Tiredness, Tire Trouble and Tigers (or not)

Yesterday we went to Ranthambore National Park which is located in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. It is one of the best places to go to see tigers and the government has organized safaris that take you in open jeeps through different parts of the jungle. It had been on our list of things to do for a while and because yesterday was a Sunday and our work is now winding down, we decided to go. Local people told us that if we get there before 8 am we can catch a morning safari. Now the place is 4 hours away so we thought we’d start at 3 am and get there comfortably. Tanvi and I both woke up at 1:45 to shower, get ready, pack food and our purses, etc. Manish (another Master’s student), Anurag (same) and Pankaj (Srijan professional) all requested wake up calls. We were all assembled at 3:30 when we realized that the driver (Hari Ram – same one who picked us up from Jaipur) had fallen asleep again. By four we had finally started but weren’t worried since we still had enough time (it was closer to 3-3.5 hours away). Now Hari Ram drives a Tata Indica (think Civic but slightly smaller). So we fit four people in the back seat, in hot weather, no AC. If we weren’t friends at the beginning we certainly were by the end.
Once we got on the highway, Hari Ram said he needed some tea since it was pretty early and we weren’t exactly entertaining him (we all took turns sleeping). So we stopped at a truck stop (note: only girls for miles around) and sat on the cots and had some tea. There were definitely truck drivers sleeping around us. It was a blast. Back in the car, I believe we talked about random things although my memory of five in the morning is pretty hazy. After we got off the highway, having travelled 40 km, we hear this thumping and realize we got a flat tire. We are near a village so we get out to find the spare doesn’t have enough air. There is some tire shop nearby so we go to get air in it. There is some milk collection happening nearby so all three boys with Rural Development degrees got really excited. Here is a picture of the tire being fixed:

Back on the road, we were a bit more talkative this time, with the tea and the chance to stretch our legs. About 20 minutes later, we hear the same thumping. We couldn’t believe it, another flat tire? O yes, the same tire had gotten flat and it was our spare as well. We all sat around in the car while the driver went to go get it fixed:

It was like in one of those bad horror movies, where you are stuck in the middle of nowhere and one by one people go off (usually to find the previous people) and never return. . . But fortunately our party did and we got the tire fixed and were on our way. At this point we were all awake to sing songs loudly as well as look out at the sights (usually at different water harvesting structures we saw along the way – once again, the rural development knowledge was shared).
We got to Sawai Madhopur, the town near the sanctuary. In the town, we went to a place that had safari information to find out that the government sponsored tours start at 5:30 in the morning and that we would have to wait for the 2:30-3:30 tours which can only be booked at 1:30 in the afternoon. The times and prices were said very quickly to the boys (in Hindi) so my number knowledge was useless and I had to find out what was happening later by asking (this was a reoccurring theme of the trip, Tanvi and I were routinely left standing with no clue as to where the boys have gone and what is going on). Since it was about 9 am we realized we have a while until we can book the safari. The plan until then was discussed, of course. . . over a cup of tea. Now there is a very large fort within the sanctuary that is open to the public. In the fort is a famous Ganesh temple. Manish, who is originally from the area, has family connections with the temple and wanted to visit it pretty badly. So we decided to go to the fort and temple and make it back for lunch and safari reservations. While all of this was being decided, Tanvi (and I) amused ourselves by photographing camel carts and jeeps (with literally around 40 people in it) that passed by the road-side “café” where we had tea.

Back in the car, we were happily off to the fort and temple, when suddenly. . . we hear that awful thumping again. Seriously. . . it can’t be ANOTHER flat tire:

O no, but it was. After hailing the next tractor that came our way, the driver took the tire and left us with a locked car. We decided to use our time wisely by wandering towards a very pretty looking fort (or potentially a really nice hotel) that was in the distance. Off we tracked through fields that had not been explored ever before (except by the farmers and construction workers who were walking ahead of us). Someone suggested that we should carry shovels in our hands and then maybe we’d be let into the reconstructed fort/hotel. For some reason I don’t think that would work. Now here is what Tanvi called the “Rang De Basanti” picture (an Indian movie about young people who try to change society, or something like that):

Now for those who have seen the movie, I have matched characters from it with the three boys. Its pretty scary how well they match. First one in the line is Pankaj (I want to fight for my country and change the bad things in it – Madhavan in the movie); second one is Anurag (I will make jokes about everything and constantly have a huge grin on my face – Sharman Joshi in the movie); and last is Manish (I am tall and make random poems out of everything – Kunal Kapoor in the movie). Tanvi and I do not match up : ). And I refuse to assign Amir Khan to anyone.
After being shown around the hotel (mostly because there were two tired girls who wanted to rest for a bit) we got back to find the tire fixed. We promptly fixed the spare in the trunk as well, since you never know when another flat tire will come our way… Finally, we were at our destination:

Now after riding in the car through very cool forests and seeing LOTS of monkeys, we descended into the depths of the jungle to find. . . the fort!

