Taste of Nagaland

Today I got a chance to visit a church in South Delhi. It was an ethnic church called Delhi Ao Naga Church and its composition is mostly people from the state of Nagaland out in the northeast section of India. I got connected with a friend called Meron who knows Panger and Ren, whom I met back in New Jersey before departing. After the service, people would joke around because the darkness of my skin made me look like I was from Nagaland as well. Too bad they could tell exactly where I was from when I started speaking. I'm glad I got a chance to see a different culture right in front of my eyes. People have always talked about how multicultural India is with all of its people groups, religions, and practices but after roaming the streets for a couple of days it hasn't been as easy as I would have thought to break cultural barriers and get into the lives of the people here. Today was a little different, and I'm glad I got a glimpse into the pride and lives of people from Nagaland.

After church, a couple of us took a bus out into a busy south Delhi neighborhood. It was a market, and we walked through for a while, dodging oncoming cars and rickshaws, yielding to cows, and trying to avoid the oncoming rains. I had a chance to try out a sugarcane drink that is made by taking fresh sugarcane and running it through a grinder. I was surprised how the taste wasn't overwhelmingly sweet, it was actually quite refreshing. That, and my stomach seems to be holding it down alright so far. For dinner, one of the sisters at the church rushed home ahead of us and cooked a traditional Naga dinner - we had a pork belly dish, fish curry, salad, and a vegetable called "ladies finger." It was all tasty and slightly different of a flavor from everything that I've been having these past couple of days, but it definitely didn't fall in the spiciness factor!

Tomorrow, I'm starting my first full week of work. I'm looking forward to cutting my commute time from a one hour walk to the twenty minute walk that it's supposed to be!


The man operating the sugarcane grinder-machine


On the streets of Delhi at night


The view from the apartment we ate at

Saturday in Delhi

Yesterday, I had my first day of work at the Public Health Foundation of India. We started the day with my boss explaining the vision of PHFI as well as laying out some guidelines regarding my work and how it would be playing out over the next seven weeks or so. There are a couple of American interns here and overall the people working in the office are relatively young, so it was reassuring to be able to interact with people in a relaxed and joking way. I got to meet Dr. Srinath Reddy, which was a goal of mine coming in. Dr. Reddy is the president of PHFI and is someone I have followed since earlier this year because of his work not only in PHFI but also in the public health field. I would have to say that after one day I'm definitely looking forward to working here at PHFI over the next seven weeks or so.

After work, I decided to avert jet-lag by buying a map and trying to walk back to my office (I had been driven home by my boss' driver and was assured that my apartment was walking distance). When I heard "walking distance" I was definitely thinking something like "down the road" or "around the corner." It took me about 30 minutes to get back to my office (after taking a 30 minute detour in the wrong direction). To get back home, I decided to give the auto-rickshaws a try. They are these three-wheeled green and yellow bug looking vehicles that screech along the road with nasally horns. Even though I had been feeling slightly apprehensive toward getting into any sort of motor vehicle after my first taxi ride from the airport, I decided to give it a try because walking around Delhi is probably just as dangerous, if not more. The ride was filled your typical near-hits and close calls, but that's driving in Delhi, right?

Today I got a chance to sight see a little bit with one of the interns at PHFI. We met up a bazaar type place called Dilli Hat in south Delhi. I was told that this was one of the must sees of Delhi because it has a food court area with eats from nearly every state in India. We had lunch from a store that sold food from Uttar Pradesh, one the states in the northwest that is very close to New Delhi. Afterwards, we got to check out the Qutb Minar, which is the tallest brick minaret in the world. It was cool being able to check out a symbol of Indo-Islamic architecture. I got a chance to talk to some people around the area, who were very interested in my friend and I because we were foreigners. The brief conversations we had brought back a lot of memories from when I would walk the streets in China. I got to meet a child and his brother, who I think were homeless and were going around offering shoe shines. I also got to meet a couple of guys who loved American culture, especially Keira Knightley. We exchanged little things back forth, trading English phrases for Hindi ones. They even wrote their names in Hindi in my notebook. I showed them my Hindi name in return (डेविड ली). Coming back, we hit the rains came which conveniently cooled off the weather, which is another sign that monsoon season is here!


People fighting through the rain

Arrived Safely

Hello everyone.

