Orientation in Ahmadabad

Orientation Part I

Orientation lasted from Jan. 20th to Feb. 9th. Within those three weeks nine AJWS fellows and three orientation leaders lived at Gandhi’s ashram in Ahmadabad, and for 4-5 days we stayed at a Dalit (untouchable) vocational school.

While at the Ashram…

Discussions

The days were primarily filled with discussions on either International Development, India, Judaism, cross-cultural understandings, and skill-building workshops. I was always blown away by ideas, awareness, understanding, thoughtfulness, critiques, and support that were expressed by my counterparts. It was beautiful to think that all of the fellows are here for a common cause and/or belief, yet we are such a diverse group that bring so much knowledge and experience. Sometimes I would think to myself, how did I ever get selected for this fellowship? I even asked one of my program coordinators why, but they said I’ll have to figure that out for myself. There was just so much exposure to new things, that it was hard for me to take it all in. The discussions always felt grounded and it would have been difficult to make any generalizations about the issues discussed.

Topics included:

Ethic Volunteering
Jewish Social Justice Journeys
Globalization and Industrial Development in India
Gender and Development
Dalit (Untouchable) Rights

The Group

The group itself is just filled with such wonderful people, so it was no surprise that we all bonded in no time. It was so nice to once again be in an environment where people could be honest, open, supportive, and respectful towards differing opinions. It was also interesting being, once again, one of two guys in a group of ladies. We’re all about the same age, in the mid-20s range. I found myself many times comparing this experience to my time in ADAMAH and Ukraine, but had to remind myself I was at a different point in my life in those days, and was doing very different things with very different people.

Shabbat

It was so wonderful to celebrate Shabbas with a group again. I remember while I was in Japan on Friday nights I would celebrate Shabbat alone, and think “Imagine how much better this will be with others”. While in ADAMAH I finally got the chance to have a communal Shabbat, and even though I didn’t always comedown for the prayer session, I could always hear the singing from my room or the kitchen (and the next day always felt different). When I went back to my family it was just me celebrating Shabbas again, I wasn’t going to ask them because they don’t observe it, and I believe there is a generational and denominational understand of Shabbat that would lead us to disagree over how to celebrate it. But at the ashram I was with some Hebrew hommies who are more in tune with what I understand to be Shabbas. Now we did hold a very long (at times painful) discussion on how to celebrate it, so we could respect and include all the people in the group, but by the time Friday night came, everything fell into place. I was especially excited because I bought some new Shabbas threads to “greet the Bride”—a white cotton kurta, a pair of white cotton pajamas. We sang some songs, read some reflections, and I got to read a poem by our Sufi brother Hafiz about appreciating what we have (which is exactly what Shabbat is all about!). I of course began dancing after Mizmor L’David, but didn’t seem to inspire anyone else to join in. Oh well! In the later weeks we met some local hommies at the Ahmadabad synagogue, which was built in the 1800’s. I found services to be difficult because it seemed like the cantor and people were “rushing” trhough the prayers; like they were just saying some like “the cow chews grass”. There just seemed to be no feeling in the words…so I just sang my own Shabbat songs, and connected in my own way.

Meditation Session

I had the opportunity to lead a meditation session while we were at the ashram, which I think is slightly ironic since while in ADAMAH I showed up for mediations about half the time. I had never lead a mediation session before, so I was feeling both excited to expose my fellow Hebrew hommies to a different way to spiritually plug-in and nervous because I had no idea if they would participate in the chanting. To calm myself I said, “What are you worried about do your best, and the rest is up to God, so why worry?”, and “These are such amazing people, who genuinely care about you. Why worry, since they know what you are doing is coming from a good place”? I made sure to keep the chants short, so that people in the room could have picked them up faster (there were six participants), and I gave them little chant sheets, with the Hebrew, English, and transliterations.

During the first chant I was so tense, anxious, and my heart beat felt like a taiko drummer was using my heart for a set; it was just me chanting alone for a bit then a few people began to join. After the initial “plunge” I became more relaxed, and even gave a “drosh, or story, on one of the chants. For forty or so minutes we chanted, or hummed, and then we ended with the option of silent mediation or Hidbodedut (a secluded vocalized informal/free style dialogue with God); I opted for the Hidbodedut. Throughout the session, I just felt such extreme energy following within, maybe it was do to my body relaxing after the anxiety of the first chant, but I think it was because we were doing it during Shabbat morning in the very room where Gandhi would meditate.

