We've finally returned home to Bangalore after a month of travel and adventure! We've spent all of November romping around parts of rural India visiting different communities and studying ecology and livelihood. We visited villages that have been living similar lifestyles for hundreds of years, unchanged by the rapid globalization taking place, save for when they're displaced to build dams. That actually happens a lot. The government undertakes giant hydro dam projects to supply water/electricity to the urban rich... often with little to no compensation. Or notification or that matter. Villagers have awoke in the middle of the night to find their village flooding had to flee with what little they could salvage. Their opportunities without land are significantly more slime as well.
BUT! We also visited villages who have been practicing agroforestry for many, many years. agroforestry basically means farming organically and usually the nearby forest for timber, medicine, soap, sandpaper, toothbrushes (I know, right?) dyes, and food in a sustainable manner. Their knowledge of the woods is outstanding! Even the children know the uses of hundreds of different plants and they rarely need to visit hospitals because their herbal medicine is so advanced. Although, over the past couple decades pollution has brought on several foreign diseases the villages have difficulty treating.
The village farm without any synthetic pesticides and grow a whole host of delicious crops. Beans, rice, ginger, turmeric, millets, carrots, eggplant, onions, squash, honey etc etc. They said they crop about a hundred crops, ensuring a plentiful supply of tasty, nutritious food year round.
Their rustic lifestyle is enchanting. I've never seen such sustainable, simple, and independent living that co-exists so intimately with the natural world. This experience really made me examine my own life and how grossly it contrasts these simple villagers. I don't grow my own food. I'm completely dependent upon others to supply me with food, cloths, housing, and any other assortment of goods. In return I can (some day) supply currency and services. I've never thought about how unsustainable the American lifestyle has become. Without a complex network of transportation based on non-renewable, everyone in suburbs would probably starve! It makes me question whether the urban life we live now will be possible in 50, 100 years. If we can't fix our energy crisis it won't work.
We also got to spend time with month being tourists, which was fun but difficult. From Delhi we took a bus to visit the Taj Mahal, which was... well, big. Impressive. Ambitious. And I'm told that all the laborers who built it were given fair wages, good working hours, and full health benefits. It just seems so cruel that what was built with the blood of servants and sucked up gobs of money to feel a kings fantasy is now a 'Wonder of the World.” It was a good experience, but I find more beauty and art in India's wild rain forests than in some big chunk of marble.
We also started our unit on religion about a week ago (YES!). We've spoken with Muslim scholars, Christians, monks from Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and visited many temples in between. My favorite was the temple of Hanamon, the monkey god. Why? MONKEYS! They get free reign of the holy grounds. You can probably guess why. They can be mean suckers though, you shouldn't really look at them. Or wave at them. Or carry anything remotely tasty.
Two weeks until home! Know that I cannot wait to see you all and expect several good stories about he past semester. Take care and enjoy the last weeks of the semester!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Back From the Himalayas!
Hello friends at home!
Our group of six arrived back in Bangalore after a week long vacation of rives and mountains. Everyone in the program had a full week to basically do whatever seemed exciting (except go to Sri Lanka or something; I think they're having a civil war) and so a group of us flew to Delhi and then bussed to Rishikesh; a town wrapped around the Ganges River. It was pretty touristy, but often that means local folks aren't as excited by our presence and let us blend in a bit more. The Ganges is an incredible river. It's girth is spanned by a large cable bridge (a favorite hang out spot for the local monkeys!) that allows one to view the sprawling pale aquamarine water as it snakes up behind the mountains. The water itself is clean and Lake Superior cold. The whole group went white water rafting down 18 Kms of the mighty river; it was amazing. The rapids completely swamped and hammered the raft with every intent to throw us into the river. We also spent some time lying on the sandy beaches, body surfing, and cliff jumping (not Brendan though!). Best $8 I ever spent.
