Dreaming of a White Christmas

Okay all - heading home (Mass and Penn) for Christmas tomorrow for a very quick trip! Hope everyone has a wonderful holidays!

Risha

It's official - I'm in India

So I'm at work, trying to think of a creative and effective campaign strategy to get men to wear condoms and I start to stare off into space when something moving outside catches my eye.... yup it's a monkey. Not just any monkey - a monkey with hiccups!! Then I spot the baby monkey with him/her who is on the neighboring balcony alternating between staring at itself in the mirror, turning on the faucets, and sitting in the baby swing attached to the ceiling:)

This is much better than the nasty fat man who is usually in nothing more than a towel shaving out there every morning and clearing his nose onto the floor - ick!

The tougher side

To put the rest of the post in perspective - I should start with pictures of my home. No furniture yet but a christmas tree!

So one of the toughest things for me to deal with here in India is the poverty (the other is gender). This time around it's a tad more personal. I sat down on Friday to discuss terms of employment with my housekeeper and on Saturday went to her "servant quarters" at the back of the house to check them out and meet her son and mother who live with her. The quarters consist of a small room (size of one of the three of my bathrooms) and a bathroom. The three of them sleep on a mattress on the floor.

Her son is 7 and when I asked her if he was in school she said no, that since her husband left (or died, I'm not sure) she hasn't been able to afford it and started crying. So she spends the day cleaning my enormous house and dusting my closet full of shoes and cooking for me and doesn't have a way to cook for herself and her family. And she's paying a tutor $8 a month to work with her son for 2 hours every day.

Even more desparate are the folks without the small quarters. A lot of migrant workers here are in constuction and move around from building to building living in tents on the streets nearby. Since there's construction accross from the office, there's a new tent city. These are a few picts. Click on the one of workers for a bigger view - the men in skirts versus women in saris. I can barely walk comfortably in a sari - never mind heavy lifting!!

PS. The 144 days until the mall opens changed to 141 a few days ago. So far the count has reduced 3 days for every 30. At this rate the mall should open in 2010.

Meeting Bill Gates

So Bill was back in India last night with his wife, Melinda. He held a reception for people who are being funded by their foundation. Probably about 200 people in the room. I sorta got to nod to him as he passed by so I guess that doesn't really count as "meeting".

I did find out one interesting thing about him though. He isn't comfortable with the people running his foundation in India (called Avahan) calling him "Bill" so they've been instructed to call him "the benefactor". :)

Stop Cribbing!

My co-worker Meg and I were driving to lunch yesterday and there's this guy holding a huge sign at a major intersection that says STOP CRIBBING. I'm thinking, hmmm what is cribbing? Is it like sudden infant death syndrome? Is it sexual harrassment?

Then Meg turns to me and says, cribbing is british for complaining. It's an ad for a gym! Silly british!

R

I have a home!

I moved into my new house on Saturday, which coincided with the delivery of all my stuff! The piano arrived safe and sound:) Most of the other furniture was damaged but nothing heartbreaking and all the dishes etc arrived okay.

The house is really fun - and although I'm daunted by the process of buying all the furniture I'll need, it is fun to think about! Maybe all from the wicker store pictured? I'll take some pictures tonight but really it's just empty rooms so far. It has three bedrooms, each with a bathroom, a living room and a dining room. The yard I've already posted pictures of. It also comes with servant quarters and a woman, Tenzing (I'm sure that's not how you spell it) who cooks, cleans, shops for me. She lives in the quarters with her mother and son - I haven't met the family yet, nor have i seen the quarters. There's also a gardener. What a life! My first instructions to Tenzing was to make sure I never ran out of yogurt or bananas.

I'm making some progress on getting a car and driver, and I'll need a guard to watch the car, since I'll have to park on a side street. And then of course the car washer. I'll have a staff! Hee hee. So when you all come visit, rest assured it will be as easy as Delhi can be!

This picture is from the office. They are building new apartments across the street. Construction here absolutely fascinates me. Why are women not equal when they participate in all the hard work?

:)Risha

A few days in Mumbai

I arrived in Mumbai last night (Tuesday) and am here through Friday night to understand how activities are going "in the field". Coming into this city is always tough. Between the main city parts and the airport is a massive slum. When I say massive I mean that driving at 30 mph it would take you over a half hour to get from one end to the other. And so you see people living their lives; playing, bathing, fighting, working (many women here seem to be employed by stringing flowers together for garlands), learning how to mother, eating, deficating, sleeping, etc. You realize how rare it is that you see people actually living in the US. That sounds odd but I'm hoping y'all can tell what I mean.

