Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Temple of the Sun


Ahmedabad, India, travel by bus to Patan, India, 7-31-08, (Sun Temple Modera), We had another trip out into the countryside that was awesome. We spent about 1.5 hours on the bus. We went past a very large dairy and many large industrial complexes before we got out into the countryside. The temple we visited was built in 1026 AD and is dedicated to the Sun-God, Surya and stands high over a big tank depression filled with water. The sun falls on the image of Surya at the times of the equinoxes. Every inch of the temple is carved with magnificent God and Goddesses, birds, beasts and flowers. The dance hall of this temple has quite a bit of erotica and I will save those stories and pictures for later.
We had the pleasure of visiting a small Jain temple in a small little town of Patan, India. The families and people in the streets were very nice. We had no beggars or people trying to sell us stuff. We had genuine human interactions with people who were just as interested in us as we were of them. The temple was gorgeous and the small town was rough but had many houses that at one time were magnificent. We drove around a few more streets and took our box lunches to a small weaving factory. Patola weaving is one of the most famous Ikat traditions. Patan Patoula saries are highly prized as festival cloth in Gujarat. The silk fabrics are dyed with vegetable dyes. The process is extremely time consuming and complicated. The sari the men were working on will take four people about four months to complete. The weavers work every day from early morning to late at night and never take a day off except for family deaths. The family has been weavers for over ten generations. This small city used to have over 100 family businesses back in the 1970’s. National Geographic wrote about the family in 1974. This is the last family in the region to continue this art of dyeing and weaving. They only do special orders and a Sari starts around $10,000 US. They showed use an elephant print they did years ago and it was worth over a half a million dollars. I was only able to afford a small scarf. I though it was a fascinating out of the way place to visit.
We traveled to Rani-ki-Vav a step well. This underground hotel like structure was built around 1050 AD. It was a seven story building that was all most all underground. It had a huge well with water that supported the large caravans of travelers moving goods in India. At the time this was considered the five star hotel of its day. Large caravans would stop on there long travels as stay for a while. As we approached the building from the parking lot we couldn’t see anything but a beautiful park like grounds. As we got real closer there were steps down to this underground hotel like structure. Only five stories are there today as it used to be seven stories. Again the walls are carved with Hindu gods and goddesses, asparas (fairies) and other themes. A very interesting place and it is hard to image what the place would have been like 900 years ago.




Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Gandhi Revisited II


Ahmedabad, India, 7-30-08, (Gandhi Revisited II), We visited an exclusive private school way out in the country. I think due to the bombings, we have been moved out of the city. The city of Ahmedabad has a history of being the hotbed for political unrest with all the different tribal groups that are here. This is where Gandhi started working on his political ideas early in his career. It was suggested to us by a local teacher to avoid the internet cafes as that is were the notes about the bombs were sent from and foreigners might not be welcomed. We had a two hour question and answer session with the teachers and the question of how they handle such incidence. They have emergency plans just like us. They bus all their teachers and students in from the city so they are somewhat isolated. They talked about the riots that occurred here back a few years ago and about the big earthquake that occurred a little farther back.
I took a video of the schools opening morning assembly of prayer and meditation as every school in India we have been to opens school with an assembly. It certainly calms students down and gets them in the right frame of mind for learning. The trip out into the country was great because as I have said before, the beauty of India is out in the country not in the cities. Ahmedabad used to be one of the top ten most polluted cities in the world and you don have to look past a lot of pollution. We saw people working the fields, monkeys, water buffalo, camels, donkeys, dogs, people, rickshaws, trucks, motorcycles and animal driven carts all sharing the road. We saw lots of construction which means there are lots of people living in makeshift tents. They remind me of the tent cities the homeless in Seattle put up. Here the construction workers move their entire family and belongings to the job site. We have seen some families actually living in parts of unfinished buildings. The children don’t usually go to school. There are many people that live this nomadic tent life style and then there are the homeless that live the same life style, probably not by choice. You see this type of living everywhere.
On the way back to the city, we stopped at another Gandhi stop. This is my third major Gandhi museum and second Ashram I have visited on this trip. I am getting to feel like a Gandhi groupie, but the man lived an amazing life. The museum found out we were Fulbright-Hayes participants from America and opened the door to Gandhi’s sitting room. We got to visit the place were he would sit and spin cotton and talk to his followers. They even had one of his original walking sticks there. There was a group at the Ashram that was preaching nonviolence and asked us to hold up signs. The signs were misspelled, and the situation seemed odd as television camera’s showed up. Our leader noticed the message of the group on the bottom of the pages and axed the idea. There were some terse words exchanged and we went on our way. I got the feeling we might have been sucked into something political. Oh well, we dodge another International incident. I am trying to avoid being liking Homer Simpson, and avoid any International incidence.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Pune, India

Pune, India, July 28, 2008 (radio telescope) Today we went out to the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics. We started out at the central office in downtown Pune for a one hour question and answer with a professor. We then drove 2 hours out to the radio telescopes to visit them. It was way out in the country. It was a great opportunity to see the beauty of rural India. We saw all kinds of scenes from large goats walking down the road headed to market dodging traffic, oxen with painted horns pulling carts, trucks on the road passing so that we have numerous almost head on collisions, to woman in beautiful sari’s working the fields. The monsoons have set in so it is warm, cloudy and rainy. Trucks are loaded with tomatoes headed to market. As we near a town with a produce buyer, the trucks are lined up in long lines trying to get their produce to market in unrefrigerated trucks. A big complaint of the rural farmer is the roads are so poor and the network to get the produce to market is so hard that much spoils. There is evidence of that everywhere as tossed produce can be seen on the sides of the road. The telescope was interesting as they are similar to the VERY Large Array in the US. People in rural India don’t see American often so people want to take pictures with us. That happens often in rural areas, especially for the woman.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Special Hindi Day Of Celebration


