Last days

Cows regulating traffic, cops begging for money, 4-headed families squeezed on a motorcycle, strangers asking permission to take your photo, street vendors arguing about prices, rickshaw drivers changing prices, being constantly surrounded by insects, eating spicy for breakfast, tripping over potholes at least once a day, the smell of incense and the taste of masala, rickshaws replacing school buses, shaking head sideways to indicate "yes," elephants crossing the street, getting soaked by sudden monsoon rain, waiting for others, waiting in a van for two hours in the middle of the city, getting locked in the house, lacking privacy and personal space, women in beautiful saris riding motorcycles, praying to survive in traffic, waking up from the yells of the tomato man....

...These are just some memories I have made during the last weeks. This has been a lifetime opportunity and I'm thankful to have finally experienced the Indian culture myself.
Some of the IHDUA members took me out to lunch yesterday and gave me a present afterwards- a nicely-decorated wooden box. In the evening, we had our farewell dinner and welcomed a new intern. This morning, we went out for breakfast and the other girls left for school.
Most of the girls are leaving tomorrow and I will leave Monday morning. Unfortunately, my plane won't leave until Tuesday morning, so I have to wait at the Bangalore airport for about 10 hours. From there, I have a nine hour flight to Paris, a six hour break, and another nine hour flight back to the States. I should probably buy some books.

Goodbye India.

Angel Card

I am feeling well again and am ready for my last day of work. I will turn in my last two articles today, which are scheduled to get published this weekend.

Yesterday, I never got picked up for work, nor did anyone call. I found out today that the person who was supposed to pick me up got something stolen yesterday and spent the day at the police station.

In the afternoon, two girls and I went to get our Tarot card readings. I don't believe in fortune telling, but the other girls went during the first weeks and truly believe in it. Since Tarot is very popular in India, I wanted to experience it as well.

Apparently, I am very troubled and certain spheres in my life have a lot of problems (Disagree).
Instant love affairs don't work for me and my mother has someone in mind for me (Uh?). The lady said that I'm susceptible to infections and I should take care of my health (Good point). My mother has a strong influence on me and always makes the right decisions (Agree). I will not have any luck from the Gods in my career and have to do a lot of hard work myself. I won't get my dream job (Thanks).
At the end of the session, the lady told me to pull an "Angel Card." She said that angels never lie. Everything is ready for success and everyone is supporting me. I should laugh more.
The lady wanted me to ask specific questions, but I was too uninspired to think of any.

I will leave for work in half an hour. Tonight, we will have a farewell dinner, since most of the girls are leaving Saturday. Tomorrow, we will go to breakfast and then evaluate our internships.

One week left!

I wasn't able to update my blog because I have been sick with a fever the past days.
I went to a village school Friday and already didn't feel well.
Saturday, I woke up with a headache, but decided not to miss out on our excursion to a temple. We left at 8:30 a.m. and I blackenend out in the car about two hours later. The driver slowly moved the vehicle to the stopping point, while I left my head on my friend's lap and my legs on the cushion. I still wanted to go up the steps to the temple, but I felt dizzy every time I tried to get out of the car. The children begging for money and touching our legs and arms only made it worse. The taxi driver got me a coconut with a straw, which made me feel a little better. I felt fine on the way back, although I was disappointed on missing the opportunity.
Later that night, one of the intern girls took my temperature and I had a fever of almost 102 F.
Sunday, I had to miss out on Ooty (and the chai tea factory!!) as well.

I went to work yesterday, but the manager told me I looked sick and needed to rest, so I left early. I lied down for a few hours and then went to our last Kannada lesson with three other girls.

I didn't get much sleep last night, but I feel better today. I don't want to miss another day of work, because I have my last day Thursday.

It hasn't rained in the past days and our electricity goes off several times a day. On the way to the internet cafe, I saw a man on a motorcycle with a dog on his lap... I thought that was pretty odd.

PS: I have 14 mosquito bites on my legs! Yes, I counted.

Hold On Tight

I definitelty enjoy working for the Deccan Herald and feel very lucky for the opportunity.
There are three ways the journalists get their stories: (1) press conferences, (2) assigned reports, (3) translating letters sent by surrounding districts to English.
In general, reporters start work after lunch and end at about 11:00/ 11:30 p.m.