In driving through the city today I saw a beggar woman and her child (probably about 6 years old) standing in front of a very modern and well-lit Samsung store that had a wall of TVs all on. They were just stunned and stood staring for as long as the security guards would let them. Straining their necks to see first the TVs and then the washing machine. Must be very strange to be left behind in this economy.

Speaking of the economy I've been writing this while travelling throughout the city because my computer can connect to a cell phone and get internet service anywhere. So cool.

A weekend in Gurgaon

My previous boss (now retired) held her annual Thanksgiving dinner Saturday. So I took Friday afternoon off to help her cook. I was just going to make pumpkin pie but then I had a request to make the pumpkin cheesecake I had made 2 years ago. So I spent the afternoon with her - she lives in a suburb of Delhi called Gurgaon. It's the place with all the call centers and megamalls. That combined with tons of bullock carts and bike rickshaws. Very strange.


Friday night I went over to my friends' new house, also in Gurgaon. They built a new house since I last was here. Quite extravagent. The guest bathroom had the EXACT same shower as in my DC apartment. The rest of the bathroom was better.

Then Saturday we had Thanksgiving dinner. Perfect. Turkey, stuffing. Nothing better.

Sunday, after spending the morning exploring my new neighborhood (Saket), Muna and I went to see a friend of hers who was performing at this outdoor market place. You will never doubt the impact of globalization after spending an evening with Indians singing "Country Roads, West Virginia" and "Hotel California".

There is one thing I forgot to be thankful for on my last post. Cafe Coffee Day (picture on left). The southern indian chain has finally opened up in Delhi with REAL filtered coffee. I predict this will vastly improve my quality of life:)

Risha

Happy Thanksgiving

I totally forgot it's Thanksgiving this morning. My colleague picked me up this morning and wished me a happy Thanksgiving and I was totally caught off guard.

I am working today (the pilgrims and Native Americans somehow don't cause a lot of reason to celebrate here) but my old boss is having her annual party on Saturday with the Turkey etc. I'm in charge of baking desserts and actually have had requests from people I don't remember for what I made 2 years ago. :)

So far things here are going as normal. I went to my tailor who is very excited that I'm back for 3 years. I bought the new Madonna album despite not liking it much - but it's only $6 here! Yesterday was a very auspicious day, which meant there were 15,000 weddings in Delhi alone. And because a lot of the parade lines (bringing the groom to the event on a white horse, preceeded by relatives dancing in the streets) block traffic, it was a bad day for driving.

Pretty normal:)

Okay so what am I thankful for?
1) wonderful friends and family
2) a job I love that allows me to experience places like Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and India
3) I haven't opened a peanut butter jar infested with ants in 3 days.
4) The ability to communicate so easily with people so far away. Bring on Skype!
5) I am not organizing a conference in the forseeable future
6) The inspiration that are my co-workers. With people like this we actually stand a chance in the fight against HIV.
7) That I figured out how to make Muna's shower work so I don't have to keep taking "bucket baths". I'm just not that willing to adapt.
8) The sign near my place that says the new mall will be completed in 144 days. And has said 144 days since I arrived. Every day can begin and end with a laugh.

Risha

I'm baaack

Welcome to Risha in India - Round 2:)


Arrived in Delhi last Wednesday night. It's surreal to be back, because it's at once both very familiar and very strange. I must appear different too because the rickshaw drivers definitely treat me like a foreigner. I don't even come close to getting a good deal.

The wonderful colorful saris are the same, the heartbreaking naked beggar children are the same, the monkeys and elephants are the same. There are fewer cows - about six months ago the government cleared out the cows by offering a reward to anyone who brought in an errant cow. It reportedly worked for awhile but they are slowly coming back.

I'm staying with friends now (Muna and Liz) but have agreed upon a place to live permanently. Very excited about it. The attached picture is of my soon-to-be front yard.

No great stories yet. Although I did get hit by a car already. The taxi we were in cut off on-coming traffic and the car slammed into our side. It was a fairly serious accident but no one was hurt, just a few scratches and damaged vehicles.

Now that this is back up, I'll work on more pictures:)

Risha