Sitting on the train to Delhi from Kolkata. It’s still in Howrah Station and we have at least a 25 minute wait. I was in Kolkata visiting Onkar, who is continuing to have a rough time at work and therefore his life. When the time comes and he can get out of what he is doing, he may once again be the lovely person who I befriended 28 years ago. But for now, times are tough. Myna, Onky’s wife, has been a beacon of strength. She stands pat, not wavering.
I’ve been spending the past two weeks in somewhat luxurious style, first in Puri and then in Kolkata. (The army just walked by in force with a bomb sniffing dog).
In Puri VSO held its annual Program Area Review (PAR). The hotel was lovely and I shared a room with Len, which, of course was very good. There was a pool, a work out room, a beach, good food, a shower with hot water.
A fishing village, close by, where people used the sea as a toilet, was where I got nipped by a dog. I’m not entirely certain why this dog nipped me, but it did break the skin on my left leg. As the children and one adult informed me through sign language, I needed to get a shot. I proceeded to the local hospital, l with Len by my side, and received both a tetanus and a rabies shot. The cost to enter the hospital was 1 rupee and the medicine, including the syringe, etc., was about 350 rupees. Not expensive for me, even on a volunteer’s wages, but expensive for those living on the street. (I ended up getting one more shot three days later as part of the rabies regimen).
I’m very much enamored by the fishing villages in India, but as I approached this one I noticed men squatting and pooping. There seemed to be little regard for people looking on or for polluting the ocean. It was just the way that it was. Fresh fish coming to shore and fresh excrement leaving the shore a perfect ebb and flow.
Upon leaving Puri, Len and I jumped on a train to Kolkata. My ticket was RAC which meant that I had to share my space with another person. We bought Len’s ticket at the station, a general admission, kind of thing, and I told her just to come and stay with me. Sure enough others showed up and we convinced the conducted to let us both sleep together on the lower berth. We went to sleep around 11:30 PM and were awoken by the conductor at 3 AM asking for the remainder of the fare, which we gladly paid and returned back to sleep. (I’m sitting facing another person at the moment and there is not enough space. He is scratching his foot, dreadfully close to my laptop and hopefully no flakes will fly off. Of course, who knows what kinds of things are already brewing inside of my laptop).
Arrival in Kolkata took place on-time around 8 AM and there Len, Jim, another vol and I stood waiting to be picked up. The driver was close, very close, but it took us almost an hour to finally find him.
Onkar’s home is very beautiful, full of art, due to Myna’s business, and servants due to the Kakar status. There is a cook and his wife, another servant, a sweeper, quite hunched over, a driver, other people who open the gate, a shared expense, a gardener. One person made our bed, brought us water in the evenings, nimboo pani, tea, served us dinner. At the meals table, a bell is rung to call the servants. It’s nice, and one can become quite accustomed to this.
People waiting on others, serves many purposes, economic mainly I would guess. While staying at Onky’s I went to a few people’s homes and they all had servants, just goes with this class of people. It’s expected, it’s part of the fabric and probably many earn some kind of living from this type of work. I don’t really know anybody in the States, or for that matter, elsewhere, who have servants.
I know that I really love being in a foreign environment, probably has to do with my curiosity, my wanting to see things. In the movie Avatar, there was this thing about really seeing the others and things in the world. Maybe it’s the same kind of thing, but I’m always looking, maybe to the point of appearing somewhat disconnected or spacey. I know this about myself, I like to see, those little things that are there, but not always apparent. I suppose that I could look for these kinds of things in the US, but, on some level I know what they are. I don’t know that I’ve looked for the surprises though, at least on a regular basis.
Take for instance my parent’s “retirement community”. It’s the same thing, everyday, the weather, the pool, the what shall we have for dinner. Maybe it’s the same whenever one is in the same environment for a period of time. I don’t know, when I was staying with my parents, if I truly looked at things. Don’t get me wrong, because in India there is somewhat of a sameness, I mean there’s dirt almost everywhere, I don’t know that communities all look that different, there is that kind of Indian look to things. But there still remain surprises, but it may just be my state of mind, wanting to see more.
I think that I could make a career of this, i.e. living overseas, as a volunteer. I could also get an overseas job, however I do enjoy the freedom. Even though I’m working for the Indian government I do feel as if I have a lot of freedom to somewhat decide how I do my job. One doesn’t need that much money to live on, but there are the trade offs, not seeing friends and family as often, having people come and go like we’re in Oz. I do miss those connections and it’s not the same through Skype, but I wonder if I can go back.
But maybe it’s not going back because I haven’t been there yet. There would be some type of newness as to how I approach things just because of this experience, but there would be the sameness of just being with Americans. Yes, the US is a diverse country and I suppose that I could live in a large city, but then I would need more money to live on. What to do?
In reality I need to keep feeling what is right for me and then channel my energy towards that. Sitting with this can be somewhat uncomfortable. I could settle for the sameness, but that makes me grimace. I just don’t think so.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Southern India/Back in Delhi
It has been so long since my last post. I continue to enjoy the magical moments which happen quite frequently for me in India. I wouldn’t trade this past year for anything.
I spent December 31-Feb. 8 in southern India in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Thrissur, Cochin and Pondicherry. I did four capacity building workshops and was able to go to a number of organisations to view first hand the great work that is occurring throughout India. Very memorable for me will be the two nights that I spent at Baby Sarah’s Home in Pondicherry, an orphanage for 107 children, some disabled. This was pure magic with the children showing so much love towards one another. My hosts for all of the workshops were just wonderful treating me with so much kindness. There was the stay at Indian Social Institute in Bangalore, the visits to the Spastics Society of Karnataka and KPAMRC, the stop off in Combiotore to look at a potential ARUNIM project, the incredible hotels in Thrissur and Pondicherry, the elephant Park, the joy of spending time with Len in Ft. Cochi, the one evening where I got sick when we came back from Mamallapurm and the incredible markets in Chennai. The surprise of being the Guest of Honor at a swim meet in Chennai, the fun of hooking up some people to build a basketball court, seeing a court paid for by the NBA and meeting with the Commissioner of Agriculture Marketing in Tamil Nadu to discuss farmers markets, all added to the fun. All that I love, including dosas I found in the south.
I have found love in India with another volunteer, Len, who is from the Philippines and lives in Chennai. Len and I first met in July at a restaurant, with other newly arrived volunteers. I thought that she was shy and we really didn’t get to speak, although we were sitting across from one another. A few weeks later there was another get together of volunteers and I talked to Len for some time, but thought not too much about this until she sent her phone number to me through an SMS. Being one to take advantage of opportunities, I called and we started talking. In mid-August before Len left for Chennai we spent a good amount of time together, flying kites on Independence Day, and through the magic of Skype and cell phones we grew closer and realized that there was love between us. The time that I spent in the south was a time to realize love and to grow closer to one another. That initial excitement is maturing into something more which feels good.
My friend David recently visited from the UK and this provided me with another opportunity to show “my” world to a good friend. David hopes to come back and I certainly will welcome him with open arms.
My work continues to intrigue and interest me. There is always so much to do and at times things seem so very scattered. A new Deputy Director of Administration began his job this past week. I was asked to sit through an interview for a volunteer fundraiser position. The entire interviewing process is so very different then what I’ve experienced. I would definitely change the process if I was asked to do so, but given that I haven’t been, I can only provide my observations, which I’ve done. I do provide many observations and ideas to my bosses, but ultimately it is up to them as to which things I follow through with. At this point, they want me to focus on fundraising for Badhte Kadam II, and a new building, develop Badhte Kadam II which starts next week with a presentation to our State Nodal Agency Centres (SNACs), continue working with ARUNIM to develop their Strategic Plan, continue to help facilitate an India wide fundraising network and numerous other projects that I’m sure will develop. My colleague from Scotland, Allan, will be leaving March 19, so I may very well pick up some of his work. As I say quite a bit recently, “Let’s see”.
