Chai?

Those of you who have had the wonderful opportunity of visiting India will know that they really are a nation of tea-drinkers. I’m a bit mystified as to why people use that phrase to describe the UK, because the tea-drinking efforts back home really do not match those of much of the Indian population. N.B – I really don’t mean to be stereotyping here, but to some extent it has to be done!

But it is not just any ordinary tea that is drunk, it is chai. Also please note that Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks taste nothing like what is drunk over here and I doubt that marketing concept rather a lot now. I assume that the people who drink that Latte from Starbucks have never visited India…anyway. Chai is a tea that is so sweet you can only consume it in very small quantities, and maybe it is this sweetness that makes it possible for me to drink it. As most of you know, I am a staunch coffee drinker and it has taken a while for me to adapt to the lack of black coffee in my life. However, chai has in some respects replaced this gaping hole in my drinking habits.

Anytime is time for chai, be it when it is brought round the office at 11am by Bimla, the lady who cooks at the office, at 3am on a railway station or in fact when you are on a train trying to sleep. The latter 2 situations occurred on my recent trip to Rishikesh – strangely enough and in their own way they stand out as memories from the trip.  I say ‘strangely enough’ because I’m finding it quite strange to write about situations involving tea!

So this week my fellow volunteers and I travelled to Rishikesh for a short Diwali break. The journey was probably around 12 hours each way and started at on the Sunday evening when we left the enclaves of the village we are staying in, Satoli. Satoli is truly a beautiful place, however I had been feeling that it is very easy to live in a little bubble here meanwhile forgetting that I am actually in India. I was craving some of the ‘organised’ chaos, vibrancy, colours and sounds that are characteristic of many of the larger towns and cities. We took an overnight train to a town close to Rishikesh called Haridwar and as is normal here trains seem to arrive into stations at strange hours of the early morning. Ours arrived at 3am and it was then our mission to find somewhere to hang out until it was light outside. We opted for the ‘upper class lounge’ and settled down to find something to do to pass the time. Thalia went to sleep (lucky girl she can sleep anywhere) and Sarah and I were left literally twiddling our thumbs (you had to be there!). 30 minutes passed and I then decided it was time for chai (anytime is chai time), see how I’ve adjusted to life here? And so what ensued for the next 3 hours was tea drinking and biscuit eating which left us pretty delirious and wired, ready for the holiday!

Rishikesh is a town set on either side of the Ganges river, lovingly referred to as Mother Ganga by many and is one of the holiest cities in India. It’s very popular with tourists, both Indian and from outside and the town definitely mimics this in its popular German bakeries, markets and restaurants serving Chinese, Indian, pizza, Italian, the list goes on…I guess I shouldn’t complain as it gave me my fix of good coffee, muesli, salad and cake, simple things please me. We spent time visiting different Ashrams and temples, on the beach and browsing the markets – always a bargain to be found and my shopping habit has somewhat been stunted since being here! It was Diwali on the Wednesday night and the town had been preparing for days by putting up lights and letting off fireworks – mainly on the street and from glass bottles, much to the delight of the young kids setting them off and to the dismay of the Rishikesh vistors that were deafened by them when they went off next to you (yes that was us). So yes I got to see my fireworks, but the real highlight for Diwali for me was being able to witness the special puja (offering to the gods) on the banks of the Ganges that evening. The singing, chanting, lighting of candles as well as the atmosphere was wonderful and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see it.

So after 4 wonderful days it was time to head back to the hills and the cold! On the way back we spent some time in Haridwar and happened to come across a bazaar. It was very cool and also busy as we were still in Diwali season. Everyone was out buying the traditional Indian sweets, which by the way I have eaten way too many of! But the one thing that I really must share with you (sorry to the boys reading this) is the wonderful bangle shops :p OK, I have seen bangle shops before, it’s nothing new however I had never seen this…so, as you can see from the photo below the shops have bangles in pretty much any colour. But what is really special is that you can get the store owner to match the bangles to the colour of your clothes – bring a new piece of clothing along and he will measure your wrist (with his hand of course) take a look at the colour of the clothing item and find something that matches. Now if that’s not service I don’t know what is. I’d really like it to be a new business venture…. 

Outside of the hours of 10am-3pm it’s getting pretty frosty up here, not good. The train back was also overnight and with the lack of the underlying smell of urine that train on the way out had it was a tad more comfortable, but I guess that’s what you get for Rs140 tickets – it’s about £2 guys, for a 7 hour journey. Yes, that’s what you pay for one trip on the tube. At every station, the chai wallas get on the train and shout ‘chai’ up and down the train. This is nothing new, but what was hilarious on the train back was the children that decided that they would mimic the chai walla, so everytime he said ‘chai’ they would copy. It was the BEST imitation I have ever heard – they had the tone of the different voices down to a tee and they had the coach (or was it just me in my delirious state) in fits. See the possibilities that chai can bring you?