After dinner last night, my friend and I were walking back when I suddenly felt a hard force on my purse. Two guys were passing us on a motorcycle and the one sitting on the back tried to steal my purse- including my passport, money, cell phone, camera, journal and my identity !! Fortunately, I was able to hold on to my purse and scream, so the guys took off.

On that note, I'm not feeling very well today. I was coughing all night and have a headache. I got some medecine after work, so I hope I'll get better this weekend. We planned to drive to Ooty tomorrow and take some local trips Sunday.

"Cancer Cure Is Real If Treated On Time"

I visited the Bharath Charitable Cancer Hospital and Institute for the second time yesterday. Unlike the last time, I got to see the different rooms, including the laboratory, chemotherapy ward, X-ray, radiation therapy, male and female general ward (people can stay and rest there for free), special wards (for people who can afford to pay), Intensive Treatment Unit and an outside walking area. The building seemed relatively clean and the outside area is planted with trees and flowers.

The patients become extremely weak because of the high potency of drugs and cancer treatment. Therefore, the patients need nutritous food, but are often not able to afford it. The BCCHI trust started a free food program for the cancer patients staying in the general wards. The free food is provided to these patients for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Because the biggest challenge is to get donations to fund this project, I will write my next article on this project.

After the hospital visit, I watched the printing process of the Mysore Mail. It was in a seperate building about 45 minutes from the office. The entire process took about one hour.

I had a very tasty lunch yesterday: lemon rice and a vermicelli-noodle pudding (I know, I need to start writing down the Indian names).

Today, I will be working at the Deccan Herald from 2 to 7.
Please, feel free to visit http://www.deccanherald.com/ ;)

Elephants and Kappad Beach

I got my article published in yesterday's newspaper! It's a little more than half a page and has two colorful photos, which I have taken in the villages.

On Friday, I went to the Mysore Mail again, but didn't expect a motorcycle ride to the Mysore Palace and to a beautiful lake afterwards. Once again, no sense of a traffic law.

This weekend, four of the girls and I went to the Renaissance Cochin Kappad Beach Resort in Calicut. We left Saturday at 5 a.m. and returned at about 6 p.m. Sunday. The ride took us about six hours, but was very interesting. We drove through the forest and saw bissons, monkeys and elephants! We also passed mountains, waterfalls and many fields of exotic trees and plants. Because it was raining throughout the day, several roads were flooded and people seemed to have a difficult time working outside.

Kappad Beach lies 18 km south of Kozhikode, the most famous district of North Kerala. Vasco da Gama landed there in 1498 with 170 men in search of the faded spices of Kerala. Our hotel was very nice and had a breathtaking view of the ocean.

This morning, I attended a press conference, which was mainly in Kannada. The focus was on a new company, the website mysorenetworks.com, to enable networking to local businesses. About 35 people were present, most of which were men. The webpage includes several sections, including blogs, international business, net news, events, marketplace and discussion forums. After the conference, I hung around the Mysore Mail office for a few hours, talking to the chief editor and reading through the newspapers from the weekend. I took a rickshaw (three-wheeled taxi) home and cooked some tomato rice. Tonight, we have a Kannada language lesson.

Mysore Mail

I had an interesting morning at the Mysore Mail today.
The staff is relatively small and there were about 10 people working this morning. The English version gets produced in the morning and the production of the Kannada edition starts after 1:30 p.m. Every day, 30,000 English copies get printed.

I read through the newspapers of this month and enjoyed the Human Interest Stories in each edition. The Mysore Mail provides local, national and international news.
I also read several of the national newspapers, including The Time of India, The Hindu, The New Indian Express, which has nice photographs, and the Deccan Herald. Fortunately, India has a free press.

I watched the editing and the layout processes of tomorrow's articles. The reporters have written the stories and taken photographs of the various events earlier this morning.

Tomorrow, I will be accompanying one reporter at a news conference.