India continues to be a place of great contrasts for me. I see the dire poverty everyday as I go to work, but also the wealth. By poverty I mean the children that are half clothed, living in a room with countless brothers and sisters and other relatives, with no sanitary facilities. Tents everywhere which are people’s only piece of shelter, but which don’t provide shelter from the biting cold or oven like heat. It’s very difficult for me to see on a daily basis and I haven’t come to the point where I just ignore this part of the landscape.
When David visited we spent some time with Onkar’s relatives, people who I will always treasure. They definitely have some wealth, a few servants and such. It is always a pleasure for me to go there and this time they treated me immediately, without even asking, with a glass of fresh lime-sweet. But it is also a very different kind of experience for me as my life is based on 17,000 rupees/month. I’m not complaining in any sense because this amount is enough for me. I can even do some travelling and I live in a very middle class home. It is just a different feeling, which I have to admit that I’m quite comfortable with.
I’ll never truly know what it is like to be financially poor-I own a house, have some retirement, a bit of a savings account and “stuff”. You can see it in people’s faces when they’re “poor”, but one can also, unexpectedly see many smiles. It is even as simple as the children, half clothed, see me and just want their pictures taken. “Uncle, uncle, photo, photo” they say to me as the little ones are carrying even smaller ones. All of their mothers look beautiful in their brightly colored saris. In some sense it’s not about wealth in my sense, it’s more about a happiness of just being.
I keep needing to have more, downloading music and movies, wanting to ensure that I’m making a difference. It’s a world away from the just being. I’ve been feeling that I cannot do enough here, as I continue to see so much need, things that maybe could change from the visa office to my job, to how people treat one another. Len has said to me that at times I sound quite arrogant. As I witness this in others I can identify with what she says. I certainly don’t know what is “right”, at times I’m not sure what is “right” for me. (It’s a little thing such as when I saw some young men littering and I told them to stop. They laughed at me and continued to litter. It was the way that I “told” them, instead of talking to them).
Today on the b-ball court, first time playing after two months which my body is now feeling, I witnessed an altercation. Stupid stuff, but I understood, as I can also get caught up in the heat of the moment. I turned to another player and said no wonder the world is so messed up. For me this is so very true, this thing about how “my world” is the way that it should be. Yes, it’s more complicated than that, but it most likely does come down to this simple statement. I want to be more aware of this, because the words and how we say things does matter. It’s also open to other’s interpretation of what we say from their own world perspective.
I do continue to learn, everyday, from the people who I come into contact with. It is a blessing for me and sometimes I learn and sometimes I don’t. But, thank goodness that I now have someone who cares enough about my character to tell me that I am, at times, arrogant.
I wonder what will happen over the next year. It remains very much an open book and I will do my best to just go with it!
I spent December 31-Feb. 8 in southern India in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Thrissur, Cochin and Pondicherry. I did four capacity building workshops and was able to go to a number of organisations to view first hand the great work that is occurring throughout India. Very memorable for me will be the two nights that I spent at Baby Sarah’s Home in Pondicherry, an orphanage for 107 children, some disabled. This was pure magic with the children showing so much love towards one another. My hosts for all of the workshops were just wonderful treating me with so much kindness. There was the stay at Indian Social Institute in Bangalore, the visits to the Spastics Society of Karnataka and KPAMRC, the stop off in Combiotore to look at a potential ARUNIM project, the incredible hotels in Thrissur and Pondicherry, the elephant Park, the joy of spending time with Len in Ft. Cochi, the one evening where I got sick when we came back from Mamallapurm and the incredible markets in Chennai. The surprise of being the Guest of Honor at a swim meet in Chennai, the fun of hooking up some people to build a basketball court, seeing a court paid for by the NBA and meeting with the Commissioner of Agriculture Marketing in Tamil Nadu to discuss farmers markets, all added to the fun. All that I love, including dosas I found in the south.
I have found love in India with another volunteer, Len, who is from the Philippines and lives in Chennai. Len and I first met in July at a restaurant, with other newly arrived volunteers. I thought that she was shy and we really didn’t get to speak, although we were sitting across from one another. A few weeks later there was another get together of volunteers and I talked to Len for some time, but thought not too much about this until she sent her phone number to me through an SMS. Being one to take advantage of opportunities, I called and we started talking. In mid-August before Len left for Chennai we spent a good amount of time together, flying kites on Independence Day, and through the magic of Skype and cell phones we grew closer and realized that there was love between us. The time that I spent in the south was a time to realize love and to grow closer to one another. That initial excitement is maturing into something more which feels good.
My friend David recently visited from the UK and this provided me with another opportunity to show “my” world to a good friend. David hopes to come back and I certainly will welcome him with open arms.
My work continues to intrigue and interest me. There is always so much to do and at times things seem so very scattered. A new Deputy Director of Administration began his job this past week. I was asked to sit through an interview for a volunteer fundraiser position. The entire interviewing process is so very different then what I’ve experienced. I would definitely change the process if I was asked to do so, but given that I haven’t been, I can only provide my observations, which I’ve done. I do provide many observations and ideas to my bosses, but ultimately it is up to them as to which things I follow through with. At this point, they want me to focus on fundraising for Badhte Kadam II, and a new building, develop Badhte Kadam II which starts next week with a presentation to our State Nodal Agency Centres (SNACs), continue working with ARUNIM to develop their Strategic Plan, continue to help facilitate an India wide fundraising network and numerous other projects that I’m sure will develop. My colleague from Scotland, Allan, will be leaving March 19, so I may very well pick up some of his work. As I say quite a bit recently, “Let’s see”.
India continues to be a place of great contrasts for me. I see the dire poverty everyday as I go to work, but also the wealth. By poverty I mean the children that are half clothed, living in a room with countless brothers and sisters and other relatives, with no sanitary facilities. Tents everywhere which are people’s only piece of shelter, but which don’t provide shelter from the biting cold or oven like heat. It’s very difficult for me to see on a daily basis and I haven’t come to the point where I just ignore this part of the landscape.
When David visited we spent some time with Onkar’s relatives, people who I will always treasure. They definitely have some wealth, a few servants and such. It is always a pleasure for me to go there and this time they treated me immediately, without even asking, with a glass of fresh lime-sweet. But it is also a very different kind of experience for me as my life is based on 17,000 rupees/month. I’m not complaining in any sense because this amount is enough for me. I can even do some travelling and I live in a very middle class home. It is just a different feeling, which I have to admit that I’m quite comfortable with.
I’ll never truly know what it is like to be financially poor-I own a house, have some retirement, a bit of a savings account and “stuff”. You can see it in people’s faces when they’re “poor”, but one can also, unexpectedly see many smiles. It is even as simple as the children, half clothed, see me and just want their pictures taken. “Uncle, uncle, photo, photo” they say to me as the little ones are carrying even smaller ones. All of their mothers look beautiful in their brightly colored saris. In some sense it’s not about wealth in my sense, it’s more about a happiness of just being.
I keep needing to have more, downloading music and movies, wanting to ensure that I’m making a difference. It’s a world away from the just being. I’ve been feeling that I cannot do enough here, as I continue to see so much need, things that maybe could change from the visa office to my job, to how people treat one another. Len has said to me that at times I sound quite arrogant. As I witness this in others I can identify with what she says. I certainly don’t know what is “right”, at times I’m not sure what is “right” for me. (It’s a little thing such as when I saw some young men littering and I told them to stop. They laughed at me and continued to litter. It was the way that I “told” them, instead of talking to them).
Today on the b-ball court, first time playing after two months which my body is now feeling, I witnessed an altercation. Stupid stuff, but I understood, as I can also get caught up in the heat of the moment. I turned to another player and said no wonder the world is so messed up. For me this is so very true, this thing about how “my world” is the way that it should be. Yes, it’s more complicated than that, but it most likely does come down to this simple statement. I want to be more aware of this, because the words and how we say things does matter. It’s also open to other’s interpretation of what we say from their own world perspective.
I do continue to learn, everyday, from the people who I come into contact with. It is a blessing for me and sometimes I learn and sometimes I don’t. But, thank goodness that I now have someone who cares enough about my character to tell me that I am, at times, arrogant.
