Koppal: A Summary

Here is a long and incomplete summary of the last five days:

Last Sunday night all 17 of us climbed onto a bus with our overstuffed backpacks and matching messenger bags and sat shoulder to shoulder as we made our way toward the train station. We found our platform and watched a few trains go by before it was time for us to depart. It’s a ten-hour train ride to Koppal, which goes by quickly if you’re able to fall asleep.

Arriving in Koppal, we exited the train and made our way to the bus that would take us to Bandhavi—Visthar’s bridge school for girls who are at risk of being dedicated as devadasis—which literally translates to "servant of God." Devadasi women are faced with a lot of discrimination and usually lead lives filled with poverty and abuse. We drove through Koppal and then out to Bandhavi where we ate breakfast and received a tour of the campus.

The first day was rough—three hours of sleep and no coffee would have been more than enough for me to deal with, but the world kept on spinning. We listened to a panel of nine young boys and girls talk about their experiences in child labor, which left us in a kind of existential crisis.

We had an hour of down time before it was time to play with the girls. It was complete chaos. We were outnumbered 106 to 14 and there was a language barrier. But the girls knew what to do. They taught us hand games, cheers, songs, and dances and then we taught them some that we knew. I met Meenakshi that first night. She is in Bandhavi—12 years old and studies 5^th standard. We played some hand games and then she stuck by my side the rest of the night—and the rest of the trip. We bonded quickly and easily despite her knowing little English and me knowing virtually no Kannada. She called me akka (older sister) and I called her tengi (younger sister). I even met her mother during our last night. It was hard to say goodbye.

Me and Meenakshi

During our second day, we had a panel with three former devadasi mothers. We accompanied them to a Hindu temple where they did their offerings—though they are not allowed in the actual temple, so they did went to the river behind the temple. They had a ritual bath in the river and then prepared their offerings. We prayed over their offerings and then gave a donation.

Later that day we visited a village—as we rode in, children ran alongside our bus—some climbed on. We got off the bus and sat down on a tarp on the ground. Soon we were surrounded by people from the village—most of whom were children. I have never so many children before. We got up and walked through the village to see a person’s home. As we walked, the children followed. They extended their hands for handshakes, waved, and said, “Hi, what is your name?” A sense of relief flooded over me as we stood in the house away from the children. But as we paraded back to the bus, the mob continued. I began to feel frustrated and overwhelmed. I couldn’t do this anymore. I stopped making eye contact, stopped smiling, and didn’t shake anymore hands. I needed to get back on the bus. But the bus was locked. The children surrounded us and started asking for rupees and pulling on clothing. I was one of the first people on the bus, but those who got on last had a different experience than I did. The children got more demanding and even a little aggressive. In hindsight, the village visit was more troubling than it was as I was experiencing it.

Throughout our time at Bandhavi we worked with the Visthar Community College (VCC) students in creating a photo essay. I was partnered with Devendra. We decided to do our photo essay on nature. We walked around the campus and surrounding area and he took pictures of fields, trees, gardens, vegetables, and animals. We selected ten photos and put them in a PowerPoint. Despite the language barrier, we came up with a thesis, introduction, and caption for each photo. Everyone displayed their photo essay while the Bandhavi girls walked around and looked at them all.

During day three, we went to a school and observed a CREA (Child Rights Education Advocacy) meeting. (CREA is a project of Visthar). There were about 30 kids who sat in a circle in a classroom with only two chalkboards and three barred windows.They started off the meeting by naming some of their rights and then they came up with a list of all the problems within their school: no plates for lunch, no gate around the school, adults gambling and drinking alcohol inside their school at night. They decided that they would wright and submit a complaint in the next few days. I was really inspired by this group of children who were recognizing the downfalls of their school and acting to change them. Previously, they had protested for better teachers and separate bathrooms for girls and boys and their demands were met.

