Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Friendship with Mudit and Shatabdi = Destiny

I'm fairly certain that I was destined to become friends with Mudit and Shatabdi. And here's why:

Last week I was showing Mudit and Shatabdi some pictures on my laptop. Shatabdi had mentioned that she worked in Orissa, so I decided to show them my Orissa pictures. When she saw my pictures of the Adivasi Mela, she exclaimed, "oh my god! I worked on the committee that organized that mela! I can't believe you were there! I organized so much of that!" She had something to say about nearly every picture. When I showed a picture of the entrance, she exclaimed "I designed that gate!" Several pictures evoked a "that was my idea!" But the biggest coincidence of all? I have a picture of the organizing committee's work shack, and ALL of Shatabdi's coworkers are in my picture. Shatabdi pointed to every single person in my photo, telling me their names, what their jobs were, and what she thought of them (whether or not she liked them). At this time, she had been inside the shack figuring out some last-minute logistics (and was the only organizer missing in my photo). She apparently emerged from the shack two minutes after the picture was taken. I was literally two minutes off from taking a picture of her. Insane. Clearly, our friendship was destiny. (Or India is just really small for a country of 1.1 billion people.)

You know how else I know our friendship was destiny? Mudit and Shatabdi first met at a work training session held at the Indian Habitat Centre, where the TERI office is located (they were trained in Delhi before being sent off to their respective field offices--Patna, Bihar for Mudit, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa for Shatabdi). Yup, I was in the same office complex as them when they met each other. Probably just a couple hundred feet away.

I wore a scarf I bought in West Bengal the other day, and Shatabdi, who is from West Bengal, said she had the same one. Again, destiny.

Destiny. (To Nadeen and Ellen: Beauty.)

(As a side note, I really need to make more friends than just one married couple.)

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Impossible Apartment Hunt

The office of my NGO is not actually in Shimla, as the title of this blog suggests. It is actually in a cluster of buildings on a truck bypass road in a place called Shanan (but Shanan is located in Shimla District, so I'm not a total liar). People call Shanan a village, but don't be fooled. It is no village. I'm fairly certain it only exists because this bypass road was built here to accommodate the hundreds of trucks that pick up apples from Shimla (apples = Himachal's biggest source of income). Aside from my NGO's office, a couple of houses, and two tiny shops that carry so few items they don't even have bottled water, there is nothing here. A village has history, has traditions, has people who have been rooted there for decades if not centuries, has a real sense of community (and that's why I love villages). Shanan has none of that; it was probably built 3 years ago when the road was.

The closest market is in Sanjauli, 30 minutes away by bus, and Shimla is another 30 minutes away. But the bus from Shanan actually stops on the opposite end of Sanjauli than the bus to Shimla, so it's a 20 minute walk between buses. So without waiting time, that's 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Shimla. But last week I had to wait quite a bit for each bus, and it took me 2 hours to get to Shimla from Shanan!

So obviously this truck stop isn't a place I want to live. I want to live in Sanjauli, the closest town with a market. A 30 minute commute to work wouldn't be terrible, and a 30 minute bus ride to Shimla isn't bad either.

But alas, there are no vacant apartments in Sanjauli. I have been looking for two weeks, and there is nothing. NOTHING. I'm extremely stressed out because (1) living and working in the same building is driving me stir crazy (I'm staying in a guest room here), (2) I can't even get basic groceries here, and I'm getting sick of the cook's diarrhea-inducing food, (3) I can't open a bank account until I have a signed lease to show for proof of address, (4) I can't start volunteering, taking Hindi lessons, taking cooking classes, etc until I know where I'm living and the commute from Shanan takes too long anyway, (5) there is no way to meet people outside of work in Shanan, and (6) there are no laundry facilities here, if I bucket-wash my clothes they'll never dry because of the monsoon humidity* (usually if you take stuff to a "press" (guy who does ironing), the clothes will be dry), and I'm running out of clean underwear. Basically, my entire life is on hold until I find a place to live.

