Photo Update #3

This post is worth 7 thousand words:

The Dharavi campaign against domestic violence:
My new best friends:


Passover in Mumbai:


Getting off the train:


Fruits:

Vegetables:


...and Pigeons at Crawford Market:

Live from Bollywood Hills

Last night, Will and I went to go see our first true Bollywood film -- in Hindi with no English subtitles. Fortunately the fun-filled flick was everything we could hope for. Backstabbing siblings, double-crossing co-workers, two-timing lovers, attempted murder, elaborate money-seeking schemes, a goofy, yet corrupt detective, people returning from death, sandy beaches (that were supposed to be Durban, South Africa), hot bodies in bikinis for the women and tight tank tops and jeans for the guys, and of course several musical numbers emblazoned with passion, sexy dancing, and bubble gum lyrics and uncannily similar to a P-Diddy or Beyonce music video. As far as we were concerned, it was a hit! And, the few English words tossed in here and there were able to carry us through so that we could desperately follow along the constantly deceiving corners the plot continued to turn. The only question now is: How can we get the part of an extra?

Sicko

One of my biggest nightmares would be to sound like Michael Moore, but at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, after having my first personal experience with the Indian health care system, I have to say that I'm quite impressed. Though Lindsay is the health care expert in the Windia duo, my experience was pretty solid.

After waking up this morning with a mysterious rash (when in Rome!), I consulted with my work colleagues and was referred to a doctor and made an appointment. He works out a local hospital pretty near where we work/live that is large and serves many patients. Upon arriving, I was guided to his wing and then got in the cashier line. I filled out a quick form that basically only required my name and phone number and then they generated a file and charged me 600 rupees (roughly $15).

After paying, I walked to the doctor's office and slipped a receipt into a mailbox like slot in his door and waited for him to see me. Granted, at that point I had to wait for about 30 minutes (but that seems like Universal doctor wait time), and then the doctor ushered me in. He was extremely friendly, he thoroughly examined my rash and asked me questions about diet, washing sheets/clothes, heat and then determined that I had some sort of allergic reaction to something my body has never seen before. He prescribed me a small dose of anti-allergy medication (Allegra and Smarti for those scoring at home) and then assured me that if it doesn't start going down/away, he would do blood tests immediately and see me again whenever I wanted.

At the conclusion of the examination, I was given my own file to keep (that would have solved Elaine Bennes' problems back in the day) and directed me to the pharmacy located about 15 feet from his office. After paying about $3 for the medicine, I was on my way. In a country where "systems" "infrastructure" and general order are sometimes rare to come by, I have to say this was a pretty painless and good process.

Ha-layla hazeh ku-lana b'India

For the first night of Passover, we went to Chabad and had a blast. So much energy, so full of life, lots of singing and delicious food! The highlight was watching the young Lubavitch boy, who was brought in to help lead the seders, become progressively drunk and truly bond with a young secular Israeli dude clad in blue jeans, a t-shirt and funky headband. The two made quite a funny pair, and their joint singing of "Mashiach, Mashiach!" was a great sight to see. Needless to say, I joined in the song session in full force and everyone was laughing and having a jolly ole time. The only unfamiliar aspect of the seder was that they used potatoes for the Karpas, whereas Will and I typically eat parsley at our family seders. The extra carbs in the first part of the seder certainly helped curb our appetite until the main meal so we are thinking of implementing this tradition when we return home ;-)

Our second night was more remarkable -- we went to a community seder at the JCC for the Bene Israel community, which is the main Jewish tribe of India. While the Jewish community was at one point quite large in India (tens of thousands), the number has dwindled (due to emigration to Israel) to about 5,000 throughout the country. The majority of Indian Jews today live in neighborhoods of Bombay, and last night's seder boasted about 200 people. Apparently, there is another tribe of Indian Jews living in North East India who call themselves Bnei Menashe, and there is a history of Jews living in the southern city of Cochin. For more info of the Indian Jewish communities, go to http://www.haruth.com/AsianIndia.html

