At the Madhyam Foundation

So I have to say, any country where it is not only socially acceptable, but actually considered rude not to take off your shoes when you enter the office, is fine with me.  The downside however is trying to figure out in the mornings what is appropriate to wear and debating whether my outfit will offend someone or not.  I think for the most part I have done alright but it is hard to tell because everyone stares at us anyway.

For my project this summer, Subrat and I have decided that I am going to write a report, roughly 40 pages, on the current state of health in Orissa in the context of Human Security.  Basically, human security is the idea that the state exists for the purpose of protecting and providing for its citizens and the core tenets are that people should have "freedom from want" and "freedom from fear".  This idea is a relatively new notion and was first laid out by the United Nations in its 1994 Human Development Report.

My research at Madhyam will primarily consist of looking at 6 Human Security Indicators: (1) the number of households living below the poverty line, (2) access to clean drinking water, (3) number of people affected by malaria, (4) number of people affected by tuberculosis, (5) number of people affected by waterborne diseases - primarily typhoid and dysentery, and (6) access to clean drinking water.  Subsequently I will rank each district in the state of Orissa in terms of human security.

Orissa itself is truly a unique place. Bhubaneswar has a population of about 647,000 and as far as Indian cities go it has a nice pace of life, isn't too over populated or polluted, and is really a great place to live.  The problem is this state is literally a melting pot for disease and death.  Its climate is prime for the breeding of malaria vectors and extremely conducive to contracting tuberculosis.  And to add insult to injury, it is the second poorest state in the country and is lacking infrastructure and support from the federal government.

Its development, or lack thereof, can be partially attributed to the British policy towards it.  Almost every other coastal state is highly developed but basically the British did nothing to modernize the state and as a result it has been left to fend for itself.  Perhaps the worst part is that Orissa has some of the highest mineral deposits in the country and forest cover, but the federal government has the power to go in and mine without putting any of the revenue back into the state.

Over 80% of the population does not have constant access to safe drinking water and people are forced to polluted water.  Just the other day we heard about a village that had a bad case of diarrhea and 30 people died in one day.  That is more people than a typical class at AU.  But realizing the tragedy is still difficult for people to grasp and the saying holds true: 1 death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.  Not that I have ever had to experience this and I hope I never will but I feel like yes, seeing someone get shot in cold blood would have to be one of the hardest things to ever witness, but watching someone waste away in the span of a day from something as easy to cure as diarrhea is just insanity, all because they could not have a clean glass of water or consume food that was not infected.  It really makes you think how fortunate we are.

Nandankanan "The Garden of the Gods"

King Louie-ish
Colonel Hathi
Shere Khan

Baloo

Pictures of the House

Our "throne"
The Bath/Shower
View from the Terrace
What we get to see every morning when we step outside :)

The First Weekend

Well I guess I am going to need to find a new word for it because one day is not a weekend and having to return to work on Monday morning seems a little more difficult. I think we are finally getting over the jet lag and Katrina and I have been joking that we are like children and our parents would be proud of us that we can finally sleep all the way through the night and not wake up at 4 or 5 or 6 in the morning like we were for the first week.

We had a phenomenal day off, despite the fact that our malaria medication is making us nauseous for the first few hours of the day. I feel as if going to India is like trying to get into a club that only wants specific members and you have to go through a series of hazing before you are allowed in. The food is fantastic but makes you slightly sick afterwards, the temperature it too hot and the air is too wet but it still feels great when you walk outside, the stray dogs and monkeys are adorable but you can't let them get too close because we all know how that can go downhill... My body still does not feel comfortable, like I am wearing someone else's skin and something just does not feel quite right but I love every second of being here and eventually I will adjust.

On Sunday morning we woke up at around 7 to start the day off early (which would be more impressive if it had been by choice instead of clockwork). Ben, Katrina and I took an auto-rickshaw, which are these funny three-wheeled vehicles that use the same form of steering as a motorcycle or a wave runner, to Nandankanan Sanctuary & Biological Park. It was about a 20 minute ride from Bhubaneswar cost us collectively 400 rupees ($8.66) for the entire day. Try getting a deal like that in D.C.

Its still a really weird feeling being a minority, especially in a place that sees very few tourists. I think more pictures were taken of us than the White Tigers or Cheetahs. I know I have been guilty before of taking pictures of people on the street that look entertaining to me but I try to do it with a certain degree of discretion (or so I think) but people will blatantly walk up and take pictures unabashedly. Pretty soon I am just going to start posing and really give them something to laugh about.