And I don't know what to do. I've tried everything. I've asked my coworkers for help, bothered shopkeepers, even gone door-to-door. I'm at a complete loss. I feel hopeless. SOMEONE PLEASE FIND ME AN APARTMENT IN SANJAULI SO I CAN BE A REAL PERSON AGAIN. Thanks.

*to clarify: it's not hot at all, and this humidity isn't going to make you sweat. In fact, you don't even feel that it's humid. But there is definitely moisture in the air, because everything I own is slightly damp!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Diarrhea Mystery: Actually Solved.

My wonderful friend Alice read my previous post and replied via email with the following:

"Because I like talking about poop too:

Though your new friends' openness about bathroom practices is admirable, there are a lot of different things that can cause bouts of diarrhea, and various reasons people who grew up in a country where the water is safe have a harder time here.

1. Some foods draw water into the bowels. Undigested lactose (in lactose intolerant people) and fructose (in people who just consumed too much fructose) are examples of this.

2. Some people's bowels are irritated by specific foods. In some cases this may be due to an allergy, though it could also just be due to eating more pungent food than usual. Sometimes undercooked spices have a strong bitter taste, so if there really are a lot of undercooked spices being used, this might irritate both your taste buds and your bowels. This should vary from person to person, and also depend on what kind of food you're used to.

3. A number of medicines can mess with your system enough to cause diarrhea.

4. Of course, the water here is often contaminated with pathogens like E. coli. People who've had more exposure to these pathogens throughout their lifetimes are less likely to get sick from a small dose than a person who's grown up with less exposure. However, it's still quite possible for people who are born in developing countries to get diarrhea, especially as children. About 8% of deaths in India are from diarheal diseases, most of which are treatable. Tests of diarrhea patients in Indian hospitals usually find evidence of intestinal pathogens in about 50% of cases, though tests may miss infections in many of the patients whose results come back negative. So, I think the main cause of diarrhea in people of all nationalities here is infection.

Anyway, this seems likely to be correct--everyone I know here (with whom I'm close enough to talk about these things) gets mild diarrhea once in a while. Yet in America, it's somewhat less common. I don't see any reason to think that Americans are more careful about fully cooking their spices, and in fact Americans probably eat more uncooked food and spices... because the water in India is less safe."

Thank you, Alice, for solving this mystery!

Another Indian Mystery: Solved?

Another great Indian mystery:

Why does Indian food (sometimes) give people diarrhea?

I had always assumed this was a Western-stomach-not-used-to-Indian-food thing. But yesterday Mudit and Shatabdi, Mudit's wife and another coworker and friend, were complaining about how the office food gave them diarrhea. I was shocked. Indians were having diarrhea too!

Shatabdi explained why the office food was giving us diarrhea: the spices were not fully cooked. Apparently, in order to stave off diarrhea, spices are supposed to be cooked (according to Shatabdi, usually fried) before being added to the food. But the cook at work was just throwing in raw spices after the rest of the food had been cooking for a while, and with not enough cooking time left to fully cook the spices.

So the next time Indian food gives you diarrhea, it's likely that the spices were thrown in raw. But I'm a bit skeptical that this is the reason every time. After all, if one throws in the spices at the same time as the rest of the food, shouldn't the spices be fully cooked? I'm sure there are other reasons behind Indian food-induced diarrhea. For me, this mystery is not yet completely solved.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

India's Greatest Mystery: Solved.

India is a land of mystery, with many great mysteries that bewilder the foreigner. But one mystery is far more mysterious than the rest:

How the hell do Indians go to the bathroom without toilet paper?!

This mystery has plagued foreigners for centuries, since the arrival of the British, probably. Well, after 3 years, 1 month, 1 week, and 3 days (I first landed in India on July 29, 2007) of searching for answers all over the subcontinent, I have finally discovered the secret.

Indians guard this secret very closely. But one Indian, one of 1.1 billion people, let his guard down. Mudit, a coworker and new friend, told me what Prashanth, Angela, Anand, Pooja, and all the others refused to explain (seriously, I've been asking everyone). He described two methods:

1. The Pour-then-Wipe From the Front

Hold the hand you do not use for eating (so if you're right-handed, your left hand) in front of you, slightly below your crotch. Pour water into this hand, which should be cupped, with your other hand (you will find a small plastic pitcher in most Indian bathrooms). Then, wipe between your legs. Repeat as necessary.