Pune, India, July 27, 2008. Today was a day off. We heard last night about the 16 bombs let off around the city of Ahmedabad killing 20 and injuring 100. We head there on Tuesday. We are not to worried as the target is Hindi nationalist. Some people are a little nervous.
We took a two hour car ride out to the country to visit some Buddhist caves from 100 BC. It was a spectacular drive out as the monsoons hit and it poured the whole time. We had to hike a ways in the rain. There is a Hindu temple near where we were going and the traffic was backed up for a long ways. On the way up we passed a bunch of boys playing in a marching type band headed up to the Hindu Temple. It must have been some sort of Holiday as there was 100's of people, drinking and dancing. most were males in their 20's. In the picture above the boy band had made it to this water fall and there were people dancing and sitting in the waterfall. The people would go up to the waterfalls and sit in them. It was a crazy thing to see. We haven't seen much beer drinking except for today it was everywhere. The rural villages were planting rice and it was all woman workers in full sari's planting. I saw very few men in the fields. We came across large herds of goats being herded down the streets to the city. Another day full of crazy scenes.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Gandhi Again


Pune, India, July 26, 2008, (Ghandi). As you tour India you find many monuments to Gandhi. He was a very important person to the independence of India. His ashes were spread out across the country to many memorials. Today we visited Aga Khan Palace, the place was Mahatma and his wife Kasturba was imprisoned but the English. Kasturba and Mahatma’s assistant are buried here. The palace was owned by a wealthy family that agreed to take him in so he didn’t cause the British any more trouble. The family has since given the palace over to India and it is a museum and a place used to educate rural and poor woman on how to become business woman by making clothing, hand bags, soaps and the like. Kasturba worked with people with leprosy and other aliments and to help educate the poor and her work still goes on today at this facility.
We visited the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum. This museum houses the personal collection of one mans effort to purchase and display all things Indian. It was the best museum so far as many museums are full of English stuff or stuff traded by the Indians such as Chinese or Greek stuff. One whole section was just for musical instruments of India. This is a very interesting museum which only displays about 12% of its items. We have tomorrow of so we are trying to put together some sort of adventure.
Side note on bombings, violence and lack of diesel in India. One of the cities we had a stop over on a plane three days ago, Bangalore, has had two days of bombings, killing a few people. The current city we are in, Pune, has six hours a day of blackouts due to lack of hydropower. Most manufactures, hotels, etc. have diesel back up generators creating a short supply of diesel. Cars and trucks run off diesel and most places in town are out of diesel. This has started to become a serious problem here.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Native Music


Pune, India, July 25, 2008, (kids in chorus). We visited the Centre for Learning Resources, an organization that works on early childhood care and development and elementary education. They create low cost kits in mathematics for rural schools as one of the many things they do. The most interesting thing I learned is they created a 15 minute radio program to teach rural India students English. For three years they collected data and showed what the effects of a 15 minute in class interactive radio show could do for rural schools. They repeat the shows in the evenings so that parents can listen with their children. There results are incredible. There program is kind of like PBS programs in America. The controversy is the government wants kids to learn Hindi, the national language. The problem is there are over 25 recognized launguages in India and every kid learns there mother tongue, then Hindi and then English, which is three launguages. In India the language to success is English, as that is the language of higher education. The centers argument for learning English is that it opens the doors to education for every child in India, not just the upper castes. The politicians in this state do not follow the national curriculum and create their own. If a group develops some really good curriculum, the state won’t use it, as they want sole intellectual rights to what ever is published. This group created a $40 dollar math kit that was awesome, but it was to expensive so they had to cut it down to a $10 kit. When you are talking curriculum in India and the sheer volume of schools and classrooms, it is easy to see why the schools don’t have much money.
We visited Janna Prabhodhini, a 5th-10th grade school for gifted students. It was a very interesting five story building with a large open court yard in the middle. From the outside, it didn’t look like much because it is in the city near many street vendors and shops. The school gets 1000 applications for 80 slots. Once kids get into this school, few drop out. This is the first school that looks at gifted education the same way we look at gifted education in America. They look at the musically, athletic, artistic and intellectually talented students and provide them with counseling. Most governmental schools focus on math, science, Hindi, English, and government. They try to make well rounded students and make students go out to rural villages and work in rural schools as part of their volunteer work. The school wants students to give back to their county in some way. All students are going to college at this school. Some will go to an art, music or business school. A few will get in to the IIT’s (subsidized college for the elite). Since this school only goes through 10 standard ( a big stepping stone as across India many drop out at this point), all go to other schools or community type college to finish there education. Many students from this school go on to become doctors and set up free rural clinics. A very interesting school as they have students working with rural farmers trying to get them to use worms for composting, help educate farmers about animal vaccinations and teaching them how to grow cut flowers as a cash crop. Many students at this school are on grants as they try to bring in students from all castes and social-economic status.
On the way back from the school, the bus dropped us off at a large, new movie theater. You can not talk about India without mentioning Bollywood, in Mubia. More movies are created here than in America. A Bollywood movie has a certain script that it follows which always includes dancing and singing. They are rather lengthy with a five minute intermission. We went and saw Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, a high school/college chick flick. It was really funny as two of the USEFI organizers came with us. We had one in each row so they could interpret for us as there were no subtitles. Bollywood movies use English every few sentences and they curse in English. There definitely is some humor that the American’s laughed at but not the natives. The funny part was the USEFI woman told the person on there right what was going on, and then they would tell the next person to there right and so forth. It took about five minutes to reach the last person. We would all be laughing at the wrong times. It was a pretty funny experience and we were able to follow the plot mostly. In the movie theater you forget that you’re in a third world country. Movies are very popular in India with only the middle and upper class able to afford a movie. When a movie comes out you usually have to buy tickets in advance and your seat is assigned. When you step out on the street you are hit with the smell of urine, you see the construction workers digging with a large crude shovels scooping dirt into pans that woman put on there heads and haul off to truck. While waiting for the bus, a young girl of about seven, with a baby on her hip, less than a month old, grabs my hand and begs for money. It is a sad state of affairs. In this country, if you are born into poverty, there is no escape, which is your lot in life. Education is the only way out and not every one here has an equal chance at an education. The poor children stay home to help the family. You see kids in small shops or as side walk vendors helping their parents. I am beginning to realize how important it is in America to educate every kid in America. Education is the equalizer. In India education is so highly valued, that much pressure is put on students that can afford to go to school, to succeed. I wish in America education was as valued as it is in India; we would be a much more successful country.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Foods of India