Bethany and I awoke before sunrise to sit on the windy banks with a hot ginger chai and watch sleepy pilgrims walking down to the banks to bath. Some came with small cups to fill with icy water and wash upon solid ground, others waded into the water while gripping a long chain anchored on the shore for fear of being swept away in the swift stream. Smiling pilgrims would occasionally approach us and invite us to bath with them with a smiling gesture. So on our second day we decided to do just that. After slugging back a ginger chai for warmth (best chai in India thus far), we raced down to the water and immersed ourself in the great Ganga. The Frigid mountain water numbed the skin, but makes one remember how hot our blood is. It was such an invigorating experience, I would highly recommend it next time you're in the Ganges.
The second part of our adventure took us to the foot hills of the Himalayas (the locals pronounce it Him-ALL-ee-ah) in a little place called Mousserie. The town is nestled into the mountain side and can only be reached by a windy mountain road that invites nausea to even the hardiest of stomachs. We spent our days watching beautiful sunsets and trekking along mountain tops. At the peaks we would find hundreds if not thousands of colorful Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. Each flag has a prayer that reflects its color that pilgrims come to place in high windy places with the belief that the wind will carry the prayer across the entire land and bless the whole community. It's a very lovely sentiment.
We met with a friend of Katies named Nan who has been living and teaching in Mousserie for a while. She was able to point us to good restaurants (Momos are the food here, basically Tibetan pot stickers!) and good hikes. We also visited a small store on top of a mountain run by a guy who traveled to Switzerland to learn cheese making and then came back to India. The cheese was expensive, but after two months of cheese-like food coming from cans, it was greatly appreciated. They also carried nostalgic foods such as chocolate chips and Western candy, which we quickly invested in.
This blog post could be a novel, but the last highlight that jumps to my mind is the human powered ferris wheel. If Facebook was less silly, I'd put some photos up (and a movie!) but basically for 40 cents we could ride on this small ferris wheel powered by a guy who walked around in the center of the machine. It looked a bit like walking up a staircase, except fifteen feet in the air and in a ferris wheel. A visual is much needed; I'll work on that.
Needless to say it was a great vacation! It was very refreshing after two months of intense social justice learning to take a break and be a tourist. It was uncomfortable though. After being so close to poverty and marginalization it was strange to be another group of Western tourists enjoying the beauties of India and taking advantage of the exchange rate. It really was an incredible week and I don't regret it for an instant, but I'm so grateful that white water rafting isn't the only reason we came to India.
Tomorrow at 6:00 AM we'll be leaving Bangalore for a whole month! Internet access will probably be limited, but I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing each of you soon!
Peace
Our group of six arrived back in Bangalore after a week long vacation of rives and mountains. Everyone in the program had a full week to basically do whatever seemed exciting (except go to Sri Lanka or something; I think they're having a civil war) and so a group of us flew to Delhi and then bussed to Rishikesh; a town wrapped around the Ganges River. It was pretty touristy, but often that means local folks aren't as excited by our presence and let us blend in a bit more. The Ganges is an incredible river. It's girth is spanned by a large cable bridge (a favorite hang out spot for the local monkeys!) that allows one to view the sprawling pale aquamarine water as it snakes up behind the mountains. The water itself is clean and Lake Superior cold. The whole group went white water rafting down 18 Kms of the mighty river; it was amazing. The rapids completely swamped and hammered the raft with every intent to throw us into the river. We also spent some time lying on the sandy beaches, body surfing, and cliff jumping (not Brendan though!). Best $8 I ever spent.
Bethany and I awoke before sunrise to sit on the windy banks with a hot ginger chai and watch sleepy pilgrims walking down to the banks to bath. Some came with small cups to fill with icy water and wash upon solid ground, others waded into the water while gripping a long chain anchored on the shore for fear of being swept away in the swift stream. Smiling pilgrims would occasionally approach us and invite us to bath with them with a smiling gesture. So on our second day we decided to do just that. After slugging back a ginger chai for warmth (best chai in India thus far), we raced down to the water and immersed ourself in the great Ganga. The Frigid mountain water numbed the skin, but makes one remember how hot our blood is. It was such an invigorating experience, I would highly recommend it next time you're in the Ganges.