However, all is not well in the chai world. After an interesting conversation with our health co-ordinator I was surprised to find out that in fact the consumption of chai could be one major cause of anaemia. It is said that if you drink chai after eating a meal then it will stop the absorption of iron into your body. This is caused by one of the main components of the tea used to make chai and so there is work being done to see how we can begin to change habits. I anticipate that this is a near impossible task – one because the habits of tea drinking are so deeply ingrained in the way of life here and two, because there’s a real lack of education and a presence of steadfast traditions and taboos surrounding nutrition already and it’s proving difficult to bring about change. But for the sake of the undernourished women and children that I see every day I really hope that some change will happen. I am still amazed at how the women leaving in rural Kumaon are able to continue with such a long and physically intense day leaving no time for anything other than cooking, working the fields, looking after the livestock and on occasion finding the time to feed their children. I’m deadly serious when I say this – during my focus group discussion a few weeks ago our health workers told me of instances when babies became malformed due to being left in cots all day while the mothers were out working the land all day or children of 1 or 2 being left to fend for themselves all day. This unfortunately seems to be a way of life for many living in nuclear families. I wonder if and how this will change in the future…..

So I’m now back in the hills for another 5 or so weeks when I will be visiting Hyderabad, I’m very excited. However, there is work to do, which by the way is going ok. As mentioned above, I completed the first part of my research into malnutrition before I went to Rishikesh. This involved holding a focus group with our village health workers and supervisors, and as well as getting to see the work we are doing on the ground it was very fruitful as far outcomes are concerned. The next stage of this research will involve interviewing families in the 6 villages we work in. Fundraising is also coming along and I am helping Aarohi with their annual fundraising events taking place in Delhi and Bangalore in January. So, I’m keeping busy!

Thanks for reading the update – now go and grab yourself a cup of tea (preferably with 3 spoons of sugar thrown in my honour).

B xxx

Things that cannot be described through the power of pictures....

This post is entirely dedicated to the stunning people and sights – things that pictures really don’t do justice to. It hasn’t stopped me trying to capture them and while they say that a picture paints a thousand words, in my case a picture really doesn’t do any justice to where I am.

Some of you may have seen the now frequent pictures I am posting of the Himalayan mountains. To anyone who hasn’t seen them in the first person, these pictures may look all the same however I can assure you that in fact they are all different. No day is the same here – the mountains are always changing, as is the weather and as a result you see different peaks and in a different light. Even after a month here I can sit/stand and stare at these mountains for an eternity. I have no idea what goes through my mind when I do but I’m just so in awe of them! Is this the geography inside me gasping to get out or just a person appreciating nature? I have to laugh at that because ‘nature’ and being at one with it has become a running joke with the 2 other volunteers and I. Last week we visited the Ashram local to us and the guy there kept talking about reconnecting with nature. It’s not the thought that entertained us, just the way he spoke about it and repeated the notion over and over again as if somehow we would appreciate it to a greater extent the more he said it. So, the mountains are the first thing that while I will try my upmost really cannot be represented in my photos. Who knows though, maybe it’s my lame pink camera :p Surely not though….

While I’m thinking about the mountains – I really want to go on a trek! Who would have thought it?! And I know many of you (ahum Edge) will be wondering how I could do such a thing in my stilettos – maybe I could be the first girl to try. Unfortunately, I’ve missed the boat for this year as it’s getting too cold up there however maybe I can fit one in before I return home – visa extension please!

Secondly, the night sky here is not matched by anywhere else I have ever been. There is a significant lack of light pollution and instead the sky is full of stars. While I love the London skyline at night I’ve got to say that it is nowhere near seeing the milky way stretching across the sky against a deep blue night sky. The week previous to last I spent so much time lying on our balcony marvelling at the stars – absolutely beautiful. Again, a photo could never show this and it’s only something you can experience in person. Personally, I think that the setting I’m in makes them even more stunning. Also on the subject of the sky, this week it was ‘Sharad Poornima’. This describes the full moon at this particular time of year – it marks the transition from autumn to winter. This week it lit up the sky – so much so that I didn’t need a torch much (a rarity here!) and that it seemed like a spotlight in the sky. As you may know, the lunar phases are very important here in India and there are some great traditions of what you should do when one comes around. For example, you should make a special rice dish and leave it outside so it collects the dew.

I’ve also had my own experience of the local beliefs recently. I’ve had a bad cough and so I’ve been given multiple remedies to try. One of which was a tree branch. Ok, so I say a branch, it was more of a twig, but still….a tree! Anyway, I thought I’d go with it as I’m on this open minded thing right now and you know there’s got to be something in it if people have been using these natural healing remedies for 1000s of years. For a short while it actually soothed my throat! Amazing. 