I wonder what will happen over the next year. It remains very much an open book and I will do my best to just go with it!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Globalization?
I’m in Ludhiana after being in Chandigarh for a number of days. I’m doing more workshops, refining, doing my best to help others, to build capacity in their organisations. It’s slow work and people get it, but will they carry it through or just learn and then leave behind their learnings? What more can I do to help? I give it my all everyday, until I’m exhausted. I can do it for them, but what good is that as it won’t last if there is no buy-in and people don’t make the ideas their own.
I realize more and more how important “fish” (http://www.charthouse.com/content.aspx?name=home2) is and want to keep teaching it and also realize that I must treat others the way in which I want to be treated. I was a little put off tonight, only my ego, as my host excused me to the Parker House, where I’m staying and said that I could eat dinner there. (I realized after later conversation that the degree of interaction may be something that was not expected. I ended up eating breakfast and lunch at my host’s and became friends with my host’s children. It was all wonderful and is more about building relationships than anything else, as we all have our own ways of doing this). But this place wasn’t really for me. On a college campus PAU and the room has a big water splotch on one of the walls. I walked in the canteen today, but it didn’t look that appetizing either.
As I walked in downtown Ludhiana I came upon a pretty good Indian restaurant, and after eating I decided to walk a bit to see more of this town. I’ve been told that there is nothing to see in Ludhiana and it appears that this may be the truth.
I walked to a mall and there I saw a McD’s, a KFC and a Baskin Robbins. I walked into the mall and it was like any other mall, anywhere, nothing Indian about it. To some extent this is depressing to me, as India loses its identity in becoming modern. It’s about globalization and the ability to turn people into consumers of products that have no special value, except that they are enjoyed in the “west”. I have to say that I did go into a McDonalds’s with my hosts in Chandigarh, Capt. Kohli and his wife Dr. Kohli, but they were the ones who wanted to eat there for a light snack. I had a veggie burger, fries and a soda for 85 rupees, ok so I can’t get this in the US and it was tasty.
The point and sadness for me is seeing the Golden Arches and Col. Saunders in a place where they should never have been invited, where they should have been stopped at the border. It takes away from the magic of India. It’s anywhere USA, the middle of nowhere, but yet it’s in Ludhiana and Chandigarh. It’s globalization at its worse, no exceptions. Young and middle class Indians “enjoying” the “best” (worst) of what I grew up with.
I’m not really sure how to deal with this part of globalization. Yes it creates some jobs and hopefully teaches something about customer service, which is something that is important in India, but it also somehow makes the landscape much uglier than it might be.
One might argue that the location of these restaurants, mainly in malls, brightens things up and that these areas are neat and clean, something that one doesn’t find much of, except in the most plush places. (Chandigarh was quite an exception to this, a clean, somewhat green city. It was a welcome contrast to Delhi and most of the other cities that I’ve visited. People even seemed to drive with some civility). But it also creates plasticity, the homogeneity, which makes the west, less alive and uninteresting, with some exceptions.
Like the dire poverty that is so omnipresent, and one really can’t do much about, the further coming of globalization and it’s sameness is something that most likely can’t be stopped unless developing countries governments put a stop sign up. But is any government going to stop a McD’s or KFC from coming to their country? I haven’t seen a Wal*Mart yet, but who will stop them from coming once they start digging in adn finding markets for their products. As the superstore occurs in developing countries and people’s ways of shopping change this will continue to destroy the magic that is so prevalent.
I do suppose that even the cows will be moved out of Delhi at some point. But then again maybe not.
I realize more and more how important “fish” (http://www.charthouse.com/content.aspx?name=home2) is and want to keep teaching it and also realize that I must treat others the way in which I want to be treated. I was a little put off tonight, only my ego, as my host excused me to the Parker House, where I’m staying and said that I could eat dinner there. (I realized after later conversation that the degree of interaction may be something that was not expected. I ended up eating breakfast and lunch at my host’s and became friends with my host’s children. It was all wonderful and is more about building relationships than anything else, as we all have our own ways of doing this). But this place wasn’t really for me. On a college campus PAU and the room has a big water splotch on one of the walls. I walked in the canteen today, but it didn’t look that appetizing either.
As I walked in downtown Ludhiana I came upon a pretty good Indian restaurant, and after eating I decided to walk a bit to see more of this town. I’ve been told that there is nothing to see in Ludhiana and it appears that this may be the truth.
I walked to a mall and there I saw a McD’s, a KFC and a Baskin Robbins. I walked into the mall and it was like any other mall, anywhere, nothing Indian about it. To some extent this is depressing to me, as India loses its identity in becoming modern. It’s about globalization and the ability to turn people into consumers of products that have no special value, except that they are enjoyed in the “west”. I have to say that I did go into a McDonalds’s with my hosts in Chandigarh, Capt. Kohli and his wife Dr. Kohli, but they were the ones who wanted to eat there for a light snack. I had a veggie burger, fries and a soda for 85 rupees, ok so I can’t get this in the US and it was tasty.
The point and sadness for me is seeing the Golden Arches and Col. Saunders in a place where they should never have been invited, where they should have been stopped at the border. It takes away from the magic of India. It’s anywhere USA, the middle of nowhere, but yet it’s in Ludhiana and Chandigarh. It’s globalization at its worse, no exceptions. Young and middle class Indians “enjoying” the “best” (worst) of what I grew up with.
I’m not really sure how to deal with this part of globalization. Yes it creates some jobs and hopefully teaches something about customer service, which is something that is important in India, but it also somehow makes the landscape much uglier than it might be.
One might argue that the location of these restaurants, mainly in malls, brightens things up and that these areas are neat and clean, something that one doesn’t find much of, except in the most plush places. (Chandigarh was quite an exception to this, a clean, somewhat green city. It was a welcome contrast to Delhi and most of the other cities that I’ve visited. People even seemed to drive with some civility). But it also creates plasticity, the homogeneity, which makes the west, less alive and uninteresting, with some exceptions.
Like the dire poverty that is so omnipresent, and one really can’t do much about, the further coming of globalization and it’s sameness is something that most likely can’t be stopped unless developing countries governments put a stop sign up. But is any government going to stop a McD’s or KFC from coming to their country? I haven’t seen a Wal*Mart yet, but who will stop them from coming once they start digging in adn finding markets for their products. As the superstore occurs in developing countries and people’s ways of shopping change this will continue to destroy the magic that is so prevalent.
I do suppose that even the cows will be moved out of Delhi at some point. But then again maybe not.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Badhte Kadam
Badhte Kadam
“The winds dance in their own path,
Clouds give rain wherever they want
We will also choose our own path
We will take steps forward all together
We have been born on earth
And we are not less than anyone
We agree we have a disability
But we are still a part of this society
Everyone only sees our disability
They have to understand our likes and dislikes
Make plans for us
Only when you understand what we have on our mind
To stay alive we need food, clothes and a house
To really live we need Rights, Trust and Dignity
We need your help to increase our strength
We want the friendship of friends to take our journey forward.”
Badhte Kadam Theme Song as translated from the Hindi by NT Chairperson Poonam Natarajan
As I sat in my apartment on November 14, 2009 listening to the beautiful theme song of Badhte Kadam, my eyes filled with tears and I sobbed as I felt throughout my entire body all of the work and effort that had gone into the process of coordinating/facilitating this major awareness raising campaign throughout India.
The four teams of six volunteers, two drivers and two cars, loaded with so many pounds of awareness materials that they made the 12 seat Tempo Travelers tilt backwards, had just left hours earlier from the Youth Hostel in Delhi. I spent the evening of November 13 at the Youth Hostel with our volunteers waiting for the morning when all of our months of planning would come to fruition and the teams would leave on their journeys to each visit 15 National Trust partners for a total of 60 throughout the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab. Given the fact that there were two cars on each route this would translate into well over 20,000 km covered throughout India.
But let’s back up to how this all started. It has been very interesting for me to read articles in the VSO India newsletter, to reflect and to know what other volunteers are going through, as my story is somewhat similar.