The second part of our adventure took us to the foot hills of the Himalayas (the locals pronounce it Him-ALL-ee-ah) in a little place called Mousserie. The town is nestled into the mountain side and can only be reached by a windy mountain road that invites nausea to even the hardiest of stomachs. We spent our days watching beautiful sunsets and trekking along mountain tops. At the peaks we would find hundreds if not thousands of colorful Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. Each flag has a prayer that reflects its color that pilgrims come to place in high windy places with the belief that the wind will carry the prayer across the entire land and bless the whole community. It's a very lovely sentiment.
We met with a friend of Katies named Nan who has been living and teaching in Mousserie for a while. She was able to point us to good restaurants (Momos are the food here, basically Tibetan pot stickers!) and good hikes. We also visited a small store on top of a mountain run by a guy who traveled to Switzerland to learn cheese making and then came back to India. The cheese was expensive, but after two months of cheese-like food coming from cans, it was greatly appreciated. They also carried nostalgic foods such as chocolate chips and Western candy, which we quickly invested in.
This blog post could be a novel, but the last highlight that jumps to my mind is the human powered ferris wheel. If Facebook was less silly, I'd put some photos up (and a movie!) but basically for 40 cents we could ride on this small ferris wheel powered by a guy who walked around in the center of the machine. It looked a bit like walking up a staircase, except fifteen feet in the air and in a ferris wheel. A visual is much needed; I'll work on that.
Needless to say it was a great vacation! It was very refreshing after two months of intense social justice learning to take a break and be a tourist. It was uncomfortable though. After being so close to poverty and marginalization it was strange to be another group of Western tourists enjoying the beauties of India and taking advantage of the exchange rate. It really was an incredible week and I don't regret it for an instant, but I'm so grateful that white water rafting isn't the only reason we came to India.
Tomorrow at 6:00 AM we'll be leaving Bangalore for a whole month! Internet access will probably be limited, but I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing each of you soon!
Peace
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Greetings from the Jungles of India!
What an Adventure! A group of us spent this past weekend in the wild forests of Karnataka and Kerala on a Safari expedition. We lodged in the Jungle Inn, which provided us with bumpy jeep tours and delicious Indian food which may have unfortunately made half of us sick...
Our days started early when the sun was just creeping above the tree tops and thick, white mists still hung lazily in the brisk air. Night and morning where prime times to see elephants and other more timid animals. At night we saw lone while elephants eating along the road side, only visible by the headlights of the jeep.
"Wild elephant, very dangerous!" Our guide Chrisna would explain while driving us uncomfortably close to the four ton beast. They're so beautiful, really, and have a face that gives off an air of wisdom and overall indifference to our presence. The males are suppose to dangerous; especially when they're wandering alone because that indicate they were kicked out of the herb for being troublesome. We did get some great photos though! We had a regular we saw 3-4 time we named Ted Kennedy and he had a twisted trunk.
While driving in the jeep we saw the untamed jungles of India and a host of animals. Spotted dear with sleek, artistic antlers. Black-faced monkeys who would jump right into your vehicle looking for food if you weren't careful. Giant squirrels the size of large cats (larger than Menchi!). Wild dogs lazing about in the grass waiting for an unsuspecting deer. Monstrous Gaur munching grass in the distance (the worlds largest wild cattle). Birds with so many unique features and calls that I can hardly begin to recite them.
The floral of the jungles was unbelievable as well! The large biodiversity of India ensures a huge variety of plants, flowers, and colors that make them impossible to keep track of. What we call black pepper grows along vine-like plants. The fruit appears as small green berries which have a last like black pepper mixed with lime and have quite a kick in the back of ones throat! We had a nice hike up to a waterfall that allowed us to appreciate and soak in the plant beauty. The one cultural phenomenon that I still struggle with in India is litter. The path to the waterfall had trash containers placed some what frequently, yet where ever people go there is bound to be discarded bottles and wrapped tossed carelessly amongst the green. This is true throughout India; littering simply isn't as much of a concern as we make it to be in the states.