That night, SJPD and VCC went to the Koppal movie theater to see Chennai Express—a short (2.5 hours) Bollywood movie. It was in Hindi—no subtitles. Indian movie theaters are much more interactive than American movie theaters. There were cheers, screams, claps, and whistles throughout the movie. After the movie we debriefed about the experience and how we felt about the item number, the gender roles, and the sexual objectification of women.

We also toured a wig factory during our time in Koppal. To be let in and shown around, we pretended to be a group studying globalization. The hair is collected from village women once each month—they collect their hair as they brush it. In return, they do not get rupees, but small trinkets such as bindis. Women (and children) sat outside on the cement as they picked through the raw hair, lice and all, to get it ready for the next stages. Then it was boiled for further cleaning. Then it was repeatedly pulled through a board with nails sticking out of it to comb through it. Then it was sorted, inspected, and sent off to China for further processing. The end product at this factory was a bundle of hair. The minimum wage in Karnataka is 158 rupees a day. The factory paid women 100 rupees a day while men were paid 200+ rupees a day. Women were doing the dirtier and less valued work. Also, women and men were always separated. Either the women were outside or they were in different rooms than the men.

Our last day in Koppal, we got into our small groups with the Bandhavi girls and did an activity where we drew a picture with this question in mind: “What kind of world do you want to live in?” All five groups placed their pictures around a torch, which was then lit. We all stood in a circle and sang a Kannada song together before saying our final goodbyes and heading back to the train station.

It’s nice to be back at Visthar. This week is packed with classes, documentaries, and presentations. Lots of assignments due as well.

Thanks for reading!

A Day of Festivals

Festivals are already starting to become a theme in my posts and it's only been two weeks--many more to come. Yesterday we celebrated Onam on the Visthar campus and then we went into Bangalore to observe the Ganesha Festival. 

Onam is a Hindu festival which is celebrated in the state of Kerala (Visthar/Bangalore are in Karnataka). There are many versions and interpretations of the Onam story, but here is the one which I was told:

Mahabali was a well-respected and generous asura (demon) king. The devas (lords), who were becoming fearful of his popularity, asked for Lord Vishnu's help. Vishnu came down to Earth in the form of a dwarf named Vamana and visited Mahabali. Mahabali welcomed Vamana and asked if he would like anything. Vamana requested three paces of land, to which Mahabali agreed. But then Vamana grew to a massive size. With his first step, he covered the Earth. With his second step, he covered the heavens. Having already covered all of the Earth and all of the heavens with just two steps, he asked Mahabali what he should do. Mahabali said that since he promised him three paces, he could take his last step on his head. Before doing so, Vamana asked Mahabali if he would like anything in return. Mahabali requested to be allowed to return to Kerala and to visit his people once each year, which gives us Onam--the coming of Mahabali.

Visthar's very own Mahabali

To celebrate, we processed to the center of campus to the beat of a drum where we met Mahabali. The drum started up again and a few "Hail, Mahabali" cheers were shouted before we continued to the building where the festival was held. Flower petals were arranged in an intricate design on the floor (partially seen above) with Mahabali sitting facing the crowd. Five women dressed in white saris then entered and did a traditional dance before lunch was served.

The Onam feast, sadya, is an entirely vegetarian meal that is served on a banana leaf, with all the vegetables being native to Kerala. Each of the sides is to be eaten with the rice and traditionally there are four helpings of rice, though we were not obligated to eat all four rounds. The following picture I took does not capture the entire meal--food was constantly being served. Not pictured: two desserts, two sauces for the rice, another small helping of rice, and one banana. Traditional games were played after the meal. 

Onam feast--Sadya 

There was enough time for tea between the two festivals. We piled onto a bus and headed to Bangalore to observe the Ganesha festival. My knowledge is very limited, but here's what I know: Ganesh is the god who is represented by the head of an elephant and who brings prosperity and good fortune to those who worship him. 