After climbing up slowly (due to Neha’s feet, the heat and . . . repeat) we made it to the top. By this point, I was seriously overheated (it was about 100 degrees) and running out of water. We wandered for what seemed like forever all over the palace and fort and it was absolutely gorgeous! I can’t imagine what it was like when lots of people lived there. O look, they have a water harvesting structure!!. . . ok fine it’s a lake.

I liked the stone structure in the background better. Finally the temple!

O wait, no that’s just a random resting place. The temple was in one corner surrounded by touristy shops, eating places and lots and lots of people. There seemed to be a line to go inside and the outside was not impressive at all. It was around noon so we didn’t have much time to get back down and make it to the reservations place. So Manish and Tanvi went in for a quick look while the rest of us hung outside. While I regret not seeing the idol, my main concern was that if I didn’t get food and water at that point I was ready to faint. So having eaten and drank water (and sufficiently scared the others) we made our slow journey back down.
The reservations were made through a long and complicated process in which we circumvented the “middle men” who should have been bribed. Instead we took the idealistic, longer way and did everything ourselves. A form was filled and another line was formed to take money and then we finally got tickets. Mind you we didn’t know what was going on at all at the time and were explained vaguely at the end. End result: we got a private jeep safari for 3:30. Now the sanctuary has different zones (1 is useless, 2 and 3 are good for tiger sightings, 4 and 5 are the “dangerous areas”). The zones are decided by lottery. We then went for a late lunch in the town and made it back to find our jeep said zone 1 on it. After complaining that all the cars around us said zone 3, we decided to cool off (neha joke) by having some ice cream. The driver came to explain that we were in fact going to zone 3 as well. Happily we sat in the jeep. Wait wait, first the boys made sure we had a spare with enough air in it. We couldn’t explain it to the jeep driver but I could just foresee having a flat tire in the middle of tigers.
Now the entrance into the jungle was something straight out of the Jungle Book. It was absolutely breathtaking. As soon as we went in all of us realized that whether we saw tigers or not, we were perfectly content just wandering through the jungle.

As for the animals we saw: there were deers (lots and lots of deer), peacocks (yay!!), owls, storks, alligators, monitor lizards. Sadly there were no tigers. They were all up in the mountains where it was cool. They usually come down for water but because of recent rainfall there was no need for that either. At a couple times during the safari we heard the warning calls of deer which meant a tiger was somewhere nearby. But by the time we got to the area, there were no signs of deer or tigers. At another point, the naturalist who was in the jeep abruptly told the driver to stop. He said a tiger just passed by the area. He vaguely said something about footprints but didn’t show us any. Apparently it’s a line they use all the time. I would still like to believe we were very close to a tiger at the time. And so at the end of the safari, we were slightly disappointed, completely enamoured by the jungle, and thoroughly exhausted.

The main reason given by the boys for the lack of tigers was: Aaj to Dunnike sher aa gaye hai to phir yaha ke sher to daar gaye hai. (Because tigers from Dunni are in town, the real ones are afraid to come out). Clearly they have no inhibitions falsely complimenting themselves. On the way back everyone fell asleep immediately, except for Manish who was kept awake by the driver. Therefore plans were made while we were asleep. We all woke up to find ourselves at the foot of a tall hill with a temple at the top. Manish really wanted to go see the Chot Mata temple. Everyone else was extremely grumpy, half asleep and annoyed at having to climb again. But because it was a temple, we trudged up (me seriously complaining in my mind – did he forget my issues from this morning?) and sat in the cool breeze for a while. We came back down and promptly went to sleep in the car (Tanvi and I). We woke up to find ourselves at the same truck driver’s stop from 5 in the morning. After a quick and quiet dinner, we fell back asleep to find ourselves home at around midnight (a whole 24 hour trip). All in all it was a complete adventure and I had a blast. The trip can only be described as Tiredness, Tire Trouble and Tigers (or not).

