “fellows” with almost the entire group of us meeting up in Mumbai to celebrate the holiday.

Pune

I got to spend 3 days in this city, and boy was it a treat!  Pune is definitely a middle-class city that lives up to its reputation as a cosmopolitan hub.  The streets are wide and clean, the people are generally metropolitan, and the culture is very lively and upbeat.  And, not to mention, there were WHITE PEOPLE.  Now, I can’t express to you my surprise when I realized that I was in fact NOT the only foreigner in India.  I think my seclusion in the depths of Anadur had caused me to forget this little fact.  To tell you the truth I couldn’t help but stare.  It took a few days for the awe to wear off....

Pune isn’t the most historic of places, but had a good selection of restaurants, tree-lined college streets, and coffee shops.  Plus I got to spend time with three fellows whom I hadn't seen in over a month.  It was a nice, relaxing break.  To tell my story through pictures…

A view of the Pune skyline.  Notice anything different?  
No, because it looks like any other American city.

Akash Devies: These are sold on the streets during 
Diwali season.  They're hung outside the home 
with a lit candle inside.  Thus, the Festival of Lights!

Shaniwar Wada, the one historic place in India. 
This is a small fort in the middle of the city 
dating back to the 1600s.  We attempted
 to get in at the Indian cost (5 Rupees as opposed to
 100 for foreigners), but were quickly spotted 
as...well...not Indian.  So, we had to shell out 
the 100 Rupees.  What a shame....

The three other "fellows" that met up 
in Pune.  Seth, on the left, lives in Pune and we 
are so grateful for him allowing us to crash his floor!

Mumbai

Well, let’s get it straight.  This is a BIG city, and the description of my 2 day visit will not do it justice. As the second most populous city in the world with over 14 million people, Mumbai is a collage of globalization, poverty, and consumerism.  Mumbai is home to the third largest slum in the world, as well as upper-class neighborhoods that could rival any Bel Air has to offer.  Our friends lived closer to the latter of those options, which is also were we spend the majority of our weekend.  But the squatter slums are easily seen from the local train (the heartbeat of the city).  However, I was there when our President was there! We did lunch….

But let me just explain to you.  I arrived in Mumbai on November 5, the day of Diwali.  The favorite pastime of all Indians during this holiday is to: light fireworks.  Not the harmless sparklers that we think of, but the explosives that one could illegally buy in Chinatown: firepower that sounds like bombs, huge fireworks Independence Day-style, bottle rockets, etc.  And not to mention that these are lit at all hours of the day.  Meaning that explosions could be heard at 2 am, 4 am, 6 am…. I hope you get my point.  But there was an upside: sitting on the roof of a friend-of-a-friend’s apartment at night and being able to watch the whole city light up.  It was beautiful.

Some kids preparing to set off a firework... 
This one in particular made my ears ring for about 
3 minutes afterwards.

Chowpatty Beach.  A family friendly place to 
gather at sunset.  Not necessarily safe for swimming (sewage can 
be seen spilling into it), but pretty nonetheless.

A street in Bandera, an upper-class neighborhood
 in Mumbai.  Further up this street is the...BAGEL 
shop (no, i didn't type that wrong)!  Yes, there is a bagel
 shop in India.  Unfortunately I don't have pictures (of the shop
 or the 2 bagels that I ate).  Next time...

The train station at Bandera.  The local trains are the heart of this 
huge city.   Think of it like the New York City subway, but only much 
more intense.  The train passes through some of the largest 
slums of the city, giving me some great perspective of where I am.

Yep, a tribute to Mr. Obama.  I think someone might have forgot
 to check their grammar though....

WADA PAV! (also known as the Bombay Hamburger...no meat though). 
The most popular snack food in Mumbai.   It is basically a ball of 
mashed potatoes that is deep fried and served in a bun 
with tamarind sauce.  Yum Yum!

Field Visits

Now let me provide some contrast to the above experience.  This week, as a part of my work, I had the opportunity to do some field visits to seven surrounding villages.  The main reason for my visit was to analyze the work of the Women’s Microfinance Groups.  (for those of you unfamiliar, a microfinance group is a small group of 10-15 ...usually women... who save small amounts of money each month and are able to take out loans at low interest rates.  In our case, 2% interest).  So I was able to sit in small groups to discuss their work, and the efforts they had made to help empower women within the village to tackle larger issues in their communities.  What I didn’t expect was the warmth and openness with which these women received me – candidly telling me their stories, worries, and actions in order to help me better understand their plight.  It was….eye-opening.  I heard stories of domestic violence, one in which a woman braved her abusive husband who would lock in her room for days on end without food and beat her for no apparent reason – other than the alcohol he spent all the family’s money on.  Or the discussion among women of one village who were complaining about the deleterious effects of alcohol (and it’s subsequent abuse) and their plan to rally the rest of the women in the village to stop the illegal sale of it in the village. I was amazed by the confidence these women had in tackling the issues of the community.  And I hear it’s partly thanks to the work that my NGO has been doing here over the past 10-20 years.  Apparently before, these women would be timid to speak in front of (male) visitors, and were unwilling/unable to discuss village issues on a group level.  But now, not only are they confident, but they are ready to take a stand for these issues and help transform the lives of themselves and futures for their children.  Needless to say, I left extremely impressed.

Speaking with the women of a microfinance gorup in Hipparga, 
population 4000.  

The central "square" of Hipparga.  Ahead on the right is the primary 
school for the village.

Representatives of a microfinance group in Bhatagali.  We're sitting 
in the courtyard of one woman's home.  The floor is made of a special 
material which helps to conserve heat: dried cow dung.

A women's microfinace group in Keshegaon, population 6000.

Food
And of course I know you're interested in what I'm eating.  Thus, I was able to snap a picture of a typical meal.  Here we have, staring counter-clockwise from the top: sambar (liquid lentils with spices), green bell peppers cooked with chillis, chappatti, and rice.  This type of meal is served almost every lunch and dinner with only the vegetable changing.  For some reason, I still haven't tired of it....

Directions on how to eat: using ONLY your right hand, you tear a piece of the chappatti and scoop up some of the vegetable.  If you feel like it, you may dip in the sambar (in the bowl).  Once chappatti and vegetable are finished, you pour the remaining sambar over the rice and eat, again ONLY with your right hand.

Hope you all enjoyed!  Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Andrew