The history of the Bene Israel community dates back to the Spanish Inquisition. The theory is that a boat from Spain hit India and 7 couples on that boat were Jewish and made India their home. Without a Torah, they had to rely on memory and varying scriptures to create a Jewish life for themselves. To quote Will, it was very interesting to see how this Jewish community, which has largely been isolated from the rest of Judaism, has found a way to perserve their heritage and pass down traditions over generations. There was much more of an emphasis on memorization and symbolic gestures, and the Shema prayer stands as the most important prayer for this community, most likely because it is easy to remember. Interestingly, the Shema prayer concludes with a kiss to the hands and then a touch to the forehead, similar to a custom that Hindus do when they pray. Will noted to me that this isn't that suprisingly, given how Jews in the diaspora, particulary in the United States, have aclamated to various Christian traditions as part of their assimilation, ex. giving gifts during Hannukah, due to the popularity of Christmas gift giving.

The seder followed a traditional haggadah (there were about 10 copies for the whole 200 person group) complete with a Hillel Sandwich!, though the tunes were mostly unfamiliar to us and there were sections that we didn't recognize. The man sitting across from me (Abraham) told me that most people do not know Hebrew and do not know the order of the seder so very few people host seders at their home. Mostly they come to the community-wide seder once a year. One very cool thing was the Haggadah of the woman sitting next to Will - the book dated back to 1935 and was printed in Hebrew and Hindi. The people at our table were very curious and interested in comparing their experience to our seders and were happy to hear that mostly it was quite similar.
What was really amazing was the authority with which the community leaders spoke even if aspects were misinformed, and their genuine desire to be devout. I was so moved by the effort they make to honor Jewish traditions, to reflect on the story of Passover, and to seek answers. The main coordinator of the seder (an older man named Solly) led the discussions by remarking on how his volunteers (Jewish teenagers who help organize the seder and serve food and wine) kept asking him questions that took him 40 years to answer.

Despite the inexcapable foreignness, the food served was Indian-flavored (spicy chicken curry and rice), the wine tasted like a cranberry-vodko cocktail, the Maror was parsley, and there was no singing at the end, we were grateful to be a part of this form of Judaism and were proud to see the ways this community has learned to honor its history, heritage and people and uphold traditions in their own right.

Photo Update #2

Time for another round of photo updates! Most of these are pictures in Pune or some various Mumbai shots from our first couple of weeks.

Pune
Lindsay outside the Film Institute with our tour guide on his motorcycle:Ghandi Statue at his final home in Pune:

Outside the Osho Ashram:

Mumbai
The famous Gateway to India (under construction, like 90% of the city):
The Reliance Communication Corporate Headquarters:

Finally, an average Mumbai sidewalk:

Dharavi Slum

Last night I joined Lindsay for a community event hosted by the organization where she is working in the Dharavi slum. Even after listening to Lindsay describe what it is like to work in the largest slum in Asia, it is really hard to accurately visualize what a Third World Slum actually looks and smells like. Already, having been in India for over 3 weeks, sights like garbage on the street or weird liquids everywhere have stopped being that noteworthy, but even still, visiting the slum was not even remotely like what I had expected.

Firstly, the slum is among the worst smelling places you've ever imagined. As someone who grew up on the streets of New York, I never thought I would pine for the smells of August concrete in Harlem, but it would be like sniffing tulips compared to walking from the train station to the event last night.

Secondly, and this is pretty surprising, you don't really feel a sense of personal danger. Despite Lindsay's promises to "jump and block" anything that was thrown my way (all while she scanned the crowd like a Secret Service agent), I didn't really feel scared.

The sites of humanity, however, are truly shocking. Though you would not expect, there is actually tons of commerce (mainly fruits and vegetables and street food that makes First Wok seem healthy and clean) as well as some odd junk and materials being sold, the housing structures are predictably quite depressing. Most people live in tin huts that seem susceptible to being destroyed at any moment. Most men cannot afford pants and usually wear one shirt as a top and another around their waist in lieu of any other cover up. There are children that are just incredibly dirty and without hygiene and to say people are not being well-nourished is an understatement.

It is very possible to visit Bombay and to hang out in Bandra (where I work and the new up-and-coming "cool" area of the city) or Colaba (the downtown area with the historical buildings and finance headquarters) and think to yourself "yeah, this is a third world country, but it's not THAT bad." But then, you visit Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia with approximately 2-4 million people (I don't think it's that easy to do a census there...shockingly) and you realize that this is still a place that--growth aside--still has a VERY long way to go to alleviate the extreme poverty.

