Home again, home again

You may have figured this out already, but I am indeed back in the U.S., the land of plentiful chocolate and cheeses and olives and several other things and people that I have been missing. It is a nice change so far, though I am still waiting for culture shock to hit.

I had a nice rest of my stay in Pune. I spent one last day at the Deep Griha office and ended up getting to sit in on an introduction to Deep Griha's HIV programs with a group of Swedish Masters of Social Work students. I thought I was pretty well-versed on the basics of HIV, but I now know about three times as much as I did before. The man in charge of the program was incredibly well-informed and thorough with his presentation and in his work at large. And as a result of their efforts, the Deep Griha team now thinks that most slum-dwellers know a whole lot more about HIV than the average educated, middle class member of Pune society. How fantastic!

Deep Griha, being the thorough and effective organization that they are, did not stop at the slums, and are now working to bring HIV education to the whole city. They have started a semester-long Wake Up Pune! campaign. On my last afternoon in India I got to attend the Condom Cricket match that they are sponsoring. Yep, you heard right, Condom Cricket. Deep Griha has gotten the medical colleges/departments from all around the city to form teams and is having a big 2-week tournament on a public cricket field.

It's ingenious, really. The batsmen wear jerseys that say 'YOU' and 'Me', the bowler (pitcher) is HIV, the wickets are 'Your Health', the bat is a condom, the umpire is a doctor, and the players in the outfield are all sorts of symptoms/infections associated with HIV. The point of the game is to block HIV with a condom and prevent your health from being compromised. India is thoroughly cricket-obsessed, so this is a great way to get people thinking and talking about HIV prevention.

One of the volunteers said she saw two outfielders putting on their jerseys before the match. One guy had a jersey which said, 'Oral Thrush', and his friend's jersey said 'Diarrhea'. The players both shrugged their shoulders and gave each other exuberant high-fives. Only in Condom Cricket would such a scene take place.

Well, I have managed to say farewell to having amazing Indian food three times a day, to women wearing saris, to pink elephant statues, to fresh bananas, to monsoons, to beautiful Indian children, to temples, to copious amounts of sunshine and the like. India has been a crazy and fascinating place to be for the last six months, but it is also good to be home again.


*I don't actually know anything about cricket, so I apologize for my lack of a cricket vocabulary and a probably inaccurate description of the game.

The Last Leg

I have safely arrived in Pune (pronounced Poon-ay), my last stop on this trip. It's a quite nice modern Indian city, and probably a good place to begin making my transition back to the U.S./Western culture.

I have been shadowing Sri Mayasandra with the work he's been doing with, Deep Griha, a truly amazing organization. Deep Griha, which means Light House, was established 32 years ago as a social organization by a local female doctor. Their programs are astoundingly comprehensive: HIV awareness/care, a creche for children under five, a residence for orphaned children, active education/awareness/relief programs in the three large slums surrounding Pune, care for mothers and infants, eye clinics, etc., etc. If any of you are at any time considering volunteering in India, you should look into Deep Griha.

I have been staying at their volunteer's hostile, called The Cultural Center, with 10 or so other European and American volunteers. It has been neat to hear about the work the volunteers have been doing first-hand, as well as start remembering what it is like to be around people who speak English fluently!

I was able to walk through one of the slums, my first visit to a slum in India. The community sustains itself primarily through rag-picking and woodworking. The dwellings are situated very close together and made largely from wood and aluminum. Even though the slum has little in the way of basic infrastructures, the people there seemed well-fed, relatively happy, and friendly. In one area there had recently been a fire and nine houses were burned. When we walked through, it was encouraging to see that the families had reconstructed their houses and were actively using their new cooking pots, all of which were provided through funds from Deep Griha.

In other news, I arrived in Pune on the first night of a 10-day Ganesh festival. There are elephant statues absolutely everywhere. There is a huge statue not far from The Cultural Center, contained within a large peacock light display. At night the light show is synchronized to music. I am especially sorry, now, that my digital camera was given away and I can't show you the spectacle. But if you are picturing very colorful lights, incredibly loud music and a big, pink elephant statue, you are on the right track.

Farewell to Arulagam

Another month has come and gone, or at least that's what the calendar says. Time has flown by. I will be leaving Arulagam on September 2nd and heading to Pune (near Mumbai) where I will spend a few days with "Uncle" Sri Mayasandra. I fly back to the U.S. on September 10th. Soon!!