Mullur village

Last weekend, the girls and I took a tour of the Mysore Palace, which is very beautiful, and visited the Nandi bull on Chamundi Hill a second time. We also visited the Mysore Zoo, famous for its' white tiger, and did some shopping. Mysore is famous for its' silk and sandalwood, which is believed to be watched over by the gods and will last a lifetime!

Yesterday, I visited a rural school, Vinayaka Jhana Vidya Sare Mullur School, in Mullur village. I went by bus, together with a female teacher, and many students from different villages got on as we got closer. The building itself is a lot bigger and nicer than the schools I have visited previously, but still needs a lot of improvement. There are 400 students and six main subjects, of which three are languages (Kannada, Hindi, English). The school has a computer room, a TV and a collection of educational books, DVDs and CDs'. The students clean the school themselves and take care of a kitchen garden. Although many students are below the poverty level, according to an article in the principal's office, they seem very successful. One student scored 90% on the SSLC, a yearly Indian exam for 10th grader, and all 39 other students passed this year.

The principal showed me around the school and I visited every single classroom, starting at the pre-school level to the 10th grade. The students seemed very excited and some were confident enough to show me their talents. Girls and boys danced, sang, or acted.

After lunch, I taught a 9th grade class for one hour. The students have taken three years of English, so they were able to ask me questions and answer mine. After about an hour, I had to leave and almost all of the ~50 students ran up to me to get an autograph. I felt like a celebrity! Fact is, children in rural India aren't any different than elsewhere- they run around, play volleyball, laugh loudly, cry when they get hurt, behave some of the time and get a little too wild at other times.

I went to the "Mysore Mail" daily newspaper today and got introduced to the manager. I will be working there until Friday and will start at a national newspaper next week. I can't wait to learn more about the newspaper system here!


PS: My new favorite breakfast food: Kesari Bath. I have no idea what it's made of, but I will try to get the recipe =]

Small villages

I spent the last days in Begur and visited several small villages in the area. My driver and I took the motorcyle to the different locations and I got to see beautiful landmarks of the Indian countryside. We rode by fields of sunflowers, palm trees, banana and papaya trees, and other exotic plants. The first stop was at a small kindergarden and school. The children seemed shy, because they sat quietly on the floor the entire time. The kindergarden was one room with one small desk and one chair. The walls were full of colorful pictures, so that the children could learn the words of different fruits, vegetables, animals, body parts and so on. Before I left, I wrote a few sentences in a guest book and saw that two other Americans have visited this place. Unlike the kindergarden kids, the school children wore a uniform. I have noticed that most schools in this area require uniforms, often blue- or green-colored.

My driver then took me to see some rural projects of IHDUA. We stopped at several houses in about 8 villages and every person was very welcoming and friendly. Every single household offered me chai tea and some gave me snacks as well. In one village, I saw a kitchen garden constructed by IHDUA. The purpose is to provide nutrition through vegetables and fruits to the habitants. I also sat in another SHG (Self-Help Group) women's meeting. The women seemed very interested in my culture as well and my driver translated their questions to me. They asked if I was married and if I wanted to stay at the village with them sometime.

The second project I visited a smokeless oven, provided by IHDUA. According to Nanjappa, women used to inhale smoke and get sick while cooking, so the organization constructed one where the smoke goes outside only.

In a different village, I observed the production of silk. There were large wooden wheels on the front porch with hundreds of silk worms weaving. One of the men told me that it takes three days for the worms to construct the material. I refused a chai, but got one anyway. It seems as if nobody takes "no" as an answer here regarding to food or drinks.

Although it was pouring this morning, it fortunately stopped once we got to Begur. I had a different driver today and the motorcyle seemed to be going a lot faster. Because the villages today were a little more distant from Begur, we visited fewer areas. The people at the first house were keeping different food items, such as mangoes and spicy pickles, in different-sized, blue containers. Provided by IHDUA, these items apparently ameliorate their business.

At the next village, we visited a woman that was tailoring, such as the girls in Begur. At the last stop, women were preparing nutritional supplements for malnourished children.

Finally, I experienced Indian breakfast. Although I didn't order myself, I liked both dishes. One day, I had delicious wheat-based wraps called Booris together with saagu and chutney. This morning, I had Idlis, cakes made with fermented rice and served with spicy sauces. I took great photographs and will upload them as soon as I get back to the U.S.