We also got to embark on a hiking tour through the jungles for a few hours. We split into two groups and went with three guides; one of which had a machete and the other a rifle. You never know what might pop up in the forests, although tigers usually don't take much interest to humans. We witnessed a battle between two bull elephants that invoked quite a bit of wonder and fear. The two mammoth creatures interlocked tusked and swung their heads in a slow motion aggression that made little sense to us as onlookers. After a while they began to blare their loud trumpet sounds, which resulted in our guides suggesting that we should probably run away now. Not an everyday experience.
Next week takes us to the Himalayas!!! We're so excited and I'm sure to have many more stories to tell upon getting back to Vishtar. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold and snow back home (I mean that, I'm quite nostalgic for cool weather). Take care and enjoy Minnesota's beauty!
Our days started early when the sun was just creeping above the tree tops and thick, white mists still hung lazily in the brisk air. Night and morning where prime times to see elephants and other more timid animals. At night we saw lone while elephants eating along the road side, only visible by the headlights of the jeep.
"Wild elephant, very dangerous!" Our guide Chrisna would explain while driving us uncomfortably close to the four ton beast. They're so beautiful, really, and have a face that gives off an air of wisdom and overall indifference to our presence. The males are suppose to dangerous; especially when they're wandering alone because that indicate they were kicked out of the herb for being troublesome. We did get some great photos though! We had a regular we saw 3-4 time we named Ted Kennedy and he had a twisted trunk.
While driving in the jeep we saw the untamed jungles of India and a host of animals. Spotted dear with sleek, artistic antlers. Black-faced monkeys who would jump right into your vehicle looking for food if you weren't careful. Giant squirrels the size of large cats (larger than Menchi!). Wild dogs lazing about in the grass waiting for an unsuspecting deer. Monstrous Gaur munching grass in the distance (the worlds largest wild cattle). Birds with so many unique features and calls that I can hardly begin to recite them.
The floral of the jungles was unbelievable as well! The large biodiversity of India ensures a huge variety of plants, flowers, and colors that make them impossible to keep track of. What we call black pepper grows along vine-like plants. The fruit appears as small green berries which have a last like black pepper mixed with lime and have quite a kick in the back of ones throat! We had a nice hike up to a waterfall that allowed us to appreciate and soak in the plant beauty. The one cultural phenomenon that I still struggle with in India is litter. The path to the waterfall had trash containers placed some what frequently, yet where ever people go there is bound to be discarded bottles and wrapped tossed carelessly amongst the green. This is true throughout India; littering simply isn't as much of a concern as we make it to be in the states.
We also got to embark on a hiking tour through the jungles for a few hours. We split into two groups and went with three guides; one of which had a machete and the other a rifle. You never know what might pop up in the forests, although tigers usually don't take much interest to humans. We witnessed a battle between two bull elephants that invoked quite a bit of wonder and fear. The two mammoth creatures interlocked tusked and swung their heads in a slow motion aggression that made little sense to us as onlookers. After a while they began to blare their loud trumpet sounds, which resulted in our guides suggesting that we should probably run away now. Not an everyday experience.
Next week takes us to the Himalayas!!! We're so excited and I'm sure to have many more stories to tell upon getting back to Vishtar. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold and snow back home (I mean that, I'm quite nostalgic for cool weather). Take care and enjoy Minnesota's beauty!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
First week in a distant land
Hello everyone!
I apologize in advance if I don't get to respond to everyone individually at this point. I've really appreciated all the messages I got on Facebook, but I don't have gobs of time to be on the Internet if you can imagine. I guess to make a inadequate statement, India is great! We've been keeping quite busy and learning more than I can recall in one sitting.
We arrived at the beautiful Vishtar at about 6 AM or so last last Sunday. It's very beautiful here. The campus is an organic combination of trees, buildings, and various huts scattered across winding dirt paths. Vishtar houses forty some girls from the Dalit (untouchables) community. Their mothers are sex workers who can barely make enough to keep their children fed, so Vishtar takes the girls in and provides them a decent living and education. They are so adorable too! They really like us and enjoy talking to us and using their minimal English to communicate and teach us the primary language of Bangalore, Kanada. They are excellent teachers and never fail to tell us when we're screwing up.