I will miss a lot of things about this place. THE FOOD, for one. Luckily, I've written down several recipes. I am counting on the internet to fill in the steps missed due to our communication difficulties.

Two tireless cooks, Rekha and Mouseena, with a big pot of sambar (lentils and vegetables). I spent a lot of time with them in the kitchen.

And I will miss the friendly staff and residents who have been so kind to me. I will even miss being asked 10-15 times per day if I've finished eating. (Saptig illa, or something along those lines, is the only phrase I know in Tamil, after all.) They've been making a real effort to "fatten me up", but, alas, there is only so much you can do in a month.

I am sure I will also miss the (somewhat) peaceful atmosphere of a secluded compound, as well as the activity of children, dogs, a chicken, peacocks, lizards and who knows what else.

What Do Arulagam Residents Do All Day?

I may have mentioned that part of my duties here are to document the activity at Arulagam. Here are some pictures from several of the classes. The women participate in classes for 4-5 hours per day, Monday to Saturday.

The weaving class:

Weaving instructor, Mannicorrie, winding thread onto a spindle.

Rug-making.

The children's creche:

The sewing class:

Girdle-making.

Muthulakshmi is stitching together a skirt.

Like a Good Tamil Woman Would Wear

I guess it is almost surprising that I haven't warn a sari since coming to India until now. It's also surprising that the women at Arulagam have taken three weeks to put me into on. In Tamil culture, men and women dress very traditionally, so I'm sure that what I normally wear is seen as strange. People here are always asking if I'm going to change my clothes before I go somewhere, which is basically a hint that I'm dressed weirdly or not in the traditional Tamil way.

So finally, a group of women came to my room dressed me, did my hair and adorned me in (fake) gold jewelry. They were very pleased with the result. So much so, that they took lots of pictures and set up different poses. I was quite amused.

The photo shoot:

Raekha and I. She is the one who let me borrow her sari and jewelry.

There are many peacocks that live on the hill behind Arulagam. We walked up one afternoon and spotted one showing its feathers off.

Pictures around Arulagam compound

It's hard to believe that I've already been back in Madurai for 2 1/2 weeks. I have only a couple weeks left! I am enjoying my stay more and more. I've begun taking pictures of all the activities that go on here, both for myself and for Arulagam's photo records. I have also been entering some data into the computer and pretending that I know how to use Microsoft Access (I don't really). Anyway, I'm feel like I'm being useful and also keeping myself busy.

I've also started learning how to use a foot-pedal sewing machine. I am not very good at it, but it's been fun to have the women try to teach me. And has resulted in a lot of laughing.

My room at Arulagam with my beloved mosquito net.

Getting the henna treatment.

The morning after. The design might bring me good luck, I am told.

Mussie, Sewati and Raekha. Sewati is all dolled-up to go to the Sunday evening church service, Arulagam's weekly outing.

The food pantry with Deborah and Mussie.

How many people does it take to stir a pot of sambar? Three should do it.

A nice-sized lizard.

And for some strange and random things that I've found out; according to the Tamil calender, the last month (from approx. July 15th to Aug. 15th) is known for it's hot, windy/dusty weather. So much so, that people don't start any new ventures (marriages, businesses, etc.) until after the month is over. No wonder I wasn't able to sleep; last month was practically cursed! And like clockwork, the weather cooled off on the 15th, and we've been having cool weather and occasional evening rains ever since.

I also found out today that the Court often makes the accused pay fines, either monetary or in crop-form, which are then donated to charity organizations. Last week police came and delivered Arulagam received 7 bags of rice from the Court. Good to know where your food comes from, I guess.

India's Independence Day

Indian's celebrate their independence from Britain on August 15th. At Arulagam, we celebrated by having a free day; no work and a minimum amount of chores for the women here.

The women of Arulagam.

We began the day by gathering on the rooftop of one of the dormitories for a 7:00 AM ceremony. As the "Chief Guest", I had the honor of raising the Indian flag and, after some arm-twisting, also giving a short speech about the U.S. gaining their independence from the British. Then, everyone sang a few songs in Tamil and we all ate some candy.

Much of the rest of the day was spent dancing and generally hanging out, with some people in costume.

A baby (girl) wearing a moustache.