Free time

For our free time we usually crashed cause we were exhausted. But you could usually see a pack of us scurrying off to “Café Coffee Day” for some much needed/ well earned cup of Joe, a Jain-style pizza, and a chance to use a Western-style toilet. There were also many trips to the internet café and shopping. I made sure to rarely stay in my room, because during ADAMAH that was something I would do a bit too much, and it really prevented me from connecting with the group. Even if I was exhausted I would do something, I’ve done enough sleeping in my life anyway! Shopping was always a blast, not that I went crazy and blew through a bunch of money. Thank God for Sunita and the girls, or else I don’t think I would look as stylish as I do know (sometimes when I would ask them their opinions it felt like I was saying, “mommy dress me!)”.

Everyday Living in the Ashram

The ashram was not just a place we used for lodging and faculties, being there, at Gandhi’s ashram, imbued the space with historical and spiritual importance. Gandhi lived, worked, and grew in the ashram for two years. Sometimes I would think that if I was really focused in my mediating I might actually hear him; all I heard were the various honks and squeaks from the road just adjacent to the ashram. In the spirit of Gandhi, who practiced what he preached and emphasized the importance of “self-reliance”, we would assist at maintaining the grounds and/or facilities. This wasn’t a daily occurrence, but usually every Sunday and whenever we felt up to it, we would clean the showers, toilets, and rake leaves.

One day I noticed there was an awful lot of trash all throughout the perimeter of the compound, so I went trash collecting one day. I’m not telling this story to make me sound like a mensche, but because I was appalled to find out that in such an important space, people from the neighboring buildings would toss cigarettes, glass bottles, and various other little things into the ashram. Ramesh-bai, the caretaker and such a sweet human being, who was also helping me collect trash at a certain point, told me how he also doesn’t understand how people could do this, and he was ashamed of them. At one point we found an empty bag of bootleg liquor (alcohol consumption is banned in Gujarat), that had been thrown over the fence.

The living spaces were simple. I shared a cozy little room with the other guy in my group, while the girls were basically living on top of one another. We used outhouses, the toilets were squat style, and did not flush—not a problem for me since in Japan it’s still common to see squat toilets, so I got pretty good. For the flush we just poured water from a bucket. The toilet was not toilet paper friendly so we had to toss the paper into plastic bags. From what I have read and heard, Indians (and many others) traditionally would use their bare left hand to clean themselves with, which they would then clean with water (this is also culturally why Indians don’t eat wither their left hands). Coming from America which culturally has a strong aversion towards body waste (animal and human), I always carry toilet paper. Our showers were bucket showers; the water always ran cold, so we used a heating coil if we wanted a warm shower.

One Shabbas, thanks to Jamie L, one of the caretakers played with some of the fellows a game that he and the other caretakers would normally play (their all in their early twenties I think). It’s a simple game it just like badminton, except instead of rackets you use your hands to hit a plastic ball in the air. It was nice to be active, and be able to have a good time with someone who we couldn’t verbally communicate with. I’m not gonna lie…I was getting kind of competitive. Earlier that night Talya showed us a particular style of Indian dance; boy did I look like a shmuck, and I had such a great time!

A Digression on Garbage in India

(I am learning that there is a difference in how Americans and Indians view public and private spaces when it comes to trash, well that’s at least what the people in my office have been explaining. Do to demographic and cultural factors that exist in India there is little hesitation among average people to litter. Before the age of plastic, every kind of container made in India was biodegradable, and so it wasn’t a huge deal to toss something into an empty field because it would return to the earth. This tradition seems to have continued on even though plastic is not biodegradable; some habits are hard to break. It also seems that the normal way to disposes of trash here is to burn it, something I am having a difficult time dealing with. It’s quite common to see fields of trash. Compounding this practice is the enormous population, which according to the censuses, 1.1 billion people and rising (3/4 of whom live in villages). It is argued (and I’m not going to argue against it, because I have little right to critique a country and culture I know nothing about) that the government has more important issues to worry about other than trash. I do know that the government in Delhi passed a law outlawing the use of plastic bags, which is defiantly a small step in the right direction. All of this just gives me more things to think about when I think of America’s environmental culture and practices, and makes me want to become ever more “green”.)

