It's Antithesis!

It's Anti-thesis: The Foreign Registration Office
In India, because we have a Employment Visa we have to register to let them know we're here. It's actually kind of cool because when I go to most U.S. cities I see a lot more ethnic and racial diversity than I see in Bangalore. I saw people from many different countries in the office. Babies, the elderly, and everything in between. First, you have to fill out paperwork downstairs and that gets approved. Then you have to take more paperwork upstairs. I read this in a book and an Indian told me this as well: the Indian government LOVES bureaucracy. If they can take one step and make it into five, they will. And they will then not label the desks or give instructions. We were at the FRO from 10am-4pm (some had to stay till 5:30p). But this is the moment that I adore the kids in my group. Honestly, we had the best conversations about our lives, goals, beliefs, different governments, etc. It made it all ok. Sadly, 4 of us had our paperwork rejected (of which I was one) which meant we had to come back the next day.

For FRO Day 2: Yoshi and I go to our boss's house to get the correct paper work. Yoshi is my intern partner and he is wonderful and we're rather complementary. So, when our professor tells us we have to go into this strange city by ourselves and find this lady's house our responses were the following: I was soo nervous! Yoshi was thrilled! Yoshi has traveled around Israel by himself and travelling in a gaggle around the city is just not his thing so he was excited. It actually worked out really well. We had the nicest driver I have had since arriving (that statement is still true!) and found her home no problem. Then we took the METRO! The Metro is a VERY big deal. Indians take pictures of it when they get on. It's their subway system and it's air conditioned (I have never appreciated air conditioning as much as I do here!). Interesting note about gender: they are currently using the wand on everyone to make sure no one brings something bad onto the train. When they did to Yoshi they just did it in front of everyone. But as a woman I had to go behind a screen...hmmm.

One of my all-time favorite things about Indians: their very conscious about their energy usage. Example 1: their escalators are motion sensored! Yoshi was really excited about the ticket too. It's just a coin that you tap and they let you through. This is THE most visibly excited I have seen Yoshi all trip.

So back to the FRO (and one of my favorite moments of my trip). We sit in line and Phu and I once again have great discussions. Yoshi unfortunately, gets the run-around. The guy at the desk sends him to the other side of the room who sends him back. Then he is sent downstairs and they send him back. And then he is sent back downstairs after a phone call. Several desk visits later we are all approved. Phu, Yoshi, and I came back at 5pm to get another signature (and here comes one of my favorite moments). A white woman (an rarely seen species in Bangalore) was sitting in the office talking to her baby in French. So I ask her where she was from. PARIS!!! So she and I chatted in French. I was so excited that my French was awful. But she was soo sweet and telling me about her life and helping me with her French. Such a cool moment. She actually came to India while she was pregnant to be with her husband and the baby was born there. I feel this is very brave. If I'm ever pregnant I would imagine I would want to be in familiar city so I admire her.

Yoshi, Phu, and I are finally freed so we go exploring. Our big discussion topic was whether there's a bigger force (God, Universe, etc.) that has a direction for our life. We didn't decide on any answers but it was very thought provoking. It's nice to travel in a group that size and nice to have guys when bargaining with rickshaw drivers.


We went on the little side streets, checked out a homeopathic shop (which is very big in India), and went into an Italian restaurant (we couldn't resist). A very good Indian day :)

The Temple!

Fun Size (because I'm absolutely not offended if you don't read the whole thing)
1. Went to the Hindu temple! Blessed by a Brahmin priest!

The Temple
My first full day in India! We had breakfast which in India is Roti (flat bread), Dal (a kind of soup that you dip the Roti into), and chutney. We eat all this with just our right hand. Indians believe that the left hand deals with all the functions below the belly button and therefore, you should not feed yourself with it. The breakfast is very good but definitely not what I'm used to.

