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!