Republic day/ Gandhi’s assassination

While we were at the ashram we had the opportunity to celebrate two national holidays, Republic day and Gandhi’s assassination day. Republic day commemorates the signing, and all the work that went into the Indian constitution. To begin the day an Indian flag was unraveled by Dave, he was bestowed the honor by Ramesh-bhai. In the ashram a primary school came to celebrate buy performing plays, dancing, and singing. Ramesh-bhai, we later found out, was not happy that Sunita and Dave, who had given speeches, mentioned that the group is Jewish. I never found out why, but I think it was because he was concerned that someone might come to the ashram and hurt us.

To commemorate the assassination of Gandhi about 200+ people came to the ashram to spin cotton into thread using the spinner that Gandhi designed in prison while speakers read Gandhi’s autobiography “My Experiments with Truth” in Hindi, Guajarati, and English. For Gandhi making “home spun” cloth was a direct attack on Brittan since the British would grow cotton in India, make clothing in Scotland, and sell the cloth for higher prices back to Indians. By doing this they would make a ridiculous profit since they would grow and harvest cotton at ridiculously low prices, and they would sell cloth to Indians, who had become dependent on British cloth. Apparently whenever Nehru, India’s first PM, who be arrested for civil disobedience he would bring his spinner with him and spin thread for hours at a time. By the time India became independent from British rule he spun enough thread to make a wedding sari for his daughter. The day before the group learned how to spin…sheer awesomeness!

Crime Watchers

Near the end of our time in Ahmadabad the group got a surprise from a local crime watchers newspaper. Apparently their offices were overlooking the ashram and they had been “observing” us raking and cleaning toilets, and “living” according Gandhian principles. They came to the ashram to give the group a letter thanking us for respecting Gandhi, and some of their newspapers. It seems the bulk of their stories deal with “serious” and “destructive” problem of orgies happening throughout Ahmadabad!

Obama’s Inauguration

Everyone wanted to see the inauguration, and there were a few people in the group who campaigned for Obama. But there was a bit of a logistical problem. The ashram didn’t have a TV, so the two options were to go to Ramesh-bhai’s friend’s apartment or to the Café Coffee Day (CCD) across the street. The problem with going to the friend’s apartment was that they weren’t sure if the TV would work, their daughter was studying for a big exam on the following day, and the inauguration was pretty late and we were probably going to be loud. The problem with going to CCD was that they said we couldn’t change the channel on the TV (this is cause they have a contract with a specific TV station) and the TV was on mute (this is cause they have a contract with a specific radio station that needs to be playing at all times). The group decided to go to CCD as our first choice. We were lucky to have Sunita with us, for only she has the ability to compel Indian bureaucracy to listen to the needs of people (i.e. she spoke with the manager).

Street Beggars

In Ahmadabad it was not uncommon to see street beggars. I’ll never forget one day I was in a auto-rickshaw at a stop light and I happen to catch the eyes of a beggar. I looked away as quickly as humanly possible, but it wasn’t enough. Soon I was being asked for money, which is usually a very physical experience (beggar have no problem touching your body, tugging on your clothes, or following you), but this one was shocking and got to me. The woman actually knelt on her knees and bowed at my feet! I felt like I had just been punched in the solar plexus, especially since the feet are considered to be a very unclean part of the body and to touch them is a great sign of humility (in a sense she was saying I am below then your feet). It was heart breaking to experience, but I never give money. Still, as the rickshaw pulled away, I still felt horrible.

This is a bit of an ethical paradox because even though it pains me to see people in such a deplorable state, and I have the means to give them money that might contribute to improving their situation, I still don’t give. While I was in Ukraine I learned a few things about giving money to beggars. First, it doesn’t improve the person’s situation; true it might fill the beggar (and their families) stomachs a bit, but then what? Second, when we give, although it appears to be an altruistic act, it is in reality a selfish one. This is because when you give to an individual you are not trying to improve their entire situation, you are really overtake by a mixture of guilt (“I am privileged and I am an unethical person if I don’t give”) and shock (“How can someone live like that”), and giving money becomes a way to “deal with” those negative emotions. It has less to do with the person begging, and more to do with you. Third, the beggar is targeting you because you’re a foreigner, and in their mind because you have the ability to travel you must be affluent and must have money to give. This creates a mentality of dependency on foreigners and those with disposable income to solve their problems, rather then finding a solution that truly improves their life, such as finding an NGO that deals with people on the street. I believe that rather then giving to an individual beggar, one should give to an organization that empowers impoverished people to create a life of dignity. As for myself, I am in India doing work that is working with a community to help themselves, and so I feel this is my way of giving. Is it a cop-out? Maybe in someone else’s eyes, but I believe what I am doing is correct.

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