Chennai, India, July 24, (food picture) Travel day from Chennai to Pune, India via airplane. We are now on the west coast of India a few hours drive from the ocean city of Bombay. It is cloudy like at home but it has been warm. It rains often. This area is an agricultural area. The plane ride was a little interesting on the landing. They seem to land fast and hard here at this airport. We went to the Department of Inter University Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUACC). They are a small group of professors and grad students that put together small science kits for rural India using only items you would find in a small village. They create science toys. Very fascinating to see what they can do with limited supplies. All their activities are put on the internet and published in books that go out to rural villages.
I said I would talk about the food and drink as there is quite a lot of Indian cuisine and it is different from the north to the south. For those not interested in Indian cuisine or drink, you can stop here. Alcoholic drink is limited and many places are dry. Westerner hotels carry alcohol but at a stiff price. This state (Maharashtra) actually has the start of a wine industry. There is a red wine that the Fulbright-Hays women drink. It can be found in America. Here Kingfisher is the Budweiser (oh, wait they were sold while I was gone) of India. There also is a Kingfisher airlines and I am not to sure if I like the cross over marketing here. I have yet to find a microbrew or an Indian Pale Ale. We did find a black market Kingfisher in a city that is dry. That is an interesting story in itself. I just paid 35 rupees for a diet coke at India’s version of Target. I have paid up to 100 rupees ($2.5 US) at a hot, humid fort in Hyderabad for a diet coke. USEFI (The Indian Fulbright Hayes organizers) provide us with cold water daily on the bus and most of us hoard it and drink it in the restaurant at dinner rather than pay for water. We also brush are teeth with bottled water. At breakfast there are many fruit drinks (feni). For those following the story on watermelon juice as the new Viagra, we drink lots of watermelon juice. We also drink lots of mango and papaya juice. Lassi is a thin yogurt drink that is served in the mornings. They have this lime juice that I don’t care for. Other than breakfast only tea and coffee are served usually. People here drink 7-10 chai (tea, milk, sugar) in small little disposable clay cups. Seven to ten would equal less in volume than a double tall latte.
In Southern India the vegetables are the king as most people are vegetarian. Some eat eggs or fish and poultry. The thali (large platter with many katoris (bowls)) has six or more little dishes each containing a vegetable or pulse. They also give you dahi (yogurt). When the food gets really hot, dahi is the best fire extinguisher and sometimes that doesn’t help. You usually start with rasam (a clear soup) and worked around the plate, mixing everything with the rice from the center of the plate. You end eating mighai (sweet pudding).
The north is more a grain area so there are lots of breads. Today there was at least six different types of grain products to include naan (garlic naan is to die for), chapatti, roti, paratha and paper thin romali rotti. Most dishes are cooked in a tandoor (clay oven). Lots of chili peppers which I try to avoid. I thought in one dish I was eating a tomato and it turned out to be a pepper which I didn’t figure out until after I swallowed. I could not talk for about five minutes my throat was burning so hot. I ran around the table drinking everyone’s yogurt. They thought I was nuts. In the north you used the bread to pick up the meat, dhal and sazi (vegetables).
In hotels they cater to all different nationalities so you can get typical American breakfast. Every meal has traditional Indian dishes. Some people in our group only eat Indian food and some stick to mostly American food. I try to eat mostly Indian food. I have not eaten beef or pork since being here but I eat fish and chicken. I can’t eat beans and rice every meal to get the appropriate amino acids. We learned that India’s agriculture colleges are working on increasing the iron content in rice. Research shows that 70% of child bearing woman are significantly deficient in iron which causes problems in fetal development because of their vegetarian diet. The food has been so good here that I only eat two meals a day (skip dinner) and eat nothing between meals. I will come back a few pounds lighter. In a country that is so poor we have guilt on eating so lavishly when only 50 yards away out on the streets there are starving people. We tried giving some boxed food to a sleeping man out on the streets of Chennai and that only created another interesting story.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Mahabaliparum