PS: I saw two monkeys yesterday!

Rural India

"There are two different Indias in India... one is the one you've seen and the other one is the rural part," Nanjappa, vice president of rural projects, said.

I went into the village Begur yesterday and will study the culture of rural India for the next week. Rural India is home to over 70% of the population, according to the International Human Development And Upliftment Academy (IHDUA), the organization for which I intern. After my observations, I will work for two local newspapers. The IHDUA based in Mysore is a non-government organization established in 1991 by Oncologist Dr. B. S. Ajaikumar. The organization works on four main rural projects: rural literacy, women empowerment, economics, health and education, and awareness about health and hygiene. The IHDUA now works with 55 villages.

Yesterday, there was a Self-Help Group (SHG) meeting in Begur. These meetings help a group of men or women to ameliorate their businesses and upgrade their skills. I first sat with a group of men who try to work together to strive for economic development. Because the majority of the rural population doesn't speak English, I could not understand most of the conversation. After the second meeting, which was among women, I went into a room with six girls who produced purses. The other women returned to their businesses, which include selling fruits, vegetables, flowers, chicken or sheep fur. Some of the girls knew some words of English and asked me for my name and my parent's name. Two girls used sign language to ask if I had eaten lunch, which in India means about the same as how I was doing.


I rode on the back of a motorcycle the "Indian way" (girls sit sideways) and visited some local stands. The fruit seller offered a miniature banana and the flower girl handed me a rose.
I saw many animals crossing the streets of Begur, including pigs, sheeps, donkeys and, as usual, cows. However, they were very skinny and seemed to have difficulties walking. On the way to Mysore are many fruit plants, including mango, banana, coconut and papaya trees. The lack of rain this year makes the life of the people in the village a lot more difficult, as agriculture is not going well.

For dinner, I got to relax over pea rice and a big chai at the Green Leaf restaurant.



[[ i have to leave;; update soon]

Namaskara!

Indian cuisine is very tasty and has fortunately not gotten me sick yet. I eat rice dishes at leat once a day and order masala chai after dinner. Nevertheless, I have not fully adapted to the Indian dining style yet. Indians use their right hand instead of utensils, even for rice and curries. It seems like they use a certain technique to shape the rice and flick it into their mouths, without making a mess.
Monsoon season is really showing now. Rainfalls are getting much stronger and more frequent than during the first days here. This has advantages as well, because it helps the electricity. The power goes off very often, so my showers aren't only cold, but also in the dark.
I'm the only girl working for the newspaper here and my orientation for my job will take place tomorrow. I have different working hours than the other girls here and will be busy 1 to 7 pm .
Yesterday, we went to visist the Mysore Palace, which is lit up every sunday night with thousands of lights. We also enjoyed the view on Mysore of Chamundi Hill and drove by the statue of Nandi, Shiva's mount.

First days in Mysore

I finally arrived in Mysore last night. My plane arrived in Bangalore in the middle of the night, so I stayed at a hotel in Bangalore my first night. Indian men were asleep on the ground in the hallways of the hotel, covered with white sheets.
The ride from there to Mysore took about 4 hours, but the traffic in India is crazy and disorganized! Horns sound all the time for no apparent reason and there don't seem to be many enforced rules.
The inhabitans of Mysore seem very friendly and the area seems safe. Animals such as cows, dogs and horses move around freely. It's the monsoon season, so there are many rainfalls throughout the day.
I ate at a local Indian restaurant last night and ordered a rice dish and masala chai. Masala chai tea if offered everywhere and safe to drink because it gets boiled. The total price was a little over 1 $.
India wakes up early. In Bangalore, horns started honking without a pause at 6 a.m. and people chatted loudly. This morning, I heard a man singing "tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes,..." and some words in Kannada, the local language. A girl told me yesterday that a man walks through the neighborhoods every morning, selling fresh fruit and vegetables.
Today, there is a conflict going on between the different religions and therefore all the stores and restaurants are closed. The city is closed as well, so I'm not sure how the other girls will arrive.
My internet access here is very limited.