To celebrate the festival, statues of Ganesh are dunked and submerged in a body of water. Families had small statues like the one in the following picture:

Different communities brought in bigger statues that had to be lifted by crane to be submerged. As you can imagine, there are some environmental impacts from this festival. The statues are made of clay, which dissolves in the water. The bigger statues seemed to have an outer shell of clay and have a structure made of straw. The water used here was contained and separated from the lake though they are thrown into rivers, lakes, and the ocean in other places. Additionally, they were anticipating 150 big statues the night we were there and this festival lasts an entire week--that's a lot of statues.

Throwing Ganesh off the crane platform

This statue brought in by a community was brought in on a flatbed pulled by a tractor. It was so tall that they had to lift up power lines and so wide that it couldn't work with the crane. So tipping it into the water was the next best thing.

Slowly tipping Ganesh

This made quite the splash. The police officer in the picture above took most of the splash for me. Unfortunately, the statue didn't fall far enough into the water. A few men tried to push it further in, but it didn't budge. Then they got the crane going and tried to press it down into the water, but to no avail. 

Push!

As we left the festival, traffic was extremely backed up--to the point where people shut off their engines. The on-coming traffic was made up of tractors and buses pulling huge Ganesha statues. There were maybe ten or so that paraded by as we were stopped. Because it's not everyday you see a bus full of non-Indian people, most communities would wave and cheer as they passed us. Others took pictures, sang, danced, and threw flowers at us. I had a nice little pile of flowers by the time we started moving again. This was definitely the most entertaining traffic jam I've ever experienced.

We leave for Koppal tomorrow evening for our first field visit, so no more posts for about a week.

How To India

 I have little to report. Life in India (or at least at Visthar) is my new normal and I’ve settled in quite nicely. I decided to go with a list format for this post because I really like lists. So here are some things that I’ve grown used to:

Remove shoes before entering your home or someone else’s home

Though it seemed odd at first, it’s the norm here and is considered polite. Here on campus we really only wear shoes outside. Shoes are left outside the door before entering dining halls, classrooms, offices, and bedrooms.

·      Watch where your walking

India is home to all sorts of critters that should not be stepped on—large bugs, biting ants, snakes, and geckos. While in cities, it’s best to avoid stepping in substances that you cannot identify.

·      Avoid touching other people, books, or bags with your feet

Feet are considered dirty. Should you happen to step on or touch a book or bag (which when associated with school are considered sacred) you should immediately touch your hand to your forehead, which implies that it was unintentional.

·      Eat with your hands—but only your right hand

Silverware is not normally used in India. It is much more common to use your hands, or at least your right hand. It is rude and unsanitary to use your left hand as it is reserved for bathroom business. It took a few days to get the hang of eating rice without utensils. The key is to wet down the rice with a sauce and then cup your hand with fingers together to scoop up the rice onto the tips of your fingers. Then push the rice with your thumb from your fingers into your mouth.

·      Use your horn while driving

Traffic in India is extremely chaotic, but somehow it works. There are no painted lines, designated parking areas, stop signs, or turning lanes—at least that I’ve seen so far (though I have seen a couple stoplights near MG road/ downtown Bangalore). You communicate to other drivers by honking the horn and they communicate to you by doing the same. How this works—I don’t know. Interestingly, some horns have multiple pitches and they seem to sing a little song.

·      Hand wash and air dry clothes

Washing machines and dryers are not nearly as common in India as they are in the US. We all have a two-gallon bucket that we use to wash our clothes. I generally wash a few articles of clothing everyday or every other day and then hang them on a clothesline to dry all the while hoping that it doesn’t rain.

·      Take bucket showers

My two-gallon laundry bucket doubles as my shower bucket. Though I was concerned about bucket showers, they aren’t as bad as they seem. It’s amazing how little water is necessary to be clean—I have never used a full two-gallons. A typical shower head in the US uses two gallons of water every minute. So I probably averaged twenty gallons of water per shower at home.

·      Expect the unexpected

Chances are the Internet won’t work or the power goes out or there is a cow in the middle of the road causing a traffic jam and there’s nothing you can do about it so you have to learn to go with the flow.