As I arrived in mid-April at my job with the National Trust (NT), I was eager to help out in any way that I could. I felt that due to the fact that NT had previously not had any international volunteers, that it was important to make a great impression. I would be willing to take on a number of tasks to show how volunteers could truly make an impact as well as a difference.
In discussing possible assignments with my bosses, Poonam Natarajan and Atul Prasad, Badhte Kadam was brought to my attention. With my usual enthusiasm (and some naïveté) I said, “of course I’ll work on this”. Never mind the fact that this project had been thought of over a year ago, but had stalled due to numerous reasons and the fact that I didn’t speak Hindi, I was going to do it. I thought, collaboration no matter where one does it, is possible because people do want to work together towards common goals and be part of something that would have such a large reach.
I met with a couple of people to find out about the background of Badhte Kadam and from this we developed a committee consisting of other volunteers, professionals working in the disability area, and some staff to implement the project. I knew going in that we had a very short planning timeframe as the programme was to be implemented in mid-November in time for completion by World Disability Day on December 3. This gave us less than six months to plan an event that involved coordinating with 60 partners throughout India, some with e-mail, and some that didn’t open their e-mails, some that didn’t speak English and some that didn’t answer their phones, finding 24 volunteers through a national search, having a project budget adopted by the NT board, designing and ordering a myriad of materials, reaching consensus on the part of a number of people, all of whom were extremely busy and doing a project outside of the proverbial “box”.
My initial reaction was to “start small”, do two routes and have some success that we could build on. But, we needed to head north, south, east and west and so four routes were planned. “No problem.” These are words that I’ve become used to and probably even dreamt about on occasion. Of course, no problem, as nothing was considered to be too large or unreachable.
As the coordinator/facilitator I was given the responsibility of bringing people together and chairing meetings. I thought how funny, the guy who says “Mei thodi Hindi bolta hoo, lekin mei sikraha hoo, (I speak a little Hindi, but I’m learning) is chairing meetings. Indians who speak English don’t even understand what I’m saying because of my California accent, which I thought never existed, and when I said Badhte Kadam, people would say what, and then say oh, Badhte Kadam. I would of course reply with isn’t that what I said and they would just smile. Unofficially I started calling this event BK, which everyone understood, and seemed to catch on with those connected with this project.
I would do my usual thing, build relationships, send out lots of e-mails and constantly communicate, hold regularly scheduled, well-timed meetings, be persistent and this would all come together. At times during meetings, I was able to get people to turn off their cell phones, which is not an easy task, and had only one person talking at a time, as I banged my fists on the table with the approval of my bosses, who would laughingly smile.
We got off to a great start-set our mission: To raise awareness of the disability sector and National Trust and established goals: (1) provide information on the UNCRPD-Human Rights Model, (2) provide understanding of NT focused disabilities, and (3) celebrating diversity. We established committees: press, budget, NGO, volunteer recruitment, materials and programme.
Things were moving forward and I felt, “yes, we don’t have a lot of time, but we’ll do it”. But, I’d set a meeting at a certain start time, and less people started coming and when they did arrive, they were typically late. I countered with I’m going to start on time, but would at times find myself in the conference room by myself, saying ok 10 more minutes and then I’m leaving. I had to constantly cajole the staff to come to meetings and even they wouldn’t necessarily arrive on time. Additionally, only a few committees were meeting on a regular basis.
OK, ok so we still had this huge task and it was going to happen. A super professional, a volunteer named Chitra Vasudevan, really stepped up her efforts and things were moving. Atul directed staff to make things happen and again we were moving. We were able to choose the 24 volunteers from about 100 applicants, we did a bit of training for some of our partners at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in August and things looked better.
But again fewer people were attending meetings and the staff were busy doing their regular jobs. Chitra came in with Gantt Charts and Mind Maps laying out specifically what each committee needed to do and somehow we kept things flowing and Poonam focused on the mobile exhibition, which was her brainchild. This exhibit, featured 25 posters, including some pictures that I had taken at some of our partner NGOs, told about the UNCRPD and how we needed to change the way in which we viewed the “disabled” population.
We worked with Epistle Solutions, a group of three men focused on media and design. We had previously worked with them in designing our “corporate branding” which was voted on by staff and which is now featured on all NT publications. This small group is very talented and creative and they designed the BK logo, bags and mobile exhibition posters. They worked, what seemed to me like, 24 hours a day for eternity on our project. I would call Aditya, the Epistle owner, at many different times and while I waited to talk to him, what sounded to me like a country song would play. I thought, who is this guy listening to. As it turned out it was Elvis Presley as Aditya is a huge Elvis fan.
I continued to send out e-mails in hopes that people would attend our meetings. Shekhar Borker, one of our board members, was someone who came to our rescue with numerous ideas, always in attendance, always on time, always with a smile.
Of course, there was also Chitra working day and night. Chitra, a very bright woman with a corporate background, full of so much talent, really kept things on track. I was at a disadvantage as I tried to cajole our NGOs and volunteers to respond to my e-mails, some did, but many didn’t understand what I was trying to say. As an example I used ASAP in one of my e-mails to our volunteers. Chitra told me that people had no idea what I was talking about. Assumptions, hmmm.. Chitra would make so many calls from her cell getting the NGOs and volunteers to commit. We had some help from Alok and Rohit, who screened the potential volunteers by phone.
But even this was difficult as people would commit to being volunteers and then drop out. We went through so many permutations of volunteers with Chitra and I now talking daily on Skype in the evenings. At the very last minute, the day before the orientation training was to start; we came up with our 24th volunteer, a young man from Delhi named Vikram, who had never been out of the City. One of the staff also joined as a volunteer and we were up to 25.
The NGOs were all supposed to provide me with a “mela” or programme plan by October 1. We used the carrot of providing 10000 rupees once we heard from the NGOs. October 1 came and went with only a few of the NGOs telling me what they were going to do. It seemed that everyday I was trying to obtain these plans, but planning is not something that is well integrated into citizen’s organisation (NGO) culture, with last minute doing being the modus operandi. This is not always negative, but being a type A Californian who wants to know in advance, it did make me a bit pagl or crazy.
Chitra and I, in our lower moments, would prop each other up. Fortunately, neither of us hit a low moment at the same time. Some of the organisations came and went as well and we had to find substitutes. It was always though, “no problem”, a very positive attitude.
I was able to get an intern, who I had met, at the South Asian Fundraising Group annual conference in Jaipur, in August, to help me. But after helping a bit, she disappeared. Some of the staff helped, but again the draw of their paperwork kept them from helping out full-time. But there was Chitra, always dependable, typically with a smile and I knew that it could be done.
Once Atul, told staff they had to do certain things they responded and it was happening, but many things were still so last minute. We had so many materials to order, booklets, which Chitra had put together, the mobile exhibition posters, key chains, toffees, bags, t-shirts, hats, jackets and supplies. We didn’t leave ourselves enough time to really see samples and so the t-shirts didn’t come out exactly the way that they should have to match the caps, but we were all hustling. Ruby, who takes care of the materials ordering seemed to be somewhat in her glory, but was also very stressed out by it all. The mobile exhibition posters came in, 100 sets of 25 but there were no numbers on them and then we started numbering them incorrectly. On the evening before our flag off and volunteer orientation, November 12, the conference room was filled with posters as we started putting the sets together. People were singing and I was wondering what was happening.
The night before our flag out ceremony featuring the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Wasnik, we still didn’t have all of the materials. We had to pack the vehicles so that we could do a mock flag off and I thought how are we going to do this.
The volunteers had all arrived in Delhi on November 12 and on November 13 we conducted an orientation where the volunteers chose their teams and team leaders. I was able to facilitate this part and the teams were chosen and the leaders picked. There was so much positive energy in the room and as the volunteers practiced singing the BK theme song I was filled with so much pride, as it was all so contagious.
