Getting Around

There is no end to transportation options in India.  From trains to camel carts people find a way to get around.  The roads in Jaipur are usually packed with a mixture of ox carts, bicycle rickshaws, cars, cows, camels and scooters.  Here are my 3 favorite ways to get around in the Pink City. 

Baba Khan's Autorickshaw:  While Baba Khan speaks no English and I can rarely explain where I want to go, he always seems to be waiting in front of my apartment just when I need him.  And with that bright henna dyed hair how can I say no? So there's a lot of hand gestures and stopping for directions (and a cup of chai), but we usually get there...eventually.

Yusuf's Autorickshaw:  I have his number on speed dial and anytime I need to make a trip to a random part of the city for a field visit this is who I call.  Yusuf is knowledgeable and friendly...He's constantly helping me with my hindi, and never minds lugging my big yellow barrel around for a field test. 

My Hero Honda Motorcycle!  Gotta say i'm stupid excited about my motorcyle.  There's nothing better than having the freedom to zip around the city whenever you like.  Since westerners usually don't drive in India, and no women drive motorcycles, I get a bit of celebrity status when I pull up to my local fruit market.  Driving in Jaipur is like playing human Tetris with everyone swerving, honking and wedging themselves between the livestock and automobiles to find the best fit.  No one obeys traffic signs, uses signals or pays any attention to lines on the road, so basically my driving technique fits right in.  It's crazy, but I love every minute of it. 

Banswara Field Visit

I've just returned from a 3 day field visit to Banswara, the southern most district of Rajasthan.  The villages here are remote, and the district is over 70% tribal with more than 60% of the population living below the poverty line.  The small rocky paths that we slowly bounced down in our car seemed to be made more as foot paths than as roads, and in fact I saw no other vehicle in any of the towns we visited.  All the buildings had mud walls and packed dirt floors.  And there was no electricity or running water in sight.

I was invited on the trip by Dr. Kulhari who runs CULP, an inspiring NGO that sets up rural schools for children (many who have never attended school), and with the support of the community emphasizes health education and literacy,  especially for girls.   Over 3 days I accompanied Dr. Kulhari on field visits to 5 different villages where CULP has schools.   I had the opportunity to sit in on the classes and see first hand what an amazing impact the organization is having not only on the children but on the entire community.  

This small organization with a shoestring budget is  practicing all the theories and approaches that we study about in classrooms.  They are connected to the community, recognize the importance of focusing on women, and use a holistic approach to educating children.  I am sure I will be writing about this project again soon, as it left a big impression on me.  If anyone is interested in supporting girls education and wants an organization that puts every dollar to use I highly recommend CULP.

I also had the opportunity to see how the Wello WaterWheel would work in these remote villages over the dry rocky terrain.  While the women were at first shy, they were happy show me to the nearest well almost a kilometer from the school.  

It was a fantastic trip to an area I would rarely have access to, and 3 days barely felt like enough.  I hope to return soon.

Yoga Time

While I love yoga, you usually wouldn't find me at a 6am class, but since India is the birthplace of yoga, and jet lag had me waking up at 5am I thought I might as well give it a try.  So for the past week I've been waking up with the sun, walking down my deserted road (where rickshaw drivers doze in the backseats of their autos) and enter the courtyard of a small yellow building in a dusty yard.  Here in the open courtyard with its crumbling yellow walls and stone floor I spend an hour breathing and stretching with  a dozen middle aged Indians from the neighborhood, the men in their trousers and button up shirts, the women all in bright saris.  

There are no frills like most of the yoga studios I've been to in the US.  Just a few scratchy wool blankets and the sound of the parakeets flying overhead.  There's none of the usual silence and reverie, instead everyone seems to laugh, chat and giggle as we move through our routine.  All the instructions are called out in Hindi, until I do something wrong and then someone will call out in English "no, no...slowly your hands must touch the floor," or whatever correction is needed.

This morning I spotted movement on one of the walls and looked up to see a large peacock strutting around in its full glory....as we began to chant "Ommmm" the peacock joined in with a few loud "caws" of his own before wandering away with a swish of his tail.  

There is one practice that differs widely from any yoga class I've taken in the US.  That's the burping.  Actually it's not just burping, but a continuous symphony of bodily noises.  Belches, farts, caughs and burps are all there.  I can't quite figure out if this is a mandatory part of the class, but I'm still working on mastering this technique.