2. The Simultaneous Pour-and-Wipe From Behind

Hold your non-eating hand behind you and slightly below your butt. Using your eating hand, pour water down your intergluteal cleft (a.k.a. your butt crack) from behind. Catch this water with your non-eating hand and wipe upwards. Pour continuously and repeat wiping as necessary (the pouring and wiping actions are simultaneous).

Apparently, the preferred method is #1, The Pour-then-Wipe From the Front. It's easier, more comfortable, and less messy (well, less messy in terms of water, I guess; I assume your wiping hand gets just as messy). Now, if you think like me, you would probably ask this next question:

But doesn't that leave your butt wet? How do you not leave the bathroom without a wet stain on your pants?

According to Mudit, yes, this will leave your butt wet. But the amount of water in your hand is minimal, so it's not enough to soak through your pants. Especially if you're wearing underwear between your butt and your pants, as you should be; the underwear will absorb the water so that your pants do not have any visible traces of your bathroom excursion. I of course asked if this was uncomfortable (I wipe my butt raw if that's what it takes to be dry, thank you very much), but it seems Indians are just used to this feeling.

And my last question, which even the all-knowing Mudit could not answer:

If Indians wipe their butts with their hands, then why didn't my TERI coworkers ever wash their hands after using the toilet?!

Mudit was just as grossed out as I was.

(By the way, he's also a bit grossed out about the idea of wiping with only toilet paper, without water. He feels that the water is absolutely necessary for proper cleaning, and to wipe without water just isn't hygienic. So perhaps it is the Westerners who have strange, less sanitary bathroom habits!)

And yes, this post means I'm back in India and back to blogging. More to come from Shimla soon!

PS: I apologize if this was a bit graphic for some. But you can't say I didn't warn you!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

India in Bolivia, Parte Dos

at Austria Pass, 5100 m

I've been back from Bolivia for about a week and a half now. Naturally, India continued to follow me around the country.

During my trek near Condoriri in the Cordillera Real, I quickly discovered that my guide Jose is a fan of "pelĂ­culas hindĂș." Yes, you read that correctly: my Bolivian trekking guide watches Bollywood movies. He knew Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol (whose name he pronounced as if it were Spanish: Kakhol, where kh is throaty; obviously I found this hilarious and kind of adorable), Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, etc.

Jose, my Bollywood-loving trekking guide

I decided to share my Hindi music with Jose during dinner. Not only did he recognize the songs, but, to my surprise, he also busted the bhangra shoulder move and asked "do you have any of this kind of music?" Of course I burst into laughter--how does a Bolivian know bhangra?!--and played some of my Punjabi favorites. Jose then informed me that his mother, a cholita, dances bhangra.

A cholita. Dancing bhangra. One word: AMAZING.

Some of you probably don't know what a cholita is. Well, you probably do know what it is but didn't know that "cholita" was the term. A cholita is a traditionally-dressed indigenous Andean (Quechua or Aymara) woman, complete with big skirt, double braids, little hat similar to a bowler hat, and sometimes a fringed shawl and/or a multicolored bundle around her shoulders (called an aguayo). Here's a photo of cholitas from Charazani in Cordillera Apolobamba:


Now imagine a cholita dancing bhangra. Just imagine it. And now you understand why I couldn't stop laughing uncontrollably at the image in my head. A clash of cultures so incredible, so unbelievable. SO AMAZING. I want to make a YouTube video of Jose's traditionally-dressed mother dancing bhangra. I'm sure it'd be a viral hit. (Jose, if you're reading this: I hope I'm not offending you. I just love the meeting of these two very different cultures, and I think your mother is fantastic.)

To keep laughing, check out these Bolivia pictures (none related to India, sorry):

Andrew and I enact the name of Lago Titicaca. Titi. Caca. hehe

Andrew and I are old ladies in a shoe on the Salar de Uyuni (the world's largest salt flat)

For more, check out my photo albums here and here.

In other news, I got my employment visa and I leave for India this afternoon!