Night Stay at a Gujjar village: A totally unique experience

So I think I’ve mentioned a little about the Gujjar riots and strikes going on in the state I am in. In the middle of this mess, we planned to go stay in Bhisenpura, a completely Gujjar village. We were assured that it would be completely safe. The only problem was a planned Gujjar meeting in Dunni (the town I’m staying in) on the morning when we would return, making road blocks possible.
In the evening around 5ish we packed for a night stay (packing has now been condensed to throwing a tooth brush/tooth paste/hand towel and heading out, as compared to before when we would actually pack). We came to the office to find Pankaj and Laxmikantji (the vet) standing around a bucket full of this very liquidy green plant/algae (which was supposed to be planted in the village, to be fed as protein for the buffaloes). They both looked up and said, “so who is carrying this on their laps on the motor cycle”. I tend to fall for everything and was convinced this was a joke. I laughed and said, “no really, that’s funny. It’s an open bucket of green stuff. I’m not going to fall for this.” After going back and forth for a while, I realized they were serious. I felt bad for making fun of this and offered to carry it on our hour long trip. So there I was on the bike, with my bag on one shoulder and a bucket resting on the other leg. Fun times… My favorite was a huge speed bump which caused some of the algae to fall on me and Pankaj. Haha, that is what you get for making me carry this. I’m still not sure if that’s the main way of carrying this or whether they wanted to see whether I’d do it.
We got to the village before Tanvi and Laxmikantji. So we went to the house it was supposed to be planted it. Let me tell you, the village is built into hills, with every house at a different level. For example, where we ate dinner, right near it was the ROOF of the next house, downhill from ours. The rocks were called bata and are extremely difficult to climb (especially at night with no electricity). But first the house we arrived at: After chatting with the family and clearing space to plant/grow the algae, Pankaj asked if the lady of the house would take us around to meet women with young children, so we could survey. She immediately said no, she doesn’t talk to anyone in the village. It’s the first time someone has refused to help us. Both of us were confused and said fine, we’ll go find another family. We then climbed up a steep hill to another house, where we would eat dinner. There we met Bhagchand, a cute little boy who said he’d come with us house to house to have us survey. So Tanvi and I set off with Bhagchand and surveyed a couple of houses.
We came back to have dinner at the house to find the food excellent (read between the lines: not spicy). Yay for people telling them beforehand that I have issues with spicy food. After a nice glass of cool buttermilk we headed off to the house where we’d sleep (apparently a different one with more space since it was Tanvi, Pankaj and I – Laxmikantji is married and apparently that also means no night stays – he has a family). So we got to the house to find a large open space where we were to sleep. A lady lived there with her baby and her husband worked in the city. We got situated and in about an hour it started to rain. The usual dash for covering happened although we were still in the porch – open, water blowing in (so cool) and animals all around us. Now usually I pass out as soon as I hit the cot. But two things happened that freaked me out that night:
- In the middle of the night, I heard this strange cat-like sound coming from very close to us. It was so scary, especially since I knew there were cows, buffaloes, dogs, mice, lizards somewhere near me in the house. Convinced a demonic cat would jump on me, I couldn’t sleep for a while. In the morning Tanvi told me it was apparently the baby crying. Now it didn’t sound like any baby I know, but it was. Talk about strange crying
- Later in the night I heard someone walking towards us – freaked me out of course. Then standing outside the house, the man literally screamed for about five minutes (10 or more times): “Pankajji!!!!!” He sounded very urgent. In the morning I asked him, so what did the man want? He said, “what man? I didn’t hear anything.” I just hoped it wasn’t too urgent cuz apparently he sleeps through anything.
When we started surveying in the morning, Bhagchand found us again and came with us to the last few houses. He was so patient and didn’t mind hearing the same questions over and over. He even translated questions for us, including “what complications did you have during pregnancy?” He was such a sweetheart. Unfortunately we couldn’t find him at the end to give him some candy (what we carry for random children that help us in villages). We finished surveying and set off home.
On the way back I found out two things I glad I found out after we left. The house we’d gone to initially and who had refused to help us: they had four men in the family recently released from jail for killing another man in the village. That is why no one in the town was talking to them. The family had borrowed a music cassette and hadn’t returned it on time and before the other family could come ask for it, they went and killed the man. That was the official story although most likely it had to do with land or some family feud matter. I highly doubt the murder happened because of borrowing music. I’m just glad we didn’t stay in that house. Also, the man who had come by in the night for Pankaj might have been pressed into joining the riots scheduled for the next day. In the morning his wife said he was missing and couldn’t be reached on his phone. I wonder what he wanted in the middle of the night.
Near our town we encountered a road block. We had seen remains of others on the way (piles of stones and sticks by the side of the road). But this was a road block, manned by Gujjars. They saw us and clearly knew they would gain nothing from stopping us. Most “foreign” people in this area work for our org and are not involved in any matter. Therefore, we were not stopped. Needless to say, it was an interesting trip to the village. The funny part is, people hear Gujjar and are frightened. But the families we encountered were very peaceful, just trying to make it from day to day and worry about feeding their children, like everyone else. It shows what role the media plays in blowing up a particular issue and how its usually a handful of “goondas (goons)” and politicians who build the image of an entire community. With that being said, Gujjars are clearly poorer and less educated/aware than the other castes. Therefore not that I want to take any side, but their demands seem somewhat justified. Once again, a great experience…