Saturday in Bangalore

 Our Saturday in Bangalore included St. Mary's Festival and a shopping trip to Commercial Street.

St. Mary’s Festival is a 10-day celebration of Mary’s birthday. Mass is held multiple times a day for the 9 days leading up to her day of birth (September 8^th). On the 10^th day there is a chariot procession and a feast. The festival is not only attended by Christians; Hindus, Muslims, and other religious groups attend as well because Mary is Holy Mother of Good Health.

 We left Visthar at 5:45a to get to St. Mary’s Basilica. We piled into a coach bus that sits 20 despite our count of 24 people. As we made our way into Bangalore I was struck by how I couldn’t tell it was 6:00a. Though the streets weren’t crowded, they also were far from empty. Many people had already started their day’s work—preparing newspapers, sorting garbage, sweeping streets. Back home at 6:00a, there isn’t much to see, maybe some walkers and a few cars. Traffic picked up as we drew closer to our destination. The bus pulled over and we filed off onto a street filled with people in saffron colored clothing—a symbol of renunciation. Loudspeakers blared Catholic hymns sung in languages unfamiliar to me. We made our way to the basilica as one single file line of non-Indian people attracting curious stares while dodging and weaving through the buses, motorcycles, pedestrians, rickshaws, beggars, and unidentified substances on the cement. We arrived at the building that held the statue of Mary. It was a long rectangular building with the shrine at the far end. The line moved slowly, though saying there was a line is misleading—it was a mob. I couldn’t stand without touching at least two other people, which was concerning because most people were holding candles. Within fifteen minutes, I made it to the glass-encased shrine featuring a statue of Mary covered in flowers. I’m sure there was more to it, but not being Catholic or having any idea what was going on I just gave it a glance and walked on. Then we made our way into the basilica for a half hour mass. Again, it was packed—standing room only. The space seemed to be heavily influenced by Western churches—stained glass windows, an alter, ornate statues—however, there were strings of lights that hung from the ceiling that gave it a sort of Indian twist. Mass was being held back to back to back in seven different languages (Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Konkani, Hindi, and English). The service I attended was in Tamil. There was scripture, call-and-response, hymns, and prayer. I recognized the tune of hymn or two, but was otherwise without a clue. We stopped for coffee and browsed a vegetable market before loading up the bus and heading back to Visthar.

After lunch, we loaded up the bus again and went into Bangalore for our first shopping experience. I was not looking forward to battling traffic and beggars and shopkeepers after the long morning, but I put on big girl pants and off I went. When we got to Commercial Street we were taken to a money exchange to get rupees. We then broke off into small groups to more easily navigate and shop in the neighborhood. 

To my surprise, the main street we were on had fixed prices, therefore, no bargaining (though it’s always an option). Although, now that I’ve been shopping and I’ve interacted with shopkeepers, I know that I could handle it.

Overall, the shopping trip was successful. We went into a store Martin recommended called Fab India where we each bought two or three items. I purchased a long shirt and two pairs of pants. I was going to upload a picture, but it takes twenty minutes... When we were finished shopping and couldn't bear to go into any more shops we went to a restaurant and ordered mango lassis before heading back to Visthar.

It’s been a long day with a lot of new experiences. I'm very much looking to a relaxed Sunday.

Here's a picture of Commercial Street:

The Two Indias

Greetings from India!

There has been so much that has been happening in the last few days that I haven’t had time to process it all. I feel like I could write a new blog post about every three hours at this point. I’ve had a lot of new experiences and I’ve also been given a lot of new information. I keep starting a post and then I change my mind and write about something else—this is my fourth attempt at this post today. I could write about Visthar (where I’m living), the inaugural, the food, or my first bus ride among other things. But I want to share something more meaningful, so I’ll share my experience of the two Indias.

Today we took our first trip into Bangalore, which is a city of 8 million—small by Indian standards. We took a bus into the city (which is another post in itself) and then we walked to a mid-scale slum called Lingarajaburam. A lot of what I saw were things I expected—stray dogs, small children running around, the occasional cow, garbage lining the gutters, clothes hanging out to dry. But I wasn’t expecting such warm and welcoming hospitality. We just walked into this neighborhood and people invited us into their homes and told their stories with nothing in return.