After a smooth thirteen hour flight over Europe, I arrived safely into Indira Gandhi Airport. Getting a taxi was definitely a new experience. I was told to go to a pre-paid taxi booth and pay for my fare before finding a driver so that I would get a fair deal. Within five minutes of stepping out of the baggage claim area, I was swarmed by several people wanting to drive me to my apartment. After fighting through an ambiguous line of people wanting a taxi fare, I finally made my way into Taxi 2519 and was off on my journey.

The ride from the airport was intense. Roads were bumpy and "staying in your lane" and "signaling" were non-existent. My driver's taxi didn't even have side mirrors! Along the way, I got a small glimpse of street life in New Delhi, with a lot of stray dogs running around, cows roaming at free will, and people hanging out or sleeping on the streets. I have no idea how my driver found my apartment because I couldn't find any visible street signs besides one's directing us to the big roads and intersections. After a thirty minute ride and several stops for directions, I made it home.

Today I awoke to a servant named Ramu who brought me coffee and biscuits in the morning. Haresh, the man who owns and lives in the apartment with me, took me for a ride and dropped me off in a neighborhood park for a morning walk. Now I'm getting ready for my boss at the Public Health Foundation of India, who's coming to pick me up at 9:30.

Until next time!

A Little Dream That Started 10 Months Ago...

After I came back from China last summer, I remember being inspired in wanting to see other parts of the world. As I was riding in one of my friend's car right before school started, I was telling him about this source of funding that I had found from the Center for South Asian Studies that was funding students to go to India the following summer in 2008. His response? "I work there."

Sometime later on during Welcome Week, I was at Escapade with some friends at the Michigan Union, which is basically a huge event hosted primarily for freshmen allowing them to get different tastes for student life and culture on campus. There was a room that had booths set up with different Asian languages and their representatives stationed around them. The point of the room was to write a single phrase five times in different languages. I ended up writing my phrase "where is the bathroom" in Hindi, Filipino, Viet, Korean, and Thai. After finishing, I placed my name card in a raffle that was to be held later on that night. The prizes? Michigan shirts that had MICHIGAN written out in a respective South Asian language. After pondering over the chance to go to India for the summer of 2008 that week, I was excited to enter my name and hopefully be one of the lucky people that had their card chosen. Later that night, my name was the first one called and I excitedly picked up my MICHIGAN in Hindi shirt. It was the start of a small dream that turned has turned into a realization of many of the things in life that I've found myself passionate about.

Well, that small dream that started about ten months ago is about to open itself up to reality. I've got my camera, journal, and gift boxes of Taiwanese tea packed, and feeling slightly anxious but definitely charged up to go. After a non-stop sixteen hour flight tonight, I'm sure I'll already have stories to share.

Here goes nothing.

Ceramics

One of the aspects of the trip that I was really excited for aside from work at PHFI was the chance to experience the culture of the people. When I was home last in April, I decided to pay my old high school ceramics teacher a visit after a random connection came into mind when thinking of experiencing Indian culture: why couldn't I combine this desire with my high school hobby of making pots? After all, my teacher Dr. Feder was a huge advocate for cultural ceramics and understanding the history and stories of cultures and people groups through their artwork. We had a great conversation and he told me to drop in when I was home next.

Today, I stopped in and got a chance to work in the studio again for the first time in three years. It was awesome feeling the clay running through my fingers - kind of therapeutic actually. My brother and I traded work time for labor time, with one of us working and the other cleaning the studio or doing something called "pugging" which is part of the clay recycling process. My brother and I ended up having a competition with each other, seeing who could throw a higher cylinder (I won by a long shot!).

One of the words of wisdom Dr. Feder passed along that I thought would be useful for trip was the idea of going out of my way to make myself welcome in a foreign place. He shared about how in certain ceramic arenas, the student/teacher relationship played itself out with the student having to work for at least year doing nothing more than sweeping and cleaning the studio. Then, he/she might be able to work in recycling clay and then one day be able to work with the clay itself. Essentially, the apprentice would have to go out of their way to earn the trust of the teacher. After hearing these stories, I'm thinking now that as I prepare to step into some new arenas in a couple days, that I should really take the extra initiative to help out around the place and go above and beyond in terms of showing my desire to be there. Especially if one of these arenas turns out to be a ceramics studio. Doing so will really communicate a message that I would probably be at loss to say in words.

I am leaving tonight!