As we finished the volunteer orientation and the crowds started filling the speaker’s hall at the Constitution Club it all felt as if we had succeeded. We held a great press conference, the lamp was lit, the volunteers were so enthusiastic and once again sang the theme song. The Going Solo NGO, which works with street kids and is led by Manisha, did a play about debunking disability myths. The volunteers jumped into the now fully loaded vehicles, as the Minister flagged them off and they went to spend the evening at the International Youth Hostel.
The morning of November 14 everyone was up bright and early. I wanted the teams to leave by 8 AM, but we needed to do a pooja or prayer service and by the time pictures were taken and Alok finished with the service, the teams were ready to leave closer to 9 AM. Poonam, Atul, Shekhar, Chitra and I were there to wish the teams a good journey and after went out to breakfast at the Indian International Centre.
The teams called Chitra and me everyday to update us on their progress, and pictures and reports started flowing in. There were many newspaper articles written in the local press creating the awareness that we so desired. The melas sounded wonderful, full of dancing, singing, and the usual fun associated with Indian celebrations. Yes, there were issues that came up as well, the one NGO that had made reservations at a very expensive hotel and then didn’t want to pay for it, squabbles among some of the team members, but all in all things remained on the positive side.
The volunteers made their way back to Delhi on November 30, with a flag in with the State Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Napoleon, a south Indian film star with a wonderful singing voice. (I was later told that in his day he was a basketball player, as he is quite tall). At the flag in, besides celebrating the accomplishments of our volunteers, we also saluted a number of special Olympians, the first time that this had occurred by an Indian governmental body. We sang our theme song and enjoyed the camaraderie that had been formed since November 13.
On December 1, we held a debriefing with our volunteers to find out what they thought and to share lunch between them and our staff. We gained a lot of valuable information which will be used in planning for the 2010 Bk.
On December 3, we displayed many of the items from BK-posters, mobile exhibition, the pieces of cloth with messages written from the melas-at the World Disability Day (WDD) rally at India Gate. This was something that I had really wanted to do as a kind of wrap up to the campaign and it was amazing to be at India Gate at 7:45 AM with some of the BK volunteers, putting up this exhibition. This was the first time that NT had a display like this at the WDD rally. (We spent a good deal of time trying to decide the best way to display the items and met with Javit who is a well known disability advocate in India- there was recently a story about him in Business Outlook in an article about social entrepreneurs and also a chapter about him in the book, “How to Change the World” as he is the organizer of the WDD rally. On December 2 we went to the office of Pringle Art, down some alleys and looked at these pots being painted that would be filled with sand with a bamboo pole in the middle for hanging our materials. The pots were still being painted at 8 PM, only a few were done and again I thought, how is this all going to happen. Of course the pots were at India Gate when I arrived at 7:45 AM, which meant that I was on the metro at 6 AM)
That evening I attended the National Disability awards and besides again seeing the two Ministers I also was able to see the Indian President. When I greeted Shri Wasnik wearing my BK t-shirt and hat he recognized me from the flag out. This was such a wonderful feeling to know that this Minister, same as a cabinet position in the US, was recognizing the awareness work that we were doing.
I have been given accolades from others in helping to make BK a reality, where the words, “no problem” have taken on a new meaning. But I also know that none of this was possible without VSO enabling me to come to India, without the strong leadership of both Poonam and Atul, without super Chitra and the always smiling and full of ideas Shekhar, without Deepika, Ruby, Subhash, Rajnish and the many other staff, who even at the last minute pitched in and helped with loading the vehicles, with the Flag Out and Flag In, getting money out to the NGOs to conduct their melas, having fun and listening to my rantings, without the NGO partners and the BK volunteers and the people who attended the melas, without the Epistle Solutions team or Pringle Art, without the group of volunteers that initially started helping us.
Yes, a few of us did an inordinate amount of work on this project, but it does take a team, no matter how this is defined to make an event like this happen. It takes every one of us, no matter how much or how little planning is done, to join hands and continue the fight, no matter what that fight is. This is the only way and it truly is “no problem”.
“The winds dance in their own path,
Clouds give rain wherever they want
We will also choose our own path
We will take steps forward all together
We have been born on earth
And we are not less than anyone
We agree we have a disability
But we are still a part of this society
Everyone only sees our disability
They have to understand our likes and dislikes
Make plans for us
Only when you understand what we have on our mind
To stay alive we need food, clothes and a house
To really live we need Rights, Trust and Dignity
We need your help to increase our strength
We want the friendship of friends to take our journey forward.”
Badhte Kadam Theme Song as translated from the Hindi by NT Chairperson Poonam Natarajan
As I sat in my apartment on November 14, 2009 listening to the beautiful theme song of Badhte Kadam, my eyes filled with tears and I sobbed as I felt throughout my entire body all of the work and effort that had gone into the process of coordinating/facilitating this major awareness raising campaign throughout India.
The four teams of six volunteers, two drivers and two cars, loaded with so many pounds of awareness materials that they made the 12 seat Tempo Travelers tilt backwards, had just left hours earlier from the Youth Hostel in Delhi. I spent the evening of November 13 at the Youth Hostel with our volunteers waiting for the morning when all of our months of planning would come to fruition and the teams would leave on their journeys to each visit 15 National Trust partners for a total of 60 throughout the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab. Given the fact that there were two cars on each route this would translate into well over 20,000 km covered throughout India.
But let’s back up to how this all started. It has been very interesting for me to read articles in the VSO India newsletter, to reflect and to know what other volunteers are going through, as my story is somewhat similar.
As I arrived in mid-April at my job with the National Trust (NT), I was eager to help out in any way that I could. I felt that due to the fact that NT had previously not had any international volunteers, that it was important to make a great impression. I would be willing to take on a number of tasks to show how volunteers could truly make an impact as well as a difference.
In discussing possible assignments with my bosses, Poonam Natarajan and Atul Prasad, Badhte Kadam was brought to my attention. With my usual enthusiasm (and some naïveté) I said, “of course I’ll work on this”. Never mind the fact that this project had been thought of over a year ago, but had stalled due to numerous reasons and the fact that I didn’t speak Hindi, I was going to do it. I thought, collaboration no matter where one does it, is possible because people do want to work together towards common goals and be part of something that would have such a large reach.
I met with a couple of people to find out about the background of Badhte Kadam and from this we developed a committee consisting of other volunteers, professionals working in the disability area, and some staff to implement the project. I knew going in that we had a very short planning timeframe as the programme was to be implemented in mid-November in time for completion by World Disability Day on December 3. This gave us less than six months to plan an event that involved coordinating with 60 partners throughout India, some with e-mail, and some that didn’t open their e-mails, some that didn’t speak English and some that didn’t answer their phones, finding 24 volunteers through a national search, having a project budget adopted by the NT board, designing and ordering a myriad of materials, reaching consensus on the part of a number of people, all of whom were extremely busy and doing a project outside of the proverbial “box”.
My initial reaction was to “start small”, do two routes and have some success that we could build on. But, we needed to head north, south, east and west and so four routes were planned. “No problem.” These are words that I’ve become used to and probably even dreamt about on occasion. Of course, no problem, as nothing was considered to be too large or unreachable.
As the coordinator/facilitator I was given the responsibility of bringing people together and chairing meetings. I thought how funny, the guy who says “Mei thodi Hindi bolta hoo, lekin mei sikraha hoo, (I speak a little Hindi, but I’m learning) is chairing meetings. Indians who speak English don’t even understand what I’m saying because of my California accent, which I thought never existed, and when I said Badhte Kadam, people would say what, and then say oh, Badhte Kadam. I would of course reply with isn’t that what I said and they would just smile. Unofficially I started calling this event BK, which everyone understood, and seemed to catch on with those connected with this project.
I would do my usual thing, build relationships, send out lots of e-mails and constantly communicate, hold regularly scheduled, well-timed meetings, be persistent and this would all come together. At times during meetings, I was able to get people to turn off their cell phones, which is not an easy task, and had only one person talking at a time, as I banged my fists on the table with the approval of my bosses, who would laughingly smile.
We got off to a great start-set our mission: To raise awareness of the disability sector and National Trust and established goals: (1) provide information on the UNCRPD-Human Rights Model, (2) provide understanding of NT focused disabilities, and (3) celebrating diversity. We established committees: press, budget, NGO, volunteer recruitment, materials and programme.