Woman’s Empowerment: First hand experience

Yesterday was an amazing day. It was beyond what I had hoped to experience here. We had planned for a quiet day at the office doing data entry. But in the morning about 20 women from one group of villages came. We spent some time talking to them and found out the following story:
They had been selling their milk to Krishna Dairy, in the nearest big town. A couple months ago the dairy didn’t pay them, around 90,000 Rupees. The dairy went out of business and changed hands. They still had not paid them. The women leaders went to the law, the owners, the new owners and fought for their money. As of today they were still short 20,000 Rupees. They had decided today that they would all go to the Dairy and demand to be paid. If they didn’t get paid, they had planned to bring back equipment from the dairy. After talking to them, we thought it would be interesting to go along.
The ride there consisted of two jeeps and a motorcycle (carrying Pankaj and Rajesh – who came along just for support but did not plan on taking part in anything). Each jeep had 20 women in it. A regular sized jeep. And that is how I made the hour long ride. Talk about cramped. But it was a total bonding experience. The women next to me held onto me the whole time and it was a blast (even though my foot fell asleep like whoa). We got there and hung around for a bit, waiting for someone to come, who was third in charge of the dairy, who I called the “owner”. Pankaj called the owner but he didn’t pick up. The women spent their time looking at the equipment and trying to decide what they could take. The “owner” came and said that they have no money to give to the women. It was interesting to see that Srijan staff did not talk to the “owner”, they let the women do everything. The women had a sense of ownership and they knew they had a right to ask for their money. The staff just stood back and observed. Finally they called a truck and decided to put a huge milk carrying tub in it. They definitely carried through on what I thought was just a threat. The truck driver was scared of getting involved in illegal things. It was interesting that the driver refused to participate until Pankaj and Rajesh talked to him. Still, at every step, people do not want to trust a group of village women, no matter how powerful they are. Another dairy owner had been called as well to store the tub in his dairy. But he backed out at the last minute. It was decided to bring back the truck to our organization’s dairy. The women themselves put the tub in the truck, around 20 women helping. The job was quick and easy and the men couldn’t have resisted if they wanted to. It didn’t seem like they wanted to. The power that was in the air and the clear example of woman’s empowerment was just beyond words. The women posed with the equipment and cheered while putting the tub in the truck. It was a complete display that power comes in groups and with self-confidence. The organization knows how to instill that in these women, and then realize to step back to ensure the women have control at the end of the day.
On the way back, about 20 women (with the leaders) and I stopped by the district collectors office. He had been involved in the matter but hadn’t done anything so far. He is some high position government official, not sure exactly what. So I got there to find him sitting in his office not doing much. In the verandah there were about 40 people already waiting. Finally he opened the door and a guard let the first group in (all 40 were in that group). We waited for about 20 minutes, which is apparently the least amount of time they have had to wait. Usually it is a couple hours. It was about 3 in the afternoon and I had not eaten lunch and had ran out of water (if u bring a bottle, all the women will drink from it!). Needless to say I was getting worried about dehydration, but it still seemed not as important as the problems faced by these women. Finally we were called in. I stood in the back because I didn’t want any special treatment because of me and it was all about the women and their issue. They calmly told the collector Sahib what they had done and said we don’t think this is wrong, even though we went on private property and took something. He looked really amused and said that he knows the group does not do anything wrong and was glad they came themselves to report it (before the dairy owner could do anything). The whole meeting lasted about 10 minutes. We got back in the jeep and some women kept saying “We stole and are reporting it ourselves”. They found this funny. The women leaders were all like, we did NOT steal. We took what was ours. They owed us money. It was nice to see who realized their ownership and who still thought they had done something wrong. The energy that was in the jeep on the way back was amazing. It was so much fun. Today the news made the front page of the local newspaper, picture and all…

Anecdotes from more village visits:

1. So the second village we surveyed we went by ourselves to, which is a HUGE step. The person who was supposed to take us didn’t and put us in a bus. He told us that the village contact would meet us at the bus stop and take us on his bike for 3 kilometers to his village.
The Bus Ride: Let me tell you. I prefer motorcycles. We got on a completely full bus where people made room for the “Madams” to sit. We sat and immediately were completely surrounded by random people who got on after us. I have never been that crowded or that close to random people. There was no personal space. And of course by the end of the journey everyone around us knew everything about us, even that we weren’t married and how many siblings we had. After finding out that we were from Srijan, ladies next to us were like please start microfinance groups in our village as well, we really need them. Others gave their opinions on what they think of girls who live alone, with people who aren’t related to them, and work outside the house. After the judgment was passed on us and the work we’re doing, we finally got to our stop. So we got to the bus stop to find our village contact was not there. His “uncle” (although we later found out he was really his uncle, but in villages everyone is everyone else’s uncle) told us that he’d take us to the contact’s house. I was worried he was somewhere nearby and would be worried if he didn’t find us. So I tried calling him and he didn’t pick up. His uncle found us a tractor that was going towards the village, so yes we sat next to the tractor driver and rode along for 3 kilometers. I had urges to sing songs like in the Indian movies, with the fields around us. When we got to his house he was surprised to see us and told us that we should have called him. Regardless, it was a fun and new experience.
Now the first house he took us to was a very memorable experience. The lady was of a different caste and he refused to go in. We were unsure of whether to go in or not and so he reluctantly took us in. Immediately we realized that he had just violated something because she looked so frightened to see him. She didn’t say a word and refused to speak to even us. It was clear that she was from a poorer community. I’ve never had someone look at me with complete terror. I will never forget her face. We apologized for intruding and told her that she didn’t have to answer our questions and then quietly left.
The other surveys in Akodia went well once we were able to talk to the women alone, with our informant there, since they were hesitant to answer the questions when he was present.
2. We went back to the first night stay village for a couple more surveys. It was so nice to go see women who we’d seen before. They were also thrilled to see us again and more or less hugged us. I really am in love with this village (its called Toda ka Gothra). So we did a couple more surveys and were walking when we saw this older women standing outside a house. She had a baby in her hands and was motioning us to come near. When we did, she called us into the house. It was very creepy and the first thing I said was that we were not doctors and we couldn’t treat anyone, nor were we bringing anything to the village. She was upset because all the outsiders who come to the village talk only to women who are part of the microfinance self help groups (SHGs) and no one wants to talk to her daughter-in-laws. She had a lot of negative feelings towards the microfinance group because her daughter-in-laws were not qualified to be in them because the family is well off and the women are educated. But she was thrilled that we were surveying women who aren’t in the SHGs and sat and had tea in her house. It was our first experience with someone who did not appreciate the work Srijan was doing in the village. Nevertheless, she was happy we talked to her.
3. In another village (Chaknanpura), we were going from house to house surveying the women. We usually don’t acknowledge the men more than greeting them. We’ve never had to ask permission of them to talk to the women. Now here we were sitting, talking to a woman (with her mother-in-law and sister-in-laws sitting around her, with the usual 15 children from nearby houses) in a house that was pretty well off. Suddenly this tall man, with a giant mustache, a walking stick, a turban and huge gold earrings walks in. He immediately asks us what we are doing here. He is the village head. I explain while trying not to scream and run. He then asks us about our families, where we are from and what we are studying. His next question is whether we are married. I said no. He then goes on a rant about how unmarried girls do NOT roam around like we are and we should lie and say we are married from now on if we know what is good for us. I freak out and say that ok, fine we are married. He then says that Rajasthan is not safe right now because of all the Gujjar (caste related) violence going on. He happened to belong to that caste. I am so terrified at this point that I just agree. I would have been willing to join the Gujjar strikes if he had asked me at that point. I very formally asked for his permission to interview his family as well as any woman in the village, to which he really formally says that is fine. He left and I started to breathe again. Immediately the women burst out LAUGHING!!! I am confused. They tell me he likes to scare every new person in the village and that he is really caring and was completely kidding around. I am so relieved, embarrassed, about to start laughing myself. He totally could pull that off and he completely got away with it. The women all said, you should have seen your face!!!! Tall scary man: that was NOT funny!!!
In the same village later in the evening we are interviewing when suddenly we see that the sky is turning red in the distance. There is a huge sand storm coming towards us. The wind started blowing a lot and we were told to take shelter in the house. As soon as we did the storm was on top of us and it went really dark. I wasn’t sure who all was in the room but it was a bunch of kids and young adults. In the middle I felt a small hand that had found my hand. It was this small boy who was terrified and thought I was one of his relatives in the house. I held on to his hand and comforted him in the dark until he realized I was not a relative at which point he let go and just sat next to me. It was the sweetest thing ever. Not to mention I was frightened as well and was glad to hold on to someone else. We sat there with our cell phones as our only light. Our ride back home was stuck in other village where there was a fire, which they were helping put out. So we weren’t sure they would make it back to us. At the end, there was sand in our hair, in our eyelashes and in our teeth. We were glad to hear our motorcycles come back and rode back once the storm had decreased. Once again, a totally new experience!

Cultural Differences: Indian women taken out of India and then put back in: it makes for an interesting read…

The biggest culture shock came when we realized what all we could do by ourselves and what all we needed to be with guys for. For most places in the town we live with, we have to ask someone in the office to come with us and wait for him to be not busy. Then usually he doesn’t want to be seen alone with two girls in the village, so we have to wait till he finds someone else to come with us = because apparently two boys and two girls is ok, for some reason. Any small errand usually takes a couple of hours at this rate. Last weekend we wanted to go rent a movie to watch. One person was supposed to take us but he was busy. So we sat around the office and chitchatted. Eventually we realized that he wasn’t finding anyone to go with him. So randomly without telling us, he left and went home. We had wanted to watch the movie during the afternoon. By this time it was 4ish. Completely frustrated, we sat around and read the Hindi-English dictionary. Finally, a guy who isn’t from this village realized that we were sitting around bored. So he came and asked me what movie we wanted. I told him I don’t know. So he says, well let me go get some new one. I was very frustrated at this point and said, the whole point is for us to see where the store is so next time we can go ourselves. At which point, he said, O ok, but even then next time you want to go I’ll come with you because you probably shouldn’t go there without anyone.
I am not sure if this is because we are new to the town and everyone looks at us strangely or whether all women are subject to these rules. The organization only has one other female, who is older and has been here for years. She goes by herself but also has built rapport in the town.

As for me, I am torn as usual between wanting to obey the town rules since we’re only here for a short time and we want to have a good reputation in the community. At the same time, there is definitely not much exploring we can do by ourselves. I usually stick to trying to obey the rules because as it is we are breaking a lot of other rules – wandering around with boys not related to us, dressing differently, talking to anybody we meet (including strange men – usually the shopkeepers). So as to not appear completely progressive, “modern” – in the negative sense, I guess I am ok asking for permission and being accompanied to places. I joke that I have more restrictions here than my parents ever put on me (most likely to my parents relief).