The zoo was amazing and I don't this there is any place in the US were you can get 3 feet away from a cheetah and only separated by a chain link fence. We also got to go on a tiger and lion safari where they packed us on all quite snugly onto a bus that had bars on the windows and no air conditioning. The good thing was everyone else smelled just as good as we did and you really do not have to be shy about how much you are sweating (attractive, I know). It reminded me a lot of the Jungle Book minus the cages. We got to see Baloo, Shere Khan, Kaa, King Louie, and Colonel Hathi. I will say the one thing that was a little difficult to stomach was how some of the other people our age there were trying to get the attention of the animals and throwing coins at the crocodiles. I was debating whether to use my excellent quarters skills and snapping a few rupees at the boys heads.

Later in the day we were invited over to one of our co-workers houses for visiting and dinner. Even at Thanksgiving I don't think I have even consumed that much food in my life. There was chicken, daal, biryani, and a few other items I cannot remember the name of, each as good as the next and kheer, which is like rice pudding but with cashews and cardamon, for dessert.It is very important to try and clear your plate because you don't want your host to think that you did not enjoy the food but it is extremely difficult when you are half way finished they out with more food trying to fill you up until you burst.

I think perhaps the best part of the day, or at least the icing on the cake, was when Katrina and I returned home to see Mrs. Singhdeo's mother (who lives with her husband on the the bottom floor of the house) and greeted us with 2 enormous bear hugs that knocked the wind out of us. Quite an impressive task for a woman who is about five feet tall. We both agreed that we have found our Indian grandmother and even though I have never really felt homesick before, living in the Singhdeo's house would make it even more difficult with how wonderfully they treat us, almost like we are a part of the family.

After 30 some odd hours of flying and driving I finally arrived in Bhubaneswar. We got off the tarmac at about 6:30 at night when the sun was setting and the temperature felt reminiscent of afternoons in Florida. Little did I know that India has only one time zone, therefore the sun rises at about 4:30 or 5 in the morning, sets at 6:60 or 7 and by the time my lazy self rolls out of bed its the hottest period of the day. For the first few days here the temperature was around the vicinity of 98 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit with will humidity. When you breath in it feels as if you are inhaling something heavier than oxygen.

I am living on the top floor of my bosses house and our room is separated by the rest of the house by a rooftop terrace and the view is gorgeous. From our balcony you can see some of the many temples of Bhubaneswar (which is known as the Temple city of India and has about 600 in the city limits). My boss, Subrat, along with his wife were kind enough to install an A/C in our room, although they have not put one in their own living room. We also have a bunson burner type stove complete with a propane tank we need to turn on and each time we need to use it. Maybe by the end of this trip I won't be afraid of using a grill. I've learned that showers are a western thing and evidently not prevalent in residences. Our bathroom has what is called a bath. There is a nozzle that comes out of the wall next to the sink and a bucket and basically what you do is fill up the bucket and bathe yourself from there. The floor is slightly slanted and has a drain to let all of the excess water flow through. The toilet is on an elevated platform about a foot and a half up from the rest of the floor and is quite literally a throne. haha

I guess the saying no rest for the weary truly applies here. Katrina and I went to work the morning after we arrived. We typically leave the house around 9:30 and return at 6. Something I had entirely forgotten about was that there is a 6 day work week instead of five so I guess I will be able to get a lot accomplished. So much for my perpetual procrastination... The office is a very nice building that is typical east Indian architecture. Wide-open with no doors (except for the bathrooms and front doors), cool tile floors and a throw rug here or there. Every morning around 10:15 we are given a cup of tea and provided lunch around 1. We are then given another cup of tea around 4 and samosas at 5. I feel as if everywhere I go the host is trying to either offer me tea, biscuits, or sweets. I guess we could learn a thing or two about hospitality.

I think quite possibly the my bosses family (the Singhdeos) are the nicest, most hospitable family I have ever been fortunate enough to meet. We had been discussing that no matter how light our clothes were they are still too heavy to wear in this heat and humidity so after work yesterday they took us shopping for some lighter clothes and I have to say they are quite pleasant. I got two long tunics made of cotton and a salwar, which is a long tunic and pants similar to what genies wear (I don't know how else to describe them). The best part was that the tunics cost 199 rupees, about $4.30, and the salwar altogether cost 899 rupees. They are perhaps the most comfortable clothes I own.

The monsoon rains have finally started and I feel like I am Forest Gump when he is in Vietnam and the downpours start. It is the hardest I have ever seen it rain in my life. In the U.S. it rains cats and dogs but in India it rains elephants and cows. I have actually been woken up by it in the morning and even though our door is elevated little puddles have still managed to seep their way through. The worst part though it that on our way to work we drive past the slums and they are completely flooded and the open sewage has overflowed into their shanties. The children that play in the puddles that are up to their knees in the slums seemingly don't care that the rainwater has been mixed in with these impurities.

One of the men who works in the office with Katrina, Ben (the two other interns) and I has a brother who is getting married and we are fortunate enough to have been invited so I will be able to go to my first real Indian wedding. I guess that gives us an excuse to buy sarees :) Its amazing that someone who does not even know us would be kind enough to invite us into their homes for such a special occasion. I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload them to my computer.