Things were moving forward and I felt, “yes, we don’t have a lot of time, but we’ll do it”. But, I’d set a meeting at a certain start time, and less people started coming and when they did arrive, they were typically late. I countered with I’m going to start on time, but would at times find myself in the conference room by myself, saying ok 10 more minutes and then I’m leaving. I had to constantly cajole the staff to come to meetings and even they wouldn’t necessarily arrive on time. Additionally, only a few committees were meeting on a regular basis.
OK, ok so we still had this huge task and it was going to happen. A super professional, a volunteer named Chitra Vasudevan, really stepped up her efforts and things were moving. Atul directed staff to make things happen and again we were moving. We were able to choose the 24 volunteers from about 100 applicants, we did a bit of training for some of our partners at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in August and things looked better.
But again fewer people were attending meetings and the staff were busy doing their regular jobs. Chitra came in with Gantt Charts and Mind Maps laying out specifically what each committee needed to do and somehow we kept things flowing and Poonam focused on the mobile exhibition, which was her brainchild. This exhibit, featured 25 posters, including some pictures that I had taken at some of our partner NGOs, told about the UNCRPD and how we needed to change the way in which we viewed the “disabled” population.
We worked with Epistle Solutions, a group of three men focused on media and design. We had previously worked with them in designing our “corporate branding” which was voted on by staff and which is now featured on all NT publications. This small group is very talented and creative and they designed the BK logo, bags and mobile exhibition posters. They worked, what seemed to me like, 24 hours a day for eternity on our project. I would call Aditya, the Epistle owner, at many different times and while I waited to talk to him, what sounded to me like a country song would play. I thought, who is this guy listening to. As it turned out it was Elvis Presley as Aditya is a huge Elvis fan.
I continued to send out e-mails in hopes that people would attend our meetings. Shekhar Borker, one of our board members, was someone who came to our rescue with numerous ideas, always in attendance, always on time, always with a smile.
Of course, there was also Chitra working day and night. Chitra, a very bright woman with a corporate background, full of so much talent, really kept things on track. I was at a disadvantage as I tried to cajole our NGOs and volunteers to respond to my e-mails, some did, but many didn’t understand what I was trying to say. As an example I used ASAP in one of my e-mails to our volunteers. Chitra told me that people had no idea what I was talking about. Assumptions, hmmm.. Chitra would make so many calls from her cell getting the NGOs and volunteers to commit. We had some help from Alok and Rohit, who screened the potential volunteers by phone.
But even this was difficult as people would commit to being volunteers and then drop out. We went through so many permutations of volunteers with Chitra and I now talking daily on Skype in the evenings. At the very last minute, the day before the orientation training was to start; we came up with our 24th volunteer, a young man from Delhi named Vikram, who had never been out of the City. One of the staff also joined as a volunteer and we were up to 25.
The NGOs were all supposed to provide me with a “mela” or programme plan by October 1. We used the carrot of providing 10000 rupees once we heard from the NGOs. October 1 came and went with only a few of the NGOs telling me what they were going to do. It seemed that everyday I was trying to obtain these plans, but planning is not something that is well integrated into citizen’s organisation (NGO) culture, with last minute doing being the modus operandi. This is not always negative, but being a type A Californian who wants to know in advance, it did make me a bit pagl or crazy.
Chitra and I, in our lower moments, would prop each other up. Fortunately, neither of us hit a low moment at the same time. Some of the organisations came and went as well and we had to find substitutes. It was always though, “no problem”, a very positive attitude.
I was able to get an intern, who I had met, at the South Asian Fundraising Group annual conference in Jaipur, in August, to help me. But after helping a bit, she disappeared. Some of the staff helped, but again the draw of their paperwork kept them from helping out full-time. But there was Chitra, always dependable, typically with a smile and I knew that it could be done.
Once Atul, told staff they had to do certain things they responded and it was happening, but many things were still so last minute. We had so many materials to order, booklets, which Chitra had put together, the mobile exhibition posters, key chains, toffees, bags, t-shirts, hats, jackets and supplies. We didn’t leave ourselves enough time to really see samples and so the t-shirts didn’t come out exactly the way that they should have to match the caps, but we were all hustling. Ruby, who takes care of the materials ordering seemed to be somewhat in her glory, but was also very stressed out by it all. The mobile exhibition posters came in, 100 sets of 25 but there were no numbers on them and then we started numbering them incorrectly. On the evening before our flag off and volunteer orientation, November 12, the conference room was filled with posters as we started putting the sets together. People were singing and I was wondering what was happening.
The night before our flag out ceremony featuring the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Wasnik, we still didn’t have all of the materials. We had to pack the vehicles so that we could do a mock flag off and I thought how are we going to do this.
The volunteers had all arrived in Delhi on November 12 and on November 13 we conducted an orientation where the volunteers chose their teams and team leaders. I was able to facilitate this part and the teams were chosen and the leaders picked. There was so much positive energy in the room and as the volunteers practiced singing the BK theme song I was filled with so much pride, as it was all so contagious.
As we finished the volunteer orientation and the crowds started filling the speaker’s hall at the Constitution Club it all felt as if we had succeeded. We held a great press conference, the lamp was lit, the volunteers were so enthusiastic and once again sang the theme song. The Going Solo NGO, which works with street kids and is led by Manisha, did a play about debunking disability myths. The volunteers jumped into the now fully loaded vehicles, as the Minister flagged them off and they went to spend the evening at the International Youth Hostel.
The morning of November 14 everyone was up bright and early. I wanted the teams to leave by 8 AM, but we needed to do a pooja or prayer service and by the time pictures were taken and Alok finished with the service, the teams were ready to leave closer to 9 AM. Poonam, Atul, Shekhar, Chitra and I were there to wish the teams a good journey and after went out to breakfast at the Indian International Centre.
The teams called Chitra and me everyday to update us on their progress, and pictures and reports started flowing in. There were many newspaper articles written in the local press creating the awareness that we so desired. The melas sounded wonderful, full of dancing, singing, and the usual fun associated with Indian celebrations. Yes, there were issues that came up as well, the one NGO that had made reservations at a very expensive hotel and then didn’t want to pay for it, squabbles among some of the team members, but all in all things remained on the positive side.
The volunteers made their way back to Delhi on November 30, with a flag in with the State Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Napoleon, a south Indian film star with a wonderful singing voice. (I was later told that in his day he was a basketball player, as he is quite tall). At the flag in, besides celebrating the accomplishments of our volunteers, we also saluted a number of special Olympians, the first time that this had occurred by an Indian governmental body. We sang our theme song and enjoyed the camaraderie that had been formed since November 13.
On December 1, we held a debriefing with our volunteers to find out what they thought and to share lunch between them and our staff. We gained a lot of valuable information which will be used in planning for the 2010 Bk.
On December 3, we displayed many of the items from BK-posters, mobile exhibition, the pieces of cloth with messages written from the melas-at the World Disability Day (WDD) rally at India Gate. This was something that I had really wanted to do as a kind of wrap up to the campaign and it was amazing to be at India Gate at 7:45 AM with some of the BK volunteers, putting up this exhibition. This was the first time that NT had a display like this at the WDD rally. (We spent a good deal of time trying to decide the best way to display the items and met with Javit who is a well known disability advocate in India- there was recently a story about him in Business Outlook in an article about social entrepreneurs and also a chapter about him in the book, “How to Change the World” as he is the organizer of the WDD rally. On December 2 we went to the office of Pringle Art, down some alleys and looked at these pots being painted that would be filled with sand with a bamboo pole in the middle for hanging our materials. The pots were still being painted at 8 PM, only a few were done and again I thought, how is this all going to happen. Of course the pots were at India Gate when I arrived at 7:45 AM, which meant that I was on the metro at 6 AM)
That evening I attended the National Disability awards and besides again seeing the two Ministers I also was able to see the Indian President. When I greeted Shri Wasnik wearing my BK t-shirt and hat he recognized me from the flag out. This was such a wonderful feeling to know that this Minister, same as a cabinet position in the US, was recognizing the awareness work that we were doing.