Another cultural difference that is going to be hard to get used to, even though we already are, is the hospitality and politeness that is inherent in people here. And I know that it usually comes off as a good thing. But for example, if we ask to go somewhere or say something like, may we come with you to a village? It might be a huge inconvenience or the person may be busy and can’t take us anywhere at the moment. But no one will ever say no, or even, I can’t go now but maybe in a couple hours (even if that’s when we end up going). Once again it is frustrating because if its not ok, just tell us. We won’t be offended, but its better than saying, I can come with you in 10 minutes and then clearly having to rearrange things to take us somewhere. It is also not conducive to us asking people to come with us places, which at the same time they want us to do. Therefore, usually I’m not sure of what I should do in any given situation. So the daily interactions are full of contradictions and miscommunications that make life so much more entertaining. Tanvi and I have an “Awkward Moment of the Day” which we discuss at the end of the day. The award usually goes to a situation and person although all guys here are awkward at some level, at some point in the day.

Pictures

We went to the local temple (for a local goddess) and were assaulted by women who wanted their pictures taken. They dragged me into a picture. Although they aren't women we surveyed, they are a good representation of who I talk to everyday. Some of the friendliest and most hospitable people I've met. For those who know, these women are from the Gujjar caste, which has been causing lots of trouble here. Where I stayed for the night during my second village visit. This was the whole house, as well as where we ate dinner and slept, under the stars. One of the kids snuck into the picture of the wife and mother-in-law of the family cooking in the background. This family was completely amazing, so incredibly helpful in taking us around to women to survey.
I had to include this picture. It is after a night stay in a village. Where both of us are completely tired, nasty, not showered but very much content with life. Its also us with scarves over our heads, not for formalities sake but more because of the heat.

First night stay in a village:

Off we went one evening to a far away village (25 km, about 12 miles) to spend the night. It was Tanvi and the doctor (vetenarian) and Pankaj and I. It was the most I’ve ridden on a bike (the trip took us about an hour). On the way the trusty, albeit sometimes confused, guide showed me places where riots and all had taken place.
Aside on the caste issue in the region: There are two castes in the region that have been fighting for some time now. They are the Meenas and the Gujjars. The Meenas are put in the lower group (scheduled tribes) and therefore they have more reserved seats (think affirmative action) in high positions in the government. The Gujjars have been fighting for a position in the lower grouping so they get more reservations as well. For that they do things like stop buses, cars and people from entering villages and generally disrupting everyday people’s lives. I thought it was fascinating that a group was fighting for a LOWER position in society, it gives a glimpse of what affirmative action has done here. For more information, there have been some more Gujjar strikes in Rajasthan in the past couple days (look at Indian news websites for more info, or just google it). For example, right now our town is cut off from main cities nearby because the police have stopped all buses and trains to prevent large groups of Gujjars from meeting in any one place. Yesterday the rumor was that 75 people were killed somewhere in the area. No worries though, we are only allowed to go to non-Gujjar majority villages, which is not good for our “random sampling”.
So we passed through villages where the milk vans for the org I work for had been stopped and the driver had been beaten up. The next day the milk van had gone through its route with police protection. It was interesting because the village we visited was mainly Rajputs (olden royalty? But very poor nonetheless). They are a very proud caste which does not like their women to work outside the house.
Once we got to the village, lots of kids came to the main woman’s house.
Aside on the organization: Srijan has started groups in villages of about 10-15 women who save money, buy buffaloes, collect milk and sell it to the town where we are living (the headquarters). So we are surveying women from a sample of villages who are part of the groups and who are not to see what the health differences are.
Each village has a main woman, whose house we were going to stay at. The village was called Toda Ka Gothra. Once we got there, lots of kids came over to see us. Pankaj told them we were there to vaccinate them at which they were terrified and refused to talk to us. Then about 6-7 women came for a meeting and we explained why we were there. One of them thought we were school teachers. They also brought us tea with goat milk in it, which was really delicious. Next stop: camel milk!
There was a little bit of confusion and we spent a couple hours looking at buffaloes, checking their health, sampling the milk fat and looking at newly born calves. I’ve learnt a lot about this type of livelihood and learnt how important one buffalo and her health is for the entire family. Not to mention the baby buffaloes are SO CUTE!! By the time we came back it was pretty late and all the women (which we wanted to talk to) were cooking/feeding/eating. So we rested at the main persons house (Mohankanwarji) and played with the children who had come there. Everytime I saw a lady with a small baby I made a mental note to talk to her – since our sample is only women with children under 5.
The meal we had consisted of achar (raw mango marinated in spices, oil and chili powder), fresh rotis (bread – so good) and kadhi (a liquid lentil soup usually eaten with rice). All of this was cooked on a stove which used cow dung as its fuel. But my god the rotis were amazing! My main problem so far has been that I usually have one bite and am ready to die…the food is incredibly spicy. I usually try to hide it (for an unsuccessful experience – read dhaba entry). But once again, everyone knew by the end that it was really spicy for me. To make things better they brought out fresh buttermilk (once again, amazingly delicious) and put lots of sugar in it. That’s something I’ve seen everywhere here, they really go out of the way to make sure you are comfortable. During the meal, we were directly asked (again): So what caste are you? I hate being put on the spot like this. It usually doesn’t make a difference but they are always curious. Pankaj had said he usually says whatever comes to his mind but oftentimes when he says a lower caste name they treat him a little differently. This time we politely explained that where we come from there are no castes and everyone is on a equal footing. Because they thought we were from Bombay and Chennai they let it go and said something about things being different in the cities.
After the men were banished out of house, Mohankanwarji declared that we were like her daughters for the night and that if we were scared at any point or anything to tell her. What we would be afraid of I’m not sure but she made that very clear. We set up cots made of rope outside. At this point I looked up and realized that I had never seen the sky that amazing. There were at least 10 times more stars there than anywhere else I’ve been. Its then that it hit me, here I am sitting in a mud house (fairly big, but still), with no electricity, no cell phone service, with a cow tied to the front door. I had not felt content like that in a long time. I had already figured out that I need less sleep here ( I sleep at midnight and wake up by 5:30). Sitting there made me realize that this place was really clean, no noise, no pollution, and people were leading very simple lives in which small things made them happy.
Just as I was relishing the moment, out of nowhere a sand storm started. Let me tell you, when visibility suddenly becomes zero it is very frightening. So we picked up the cots and ran into a room where there was room only for three cots. Once we were settled we realized it was raining outside. While it isn’t the rainy season here there are random small bouts of rain that last for a bit and then stop. So we sat for a bit listening to the rain. Mohankanwarji (who loved to talk) kept us up late into the night talking about the village, her children, her buffaloes and the milk they produce. We were all falling asleep when we finally went to our respective cots and that is when I fell asleep immediately (to wake up about four hours later with loud cock-o-doodle-dos outside our door, which lasted about 3 hours. We went out to find Mohankanwarji cooking cleaning already (it was about 5:30).
Early morning is a very beautiful time in the village. It was slightly cold and there were sounds of people slowly waking up. After two cups of tea, one from the neighboring house who said they HAVE to feed the visitors, we headed out to the first house, the woman who would take us to other houses to meet mothers of small children.
We got 5 interviews done in a couple hours, in each house giving a cup of tea and then because we said we’d had a lot of tea we got a large glass of fresh milk and some watermelon. In each house everyone came to see us even though our questions were only for the women. Therefore in some houses, the husbands were there and probably affected the way the women answered our questions. In one house a woman brought her small child and asked us to look at it because he had an eye infection. We explained that we have no medical training and that she should go to the town (which is far away) to a real doctor. Another house thought we were UNICEF workers and wanted to know what we were going to bring to the village. Since this is just a preliminary assessment, it was really depressing to tell them that we ourselves wouldn’t be bringing anything but would pass on their concerns/problems/health conditions to the appropriate people. We kept being called Sister (what they call nurses), Doctor Sahiba (Doctor Madam), etc.
In the middle of the interviews we found out that there was a death in the village. A thirteen year old boy had fell off a tree while visiting a nearby village. At that point there was no one from the Rajput caste in the village since everyone went there. But people from other castes were still in the village so we switched to their houses.
Because the doctor and Pankaj had to be back for a meeting, we started back soon and arrived a bit tired and sleepy back to Dunni (our town). After showering both of us passed out due to exhaustion – not because we didn’t sleep enough but because the surveys were very draining, trying to understand everything that was being said.
And that was the first night we spent in the village, there will be many more to come…