July 22, 2008, Chennai South to Mahabalipuram. We visited this temple city and it was pretty cool. We went temple hopping and almost caused an International incident. Our tour guide is an archaeologist and he suggested we climb this temple that is a monoliths. This site is one of the world heritage sites. I volunteered to climb the temple. I get up and even find stairs to get to the top and one of my fellow Fulbrighters wants to come up also. As I help him up we get the whistle blown by a police man. After some tense conversation in Tamil, we get down. This area is a fishing area so there are boats everywhere. We visited a local museum that moved local houses to this site. It used to be in Chennai that a merchant had a huge house built in a certain style, a banker had a certain style of house and so forth. This tradition is long gone but they have moved all the houses to create a museum village. Many school children come here. Today all the Fulbrighters signed autographs like rocks stars for a local all girls catholic school. It was fun interacting with them.
People have asked me about the food. We have eaten like kings since we have arrived. The fruits available and fruit juices are awesome. Then they make all the American food with a twist (mango pancakes) then there is all the Indian food. The food depends on the region. There are grain regions, so the foods of those regions are mostly grains. In some regions there are more beans and legumes so the food can be different. There is not a whole lot of meat. Most people here are vegetarian. On the coast we do get fish. Sheep and goat are available at most meals. The desserts are to die for. I have cut out the desserts for the most part and only eat two meals a day. I am on the last notch of my belt and I have not seen that notch for awhile. I will work on getting pictures and details of the food. I eat so much stuff here that I have no idea what it is. I got to go, as I am at an internet caffe and there is a long line

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Touring Around Chennai



July 22, 2008, Chennai, India. We started the day off with a tour of the city. We went to St. Thomas Basilica. St. Thomas was buried here and then reburied later in life. They left one finger bone here. St. Thomas was stoned to death. For the Catholic Church is really is one of three special places, with one being the Vatican. There is a temple in town. It the last five days I have seen so many temples. We visited an IIT college which is India's equivalent to our MIT. It is interesting that only 1.5-2.0% of the students that apply get in. Entrance is based soley on an entrance exam. Your grades and activities do not count.
As we drive through town, you see many poor street people. I have decided not to take pictures of this part of India but I thought I would descibe some of what I saw. I saw a man with elephantitist of the leg which was really weird. I see lots of legless and armless people. People with special needs and physical problems are not something you see here in schools that often. Only now are they addressing special need students. You see lots of people literally living on the street, sleeping on the streets, begging on the streets, etc.
As we tour India, we see allot of woman getting independence. Woman are starting to work and in some spots you see woman out at night (near malls). The motorcycle is the minivan of India. We have a competition among the Fulbrighters to see who can get a picture of the most family members on a motorcycle. SO far the record is five with mom and dad and three kids. I have seen woman driving alone and driving other woman which is a big deal. I saw one woman with an IPOD on, a cell phone strapped to here sari,riding her motorcycle. It was pretty unique.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Vedic Math and The Abacus


Chennai, India, July 21, 2008, (school picture). “One who wants to acquire knowledge should not think of physical comforts; should be prepared to forgo even sleep”. A quote outside the open air classroom at the most famous and prestigious dance school in India, the Kalakshetra School of Dance. No pictures were allowed so I have no photos. This school also does weaving and block printing. We got to watch students in open air classrooms, practicing with their instructors. Is a fascinating school that brings in students from all over the world to learn native Indian dance and arts?
We visited the Padmaseshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School, a private school where students learn about the Hindu culture as part of the instruction. The kids in this school were a lot more relaxed and had smiles on there faces, then some of the other schools we have seen in India. The school has 2000 students and we met the 83 year old director who started the school and still runs it. She wanted a school for students that brought back Indian traditions that were lost when the British took over. The ninth grade science students are broken up into thirds and each group rotates through physics, biology and chemistry every week. Kids get more one on one instruction this way.
Had a professor give us a lecture on Vedic math today. What an interesting way to get students to compute large numbers without a calculator. India teaches Vedic math to increase their student’s math scores on test that you can’t use calculators. Many students can multiple numbers in their head quicker than someone on a calculator.
Had another professor lecture on the use of the Abacus in India. They do not use the Chinese abacus, they use the abacus based on five (one bead on top and four on bottom). They have brain research that shows an abacus greatly improves elementary math scores as it brings in tactile and listening skills to help kids learn math. Kids that use an abacus for a few years don’t actually need the abacus to do mental math because they have a mental picture in their head of an abacus. The videos of elementary students doing four and five digit addition, subtraction and multiplication were awesome.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The City of Temples