We went to the temple together which was amazing! The temple we went to was huge! Most are not this large. We had to take off our shoes and walk in an elevated sidewalk to the actual temple. We accidentally bought special passes which initially meant that we got the best spot to see the alters. The first level had an altar that was set back into the wall with incense burning and several other people praying. The people who did not have the special pass had to be behind a waist-level gate and quickly pass by. People in this line were donating money and putting their hands in a prayer gesture to their foreheads. Some people even lifted their children to do it. It was amazing to watch people but I felt bad that the people for whom this is a religious and devotional practice were not able to spend more time in front of the alter. Then we went to the next level of the temple which was another altar. It was a very similar set up except with the Brahmins actually fanning the incense towards the altar. The Brahmins are the Hindu priests. They are all part of the upper caste and are all men. They look like the men below except with a piece of fabric across their chest and the fabric is a peach color. The men also have shaved heads except for a pony tail in the back.



(Sadly no one is allowed to take pictures so I have no photo evidence of this amazing place). After each altar you go back outside and you can press your head to the stone and put ashes on your forehead. By each altar there is a flame burning that has been blessed. You put your hands over the flame and then put it over your face to purify thoughts. That honestly was my favorite ritual I experienced. We finally went into the   actual temple which was a huge room. The closest thing I can compare it to is a Catholic cathedral in that it was marble and ornate. However, the decor and meaning is very different. There are groups of people all sitting in the middle of the room on the floor with the altar in front of them. Since we had the special pass we actually got a blessing from a Brahmin. He was very nice and I found him very easy to talk to which was not what I expected. I always expect religious leaders to somehow be so different from me but I really appreciate when I can connect with one especially when it's so far from home in a religion I'm not that familiar with. We all put our right hand (quiz! why the right hand?) in a bowl with flower petals and he asked for our names. He said the blessing and then we repeated Hare Krishna with him. We then moved in front of the altars and watched the Brahmins perform the ceremonies. Then they threw holy water on us and it was really cool to be hit with a few drops. When we came around the other side, the Brahmin who blessed us asked where we were from and what we were doing in India (in a very friendly way). He explained to us that it is his belief that the temple is peaceful because there is no uncommitted sex, no drugs, no alcohol, and no meat. Cool thing about the temple as well is that they actually provide free lunch meals (Mid-Day Meal Programme) to all the government schools in Bangalore. This is a huge deal because school attendance is a challenge for the Indian school system and studies show that these meals increase child nutrition and school attendance. The temple also gives free food as you leave. They actually give it to you in a bowl that is made out of a leaf so that when you're done you just put it on the ground!
Found some pictures online!



The big room!


One of the altars

Oo! I found the link if you're interested! :
http://www.iskconbangalore.org/

I'm here!!!

Here's the SparkNotes version so you don't have to read the whole thing:
1. I arrived and haggled!
2. Indian traffic
3. English speaking??

So it's been a really long time since I posted so this may be a crazy looong post...we'll see how long I stay awake :) Also my thoughts are ver ver jumbled so we'll see if there's a sense of order.

It's been amazing so far! India is my first trip abroad. So naturally I acted like a complete dork in the airport when I saw how big the plane was!!! For heaven's sakes there was two floors!!! (most of you already know this:) ) I also had to give a quick shoutout to Anna W.- I flew through Frankfurt! So much German! But not enough of you! The stewardess even asked whether I spoke German or English :)

Travel tip: Never, ever land in a developing country with which you are not familiar at 1:30am. I mean it all turned out ok but really what was I thinking??? Totally had to haggle at this hour with a taxi driver (and I succeeded!). This is exciting for two reasons: 1. Drivers here love to overcharge foreigners (particularly white people) 2. Matt was with me and 99% of the time drivers won't listen to you if guys are there too

Let's talk about driving in India. First off, there are very few rules and fewer traffic lights. So they do drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver is on the other side of the car. Other than being split up based on direction of traffic there are no lanes. Whatever is biggest wins (except cows...cows ALWAYS win). And drivers let each other know where they are by honking...it's a symphony (cacophony? CULTURALLY RELATIVE!). Rickshaws, cars, trucks, and motorcycles all are VERY close to each other! literally I could clap the motorcyclist on the shoulder without stretching. This brings me to a defining feature of my experience so far: the rickshaw. The rickshaw is like a small car that is covered but has no doors (it's just open). Two fit very comfortably, three are cozy, and four you have one on your lap (we have done this several times). You have to haggle with the driver when you want one. Sometimes drivers will refuse you just because they don't want to go where you are going. A lot of the time they want to charge you the foreigner price or just a higher price. So you have to convince them that you want the meter. Then you clammer in and hope they actually know where they're going. Anytime we can't walk, we take them (so rather often).