There's plenty more to tell about Vishtar, but I'll give a few details from the week. We've had plenty of orientation sessions about India and Bangalore. Today we went into the city to see the celebration of Saint Mary's Birthday. We took the bus (without any Vishtar staff; that was a first!) and rode until we reached a big Basilica. It was packed with Indians from all religions who were gathering to reach a shrine at which they could be doused in holy water and burn a candle. There was something oddly familiar about hearing some English hymns played over the loudspeaker amidst the beggars and people pushing through the crowds to get closer to the Sari wearing Mary. We ate at an Islamic restaurant afterwards which was delicious, but served with a lot of meat. We passed through a market during our travels in which we saw huge bins of garlic, eggplant, apples, and a million other fruits I could not identify. The meat section was...well... it made me think of vegetarianism. The smell and shear amount of raw meat just lying around was pretty awful and probably not up to health standards in the US. unfortunately my vegi thoughts were rudely interrupted by the seductive odor of rotisserie chicken cooking in the nearby restaurant. Sorry little chickies, not this time.
This past weekend we stayed with host families. It was a bit of a shock to be staying with a family so soon after we had arrived, but David (he's the director of Vishtar and spends a lot of time with us) assured us that it was really valuable to establish some contacts early in the trip. I and many of my friends stayed with a Muslim family. It was such a wonderful experience. Muslims around the world are observing Ramadan in which they will abstain from food, drink, and sex during the day light for a whole lunar month (that's why Ramadan occurs during different times of the year). Another Student, Jordan, also stayed with me and we fasted with our host. It was actually not as hard as I thought it might (although we only fasted for two days). We would awaken at 4:00 AM each morning to eat before the sun rose. Often a hearty and delicious meal we would retire for a morning nap before rising at 9-10 (or 11 if you're Brendan) to tackle the day. I learned a lot about what it is like to live as a Muslim as a religious minority. The religious diversity of India is like nothing we have in the States. Muslims make up about 13% of the countries population which is dominated by a Hindu majority at 80%. These two religions have coexisted for many years in India with relative peace but not without tension. The political unease India shares with Pakistan only heightens the resentment many Hindus hold against Islam, which has erupted in violent conflict in recent history. Still, to be fair I would say that India has treated her religious minorities much better than European Christians have treated non-Christians for the past several hundred years.
Fasting was also a very enlightening experience. My host explained the biggest point of fasting was to actually appreciate your food that is so easy for us to take for granted. Also because God said so. I really would like to try fasting more often, or Jordan has recommended water and juice fasts. We shall see. Anyway, we have Yoga tomorrow morning, so I'm going to call it a night, afternoon for most of you. Thanks for checking to see what I'm up to, I promise I'll still have a million stories to share when I come back home!
I apologize in advance if I don't get to respond to everyone individually at this point. I've really appreciated all the messages I got on Facebook, but I don't have gobs of time to be on the Internet if you can imagine. I guess to make a inadequate statement, India is great! We've been keeping quite busy and learning more than I can recall in one sitting.
We arrived at the beautiful Vishtar at about 6 AM or so last last Sunday. It's very beautiful here. The campus is an organic combination of trees, buildings, and various huts scattered across winding dirt paths. Vishtar houses forty some girls from the Dalit (untouchables) community. Their mothers are sex workers who can barely make enough to keep their children fed, so Vishtar takes the girls in and provides them a decent living and education. They are so adorable too! They really like us and enjoy talking to us and using their minimal English to communicate and teach us the primary language of Bangalore, Kanada. They are excellent teachers and never fail to tell us when we're screwing up.