Chennai, India, July 20, 2008, road trip to Kanchipuram, SW of Chennai, (Dravadian temple picture, video of huts). Today was a day off. Last year’s Fulbright-Hayes participants complained the schedule they kept was to rigorous so this year we get a day off a week, usually Sunday. Many people are blogging for home town newspapers so they get caught up on blogging, others go shopping or hang out at the pool and then there are the hard core adventurists. Shawn is our hard core adventurist who is always looking for an adventure. I hooked up with her and two others and we rented a car and driver to visit a city of temples, Kanchipuram, two hours away for a day of adventure. For the first time in India we got to see the country side and villages. It was an awesome day. On the way out we saw many American companies that have manufacturing plants here. Temple hopping, as I call it, takes savvy and patience. India is full of temples. There are three main Hindu gods and they can take 1000’s of forms. Think of all the different churches in your community, times it by two and that is how many temples will be in a city. Some temples may be really small and many are small and located by the ghats at the rivers edge. We went to visit the Kailasanatha temple that is dedicated to Shiva. We also went to a temple that was made in 600 AD. It was the oldest building I have ever been in. The carvings are incredible. Temples close from 12:30 – 4:00 so if you want to see them, you have to plan accordingly. When going to the temple you have to take your shoes off. Now, everyone wants to take your shoes and hold them for ransom. This is the first place you can easily get separated from your rupees. We found if we go all the way to the very front door of the temple and deal with temple people, it is the best deal. On some occasions (holidays), the lines are so long and the shoe system is overwhelmed and you have to give them up early. Today the temperature was really hot so the stones in the temples were really hot and the black igneous rock was so hot I burnt one foot. The local’s were watching this crazy American running gingerly across the court yards at break neck speed to find a cool spot. Another racket is the tours of the temples. Some rickshaw drivers and auto drivers have a scam were they have a friend meet them there and pose as a guide. We found that you can tour a temple for free but some of the tour guides can really give you an insight of the building and significances of very parts. Other temples have a person from the temple give tours and they want you to make a large donation to the temple. Some of it is very high pressure sales. You just have to be savvy enough to know who knows there stuff. The best temple of our tour day was the large Kailasanath temple dedicated to Shiva which has a famous mango tree that is in the courtyard next to the shrine. By the time we get to the second temple I have noticed there is a guy from the last temple. I pointed him out to my fellow Fulbrighters and they think I am nuts. At the third and fourth temple when he shows up, now they are trying to figure out the scam. We ask our driver to go to a silk house and we end up at a fifth generation silk house. Guess who is there, are mystery man. We believed he paid our driver to get us to come to the silk shop. We see one woman working a silk loom at this large silk house. We ask the owners were the other looms are and the answer was interesting. He has over 500 looms which he provides one or more looms to individual families and all the silk supplies. They get paid by the piece for what they produce. It takes about 2 weeks to complete a silk sari. That means that not only dad and mom work the loom but also the kids. It is a cottage industry that thrives on the poorly paid labor force. There are so many people here that if you don’t want the work, some one will take the job. On the way back we took a back road that got us onto a rutted dirt road among the rice patties. This area produces lots of rice and this state is an exporter of rice. The fields were beautiful green fields. We did not see another car on this road, only tractors, ox drawn carts, bikes and motor bikes. We also saw flocks of geese, herds of cows on the road, and thatched hut villages. It was a very interesting perspective than what we have seen in the big cities. We made it back in time to go to a restaurant with a group. We walked to the restaurant and found out that it is reservations only and they are booked. We bring out are weapon, our local Indian. Chandra is a native Chennain (also a Brahman, or high caste) who now teaches in American and is a Fulbrighter. His ability to speak the native tongue has helped us out so many times. He talks to restaurant management in Tamil, the native language, and lets them know who we are and how far we have come. Boom, they suddenly have space for us. It was an awesome seven course vegetarian meal. This was my first time not eating at a hotel. 24 hours later, I have no digestive excursions, so I am was very happy. Being white in India means you are automatically thought of as being wealthy. The rickshaw drivers will charge a local 40 rupees to go to the beach but will charge us 75. We usually have Chandra negotiate for us to get a better deal. We also have a group that will walk to prove a point, we don’t need rickshaws. We now get out and walk around town a lot by ourselves with out rickshaws and the rickshaw drivers think were crazy.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Hyrdrabad to Chennai

Hydrabad to Chennai India, July 19, 2008, (goat picture). Today is a travel day. We are traveling to seven cities so we are on the move every 4-5 days. We spend the night before we leave packing. I am the lightest travel with the least luggage, so it goes pretty quick. On the way to the airport, I just sat and stared out the window. It is fascinating to wait in anticipation of what you might see. Today, in honor of the Ag guys, I wanted to get a picture of a butcher. I finally got a picture of the open butcher shop with a goat hanging, flies and all, road dust, no refrigeration, waiting to be sold. Further down the road are the herds of goats (30-50 goats) coming in for the day to be slaughtered. Much of India is vegetarian but goat and sheep are big with some groups. Since there is no refrigeration, the butcher cuts it fresh every day. A goat herdsman, herds his goats into the city every day, dropping off a few live goats at each butcher shop. The herdsman shares the road with all the vehicles, rickshaws, bikes, motor bikes, cows, camels, etc. In some areas there is a butcher shop on every two blocks so many goats and sheep are brought into the city daily. As I purchase the riches of India (pearls, emeralds, silks) my suitcase space is less. Today we are headed to the airport on our way to Chennai. Usually every travel day ends with us meeting the regional executive director of the Fulbright program and some previous Indian Fulbright students in the new city upon which we arrived. It is usually very interesting conversations. Today ended with native dances of Tamil Nadu at the Hotel Taj Connemarain Chennai. Even though we are a math science group we spend lots of time seeing the local cultural arts from performance art to arts and craft. There never is a dull moment. Hydrabad and Chennai have not had the monsoon rains that fill their water reservoirs, so Channai is having rolling blackouts because of the lack of hydropower. Chennai is hot and humid and it really hit us when we stepped off the plane. You sweat nonstop. Everyone here carries a sweat rag and I need one. I had a break in the day in Chennai so some of us jumped an auto rickshaw to the beach before the evening meetings. The beach we went to was hit by the tidal wave a few years back. There are thousands of people at the beach and the beach is really littered and contains hundreds of vendors selling everything from trinkets and shells to food. The people from the hot country side rent large buses and will come to the beach on a Saturday to cool down by the ocean. The boys swim in the water in their underwear and the girls and woman go in with the full sari. Shawn and I decided to walk back so we could get a flavor of the city of Chennai. We walked through one of the4 worst smelling ghetto’s we have seen so far in India. You see human waste on the streets but you never see the depositor. Today I got to experience the whole event. We had a few people come to us asking for money but most people never see white people in this area. They are more surprised than anything. After the evening meetings a few of us rented auto rickshaws to see the full moon on the Bay of Bengal. The beach at night was still packed but the people were by the road and not buy the water. We had the hide tide, rolling waves and full moon all to ourselves which is something you don’t get much in India and that is personal space.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Hyderabad


