Some Random Thoughts...

Now, I mean no disrespect when I write this.. but India can drive a person crazy. It is certainly a country of extremes; from the most minute detail to overwhelming stereotypes. For example, tastes and flavors... the sweets are pure sugar; the savory items, pure salt. The spice is legendary. The sounds...car horns, engines rumbling, trains, cows, birds, aunties yelling, all work together to form a cacophony of intense proportions. The disparity between the rich and poor can be seen in the hollow eyes of disabled beggars disregarded by the paunchy businesspeople of the burgeoning middle class. The gender roles are overtly apparent; women are portrayed as lustful, powerful objects in movies but cannot even sit among the men who drink in bars. At the very least, these establishments could broadcast sports (i.e. the World Cup games) in the “family sections,” where we lady-folk have to sit. But I digress... my point here is that actually getting work done in such an overwhelming environment is difficult. But, if you don’t take the time to consciously relax, breath, and laugh at the ridiculousness of your situation, you will certainly fall victim to stress and panic attacks. Maybe this is why India is the birthplace of meditation...

The sensory extremes and social contradictions are what make work here hilarious (or, if you haven’t meditated, extremely annoying). For example, we remarked at how this economy is one of the fastest growing in the world but still workers take 2 hour lunches, offices are inconsistently open, meetings are never on time, broken sidewalks show us glimpses of partially-open sewers, and the issue of open defecation has yet to be solved. I’m beginning to think that many problems we view as systemic are, in fact, policy issues. Perhaps not at the policy-making level, but more so at the implementation level. An office manager at the Block Education Office nervously laughed, smiled, and shrugged when we asked him where all the money allocated for the government schools goes; a subtle nod to some inconsistencies in the system.

Our first goal is to accurately document the biggest challenges faced by NGOs and local governments in this region. This is proving to be an interesting feat for our team. Although the need for development is greatly publicized, many people are reluctant to admit that there are serious issues and inconsistencies in the area. My take-away from all this is that it’s going to take some serious tenacity and digging on our part to unearth some of the root causes of the income gap, poor public education, inadequate access to healthcare, and lack of income-generating opportunities. True, we cannot expect to change the way social policy is shaped here... but we can work together to address issues that policy alone cannot resolve.

Here is a little test-video I made to practice editing... all the footage is from our flip-cams (graciously loaned out by the Stevens Institute). Apologies for the shaky video!

~ Saru