Digoli

Last Monday I hopped in a jeep and we drove for an hour or so, partly on a road that was so bad that it felt like we were a boat rocking in an ocean storm. Then we hiked through the mountains for over two hours, passing through the quiet forest, several active villages, and many an animal. AVANI, the NGO I am staying with, has a cabin-like field center in the village of Digoli. Everyone in the village was so incredibly welcoming. I averaged between five and eight cups of chai (tea) a day, as everyone would offer it when we were doing interviews. I also gave my jaws a good workout by chewing on a lot of sugarcane. I had a translator with me, which was very helpful, and this guy was really interesting. He has acted in two Kumaoni films, does stunts such as leaping from tree to tree, knows martial arts, sketches, dreams about opening shelters and hospitals for animals, women, and children, and wants to live in a treehouse. It was fun to hang out with him when we weren’t interviewing. This place was so beautiful and when sitting on top of a roof, drinking chai with misri (like a sugar cube), sugarcane nearby, waving to kids and watching them giggle, I loved the fact that I am getting college credit for this.
Another thing that made Digoli unforgettable was experiencing my first Indian wedding! There is actually a French woman, Catherine, who has been filming a documentary about this one family in the village, and she was staying at the field center. So I went with her and got to spend time with the bride, Hema, and her family as they spent the week preparing for the wedding. The night before the wedding, about 50 people crowded into one room as Hema got henna designs done on her hands and feet. Henna is an herbal dye that is used for decoration. The next day my two French friends my age, along with an American couple from Tennessee, who are all interning or volunteering with AVANI, arrived in the village. The wedding night itself was full of color, food, dancing, gifts, ceremonies, and people. The Hema’s family fed everyone and just watching these preparations was amazing. The house was painted, a multicolor tent covered the yard, lights were strung up, and kids were everywhere. The groom, from a village about an hours walk away in the valley, arrived on Friday night and the ceremonies began. Hindu priests chanted and did blessings, and family members also blessed them with their hands, water, and flowers. The cattle usually stay in the open rooms under the house, and these rooms were cleaned out for a ceremony in which the bride and groom give each other many gifts. They sat at opposite sides of the room and would meet in the middle to give and receive. This lasted about three hours, and the priests did a lot more chanting of prayers. The Hema’s parents sat on either side of her and would help her with certain things. Once her mother poured milk from a little pot into her daughter’s hands from above and her husband kept refilling it with water. The Hema’s sister helped her put in the large nose ring that signifies a married woman. There was another ceremony outside, but by this time it was almost 2:00 a.m. so we headed back to sleep. The next morning we ate breakfast with everyone at the bride’s house, then it was time for the bride to leave with the groom. It is very sad for the bride and she cried a lot as she said goodbye to parents. She is carried in a colorful chair and the groom leaves on a white horse as drummers and dancers with swords lead the procession down the mountain and out of the village. We actually left with the party and walked through other villages where everyone had heard the drums coming and came out to see the procession.

These three weeks have been wonderful, but I’m sad to leave friends here. I am looking forward to my journey to the next state over, Himachal Pradesh, where I will be staying in Dharamsala! The Tibetan government is in exile here. I will be writing my paper, eating lots of baked goods, and hanging out with a friend from Davidson who will be there. Then I will go to Amritsar, where the major attraction is the incredible Sikh Golden Temple (thanks, Greg!). From there I will take the train back to Jaipur, where I can’t wait to see Papa Ji and Mami Ji, and bask in the sharing of stories with my 15 classmates.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Hiking through the hills

Dear family and friends,

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Eat an extra slice of pie for me. For those of you interested in having a Second Thanksgiving when I get back, let me know.

This week has been adventurous, I would say. I had the opportunity to do three field visits to different villages for interviews. Unfortunately Hindi-English translators are hard to come by up here, so I have been struggling with whatever Hindi I can muster. I have become good friends with the other interns here, and luckily one of them is willing to sometimes help me out with translations. I pay her in chocolate and samosas. Apparently samosas are like contraband here on AVANI’s campus…we walk 4 km to Berinag, the nearest town, to get them and eat them inside our rooms. Anyways, it is incredible to hike through the hills and reach these little villages or hamlets tucked away inside niches wayyyy up in the mountains. One time we could look down and watch the river below twinkle like silver in the sun. Another time I struggled to keep up with a young girl as she nimbly glided down a very steep and rocky path on the way to a field center. All the terraces here are spectacular- like layered cake. Most of my interviews have been helpful, and it sure is an exercise to put myself out there and try not to ask stupid questions when I have come so far to seek out these people. They have all been welcoming: sharing chai or oranges with me, going off about Hinglish, showing me their fields, or laughing after I show them the pictures I have taken of them.

I have been eager to get out into the villages to interview these solar committees, as I am studying their capacity for energy decisions, environmental education, and local governance. Today I leave for the Digoli field center, a 2 hour drive followed by a 2 hour hike through the hills, with surrounding villages that have abundant samitis. For this I am excited. I will explain more about the research after I have completed it, I think. I have been filling up my notebook with scraps of information, interviews, contacts, and notes from research, and today I typed up about 15 pages of my paper! (It is supposed to be 30 pages) I am thrilled that somehow I am halfway done with a draft. I am also thrilled that in Digoli I will be attending an Indian wedding!!! Hooray.