Which brings me back to my experience on the first night. Rickshaw and cab drivers in Bangalore do not know where most places are. When you ask to be taken you have to give several landmarks and major streetnames. So as I'm sitting in the cab, with Matt (who by the way rocks as a travel companion) trying to mitigate my sheer excitement, all the differences I'm seeing, and the overwhelming terror that my body is going to be dumped off by a rogue driver, I realize that our driver does not know where he is going. Finally, he asks us. So to recap: now 2:30am. First time abroad. Lost in foreign city. And the driver and I speak very different English. So most people in India speak English. However, the amount they speak is a huge range among the population and often they have only spoken English to other Indians. It is not their fault that they don't understand me, anymore than it is my fault that I don't understand them. So, our accents definitely get in the way. We did finally find the place.

Phu was there to greet Matt and I (we were VERY hyper and Phu was VERY patient). 4 hours later I ate my first Indian breakfast which consisted of chutney, flat bread, and a light stew (so the Indian food words...I'm still working on them). Then I went to a Hindu temple with a small group of the GSE and Lily kids. This was a very cool experience and deserves more detail than I would give it tonight.

We are 9.5 hours ahead of Eastern Time so it's 1:30am here (Jet Lag, never will I underestimate you again!)

It's Everywhere!

So I found this website about social enterprises in Britain. I had no idea about widespread this concept was until I started this class:

http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/about

The website does a really good job explaining the concept of social enterprises.

Ah the Joy of Fundraising...

Hi everyone,

So the 12 of us are embroiled in the fundraising craze. I would just like to preface this by saying that I hate asking people for money. So just know that everytime I hand you a flyer or send you a letter, there's a little piece of me that's dying...That being said this is such a hard-working group of 12 people. It is not easy to all pick an idea and then execute but I think we're doing a good job! The hardest part is that any profit we do actually make must be split between 12 people (Oy vey). Here's what we have done so far:

1. Mocktails- The South Asian Committee kindly allowed us to sell mocktails at their annual dinner. We made almost $200!!! Phu is an absolute whiz at drink mixing and everyone else worked hard to help!

2. Silent Auction- Right now we are hosting an online silent auction! The students, faculty, and staff have been ridiculously generous both in donations and in bids! Here's the link: http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/3452/auctions/3841

3. Raffle- We are holding a raffle down at the Wooster Jam!

Thank you again everyone! You have no idea how grateful we all are :)

Also almost completely unrelated note: Kristen Connors (who in addition to being a wonderful roommate last year, is also a member of GSE!!) has a blog! Check it out:
http://kristenglobalsocialentrepreneur.blogspot.com/

First Post!

Hi all!

I started this blog for friends and family to learn about what exactly it is I am doing in India. A couple explanations are needed.

First, I will working with a program that was developed at my College. The program is called Social Entrepreneurship. The basic idea of the program is that individuals use innovation and entrepreneurial models to fulfill an unmet social need, such as basic literacy for all. If you're interested in learning more about the program please check out the Social Entrepreneurship website. You can learn about the program and past participant's experiences. http://global_se.scotblogs.wooster.edu/what-is-se/

Second, the organization I will be working with is called Hippocampus. It creates learning centers in India to support current educational infrastructure. The organization works with villages and individuals to take ownership of the center so that after 3 years it's self-sustainable. Again if you want to learn more here is their website! http://www.hrfindia.org/about-2/

Third, the name of  my blog is called "A Panda in India" because Panda is the nickname my dad gave me when I was very little :)

Thank you for all your support :)