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.