On a more positive note, I am obviously quite impressed that Lindsay faces this on a daily basis. Though I'm tough as nails, I don't think I will be venturing there again. Yet on a human level, it was also striking that people there not only survive, but seem to still do their best to enjoy life. At the community event we attended last night, people demonstrated considerable pride as they performed and all in the audience seemed to have a wide smile seeing people from their community on stage. Some little kids that were sitting near us really enjoyed practicing their English and wanted to shake our hands like we were celebrities (and were just as giddy as I'd ever be if I encountered Pedro Martinez in my neck of the woods).

So I'm not sure if this is an experience that I'd feel comfortable "recommending" to anyone--I'm not sure my olfactory glands have yet recovered--but it was certainly something that I'm glad I saw.

I heart the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission

While I have always liked NYC cab drivers, I have never loved them more than I do now after the debacles I have experienced in taxis here in India. Aside from the frightening speed and absolute lack of adherence to traffic laws (which Will has alluded to), the greatest distinction I have found is that NYC taxi drivers are actually familiar with the city they work in.

In general, my transport methods throughout the city of Mumbai include the overstuffed trains or Russian Roulette Rickshaws, and I have recently tried the "Double your travel time" city bus. But occasionally, I have attempted to take a taxi to a place unreachable by public transportation. In all of these endeavors, I have ended the ride vowing never again to take a taxi in this country.

This is how the process works. Before I get in, I ask the driver if he knows my destination. Keeping in mind that the driver usually does not speak English and almost always responds with a head bobble (which I've officially learned means "Yes", "Maybe" or "I don't know"), I realize that it is my own fault for having faith and getting in the car. The beginning of the trip is hopeful, as we venture off into traffic. But, as we approach the area where I am going, the driver begins to look at me periodically with a desperate plea for help, at which point I remember why I don't take cabs here. We pull over about 5 times to ask various people on the side of the road if they know the place I wish to go to and can kindly provide directions to the driver. As Indians tend not to admit that they don't know a location, we circle around for 25 minutes, until by some twist of kind fate, we are lead to the desired target or I lose my patience and ask him to take me to a nearby known landmark and walk the rest of the way. To further the fun, payment is a comical exchange, since the 1950's taxi cars have meters that are a decimal or so off. Each cab driver is supposed to have a little booklet that indicates the conversion from the ancient meter to today's currency standards. Most however assume we (the Westerners) don't know about this book. Finally, as no one ever has change in this town (stores -- including "nice" ones -- make you keep buying items until you reach the amount of your bill), there is a back and forth negotiation that always makes us giggle. In my ride yesterday to the library, the total for my hour-long taxi trip was 160 rupees (=$4 US dollars), I gave the driver a 200 bill, he gave me a 50, I gave him a 20, and he gave me a 10 to close the deal. (Tips are not expected here.)

And, of course, despite my determination to never take a taxi again, I met up with Will in the evening to take the train to the end of the line (Churchgate), and then hop once again in a taxi to the Chabad House where we picked up matzah and frozen chickens for Passover. Fortunately, we had been there before and could find the way.

Photo Update

We've finally figured out how to get photos on the blog. Here are some highlights from the first two weeks of Windia.
A couple of our apartment and the view from the bedroom window:

Typical view of the side of the road:
A romping ride of Russian Roulette in a rickshaw (and a sick alliteration):

The trek to the Al-Haji Mosque in Mumbai:

...and outside the Mosque:

The British inspired architecture of the University of Mumbai:

Cricket matches at the public park, the Oval Maidan:

VERY rare serenity of the sea face of Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai (though the scent wasn't too serene):

Lindsay is decked out in the daily garb of Indian women: the Salwar Kameez!