I have been given accolades from others in helping to make BK a reality, where the words, “no problem” have taken on a new meaning. But I also know that none of this was possible without VSO enabling me to come to India, without the strong leadership of both Poonam and Atul, without super Chitra and the always smiling and full of ideas Shekhar, without Deepika, Ruby, Subhash, Rajnish and the many other staff, who even at the last minute pitched in and helped with loading the vehicles, with the Flag Out and Flag In, getting money out to the NGOs to conduct their melas, having fun and listening to my rantings, without the NGO partners and the BK volunteers and the people who attended the melas, without the Epistle Solutions team or Pringle Art, without the group of volunteers that initially started helping us.
Yes, a few of us did an inordinate amount of work on this project, but it does take a team, no matter how this is defined to make an event like this happen. It takes every one of us, no matter how much or how little planning is done, to join hands and continue the fight, no matter what that fight is. This is the only way and it truly is “no problem”.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Stranger Than Fiction the NBA
As some of you know given my passion for basketball, I had contacted the NBA, earlier this year. I've been e-mailing a number of times with a guy named Brooks Meek, Senior Director, Basketball Operations - International, and found out that the NBA is going to be doing more in India. I most recently e-mailed Brooks last week.
Tonight as i usually do on Saturdays I was coaching b-ball with a group of 28 Indian children at the Delhi YMCA. About the last 15 minutes or so I noticed that there were two light skinned guys watching the action on the far end of the court. One guy was particularly tall.
I ended my coaching session and walked over to the guys to introduce myself. Lo and behold one of the guys was Brooks! Imagine how astonished I was. Brook told me that he hadn't had time to write to me, but was in Delhi with the tall dude, to meet with the India Basketball Federation (IBF) about ramping things up here. He told me that Heidi Uberroth, who is President of NBA International, and the daughter of Peter Uberroth was going to be in Delhi on Monday to meet with the IBF. (I am going to Chandigarh on Sunday, so won't have any time to further meet with anyone, but nobody asked anyway). Brooks is going to Chennai on Thursday with Dikembe Mutombo to do some NBA things in that city. He will also be meeting with my contact at the Y, Rajiv Singh on Monday.
Is there a future for me with the NBA? Who really knows, but I do know that magic happens in India. (Brooks told me that once they hire someone, a 20 year coach, that this person will contact me). One just has to open their heart and mind to the possibilities.
Tonight as i usually do on Saturdays I was coaching b-ball with a group of 28 Indian children at the Delhi YMCA. About the last 15 minutes or so I noticed that there were two light skinned guys watching the action on the far end of the court. One guy was particularly tall.
I ended my coaching session and walked over to the guys to introduce myself. Lo and behold one of the guys was Brooks! Imagine how astonished I was. Brook told me that he hadn't had time to write to me, but was in Delhi with the tall dude, to meet with the India Basketball Federation (IBF) about ramping things up here. He told me that Heidi Uberroth, who is President of NBA International, and the daughter of Peter Uberroth was going to be in Delhi on Monday to meet with the IBF. (I am going to Chandigarh on Sunday, so won't have any time to further meet with anyone, but nobody asked anyway). Brooks is going to Chennai on Thursday with Dikembe Mutombo to do some NBA things in that city. He will also be meeting with my contact at the Y, Rajiv Singh on Monday.
Is there a future for me with the NBA? Who really knows, but I do know that magic happens in India. (Brooks told me that once they hire someone, a 20 year coach, that this person will contact me). One just has to open their heart and mind to the possibilities.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
On Weddings and Popcorn and Peanuts
As I walked home at the end of my journey from playing basketball tonight, I came upon a marching band. There must have been at least 10 members and in front of them was a man standing with a well-dressed horse. Next to the band were a number of decorative chandeliers powered by a motor. I had put myself in the middle of another wedding, 9:15 PM, a Wednesday, the astrological charts were at the right point for the young couple standing in the midst of this, matter of fact kind of thing for India. As I took a few movies, just to let the folks back home know that I was telling the truth, people smiled knowingly at me.
The band started moving and so did I to my next usual stop on Wednesday nights, my man who provides me with fresh popcorn and hot roasted nuts. The man clasps his hands together and says Namaste and say this back. He always seems happy to see me, like somehow by spending 20 rupees, 10 on the nuts and 10 on the popcorn I might bring him some kind of good fortune. I watch as the man throws popcorn kernels into the bottom of his wok which is filled with sand. The kernels start to pop and by using a screen none escape to the street beside me. He finishes popping, strains the sand out of the popcorn and puts it into a bag. He always gives me more than any other of these popcorn/nut guys. I walk away satisfied once again to have this delicacy.
A young man is walking besides me and asks the obligatory question, “where are you from?” I say, “America” and he says, “Canada”, I say, “no United States” and he says, “USA”. I turn left to walk to my house and as I approach the entrance I hear my little three year old Galoo crying, yet again at the top of her lungs.
The band started moving and so did I to my next usual stop on Wednesday nights, my man who provides me with fresh popcorn and hot roasted nuts. The man clasps his hands together and says Namaste and say this back. He always seems happy to see me, like somehow by spending 20 rupees, 10 on the nuts and 10 on the popcorn I might bring him some kind of good fortune. I watch as the man throws popcorn kernels into the bottom of his wok which is filled with sand. The kernels start to pop and by using a screen none escape to the street beside me. He finishes popping, strains the sand out of the popcorn and puts it into a bag. He always gives me more than any other of these popcorn/nut guys. I walk away satisfied once again to have this delicacy.
A young man is walking besides me and asks the obligatory question, “where are you from?” I say, “America” and he says, “Canada”, I say, “no United States” and he says, “USA”. I turn left to walk to my house and as I approach the entrance I hear my little three year old Galoo crying, yet again at the top of her lungs.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Camel Festival
October 24, 2009
Can’t believe that it’s been a month since I’ve last written. Another month in India and I’ve been here for seven now. My first visitors from the US, Cindy and Melissa are here and they brought me quite a stash of items from home, lots of home baked goodies from friends, a video message from Daniel, candy bars and even some art work from my cousins to hang in my apartment. Of course my dad sent me a Lakers World Championship t-shirt which now is part of the fabric of my bedroom. India continues to feel more like home everday.
My work is going so very well and I’m so very busy, hopefully contributing to making the world a better place. I’m also very involved with VSO, serving on a number of committees, always working to make the volunteer experience better. There of course is also the piece about building capacity at the Programme Office. During the past month I conducted my first four day capacity building/organizational development workshop. It went very well and thanks to a translator, a young Indian woman, with a lovely smile, I was able to, I think get across the messages that I was trying to convey. I’m will be in Southern India for the entire month of January with my lovely girlfriend Len, conducting three different workshops in three different states and I just can’t wait.
I’ve also spent so much time on Badhte Kadam, moving forward, an awareness raising campaign across India that is due for flag off on November 14. This has been a major effort and thanks to especially one NT volunteer, Chitra, this effort is proceeding, 24 volunteers, 4 routes-north, south, east and west, 8 vehicles, 22,000 kilometers of driving distance, 60 Citizen’s Organisations, and I don’t know how many e-mails and phone calls. It is truly amazing and I can’t wait for the flag off and the return of the volunteers.
Overall, after seven months, I feel very good about India. Today I walked out of my apartment and there was a Bihari holiday taking place, a temporary market, beautiful saris, the continue amazing magic that is India. The more I see the more I love.
I continue to have my moments of wanting to train everyone in “proper” manners, but of course it is all just a temporary thing.
November 4, 2009
On the train to Agra. I was last there in February 2006, but now I’m with my friends Cindy and Melissa. We’ve had a wonderful visit and it is so much fun to show my friends the world in which I live.
We spent this past weekend in Pushkar at the Camel Fair. It was very unworldly to me as I stood in the middle of many camels last Friday during twilight. As I said to Melissa, “which planet are we on?” and she responded with “Camelot”. Oh my!