July 18, 2008, Hydrabad, India. Today we went and visited a national school today with a team of Fulbrighters. India has three types of schools: National Schools for public employees, state schools and various private schools. We visited a national school that was different from the other national schools we have seen. There were pictures, murals and quotes all over the walls of the school. The kids were doing art projects (we haven’t seen that many projects in schools) were they were actively engaged in hands on activities. This school is not as high stakes as other schools we have seen. The students study until grade 10 and then if they are not math/science then they go to another school. After 10th there class sizes drop in half as students go to state schools (art, business, etc.). Last night we went to a native dance demonstration. We were shown many of the native dances and they made us get up and dance with them. Apparently, India hasn’t got the memo that white men don’t dance. One male in our group could cut the rug and the rest of us were fish out of water. This has been my second most stressful moment. They expect you to be able to follow a dancer’s move after a couple of demonstrations. I can not even follow the first move let alone try to string 4-5 moves together. I learned how to hide in the background of a large dancing crowd. The local dancers were so grateful to meet us.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Last Days of Kolkata




Monday, July 15, 2008, Kolkata, India. Visited one of the most prestigious schools in all of India today. A private school, Birla High School For Boys. It was the first school we have been to that resembles an American School. Some of the best students in all of India come out of this school, which is for the wealthy kids. The students were fun to interact with. In India, Cricket is a passion and the fans are like soccer fans. Every kid, even in the poor slums play some form of Cricket. We were in a multipurpose room with a bunch of boys about 5Th or 6Th grade playing. At one end of the room is a shrine with the god of wisdom. I noticed that most of the students were focused on the teachers as we were new but there was a group of student in the back playing some sort of handball game. I ambled over and asked them what they were playing. They were playing "hand cricket". I asked them if I could play and they said sure. The kids through this sock like ball and your feet and you have to hit it off the bounce using your hand. I was pretty good as I went 3 for 3 and each kid only got one pitch. The teacher group moved on and I had to get going. I thanked the kids for a fun game and they all started cheering and hooting and hollering. The noise got pretty loud. I asked one of my fellow teacher what the hooting was all about. There were big signs on the outside of the room that said absolutely no balls in the shrine. I had just participated in an illegal game of "hand cricket". Tomorrow is a travel day as we head off to Hyderabad. When I first got into Kolkata, all I saw was the pollution in the streams and canals, litter on the streets and poor people begging at every corner. After getting down in the streets day in and day our you find the people for the most are kind and considerate people. There are many religions, languages and immigrants trying to make a better way of life in a tough environment. Education is one way to move up. There was a article in the newspaper about a kid that pasted grade 12 even as he worked as a rickshaw driver for his family. Some students are able to rise up, but for the most part India does not educate the poor and lower caste. It is easy to see how they are able to get high international tests scores because the students have tutors everyday outside of school. Especially after grade ten but as early as grade 7. One student said that a math student can not make it into one of the coveted Universities with out the help of tutors.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hyderabad


July 16, 2008, Hyderabad, India. This city is lower in the country as we move south. It is not as humid as Kolkata but it is hotter. You sweat and you sweat a lot. My grandfather Max used to carry around a sweat rag during the summer and I always thought it was gross. Everyone here has a sweat rag and they use it often. This city is predominately Muslim. We see berkas everywhere. We have visited some of the mosque, one which is the largest mosque in India with a seating for 10,000. We visited the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). They are like this areas leaders in educational leadership. They are not tied to the government so they were able to speak fairly freely about educational changes. The question of access to the latest educational research came up and they said that it is very expensive ($40, US) to get journal articles in India. The beggars here are a little more aggressive than other places. They make me feel very uncomfortable as they invade my private space. I try to be as patient as possible but when a beggar or vendor tries to repeatedly not listen to my, "NO", then I pull the double taboo. I gently grab them with my left, "unclean hand", hand and if it is a woman that is a double "no-no" as you don't touch woman in public. I squeeze their arm gently and say, "No". That usually works well, and takes them aback. This picture is a market street picture taking from the top of a mosque.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