Ghandiji

Before we left for India, I rented the Oscar-winning movie "Ghandi" and watched it with my brother Barry, his girlfriend Sari and my granny Sybil over delicious Persian food. I thought it would provide a good history of the country's conquest for independence and provide some visuals for me to get accustomed to prior to arrival. The film did its service and naturally moved me and instilled a heightened profound respect (and love?) for Ghandi and his unbelievable power over a confused, frustrated, religiously diverse people to fight for freedom without using might. By fasting and threatening his life, he had the ability to halt massive violent battles between the Hindus and Muslims...I can't think of anyone in today's era who has that sort of inspiration to change an entire nation's actions.

While in Pune, Will and I visited Aga Khan Palace (Ghandi Memorial Museum) where Ghandi and his wife Kasturba were interned for two years.

It is a lovely exhibit with photos, quotes, paintings, sculptures and stories all serving as a tribute to Ghandi, his piety, and his "Quit India" campaign. One of the interesting aspects of his struggle was that he initially pushed for independence from the British in 1920, and when that failed, he realized that he had to attempt to elevate the people of India out of poverty and develop a more united and strong people before pursuing independence once again five years later. So, he turned his attention to social and health issues and encouraged everyone (from all classes/castes) to learn spinning so that they could make their own clothes and he could introduce the concept of self-sufficiency.
Since arriving in India, I have brought up the topic of Ghandi in several circles and apparently Indian's sentiment towards the little big man is varied. Though Ben Kingsley did a superb job protraying the powerhouse and many of the scenes in the movie are accurate, apparently the movie's story leaves out some of the negative views of Ghandi, such as his neglect towards his children. Another interesting issue that has emerged is his relationship with Madeleine Slade, who was an Englishwoman that moved to Ghandi's ashram as a loyal devotee. But some say there may have been a bit of romance between them. I have just started reading "The Seeker" which is a novel about the relationship between Madeleine and Ghandi based on letters, books, articles, and interviews. I will keep you posted!
PS-- When I mentioned the film to our new friend Rupa, she informed me that her aunt played Ghandi's wife in the film!

Pune

This weekend Lindsay and I took our first weekend trip, to a small town called Pune. Of course "small town" is a relative term here as there are approximately 4 million people who live there. It is located about 4 hours from Mumbai and the best way to go is by luxury bus. In India luxury bus means Iranian dude sleeping on my shoulder on the way to Pune and rocking out to KT Tunstall on the iPod while we circle Pune trying to fill up the bus on the way back. That said, it was really nice to leave Mumbai and get to see a different part of the country.

While in Pune, we did a couple of cool things. The nationwide film institute is located in Pune and for students attempting to break into Bollywood without some sort of nepotism related connection, it's one of the few ways to get into the industry. We went to the museum they have there, but naturally forgot about the age old, second Sunday of every month meaning things are arbitrarily closed rule. Luckily Lindsay did some fast talking and a recent graduate of the screenwriting curriculum gave us an impromptu tour and showed us the famous "wisdom tree" where people rehearse and come up with the famous Bollywood song and dance numbers that take an inordinate amount of wisdom to create. Look out for our "guide" Sonnu to take Bollywood by storm in 2010.

On Sunday we went to check out the Osho Ashram. This ashram is a bit controversial as he's known for sexualized Nirvana and buying Rolls Royces to convince people to give up their material possessions. He is dead now, but judging from the crowd we saw on Sunday, his legacy certainly lives on! Everyone there was clad in maroon robes and clearly came from either the US, Israel, the UK or some other morally depraved culture. It was really funny seeing it and it's certainly a hilarious subculture in India.

Having survived the literal onslaught of the bus ticket sellers, we're back in Mumbai now, but this was definitely a fun weekend.

Chabad in Mumbai

last night will and i went to the chabad house in mumbai for friday night shabbat dinner. it is located in coloba - the southern tip of mumbai. though not in the best area, the building was pretty nice and it was great to have a home-cooked meal.

chabad is run by a young israeli couple -- rabbi gavriel, his wife rivky and their little 1 1/2 year old son, moishe. rivky is a sweetheart. here were the cast of characters attending dinner:

1) a group of older men who are all diamond dealers (a few from israel, one from monsey, ny). apparently bombay is one of the best and cheapest places for them to go, so they end up coming about 4 times a year. none of them particularly enjoy it.