My list of ‘things that photos don’t do justice’ could go on forever and so I’m just going to share one last thing with you. That is the feeling of letting all of your personal space go. Being British, I quite like a large personal space and get very frustrated when people move into this without my say so. Fair enough, living in London and cramming myself onto a tube with sweaty city boys helped me to get used to this invasion but nowhere near as much as this weekend has. The charity I’m working with organises an annual ‘haat’ (kind of like a fair or mini festival) and they have a number of different shows. On Saturday night there was a mixture of dances from Kumaon (the region of Uttarakhand that I’m in) as well as a pretty cool hip-hop number (they could hardly hold me down!). I’m not trying to make a point that I’m in desperate need of a night out (I am), but that this haat brings together people from many villages. Since I got away from Delhi I have never seen so many people in one space – it was great to see the community coming together. However, on the downside was the complete lack of personal space. As young females we were relegated to the floor (which was fine) and we sat down leaving a lot of space around us, just like any normal person would do right? Wrong! Within 15 minutes we had children sitting on our laps, other women cosying up to us and the gobby young lads nearly standing on us. Goodbye personal space – this feeling is one that cannot be illustrated in pictures. You are crammed and claustrophobic yet somehow it's ok - you get caught up with everything that is happening around you. I think I am now over the need to have at least a few cms between me and the next person so when I next see you, you’ll have to excuse me if I sit on your lap. I’ll stop eating too much food now so I don’t weigh a tonne then of course it’ll be fine…. 

 Just re-reading this I realise that I've mainly focussed on objects and things, and have not even touched on the feelings and emotions you get from living and just being in this environment. Remember, you often get inspiration from those things or people who are right in front you and yet somehow glance over....think about it.

This week is an exciting one; I’m starting my research into child nutrition and am beginning by taking a trip to the remote villages that Aarohi works to speak to our health workers. Then on Sunday Thalia, Sara (other volutneers) and I are taking a trip to Rishikesh – the yoga capital of the world (apparently!). I’m very excited and as it’ll be Diwali while we are there I’m hoping that we get to see a firework or two. That’ll also make up for me missing firework night in November. So, I shall tell you all about the trip soon!

B xoxo

Epic

I’m officially in week 3! Can’t quite believe I’ve been away for such a short space of time – it feels like forever but time has also flown by. One of those weird phenomena that we’ll never be able to explain…

I feel like this week has been a successful one as far as work goes. Firstly, I had a breakthrough on the fundraising side of things (although time will tell how it pans out) and I also sorted out the fine details of the work I’m doing on child malnutrition. I’m especially excited about this project, both because I’m interested in the subject area and because I’m going to be able to see it through in its entirety. There are still some frustrations on my part with regard to some areas of work, however I’m finding diplomatic ways of working with things and also coming to realise that no matter how strongly I feel about something, sometimes it’s not best to blurt it out….. Many of you will know that I like to stand up for and share what I think, but I’m now thinking that maybe it’s not necessary of effective to share it on every occasion… could this be the end of the gobby me?!

This week I attended a presentation by some ICICI fellows who had completed some field work for Aarohi. They had visited 3 areas in the area collecting data on healthcare and there are a few interesting points that I thought I would share – some will be familiar to those of you who are familiar with development issues.

Firstly, there is still great scepticism surrounding the administration of ‘western medicine’ and in many cases they will only resort to this after they have tried every other method. These other methods include visiting shamans, herb doctors as well as carrying out traditional rituals in the village. This really interested me because it demonstrates that there is still so much belief placed in these traditional healing methods. They also spoke about so called ‘sickness from fear’ which is whereby people fall sick because they are scared of becoming sick. After performing a ritual it is believed that the fear will be removed from this person and they will be cured – apparently this has cured jaundice in the past…

This also relates to the widespread belief in cultural taboos in the area. For example, pregnant women have to eat very strict diets when pregnant and when breastfeeding as they believe certain foods are bad for the baby. The foods believed to be bad are actually those which are essential for a healthy child and the restriction of these in the mothers diet both results in both the mother and baby being malnourished and in poor health. Women are often pregnant every year (usually until they produce a boy) so you can imagine how detrimental the restrictions on food are on their long term health.

Furthermore when it comes to giving birth, the majority of women still give birth at home (although there are an increasing number of hospital births in families with higher incomes). This often takes place without a trained midwife or nurse present, thus decreasing the ability of being able to respond to complications. The fellows told us of a woman they met while conducting their research. This lady was 9 months pregnant and was still working in the fields – she didn’t know how or where she was going to give birth to her baby. I was almost struck for words when I heard this and demonstrated to me that while there is progress being made in some areas, there is still such a long way to go – especially in terms of education and awareness.