Our first stop was a store selling milk and curd. Asha spoke to the woman who was working there and then Asha would translate the woman’s responses for us. This woman and her husband worked at the milk and curd store. She worked in the store and her husband delivered bags of milk by bicycle. They didn’t own the store, but had worked out a deal with the owner so that they could live as well as work there. The store was essentially one small room with a doorway with a curtain on the back wall. The woman allowed us to come into her home. We took off our shoes and walked through the door. To the right was a very tiny kitchen—it was like a hallway. There was no fridge, dishwasher, oven, or sink—only a hot surface grill type thing. Then there was a bedroom with a full bed and a TV. Off this room was a bathroom with an Indian style toilet—no running water. Then there was another small room, which was fairly empty and seemed not to be utilized. As we were debriefing after this experience, someone mentioned how small this couple’s world is—they live and work at the same place and their only mode of transportation is bicycle.

Next we visited with a Muslim couple who made their money selling candy and snacks from a small cart. Similarly to the other couple, he and his wife lived near their cart. The husband also was in charge of doing the call to prayer at the mosque, which is also in the neighborhood. He mentioned that he and his wife averaged about 100 rupees per day. After we visited with him, he gave us dried mango and an Indian sweet from his cart free of charge. Roshen and Asha insisted quite forcefully that we pay for it, but the couple refused. We talked about this later in our debriefing session. Why did we get free snacks? How did this make us feel? David introduced to us the concept “athithi” which denotes guests as being representatives of God. This is not a religious concept, but an Indian cultural concept. At least for me, it’s hard to accept these gifts (not accepting would be highly disrespectful) because I have the ability to pay for it—I don’t need free stuff. I had 6300 rupees locked away in my room and everything that I’ll purchase with that will be nonessential. My food and housing costs are covered. It was a strange experience.

Part two of the alternate tour showcased a different India than the one Lingarajaburam portrayed. We took a coach bus to downtown Bangalore and went to Garuda Mall. This is where we were to eat lunch. One of our tasks was to eat breakfast and lunch on 40 rupees as 75% of India lives on 40 rupees per day. As I walked around the food court I quickly realized that I could not afford anything with my remaining 20 rupees. The mall had high end stores like Swarovski Diamond and a store called Western Gourmet that sold things like Nutella, flavored water, and Oreos this store also pumped Top 40 songs through it’s loudspeakers. After seeing the slums, this mall left me with a pit in my stomach for many reasons—the Western music, the high prices, the advertisements featuring either white or very light skinned Indians. Here’s the kicker: Garuda Mall is so popular that a second one will soon be built, they just have to demolish a slum first.

This alternate tour left my head spinning—these two Indias are so different, yet they are very much interconnected. The trip into Bangalore was also what many of us described as a sensory overload—new sights, new sounds, new smells—it’s kind of dizzying.

Until next time…

Highlights of Orientation

We had a three-day orientation in Minneapolis at the Urban Immersion Retreat Center in the Lake Street/ Midtown neighborhood. Mom dropped me off and soon enough I was with the group that I will be spending the next four months with. This was the first time we were all in the same room.

As a person who is generally anti-orientation, I was surprised by how well it went. We had some “lectures” where either Martin or other Gustavus professors came and talked about things like intercultural communication, ethnography methods, religion and meditation, and women’s issues in India. Here are some highlights…

Day 1:

Loaves  & Fishes

For our first orientation supper, we split our group in half and went to a community meal. We took a 30-minute walk down to a church that serves a free meal every night. We tried to go in waves to look less conspicuous though it wasn’t hard to tell that we didn’t need to be there. After our meal we regrouped and reflected on our experience. This was my first community meal and I was definitely surprised by the number of people that cycled through the line in the short amount of time we were there. It was also apparent that many of the people we saw eating that night had to eat there on a regular basis as volunteers greeted them by name.