2) a group of young israeli boys (early 20s) who have just finished their stint in the army and are traveling through new zealand, india and nepal for several months (for those unaware, this is extremely common among israelis finishing the army to decompress before beginning their next chapter of life -- going to university or getting a job)

3) a group of young lubavitch, ultra orthodox boys (also early 20s) who are sent from chabad throughout the world to help lead passover seders in bombay and the goa beaches where loads of israelis go (see above). they are also sent around the world for the high holidays. honestly chabad goes EVERYWHERE. one dude said he just finished working as a mashgiach (the person who oversees the kitchen to make sure it is kosher) for a cruise around greece and malta.

as you can imagine, the conversation was interesting -- religiously inspiring, politically provocative and borderline insulting at times, but obviously i very much enjoyed the song session (and belted out the words) and we were both very grateful to have some good ole challah.

Bombay Dreams

As someone who rarely ventures to the Meatpacking District in New York (unless choice cuts of beef are involved), it was quite hilarious to find myself at one of Bombay's swankiest nightclubs last night. Lindsay and I went for dinner with another future Stanford classmate who is working in finance here and, just as one would expect for the random Wednesday night, it ended at a place that I can best describe as Studio 54 in its heyday except if it played House of Pain. As you'd expect, it was quite a hilarious scene and not something we would have expected here in Mumbai. I doubt we'll be killing it on the club scene in the future, but I'm glad we saw what that was like.

On another transportation related sidenote, not to scare all the 4 people reading this (parents included), but coming home late at night, we had our first experience sans traffic in Mumbai and our taxi driver basically reenacted a Formula 1 race (without the sordid off-road stories that have been making their way through the British press), going so fast that he couldn't slow down in time to stop at our apartment and eventually had to double back to drop us at home. After which, we had to scale the wall of the courtyard of our apartment because the door was locked.

So basically, just another normal night here on the Windia adventure.

Haiku

Ultrathon

Smells bad and stings face
Weapon against mosquitoes
Each day and each night

Deet stops most of bites
Forgot it today, it shows
Let's hope no dengue

"Welcome to Reliance" starring Tom Cruise as Vibhu Patel

Just to follow up on Will's post about Reliance Communications --

Our experience was highly resemblant of a Tom Cruise/Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi film. The campus is gorgeous and lush gardens and well-designed buildings welcome you in. Everyone is smiling and happy to be there. Quotes encouraging innovation, successful business strategies, and customer satisfaction adorn the streets. Everything is very organized, very user friendly, very scary. I was convinced our "hospitality guide" would actually reveal herself as one of the bad guys in the last third of the movie....

The cell center was by far the most insane part. We sat in a room with clear windows looking out onto hundreds of people sitting at phones with incoming customer calls. On a big screen above us was a spreadsheet of columns with each person's name, what sort of call they were on at that moment, how many seconds they had been on the phone, and as Will mentioned, whether they were on a break and if so, what kind of break it was (i.e. tea, lunch or bathroom) and how many seconds they had been on that break. When someone is on the phone for longer than 5 min, the supervisor calls over and checks in on the employee to see if he needs more info for the call. There were more categories, but I can't remember them. Anyway, that sort of monitoring is obviously highly efficient and will cause India to shoot past the US eventually as a superpower, but there is no way that sort of regulation would fly among independence-obsessed Americans.

Reliance Headquarters showed how many innovations India is developing and how much potential they have to really surpass other countries in technology. The technological advances they are designing reach every single possible industry (TV, health care, Internet, Phones, Banks/ATMS, rural areas/farming) and are all coordinated through a single source.

However, as soon as you exit Reliance's campus, you are reminded that you are still in India where the majority of people are living far far below the poverty level. The contrasts are really jarring and it was difficult for me to reconcile the extremes. However, I presume that most of the people in the tech industry believe that if India can establish itself in the global market and raise its status, the economic growth would "trickle down" to the rest of the country. Unfortunately, as a woman we met with yesterday who works in foreign investment for India admitted, unless concrete programs are established to truly address poverty/public health crises in India, the rich getting richer is not going to have much of an effect on the poor. Since I know I tend to be more of the pessimist, I'll admit that there is a growing middle class and the country is making progress.