There's plenty more to tell about Vishtar, but I'll give a few details from the week. We've had plenty of orientation sessions about India and Bangalore. Today we went into the city to see the celebration of Saint Mary's Birthday. We took the bus (without any Vishtar staff; that was a first!) and rode until we reached a big Basilica. It was packed with Indians from all religions who were gathering to reach a shrine at which they could be doused in holy water and burn a candle. There was something oddly familiar about hearing some English hymns played over the loudspeaker amidst the beggars and people pushing through the crowds to get closer to the Sari wearing Mary. We ate at an Islamic restaurant afterwards which was delicious, but served with a lot of meat. We passed through a market during our travels in which we saw huge bins of garlic, eggplant, apples, and a million other fruits I could not identify. The meat section was...well... it made me think of vegetarianism. The smell and shear amount of raw meat just lying around was pretty awful and probably not up to health standards in the US. unfortunately my vegi thoughts were rudely interrupted by the seductive odor of rotisserie chicken cooking in the nearby restaurant. Sorry little chickies, not this time.
This past weekend we stayed with host families. It was a bit of a shock to be staying with a family so soon after we had arrived, but David (he's the director of Vishtar and spends a lot of time with us) assured us that it was really valuable to establish some contacts early in the trip. I and many of my friends stayed with a Muslim family. It was such a wonderful experience. Muslims around the world are observing Ramadan in which they will abstain from food, drink, and sex during the day light for a whole lunar month (that's why Ramadan occurs during different times of the year). Another Student, Jordan, also stayed with me and we fasted with our host. It was actually not as hard as I thought it might (although we only fasted for two days). We would awaken at 4:00 AM each morning to eat before the sun rose. Often a hearty and delicious meal we would retire for a morning nap before rising at 9-10 (or 11 if you're Brendan) to tackle the day. I learned a lot about what it is like to live as a Muslim as a religious minority. The religious diversity of India is like nothing we have in the States. Muslims make up about 13% of the countries population which is dominated by a Hindu majority at 80%. These two religions have coexisted for many years in India with relative peace but not without tension. The political unease India shares with Pakistan only heightens the resentment many Hindus hold against Islam, which has erupted in violent conflict in recent history. Still, to be fair I would say that India has treated her religious minorities much better than European Christians have treated non-Christians for the past several hundred years.
Fasting was also a very enlightening experience. My host explained the biggest point of fasting was to actually appreciate your food that is so easy for us to take for granted. Also because God said so. I really would like to try fasting more often, or Jordan has recommended water and juice fasts. We shall see. Anyway, we have Yoga tomorrow morning, so I'm going to call it a night, afternoon for most of you. Thanks for checking to see what I'm up to, I promise I'll still have a million stories to share when I come back home!
Monday, August 24, 2009
We're going to India!!!
The shimmy is that on Saturday August 29th, a smallish group of students from Gustavus Adolphus College and Concordia College in Moorhead will be leaving Minnesota for a 3.5 month long adventure in India, Yay! We'll be stopping in London first for a couple of hours, but then we'll get on a direct flight and arrive in India at 4:00 AM. Jet lag will ensue.
The program focuses on Social Justice, Peace and Development in a country which is facing ridiculously fast urbanization, modernization, and westernization. India is being transformed into a huge political and economic world power, that may wrestle "world control" from the Western world in the near future. Already US government and private business has invested 48 billions of dollars into the Indian economy and only plans to increase spending.
As students, we're going to be studying the effects that rapid infrastructure and economic development are having in this country of over 1,100,000,000 people. We'll be spending most of our time in an NGO called Vishtar near Bangalore; a city of major IT development. No doubt this experience is going to be one of intense challenge and growth. We're all anticipating bouts of culture shock, diarrhea, noise, and complete lack of personal space. Bring it on.
So I made a blog
Hello World!
So Brendan has decided that because he is going to India it might not be a bad idea to blog about it! We're going to be staying in conditions that allow for minimal computer use, so probably the best way to communicate to all my wonderful friends would be via blog. I won't deny, there is a part of Brendan that is said to be entering the blogging world, but I hope to be able to use this as mostly a source of information rather than a chance for me to be a raging Megalomaniac.
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