After this my plans are to take the train and then bus to Dharamsala, a Tibetan refugee hub and spiritual place galore, located in Himachal Pradesh, the next state over. I hear they have fantastic baked goods there, too. The Dalai Lama will have just left before I arrive, and although I wish I could have seen him, I figure it’s better that there will be less people to eat my baked goods. A Davidson friend, who is actually on an SIT Nepal program, is doing his ISP in Dharamsala with other SIT students, so I am looking forward to spending some time with them. From Dharamsala I will travel to Amritsar, where apparently (this is how information comes to me-by word of mouth) there are some neat temples…or something…from there I take the train back to Jaipur, where I look forward to reuniting with Mami Ji and Papa Ji and then basking in the sharing of stories with 15 other girls.

Until next time!

Superbly Enbineered

Last week I took the bus to Delhi with some friends and we spent about two days exploring the city before we parted ways. I loved walking through winding, bustling bazaars with millions of activities that overwhelmed all my senses. Sparks flew from shadowed workshops, endless streams of rickshaws and foot traffic swamped the road, men strained to pull carts with towers of boxes, vegetables and fruits fatly sat on stands, families stared behind dusty sweet counters...there was so much. We squished into the new Delhi Metro a couple of times with what seemed like over maximum capacity...it was like an awkward and uncomfortable group hug. One night we went out and just danced. It was a great weekend- but far different from life in the mountains...

Currently I am in the state of Uttaranchal, which borders Nepal and Tibet in northwest India. When I stepped off the train from Delhi and my breath was steaming in the freezing air, I realized that I should have brought warmer clothes. I met another intern at the station and we held onto our stomachs as we lurched and curved through the mountains on tiny roads for about 7 hours. She vomited, quite serenely in my opinion, from the window. Twice. Miraculously my stomach refused to get to that point. Maybe it was because when we rounded another bend and I saw the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, I was too happy to be sick.

The NGO I am staying with is called AVANI, which I, being used to Southern drawls and what-not, assumed was pronounced "AH-VAAH-KNEE" but actually it is "uh-vuh-knee," such as, "Mm. That bread is nice and oveny." They train village youth to install solar home lighting systems, as well as employ women as weavers. Basically I am trying to focus on renewable energy as a means of generating sustainable livelihoods. Issues I am looking at include: rural-urban migration, how solar power affects the village economy (income-generating activities?), social development impacts (health, education, community centers), the capacity of the Village Solar Energy Committee for development and governance, the empowerment of the Solar Technicians, aaand India's ambitious National Solar Mission. I have been interviewing people at the organization, but tomorrow I will begin interviewing in villages, as well. The campus sits right on the side of a mountain (hooray for terrace agriculture!), a 10 minute walk from a town with 2 shops, and 4 km away from a town with more shops. It is in the mountains, for real.

I live in a dormitory with the weavers, solar technicians, and 2 other interns on AVANI's campus. The best part is that they are all about my age! It has been so so wonderful to interact with Indian youth. In Jaipur I didn't have opportunities like this. At night they all like to knit, sing, and sometimes dance. I have become good friends with the other interns, who are here more for textile/fashion design. There are also 2 girls from France! We make quite an eclectic group. I actually caught a cold here and discovered a new renewable source: my nose. The nearest real town is 4 km away, so I bought a jacket there that boasts on the back: "Harley Devidson: Superbly Enbineered Motorcycles." I find the irony of this claim quite funny, and I will now be including, "Superbly Enbineered" in my vocabulary. Also, the most used word in my Hindi vocabulary would be "Tunda," which means cold. (They speak Hindi and Kumaoni, a local language.) On the really cold days the clouds swoop through the mountains like the tides of the ocean, completely filling the valleys. It's gorgeous. I have loved walking through the hills, the forests, and on the road in the clouds. I also have been helping the cook in the kitchen: peeling potatoes, onions, and garlic, or rolling chapatis. Everyone is very sweet here and I feel like part of this community.

Hopefully next week I can talk more about what I am finding in my research...

To the Himalayas!

This was my last week in Jaipur- and my mom was here!! It was so great to have her here to see my life in India. We had fun talking with Papa Ji and Mami Ji and seeing the city. We went shopping for some Indian clothing and puttered around in many many rickshaws. Bargaining with them in Hindi is always an adventure. We did a small sight-seeing tour and the best part was the Amber Fort, which employs about 30 elephants to carry people up the winding path. We opted to walk, but it was neat to have my elephant count significantly increase. This week we had about 8 huge assignments and exams, but it was nice to step back from that and spend time with my mom.

Now we are all heading out for our month-long Independent Study Projects (ISPs). Today I take a bus to Delhi, then tomorrow night I take the train by myself up to Uttaranchal, where I will meet someone from AVANI, the NGO I will be staying with. Basically I am hoping to study how AVANI trains youth to build, install, and repair solar home lighting systems. Each village has a Solar Energy Committee that is slowly picking up other development issues, and I am interested in their capacity for community-based natural resource management. Things will probably change once I get there, though, and apparently I will have to primarily speak Hindi. Yay! The last week I hope to travel with friends to Darjeeling, a beautiful place in eastern India. More on that later...

So I will leave you with a story: once we were eating dinner at a restaurant, and the owner said she owned a 70-year old elephant named "Wind in the Butt." We all tried to stifle our laughter as we were walking back to Wind in the Butt's house. We fed her some roti (bread) and took pictures, before clarifying that Wind in the Butt's name was actually Wind in the BUD. As in a flower. That made more sense.