Day 1

The next morning we got a brief tour of the village shops (like where to buy fruits/veg, medicines, etc.) We came back and cleaned with a vengeance, both our room and the bathroom – no more cobwebs/dusty floors for us!! It was fun in a weird way, sort of like claiming the area as our own. We are trying to show our self-sufficiency – I talked Rajesh into getting us milk for the next day so we don’t have to wait for them to come and make tea. He was surprised that we knew how to – how insulting!!
Ok, so I know this is long but just a really funny anecdote – the guys are all very nervous in our presence. One of them never stays more than a minute alone with us. To call us from our room they have to either call from outside (we have no bell) or from outside our room. They always timidly yell… “Neha!”, even Pankaj who speaks English…its always Neha!! … very awkwardly. Haha, yes we are looking forward to meeting a female here…
After spending the whole afternoon lounging we finally decided to venture out to buy some hand soap and some cold drinks (we got a HUGE bottle of Limca, a fizzy lemon drink, which turned hot in about five minutes). After coming back, once again there was a timid knock on the front door and a yelling on “Neha!”. I came down to find Pankaj asking where we wanted to eat dinner, since the aunty who made food wasn’t going to come that night. Other people had suggested trying a Dhaba, a truck drivers stopping place where everyone eats on a cot with a plank in the middle where the plates are kept. I had said no the day before due to questionable hygiene but finally gave in.
This time though P kept asking whether he should bring the food back, to which we said no because we hadn’t gone out all day. Although we didn’t know this at the time (and I wish people would just be clear about it) but apparently girls don’t frequent dhabas…AND we only had one bike on which we could go there (with three people). Either way, after about 20 min of small talk, when we realized we’re all the same age and had similar likes (music – he owned an iPOD, he wants to save the world, etc), we decided to head out. So keep in mind that it is uncomfortable riding on a motorcycle, but its even more with three people. It was about 10 min away on very windy, dark, small roads. It was a beautiful ride.
Once we got there though, there were lots more stares. We made ourselves comfortable on the cot and by we I mean Tanvi and I since P was not. We got food served by these two boys who sat next to us just to stare at us… I mean so uncomfortable.
I took one bite of the food to find it was mainly made of chilis. O wow, SO SPICY. Now usually I try to keep a straight face, especially when people have taken trouble to get us there. But half way through I hear: “you don’t like it?” and P looks sad. I feel bad but with my red nose, dripping and deep breaths, he knows I’m dying. My fav part of the evening was when we offered to pay, P was like no no the org will pay for all of it. But then he stopped and was awkwardly like, but sometimes let us please pay for you personally as well… hahahahahaha, so awkward.
Later we found out that he knew we were uncomfortable there since apparently there was alcohol being consumed…but once again, if he knew how weird the situation was going to be here…why didn’t he just tell us…
Hoping to report back with some of the work we’ll be doing…

THE HOUSE:

The following isn’t a description complaining or saying how much we hate the place. On the contrary, the last 2 days have taught me a lot. Overall though the state of the house is very poor and its only because T and I are very good spirited about everything that the whole process has been easy (relatively).
The first floor has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a hole in the wall kitchen. Our bedroom is on the second floor. Even though people have lived there for 4 years, they don’t have a fridge, tables or chairs. Not to mention our toilet is on the terrace (yes its “Indian style”). There are spiders everywhere. We seemed to have been enough for them to buy a fan that blows air over water so its slightly cooler (only 95 degrees at night). O wait, and we have a balcony with a huge wasps nest.

The first evening/night in Jaipur:

Nareshji (accountant) and Sameerji (lawyer) along with Hari Ram (driver) came to pick up at the airport. We forgot to tell them about our giant suitcases. So in Jaipur city the back seat held Tanvi, me, our laptops and purses and N with my suitcase on his lap. After we got out of the city N sat on the 1 passenger seat up front (mostly on S’s lap).
So S and N did not speak English well, much to my dismay because the 4 hour drive involved me practicing my Hindi a whole lot. S loved to talk and was very curious about America. He kept asking about life there and whether it was like in the movies. I told him no, America has poverty, unemployment, villages, farmers, etc. just on a different scale. He was still enamoured by the concept and kept saying that we were really lucky as well as had our hearts in the right place since we want to come here and help.
He turned the convo to marriage and how it is different there and here. It was awkward because I didn’t think it was appropriate to have the convo with him. I also noticed that everytime S said something a little too forward N would yell at him. In between convos S and N would whisper and we guessed it was about what to talk about next. Both of them were really eager to get us introduced to Rajasthani culture.
We stopped for cold drinks and food and we were the only girls around. Everyone stared like no other but regardless of the talkative guides we had, they were extremely chivalrous. We reached the guesthouse at 11 pm to find more guys waiting to greet us. All of them helped us carry our bags to the bedroom. Rajesh told us to lock the door and they all left for the night.

Week 1 in Pune, India

So its been five days since I've landed in Pune. I've been hanging out at my grandmothers for a week. I've been going to see different relatives on my dads side of the family every single day.My moms relatives all mostly stay where I am so I'm being constantly bombarded by one of them or another.

For those of you with families in other countries (I say this because its not as frequent in America), privacy is different here. Its hard to find any time for yourself. I will be typing an email and my cousin will come and say: What are you doing? and start reading. Its hard to get used to if you aren't from such a culture, but so far I've been able to change my behavior everytime I come here.

I found that India has changed quite a bit since four years ago. Even the "Old City" where I live, there are internet cafes and video game parlors. Everyone has a cell phone. Overall, there are people who have become modernized. So I've noticed a great contrast between people here.

Something I don't remember from the last trip is the staring. Everywhere I go people stare. I'm not just talking about guys on the street, but young old male female. And all this while I wore Indian clothes. I have yet to figure out why this is...

Heres a picture from my window. Regardless of the crowds, pollution... and the staring, I have to say its absolutely beautiful!!

First Post!

Hi everyone, welcome to the Kuber Report. For those of you wondering about the title of my blog, it is a bad pun on Colbert Report, one of the funniest shows on TV. I hope most of you know, but just to be sure: Kuber is pronounced Koo-bear, very close to Colbert.
Its the eve of my journey to India for my master's thesis and I'm currently racking my brain making sure I have everything I need.
My next entry will be from India and I promise to put up pictures and update as regularly as I can! Hope to have you all as regular readers.
And to end with one of my favorite videos on YouTube ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM
Enjoy!