Pushkar is a lovely town, everything that I would have imagined India to be. Markets galore, women dressed in so many colorful saris, men with turbans and everywhere shopkeepers asking me to come in. I was surprised to see so many signs in Hebrew as apparently many Israelis come to Pushkar for a vacation. I even found a Chabad house which I went into and wrapped the Tefelin around myself and read Hebrew. I remember even after all of these years. It was very special for me to connect with some of my roots.
The food was wonderful and we had pancakes, the Indian kind, falafel, a great pizza which we all devoured. Other friends also accompanied us-Joe and Sophia and Mark who rode in on his motorcycle from an incredible tour of the mountains in India. It’s was so special to be not only with my friends, but also with my very good VSO mates.
We stayed at a place called Cha-cha’s Garden, which didn’t have much of a garden but did have a tortoise. The Garden was operated by a young English woman named Rani and her husband, Cha-Cha (uncle). Rani is the daughter of some of Mark’s friends and he had never met her before, so this connection was quite interesting. The Garden wasn’t much to speak of, but it provide a near-by place to walk through the town of Pushkar to the camels.
In getting into the town one had to walk for about five minutes down some narrow streets and when one arose from this it opened up into this splash of colors, sites, sounds, smells and so many people. I couldn’t wait to get to this place which took me back, I felt in history. It’s difficult to describe the scene but I took many pictures to allow me to retrace this for years to come.
The colors are so amazing to me, mostly in women’s saris and everyone was dressed in their best for doing praying in the mostly dried up lake. The Indian culture offers so many examples of religion and how it is celebrated. That is mostly what it is about, the celebrations, with young children and adults also looking like Krishna and Hunaman.
The markets continue to offer me the kind of thing that doesn’t happen in the developed world, i.e. a way of shopping that is in no way contrived. It is just the way in which fruits and vegetables are purchased, that is it, very simple, but in fact woven with relationships, the fabric of which makes the so called developing world so wonderful to be a part of. It started for me with the woman who didn’t want me to take her picture while she sold her veggies and even picked up a weight as if she would throw it at me. As the days went on she smiled at me, but didn’t allow me to take her picture.
The camels were just beautiful. I’ve never been so close to so many camels and they are beautiful creatures, definitely reminding me of the, I think second Star Wars movie with those big white things that the Empire guys operated. The camels are important to the many herders in and around Pushkar, but unfortunately many of the camel owners can no longer afford these “beasts of burden” and so they are just abandoned. This is the vicious cycle that farmers get into and can never get out, except through in many cases, suicide.
There were also the gypsies who grabbed our hands and wanted to put henna on them and would not let go until we gave them rupies. We all caught onto this very quickly and refused to give our hands. The gypsy women were just beautiful and their dancing was full of lots of writhing about, but they were dangerous like some of the baskets which held cobras.
I feel so very blessed to have made it to Pushkar to see India. I know that it is all changing, there are many shops that appeal to westerners, but the city maintained much of its more traditional charm. Incredible India.
Can’t believe that it’s been a month since I’ve last written. Another month in India and I’ve been here for seven now. My first visitors from the US, Cindy and Melissa are here and they brought me quite a stash of items from home, lots of home baked goodies from friends, a video message from Daniel, candy bars and even some art work from my cousins to hang in my apartment. Of course my dad sent me a Lakers World Championship t-shirt which now is part of the fabric of my bedroom. India continues to feel more like home everday.
My work is going so very well and I’m so very busy, hopefully contributing to making the world a better place. I’m also very involved with VSO, serving on a number of committees, always working to make the volunteer experience better. There of course is also the piece about building capacity at the Programme Office. During the past month I conducted my first four day capacity building/organizational development workshop. It went very well and thanks to a translator, a young Indian woman, with a lovely smile, I was able to, I think get across the messages that I was trying to convey. I’m will be in Southern India for the entire month of January with my lovely girlfriend Len, conducting three different workshops in three different states and I just can’t wait.
I’ve also spent so much time on Badhte Kadam, moving forward, an awareness raising campaign across India that is due for flag off on November 14. This has been a major effort and thanks to especially one NT volunteer, Chitra, this effort is proceeding, 24 volunteers, 4 routes-north, south, east and west, 8 vehicles, 22,000 kilometers of driving distance, 60 Citizen’s Organisations, and I don’t know how many e-mails and phone calls. It is truly amazing and I can’t wait for the flag off and the return of the volunteers.
Overall, after seven months, I feel very good about India. Today I walked out of my apartment and there was a Bihari holiday taking place, a temporary market, beautiful saris, the continue amazing magic that is India. The more I see the more I love.
I continue to have my moments of wanting to train everyone in “proper” manners, but of course it is all just a temporary thing.
November 4, 2009
On the train to Agra. I was last there in February 2006, but now I’m with my friends Cindy and Melissa. We’ve had a wonderful visit and it is so much fun to show my friends the world in which I live.
We spent this past weekend in Pushkar at the Camel Fair. It was very unworldly to me as I stood in the middle of many camels last Friday during twilight. As I said to Melissa, “which planet are we on?” and she responded with “Camelot”. Oh my!
Pushkar is a lovely town, everything that I would have imagined India to be. Markets galore, women dressed in so many colorful saris, men with turbans and everywhere shopkeepers asking me to come in. I was surprised to see so many signs in Hebrew as apparently many Israelis come to Pushkar for a vacation. I even found a Chabad house which I went into and wrapped the Tefelin around myself and read Hebrew. I remember even after all of these years. It was very special for me to connect with some of my roots.
The food was wonderful and we had pancakes, the Indian kind, falafel, a great pizza which we all devoured. Other friends also accompanied us-Joe and Sophia and Mark who rode in on his motorcycle from an incredible tour of the mountains in India. It’s was so special to be not only with my friends, but also with my very good VSO mates.
We stayed at a place called Cha-cha’s Garden, which didn’t have much of a garden but did have a tortoise. The Garden was operated by a young English woman named Rani and her husband, Cha-Cha (uncle). Rani is the daughter of some of Mark’s friends and he had never met her before, so this connection was quite interesting. The Garden wasn’t much to speak of, but it provide a near-by place to walk through the town of Pushkar to the camels.
In getting into the town one had to walk for about five minutes down some narrow streets and when one arose from this it opened up into this splash of colors, sites, sounds, smells and so many people. I couldn’t wait to get to this place which took me back, I felt in history. It’s difficult to describe the scene but I took many pictures to allow me to retrace this for years to come.
The colors are so amazing to me, mostly in women’s saris and everyone was dressed in their best for doing praying in the mostly dried up lake. The Indian culture offers so many examples of religion and how it is celebrated. That is mostly what it is about, the celebrations, with young children and adults also looking like Krishna and Hunaman.
The markets continue to offer me the kind of thing that doesn’t happen in the developed world, i.e. a way of shopping that is in no way contrived. It is just the way in which fruits and vegetables are purchased, that is it, very simple, but in fact woven with relationships, the fabric of which makes the so called developing world so wonderful to be a part of. It started for me with the woman who didn’t want me to take her picture while she sold her veggies and even picked up a weight as if she would throw it at me. As the days went on she smiled at me, but didn’t allow me to take her picture.
The camels were just beautiful. I’ve never been so close to so many camels and they are beautiful creatures, definitely reminding me of the, I think second Star Wars movie with those big white things that the Empire guys operated. The camels are important to the many herders in and around Pushkar, but unfortunately many of the camel owners can no longer afford these “beasts of burden” and so they are just abandoned. This is the vicious cycle that farmers get into and can never get out, except through in many cases, suicide.
There were also the gypsies who grabbed our hands and wanted to put henna on them and would not let go until we gave them rupies. We all caught onto this very quickly and refused to give our hands. The gypsy women were just beautiful and their dancing was full of lots of writhing about, but they were dangerous like some of the baskets which held cobras.
I feel so very blessed to have made it to Pushkar to see India. I know that it is all changing, there are many shops that appeal to westerners, but the city maintained much of its more traditional charm. Incredible India.
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