Day 2:

SNAP Simulation

SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) is another name for food stamps. For this simulation, we got into “families” of five and were assigned a grocery store where we would be required to buy the ingredients for a meal using the average amount a family of five on food stamps would receive. With our $7.25 we walked to the transit center and took a bus to SuperValu. We had to buy meal ingredients that would account for protein, starch, vegetable, and fruit. We ended up buying protein-packed pasta, canned red sauce, canned pears, and fresh (on sale) carrots for just under $7.00. Once we got back to Urban Immersion we prepared and ate our meal together. Though it wasn’t a terrible meal, we were not particularly satisfied. We agreed as a group that we would not want to eat like this everyday. This was an eye opening experience for me. Never before have I had to pay so much attention to the price of groceries. I also learned that it’s nearly impossible to buy fresh produce while on SNAP.

Homeless Talk

A woman named Cynthia shared her story and spoke to our group about her experience as a homeless woman living in shelters in Minneapolis with her four kids. Her story helped us put a face with the issues of homelessness, hunger, domestic abuse, single parenting, and working multiple jobs. Through government assistance programs like Alliance Housing, she was able to get an apartment and find steady employment. Cynthia’s story helped us recognize that the American mentality of “pull yourself up by your boot straps” is rarely achievable without some form of public assistance. A person can only work so hard when they have everything working against them.

Day 3:

Scavenger Hunt

This wasn’t so much a scavenger hunt as it was an excise in navigating and experiencing different neighborhoods of Minneapolis. Hannah and I were assigned to go to downtown Minneapolis. Besides just getting there on our own, we had to find and meet with an NGO at a specified time as well as explore the area by answering some questions. As neither Hannah or I is from the cities we were both new to the busing system. We knew that we needed to take the 5 and we knew we needed to go North—we winged it from there, and surprisingly it worked! We then met with Mike who does PR for an NGO called House of Charity. House of Charity does temporary and semi-permanent housing, free meals, detox, and probably a few other things I don’t recall at the moment.  For lunch, Hannah and I ate the free meal House of Charity was serving. We got there before the gate was open and waited in a long line in an alley filled with standing water. Though we didn’t blend in we never felt unwelcome. We went through the line and got our fish, mashed potatoes, green beans, soup, salad, and desert. The set-up for this meal was a bunch of circle tables that sat only four. Hannah and I saw two open spots and asked if we could sit with them. The woman introduced herself as Shelia (the man chose not to talk with us). Shelia talked to us about what she was doing there and talked to us about herself for a while. The lunch atmosphere was very rushed because there were so many people trying to find a spot to sit down in such a small space. We said goodbye to Shelia and then went on to explore other parts of downtown Minneapolis. We did a quick ethnography at the Hennepin County Government Center and then headed on to Nicollet Mall. Although Hannah and I were in downtown Minneapolis the whole time, we felt as if we were in three distinctly different areas. There was the mostly African American community where House of Charity is located, the more business feel near the government center, and finally a very touristy area at Nicollet Mall. Hannah and I managed to find our way back to UIRC having succeeded at a task we were both fairly nervous about.

Religion & Meditation Lecture

Gustavus professor David Obermiller came and talked to us about the differences between the ideas of religion and spirituality in Asia as compared to those in the United States. He gave us a quick lesson in Indian religions and then he led us in what we call “mindfulness practice,” which is SJPD slang for meditation. We sat in a circle on the floor—legs crossed, hands out in front and focused on our breaths for about 20 minutes. I think it is something that our group will come back to and will use as a tool for dealing with all of the new and different things we are about to encounter.

Orientation definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I ate free community meals, explored a range of neighborhoods, figured out the transit system, and most importantly got to know a great group of SJPD-ers.

* I don’t think I mentioned this in my first blog post, but this blog has no schedule. My posting depends on my access to Internet, which is affected by travelling and power outages. 

Next post will be from India!