The Streets of Delhi

Wednesday, July 9, 2008, New Delhi, India, (Streets of New Delhi, #1000065). The lecture part of the course is over for this city and we have been doing many sites. The Fulbright organization put us up in five star hotels and takes us around to various cultural sites and event. In most large cities of India you have the influence of Muslim, Hindi, Buddhist and Christians with temples, mosques or churches. New Delhi was Muslim ruled for many years so there are many Mosques. We have toured many. Before, we attended a late night light show at the Red Fort which has a history program that includes the history of Muslim, English and Hindi occupation over thousands of years; we were to attend a market. Now, at this point I had not ventured out to the hart of New Delhi. I only have been out for early morning walks to local sites in the “Embassy” part of town. At this time in the program I have ventured off with other people into the city but not very far. Now we go as a group of 34 and head to a market to get eat. Just crossing the street was one of the scariest things I have done in my life. Here in the streets a car with n six inches of you is normal. The group gets scattered and we begin to break up in to small groups of lost Americans. Some groups more savvy than others. We all were headed to a McDonalds. I was not ready for the third world culture in such a short period of time. It was intense to say the least. I saw, smelled and experience too much in a short period of time. The beggars (children), homeless people sleeping on the streets, the high pressure sales man selling stuff on the streets, watching dogs and humans share dinner out of the garbage can, stepping in human waste, the smell of diesel fumes and curry, stepping over legless people on the street, was all a bit much. By the time I made it to McDonalds, I was exhausted. We scrabbled in to McDonald’s as they had a security guard to keep out the beggars. Everyone order but me as I was worried about the food. I ordered Coke with ice. A big mistake 18 hours later. I forgot that you are not supposed to eat the ice. After 30 minutes to regain my composure, I was ready to go back out to the big bad world of Delhi. Now Fulbright has provided us with a handler so we are not doing this all on are own. Even though we have a handler, it still makes we feel uncomfortable. We broke up into smaller groups and wandered around the market. People get paid to bring tourists to certain stalls. So there are people constantly pressuring you to go to a certain store or stall. The people will walk with you for blocks badgering and hounding. They don’t take know for an answer. For my first dip into third world culture, this was a big step.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Kolkata, India


July 12, 2008, Kolkata, India, (1000207, building the streets of Kolkata), Kolkata is a warm tropical place with heavy rains (Monsoons). We are in the monsoon season. You sweat here and sweat a lot. We have visited the extreme wealthy schools (private) that produce some of the best minds in the country (world) to the ghetto schools (private) that educate the students in the ghetto. We are talking the poorest of the poor. We visited a one-room school and had a discussion with the teachers. It was incredible what they do with so little money. Kids do not have to attend school in India. They have a right to, but it is not required. Many kids work for their parents. This town is much poorer that Delhi. It takes awhile to adjust to the extreme poverty. I am staying in five star hotels through out India, but as I sit here and write I can hear the constant honking of horns. A New York taxi cab driver would not make it here. Sometimes the rides are very scary. As I look outside I can also see a rare piece of lawn belong to a temple and thousands of people streaming by along with ox carts, rickshaws, bike rickshaws, herds of goats, bikes loaded with live chickens, trucks, motorcycles, beggars, dogs, vendors, autos, and taxis. Very few people drive. In America we do minivans. I think in Calcutta the motorcycle has become the minivan of India. The husband drives, the child in the middle and the woman sits sidesaddle. It is spectacular to see.
We visited (first Americans) a vegetation waste facility. It is the biggest mountain of garbage I have ever seen. It is a compost-recycling center. We had come to visit the rag picker community, the people that sort the garbage. Our professor made the arrangements and the facility did not like us being there so they booted us very quickly. We toured the muddy roads of a rural community in an air-conditioned bus and sometimes the bus went four wheeling. The composted waste gets dumped out onto these fields were farmers grow crops. The interesting thing is there is no check for environmental pollution and there is tons of plastic in the waste stream. The farmer pulls the small pieces of plastic out like a farmer would pull the rocks out from were I live. The farmer takes the rocks and makes fences; the farmers have piles of plastic along the edge of the fields. One would not believe anything would grow in the soil by its physical appearance. The farmers live in lean-to houses and small shacks. The families are very poor and the children work the fields. The vegetables provide food for the many millions that live in the city. We were told 6 million people commute everyday into Kolkata.
I visited many Hindu temples, Catholic churches, and Quean Victoria’s Memorial took a couple river tours to view temples and got out to visit the home of Mother Theresa. I have a great Hindu temple story but it is too long to tell. Americans can be separated from their money very quickly if you are not careful.
My final story is about the people on the streets selling every item you can think of to the tourist. They press you really hard, follow you for a ways and let you know that they have a family to feed. At Queen Victoria’s memorial the usual people where there, the guys selling cheap plastic bangles, the post card guy and the guy with monkeys looking for tourist to pay to take pictures of them. The police clear them out very quickly as monkeys are illegal. My ticket cover for the memorial had a picture that looked like a post card. As we exited the gate waiting for the bus, the normal street vendors start hitting us up. They just don’t take no for an answer. I decided to try to sell my post card to the post card guy. So I approach him and started yelling, (50 rupees, 50 rupees). The look on his face was shock. He didn’t know what to do. I crept into his personal space and he backed off. Yes, I had him know I thought and I kept at him. He was back peddling trying to get me to go away. Then he realized I had pushed him out of the prime selling area. Then he got mad. I just turned and started on the Bangle kid. He Bangle kid had watched the whole event and was a little amused. I kept at him and kept at him trying to sell him my post card. He finally stopped, smiled and traded me one Bangle for my post card. Now I am on to something. I want to see what I can trade my Bangle for next. Maybe I can be like the guy the traded the paperclip for a house. It is a beautiful city; you just have to find the beauty.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Gandhi