At the end of the session I walk across the street to my local dhaba (roadside stand) where the rickshaw drivers who are now awake have gathered for their morning chai.  I sip my cardamom spiced tea as we all nod our greetings with a wobble of the head.  Now it's 7am and my days about to begin.

Kachchi Basti Visit

This morning I visited my first Kachchi Basti (slum) in Jaipur, to see the water situation first hand and get  feedback from the community on how the WaterWheel can be used in urban settings.  The Jawahar Nagar Kachchi Basti is about 20 min from the city center, and is a well established community.

From what I could gather, the slum originally formed because of its proximity to the hills where all the stone for building Jaipur was mined.  Workers originally began living in the area to be close to the mining, however the mining operation has now been closed down, but the community remains.

We stopped the rickshaw next to a small group collecting water from a rubber hose that a man was rigging with a piece of wire and cloth (MacGyver style).  The group was extremely friendly and open and as always the children were the most outgoing and curious.

Government taps had been installed every few blocks, but the group explained that the water is only turned on at 7:30 in the morning for less than an hour.  At this time women from the neighborhood line up to collect water in buckets and pots.  As we talked several women and children came to fill their jugs from the hose, which apparently was rigged to get water even in the mid-afternoon.

I then pulled the big yellow WaterWheel out of the rickshaw and asked if they would give it a try.  After about 30 minutes I had everyone from 7 year old kids to 70 year old grandmas giving it push.

At one point Mhan Puli (an older woman in a bright green and red sari) showed me how she carried a large jug of water on her head to her house.  I attempted to give it a try but the jug was so heavy I couldn't even lift it above my head.  

After gathering lots of good feedback, and shaking lots of hands we said our goodbyes. I'm optimistic about the urban potential for the waterwheel and am hoping to visit other Kachchi Bastis in the near future.

 

Plastic Bottle Count

A quick note on the "Plastic Bottle Count" you see on the right hand side of the page. Basically I'm trying to hold myself accountable to the impact I'm having while I'm here. While India is a beautiful country, the roads are littered with empty plastic bottles. This is a problem I've seen around the world, and have continually contributed to. Since I'm working on a water project I thought this was a good time to try and take responsibility for how I get my water.

So for this trip I bought myself a niffty UV water purifying PEN and am attempting to leave as few plastic bottles behind as possible. This is easier said than done, especially since I'm skeptical about a little UV light magically turning my Indian tap water into safe drinking water. So the count is to shame me into following through. I was inspired by a great project that a friend in Portland started called Leave No Plastic Behind

PS The 4 bottles were all used when I first landed in Delhi and was too jet lagged to dig the purifier out of the bottom of my backpack. Just shows you how quickly those bottles pile up.

My Summer Internship

Rajasthan in the summer time....That sounds like a great idea. After all it's a "dry heat" right? Well let me be the first to tell you. 110 degrees is hot, very hot. You can be dry and hot or wet and hot, but it is just HOT.

So obviously my body is still adjusting to both the heat and the jet lag. I just arrived in Jaipur where I'm going to be based for 3 months for my summer internship. I'm actually really excited to be here (even with the heat) both because I'm ecstatic to be back in India, and because I'm working on a really interesting water project for an innovative non-profit called Wello.

So imagine those beautiful pictures from National Geographic of women gracefully carrying pots of water on their head. Now imagine that you have to walk 3 miles in the scorching heat and it can take up to 4 hours of your day just to collect and carry 5 gallons of water back to your home. Not so picturesque.

In their words:

"Wello is a a non-profit organization that manufactures and distributes an innovative water transport tool called the WaterWheel. The WaterWheel is designed to greatly reduce the burden of collecting water in regions that have limited access to sources of clean water by allowing 20 gallons of water to be rolled along the ground, effectively reducing the weight by 80%."

To see a project they did in South Africa check out www.hippowater.org

Wello has the potential of having a big impact in Rajasthan, one of the poorest states in India, where water is already scarce and droughts are becoming the norm. So over the next 3 months I'll be learning about the issues and challenges surrounding water collection in a variety of villages around the state and conducting a feasibility study to gauge the impact Wello could have.

I'm looking forward to talking to lots of people and learning as much as possible. I'll keep you updated on where I go and what I learn, as well as the heat index. So stay tuned...

Regards from Rajasthan

K