Hydrogeology and Golpapur

---

There are so many great people coming through the campus all the time- Indians and foreigners from all over the world working on various projects in the villages. Getting to the dining hall everyday is so exciting because there is always a new face to meet and with each introduction I seem to learn of an amazing new project in the villages, an awesome graduate program or an organization doing really cool things with a new idea to help the world. It's awesome too, because from South Korea to the Ivory Coast I have not only been meeting cool people doing cool things but also getting to learn a little bit about their home and customs!

Two such new friends, Marijn and Roelof, are hydrogeologists staying here for about two weeks to train people in the villages to test water quality. From the Netherlands, Marijn and Roelof have shared a culinary tip from their hometown showing me how to turn every Indian dish into something sweet by adding jam or sugar! Besides amusing the dining hall with our strange creations, they invited Misha and I to go on an explorer mission with them last Sunday!!

They explained to us the adventure they were planning: GoogleMaps shows the earth in this part of Orissa as being darker in a western part and lighter in an eastern part, pretty much separated by a distinct line, they imagined was a different kind of rock or deposit from a river or the ocean. Armed with a large print out of the area, a jeep and driver from GV, and a GPS system we were going to figure out why. They tried to play it off as though it sounded boring, but Misha and I thought they were essentially proposing an exploration mission that would rival that of Christopher Columbus!

I could see so much potential for adventure and didn't dare pass that up! First there is the idea of a map in India: it's pretty nonexistent! There are some maps around, but no one ever seems to use them. If a map is even at all accurate, often people can't really orient themselves on it so explaining directions or trying to use one to get somewhere specific using our googlemap would surely produce some crazy adventure! Secondly the mission would take us through tons of little villages to see parts of the land I would otherwise never see. Also there was the whole notion of learning about rocks and water and how water projects are made...all things I have been wanting to see and understand first hand. And as if all of that doesn't sound fun enough, they promised us lunch on the beach at the end of the day!

So with excitement in the air and our explorer's gear in hand, we climbed into the Qualis around ten in the morning ready for a day of real, live exploring! The four of us and our driver, Babolo took up all of the seats in the jeep so it was a little crammed especially as we wound around the dogs and people in the streets. Mixed with lots of trying to explain to our driver where we wanted to go, Marijn explained to me so much about water projects and the science and engineering about how water actually arrives to most of the taps here. I was ecstatic all day long! I have been working around water- fundraising with BPR and now here, for quite some time, but something about seeing the projects and hearing about the processes from my new Dutch friends really illuminated the world of water to me.

One especially fascinating thing I learned during all of this was that for most water projects implemented in this area organizations hire a "water definer." Apparently these people bring eggs and sticks and other special objects to locations to find out where in the area there will be water underground. According to my new hydrogeologist friends, a water definer will hold two items in their hands and walk around the proposed site. The point at which the items cross is where there is apparently water. Well, the only exact science to this method is that there is some water anywhere really, but to imagine that organizations really build wells and projects in places where definers have pointed them using this method...wow!? Later in the week I attended a water quality testing workshop that the Dutch people held and I watched brand new trainees choose probable well sites with more common sense than this method seems to hold.

Throughout the morning, we stopped at a few sites where holes had been dug in the ground for random purposes and surveyed the soil. Marijn and Rudolph showed us how and why certain parts of the earth were red and others gray. We took pictures of the rocks and mine and Misha's specific job was to make GPS readings at each site so we could make a more accurate map to compare with the google image. Everywhere we went a crowd of confused Indians huddled around us really baffled as to why four white people were maneuvering around piles of poop to pick up dirt and take pictures of holes!

We stopped at one of the GV villages where our organization has a water tower and in addition to surveying the area, picked up about four new members to our team who were to help us navigate the tricky roads in that part of the region. So, for the next hour or so, nine of us crammed into the jeep and drove looking for differences in water sources and rock and earth colors. Most of the time we were going a different direction than we had planned because of road blocks and communication barriers but the adventure didn't disappoint in showing us great new things like long-tailed, kangaroo-like monkeys and all kinds of mountainous and rocky terrain from rock quarries to brackish water bodies. It was wild and fun and fascinating!

After some photos and marking a few more points we returned to drop off the extra people at their car. The villagers were waiting for us with sodas and tons of kids crowding around the jeep looking at us. Even though our communication with the kids was limited to, "How are you," and "What's your name," they were thrilled to hear us try to speak to them. Most of the 20 minutes we sat with them was just us smiling really big at the kids and them returning the gesture! It was such a fun morning!

The next few hours continued with much of the same, convincing our driver to take us down certain roads to spots we thought would lead us to a point on the map, making some notes and pictures, then continuing on. From the highway our driver turned down a tiny narrow street totally covered in foliage which eventually lead us to a huge lake. It was amazing that he could ever know that that tiny road from the busy highway could lead to the lake! There we took a water quality reading and got back on the road.

Our last stop was Golpapur. In the spring Golpapur is known for giant sea turtles mating and laying eggs on on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. Now in December it was still quite crowded even though most people are wearing winter hats and other bundled-up gear to combat the "winter weather." I try to tell some Indians at my office that it is freezing and snowing at my home these days and they are amazed that anyone could live in such conditions! Here it is seriously hot in the afternoons and we need fans most days, but to them it is definitely winter - phew, if this is winter, I think I definitely need to get out before summer!!

Anyway, in Golpapur we ate at this delicious Indian restaurant. We had my favorite, Paneer Butter Masala and another mushroom dish with hot, puffy naan. Misha also introduced me to sweet/salty lime sodas. These are just club sodas mixed with lime juice, salt, and sugar. At first I was leery of the salt, but the combo was excellent!

After the late lunch we strolled along the beach for a bit. We took photos and walked in the water and spent a decent amount of time hiding from people trying to take our pictures- as can be expected anywhere we go outside of campus really. Many times I felt like I was hiding from the paparazzi as people would very obviously run up around us and hold their cell phone cameras pointing directly at us. No discretion, just clicking away. Sometimes if it is a family or something it is good fun and interesting, but a lot of times it is young men and then the picture taking is just gross and frustrating. Luckily there were four of us to fend them off!

We left the beach and drove the hour-long drive back to campus. It was dark by the time we got back and I was so tired from our day of exploring, but I still had tons of laundry to do. I walked back to my room wishing for some coffee to push through the tireless task of laundry and, as if my day could get any more perfect, I opened the door to my room and my wonderful neighbor Gloria came by with tea and cake! I sat in my room sipping my chai and loved being an explorer that day.

---

Comments

[Lisa Moses]

wow
What an amazing day!! Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us. Your adventures are so incredible. It is so cool that you are getting to see all of these off the path places and getting to go on such awesome missions!! Where are your dutch friends from? I have cousins in Holland - my grandfather was from Harlaam (? spelling) and I have cousins in Krimpen a de Lek!!! I love you!!