A little stability....

Hi from Ahmedebad........again,
Well it has taken me almost a month, but I am starting to get the hang of being Indian. Several people have laughed and commented on how Indian I am at my heart. It took me awhile to figure out why I was so disoriented, but then I realized....its because everything is different. When you get down to it, we are all just people, but the culture is completely different in every way. It took me awhile to get the hang of all the small things, like how to eat and drink and use the bathroom differently, but the big things as well, how to get around, how to feel safe, how to talk through the language barrier. I have acquired the Indian head bobble and now can use it effectively, am learning some words in Gujarati which helps a lot (more just to warm people up rather than actually to communicate), have learned to recognize the social cues for safety, have learned how to tune out the things I don't like (random stares and men trying to talk to me on the street), and have also learned when and how to trust people. Once all these things started falling into place, life has become tranquil again, even amongst the chaos. I also went to an Ashram and studied meditation with this Brahmachari last week and now I meditate every day, which helps to keep me quiet inside (and that helps a lot with so much noise outside).

So some adventures.....

Here in the slums, many poor people do work called ragpicking, which means they pick and sort trash to sell to recycling companies. Its dirty and dangerous work and of course these women are among the poorest Indians. The NGO where I work has a few programs to help these women earn independance and confidence and some money in a couple of projects. A few weeks ago, the NGO took about thirty of these women to the mega mall here (which was fairly large and fancy-western style). Some of these women have never left the slum, let alone traveled the fifteen kilometers to the mall. They were like children, going to Disneyland. We went into only one store, a wallmart type thing, and we had to break them up in groups and tour them around the place. We had to read the pricetags to them as most, if not all, are illiterate. They were given fifty rupees($1.75US) to spend (suggested on someone else). Most of them bought a bucket (which are used here for everything and are really handy) and some bought small items for alters. Then we went to the foodcourt and ate. This was all typical Indian food, but many of them had never had anything so fancy because they just eat mushed veggies and rice, their whole lives. THEN, we went to the Haunted house in the mall. It was HILARIOUS. These women have faced atrocious things in their lives, lived in fear or with violence constantly....but they were so scared of this haunted house (and so was I!). They would fall out of the door giggling and screaming and scaring the next group to go through with horror stories. It was amazin to spend this day with these women, who had never seen an escelator and who would crowd around one and take several minutes just to step onto one. It was like being with kids, remembering how to love simple things again.

The internet place is closing, so this will end short.
The other big adventure lately is that I took a weekend trip with the Anganwadi (preschool) teachers and their assistants to Somnat, where there is a HUGE Shiva temple. Shiva is the god of birth and death, and is really powerful. The whole experience was totally crazy as Gujarati's in general and especially women can be SO BOSSY. Random people will just tell you what to do and how to do it. So inheriting 90 Gujarati mom's for aweekend and being only one of two white people was at times too much. We were often made the center of all the attention because we were different and they all wanted to practice there very minimal English on us. But more than that, being hospitable and generous is an artform here, a very beautiful and meaningful one. They say "Guest is God" and they truley live and mean it. So they were also constantly trying to take care of and look after us....which was also a lot of bossing us around. It was great and fun and a whole weekend of laughs and goofing around, but it was also really intense. The Temple experience was really powerful because they have such strong faith and they would literally crush hundreds of people into this tiny space all to see the temple "pooja" (prayer, but kind of like ritual prayer) at specific times of the day. There would be loud music and chanting and smoke and smells from the insence and all these candles and prasad (offerings of sweets and flowers). The temple was also located on the beach and we all went there one evening. Going to the beach with these women was hilarious. They would get right in, up to their knees, wearing their Saris and Shalwar Kameezes, hardly pulling them up at all. Some people got in, totaly soaked, in full clothing (there is no such thing as a bathing suit....or the words please or thank you, which takes getting used to). But again, being with these women in such a new and wonderful experience for them, was a powerful reminder to reappreciate the everyday beauty of life. These women are not as poor, not nearly, as the other women, btu they arent rich enough to take vacations or go more than an hour or so out of town (if that). So the weekend was a once in a lifetime trip for many of them. I feel so special to have shared it with them.

Oh, and last, before I get kicked out, we went to a cultural festival where they had dancers from all over India perform traditional arts. It was really cool, and the neatest part was taht we got hooked up wtih VIP seating right in the front, maybe fifty feet from the stage (in this HUGE ampitheater). We sat on the floor on cushions and felt like royalty. It was so fun, the costumes were beautiful, the dances were interesting and the best part, ALL THE MUSIC WAS LIVE!

I will be extending my stay here, but I am not sure for how long. I will let you know when I know. Lots of love...............Sarah

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