July 10, 2008, New Delhi, India, (picture 1000172, Gandhi’s Grave site), Today was another jam packed day. I was able to take a quick rickshaw ride down around the corner to Gandhi’s compound where he lived and was shot. They immortalized his last footsteps from his room to the place where he was shot. It is a very inspirational place with a memorial and museum. The museum was closed but we were able to walk around the compound. Many people come to Gandhi’s grave site to lay flowers and pray. I never dreamed I would ever be able to attend a place like this in my wildest dreams.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

New Dehli

July 8, 2008, New Delhi, India, (picture at school, 100057). I have not blogged for a few days. It has been a very intense five days. Traveling in a third world country is not for the faint of hart. The trip has been really eye opening compared to suburbia back home. The five star Taj Majhol motel in which we are staying is about two miles from the Presidential Palace. We are in an area of many governmental compounds (gated communities) with many countries having buildings on the same street. Our hotel room looks down onto a gated community but the people live in shacks. I get up each morning and watch about a dozen people use the same small bowl like sink for washing. That is the contrast of India from extreme wealth to extreme poverty. The United States Educational Fondation of India that runs the Fulbright-Hayes program is a couple of miles away. We get transported buy an air conditioned bus every where we go as a group. We are on a very strict schedule that we have to keep to. We get up early and work late. The first few days were listening to professor’s lecture on the educational system of India. We got to visit the national science curriculum group which would be equal to our Department of Education in D.C. I am not to sure that the officials in Washington DC would give me the time that the India government did. Fulbright hooked each of us up with a teacher and we got the opportunity to go out and visit schools. I visited a school about a 45 minute cab drive away. Being in a large European car means you are a dignitary or rich person. My driver was able to drive on campus and waited for me all day. The students arrived via cars, buses, walking, motorcycle and rickshaws. I was treated like a dignitary. Each day school begins with an assembly in the court yard. Lots of drumming and chants start the day off. They teach the students how to meditate and to achieve their goals. It is a very serious and quiet assembly. Each class is lined up by grade (about 40-50 per class). Since the school is so large the K-8 grades use the court yard. It is amazing to see little first graders stand in straight lines with out touching each other or moving, for 20 minutes. I actually gave a speech. I was very nervous as I didn’t want to be the Homer Simpson of the group and start an international incident. The temperature was 90 with 95% humidity. The classrooms were something else to see 40 -50 students in an area about half the size of the US standard. A chalk board at the front of the room with wooden desks that seats two students is all that is in a classroom. I went from classroom to classroom spreading good American cheer. Giving out good old SUMNER pencils and taking photos. I hope I left a good impression. I am behind on my blog and I am in Calcutta I am off to tour the city.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

First Day In India

Today we landed in New Delhi at 1:30 am in the morning after a 8 hour flight from Frankfurt. I am with a group of 32 people with half being Math/Science and the other half humanities. Luckily we were greeted by flowers and an air conditioned bus at the airport. The New Delhi airport is not for the average traveler. There is one carousel and we waited 45 minutes for our bags. Once you leave the carousel you have to exit out into this room with about 200 cab drivers all trying to grab your bags from you. Luckily we had a local bus service take care of us. We arrived at the hotel at 3:00 were they had a red carpet treatment for us with a dot of red paint on the forehead for all. I got to bed around 4:30 am and was back up at 6:30. Two of us walked to the presidential palace (2 miles) the whole time being harassed by rickshaw drivers. We eventually went shopping (haggling over every item) via a motorized rickshaw, went to a Hindu temple, (a kid about 9 pulled a cobra out of a box about 1 foot from me and wanted me to give him money for a picture), saw some really good jay walking monkeys that had crossing the street down without getting hit better than I did and finished with a swim in a nice swimming pool with 100 degree water all before 11:00 am. India is beautiful but it is not without its issues.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Bats in Austin, Texas

I spent the last two days at the University of Texas at Austin getting to know the 15 Fullbright- Hays participants and listening to lectures on: The Economics and Politics of India, Hindi, Innovation in Science in India, Science and Religion in Contemporary India, Islam in South Asia and Art in India. I believe the most interesting talk was Mathangi Krishnamurthy's work on the Gendering of the Call Center's in India. Many educated women are entering the workforce as large numbers of call centers open in India. This new transnational industry affects woman's experiences of life and labor in India's newly liberalized economy. She played one clip of a disgusting mid-west radio station calling in and harassing the call workers. I have never felt more embarrassed of being an American than sitting in a room with people from other countries listening to an American radio jockey harass call workers to increase his radio station ratings. Want I took away from the lecture were the many parallels of women's issues in India with woman's issue in America,  since woman won voting rights. We ended the day at dusk watching thousands of bats leaving their roost under a bridge. It was pretty cool. We take off tomorrow for India via Washington, DC, and Franfurt, Germany. I will learn to put pictures on the next time I blog.