Here are some pictures from the day:


My brother (Kevin) hard at work


My best piece of the day (going to go finish it tomorrow)


My brother, Dr. Feder, and I

Home in Jersey

I've departed from Ann Arbor and am currently home in New Jersey. Since I likely would have had to fly out to one of the big cities on the east coast or a city like Chicago en route to India, I figured making a stop at home beforehand would be nice. I'll be spending these last couple of days taking care of some things like buying traveler's checks, figuring out where I'm going to live, and spending time with family and old friends.

Last night, I got to meet up with an Indian couple that are currently students at Princeton Theological Seminary. I was actually surprised at first because as I drove into their residential area I actually drove right past their family without considering that they would be the people that I was meeting. This was because outwardly, they didn't resemble the Indian people that I would be accustomed to seeing . As we talked more and more they shared about their background, and how they are from the Nagaland state, which is in the strip of India that hangs over Bangladesh and borders China and Burma. They shared about how Nagaland and many other states in that area have a greater diversity of Chinese and other ethnic groups, which is probably why I didn't initially recognize them as being "Indian."

It was cool being able to speak with them about what I was doing and how their experiences in India were previously. Ren, the wife, lived in Delhi for a long period of time, and Panger, the husband, also spent some time in Bangalore, where I'll be going for a week in July. They shared on some insights that would be helpful for my time there - things like basic Hindi, places I definitely have to check out, and some everyday mannerisms that I'll have to get used to like which side of the road people drive on and which way the light switches turn.

I'm thankful for their input - as I'm getting closer to leaving and setting foot on the ground alone, I'm really anxious to get as much input as possible for anything to expect once I'm there! They've also connected me with some of their friends who are either working and/or studying at universities in Delhi for anything that I might need once I arrive.


3 more days!

Meeting the People Where They Are

Aside from working full time everyday, one of the different aspects of my trip that I am very excited about is the everyday interaction with people - both inside and outside of the workplace. Last summer, I had the privilege of spending a little under a month in China. Knowing a little bit of the Chinese language, I was able to strike up some conversations here and there with the people that I ran into in different areas. Coming into the trip, I didn't have too many expectations when it came to random, side conversations that started spontaneously. Looking back, however, I came to realize these exchanges with people contributed greatly to the memories embedded in my mind during the my month long sojourn throughout China.

One of most impactful experiences of meeting with people and having random on-spot-exchanges came as I took a train from the Shanghai out into the western part of the country. The circumstances around our cross-country journey were unlike anything I'd ever experienced living in America. Imagine a three day long journey sitting in a plastic bucket seat, with no shower, no bed, and only enough food that you could bring on with two hands before the train departed from our origin city. What set the train ride apart even more from a ride in America was that people had the option of buying "standing room" seats in which any 3X3 space on the train was fair game for parking one's belongings and body for the duration of the trip. Putting all these factors together, the three day long journey ended up consisting of me waking up with people's faces by my feet, bathroom excursions jumping over dozens of people, and little kids poking their faces over my seat in curiosity of all the American people that looked so out of place.

A three day long journey also afforded a lot of time for conversation. I remember sitting across from two college students who were heading home after a long year of police academy. We exchanged hobbies, favorite music, favorite basketball team (their's was the Houston Rockets, of course), and other mutual interests that college students would be interested in. We met a couple families that were heading back to their home provinces and shared in the laughter and conversation with random kids and couples.

One of the greatest lessons taken away from the trip came in the shift of perspective that occurred throughout the three day journey. For myself and many of the people that I was with, it was so easy to focus on the lack of normal "amenities" that we often taken for granted in America, things like an everyday shower, food at moment's notice, or even a bed to sleep on every night. Even for us American students, traveling such a distance would usually be done on a five hour flight, not a 48 hour overnight train ride. It would be inconceivable to not even buy a seat on the train.

But the fact of the matter is, what we experienced on that 48 hour train ride was life for the majority of Chinese people. Flying within the country is simply not an option for much of the population. As I journaled somewhere in the middle of the second or third day, I remember writing that I should not judge the circumstances of our train ride and the reality of life for the majority of people on the train through the worldview of my American background.

And that's my hope for this upcoming trip to India: to be able to meet the people where they are and embrace the cultural and everyday realities that they have to deal with on an everyday basis. I'm hoping that my reactions will not be driven by an egotistical American attitude, but that I would learn to embody all of the stories, experiences, and worldviews of the people that I meet, whether it be in the workplace or randomly on the street.



"Hello! My name is Bobby (one of the guys I was with)"



"Joking around with one of the kids"