Further, we have been told that India has grown immensenly in the last ten years in terms of societal development (e.g, in 2000 they mandated that the person in the front seat of a car where a seat belt & sanitation programs to clean up trash are increasing), so it will be fascinating to see how the country grows even further in the next 10 years...

Till then, Will and I will try to "enjoy" the experience of being without a toilet that flushes.

Reliance Communications

Yesterday, Lindsay and I went with one of my future Stanford classmates on a tour of Reliance Communications. Reliance, where she used to work, is a huge conglomerate (the 2nd largest market cap in the country) and their telecom arm is the leading telecom company in the country.

Their "campus" is massive and is located about 1 hour from where we're staying in Mumbai. It looked like a really futuristic college campus (glass, sterile fountains--all that was missing were moving walkways) and their facilities are incredible. On the tour, we saw some of their new products and planned developments. They have created the hardware for a global network (which also covers basically every area, rural included, within India) and now are deploying products and features from healthcare to television to mobile internet to video conferencing to take advantage of their communications network and improve Indian lives.

The tour in general was awesome, but the thing that we saw of particular note were:

1) A famed Indian call center. The science behind it was fascinating and the way they monitor their employees is crazy. They can tell how long people take on each call, why they're taking so long and give them countdown clocks for lunch, tea and 1 other break throughout the day.

2) They are setting up internet kiosks to be deployed in rural areas to help farmers get a fair price for their agricultural output. The farmers are losing a ton of money to "middlemen" and the kiosks will be specifically located in public areas to display the correct prices for crops so that farmers can start moving from subsistence farmer to income generating farming.

3)They had tons of really cool quotes everywhere from the founder and the best one was something along the lines of "The 20th century belong to America and the Americans. We believe the 21st century will belong to India and the Indians." After yesterday's tour, I tend to agree.

First day of work

Yesterday was my first day of at a health NGO which provides comprehensive health and social services to women living in Dharavi (the largest slum neighborhood in Asia) with a focus on maternal health and domestic violence. I am apparently not allowed to say the name of the organization, so I'll just call it "HEALTH". There are a number of programs at Health, and I am working for the one specific program ("CENTER")which provides social, physical health, mental health and legal counsel to women who are victims of domestic abuse. The organization is based out of a hospital in Dharavi.
Overall the first two days have been okay. Walking through Dharavi is highly intense. There really aren't words to describe the level of poverty the Dharavi residents live in. I'll spare you the details, but if you want to hear more, just email me...
The office is one large room used for planning and research and is also used as a drop-in center and a counseling center for women so you can imagine the intensity. Fortunately, everyone in the office is extremely nice and they seem very pleased to have me, so I feel quite welcome. They speak mostly in Hindi but I am trying to follow by the gestures/facial movements (which Indians use abundantly) and the occasional English.
Right now, Center addresses violence against women at the individual level (services) and community level (awareness and education and empowerment training) just for the Dharavi communities. But, they want to expand to the city level and provide services and advocacy for all of Mumbai. My job for the next two months will be to establish relations with other NGO's throughout Mumbai who address domestic violence (through services, legal counsel, advocacy, or policy reform) and investigate their intervention models. I'm pretty excited about this project although my resources (i.e. no Internet) are limited so there will be challenges.
A few cool things:
1) Lunch is basically a pot-luck. Everyone brings a dish that they cook that morning (Indians only eat fresh food for fear that the heat makes their food go bad -- no leftovers!!) and then they share. Obviously the first day all I had was a clif bar, but I came home straight after work and slaved over the stove to cook a meal that would appeal to my co-workers. At the recommendation of one co-worker, I stir-fryed cabbage, carrots and onions and cooked them in a chilli sauce. The staff claimed to like it today :-) Though when they asked me the ingredients in the sauce, I was a bit embarassed to admit that the sauce came in a bottle!
2) Chai tea is made for the office and a cup is provided to each person twice a day. It's really a lovely perk.
3) There is a social work graduate school in Mumbai that sometimes sends their interns to my organization for their field placement. Last month, the social workers put on "The Vagina Monologues" at the hospital and all proceeds went to our organization!

FYI: I don't have access to the Internet at work so I am going to try to race to a cyber cafe after work to keep in touch...