In other news, 2 leopards were spotted right by my house about 10 days ago. We’re now scared to go outside in the dark! I also did my first longish trek yesterday. I think it was in the region of 15-20km, however the first half was entirely uphill so it was rather painful. Yes, this is what I now do on days off to occupy myself….who would have thought it? It was wonderful to see a different part of the area – it’s amazing how the hills change so much in the space of a few kms.

Hope the update is interesting….I’m now off to prepare photos for a presentation I have to do in our weekly meeting about myself. Needless to say I’m having problems finding appropriate pictures because my main source is Facebook. Not sure that the office will appreciate my references to ‘wankered Wednesday’ and other such events..

And I nearly forgot – I’ve begun to introduce the phrase ‘epic fail’ to Uttarakhand. We were having dinner with the director of the organisation a few nights ago and I referred to something as being an ‘epic fail’. After explaining the meaning, I think he was quite taken with the so I’m now promoting its use. Epic. 

Any requests for my next blog post? 

B xxx

Education for all........

Goal 2 of the Millenium Development Goals is to 'achieve universal primary education' with a sub aim that wants to ensure that all children have the opportunity to complete a primary education. 

The Millenium Development Goals are a large issue in themselves, however it is not these that I aim to discuss now, I only use them here as an indication of how key education is for what we term 'development' (again another topic for discussion - one I'm sure I'll attempt to write about at a later date). 

Education is (according to the trusty Oxford dictionary) "the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university". Learning is often confined to the subjects of reading, writing and speaking (in your mother tongue), maths, science and if you're lucky an additional language. This obviously depends on the institution that you are attending, but I'm thinking very broadly now. In terms of 'development', education of the population is said to be one of the main drivers of change; improved economic prosperity, improved levels of health and sanitation, and overall decreased poverty are all attributed to improvements in education. I’m not denying that any of this is untrue, but I’ve just been thinking that in reality, education as an isolated entity is not going to do much for development in a region.

You may think that this is a bit of a controversial statement to make so here are my reasons why and I’d like to use the area I’m in as an example….

Education in India has many variants, however if you’re in an urban area you’re more likely to get a better education (as is true in other areas of the world, including the UK). The state education system here is pretty poor, and again the rural areas suffer the most. The area I am currently based in has a number of schools, however due to the geography they are few and far between and children walk miles every day to get to their classes.

Assuming that the children make it to school, the teacher may or may not turn up and if they do, the quality of teaching often leaves a lot to be desired – surely this should also be addressed.

As we know, content of school lessons is often set by national curriculum and I can think of subjects from my own time at school that I have never used in my 23 years of existence. So, if I haven’t found a use for some of my schooling, how can a child in rural Uttarakhand that follows the same syllabus as the rest of the state (and often the country) find a use in their area for what they learn in school? In my mind, for education to contribute to development, it is the content of education that also needs to be addressed. Making an education relevant to the specific needs of the population will enable them to use it in their every day life.

Furthermore, if there are no jobs awaiting said child in their area when they leave school, what will they do? They will leave to look for a job – maybe to a local town, or to one of the larger cities where the likelihood is that they will live in substandard accommodation  and contribute to the urban sprawl that is taking over the cities of developing countries (n.b. – one thing that I have noticed here is that there a relatively few people of my age). If they get a job, they may or may not send money back to their family, and may or may not return to the area in the future. So who are left in the area they grew up? Women and people who have a lower education level who then have increased pressure on them and thus negatively impacting on other areas of ‘development’.

Tell me, is this development? It’s a complex issue, but I don’t think education alone will make a difference. Of course everyone has a right to education, but as far as development goes, if there is no other infrastructural or economic development in the area the change it brings about will be negligible.

This may also sound pessimistic, and again that is not my intention and maybe I should have more hope or ‘faith’, but you can’t deny what you see taking place right in front of you. 

Now that I’ve shared my thoughts on that……in other news…

The weather is beautiful and the monsoons seem to have ended. I can’t believe that it is October already! The days seem to be flying past very quickly at the moment. 

I’ve been getting going with developing some kind of a fundraising strategy for the organisation and it’s going OK, the main obstacle being differences in understanding about fundraising between myself and the people who run the show. As you may expect, not much is planned and so it’s a bit of a shift for them to think about running an active programme. Those of you I used to work with will also appreciate my frustration when I mention the word ‘budget’ too….I’m sure you can imagine my problems there! It’s nice to consolidate everything that I have been doing however. I’ve also been doing a lot of learning and planning for my work on nutrition and growth monitoring of children – falling under the umbrella of their community health programme. I’m planning some fieldwork for later in the year – GEOG ON! :) 


Also, as so many of you have been asking, here’s a picture of my living abode - enough of a hut for you S? The majority of time is spent on the balcony which looks out onto the hills, and on a good day you can see the peaks of the Himalayas. Lovely. 

Sorry for the length and will update you all again soon! 

Lots of love 

B xxx