One Wedding, 4 Camels, Good Friends and My Last Day!

Have just returned to Jaipur after a hectic and incredibly enjoyable 2 weeks, and am packing my things, and meeting friends to say goodbye before heading to China!

After a short trip to Pushkar following my last post, I finished up my microfinance report and bid adieu to Cecoedecon, before hitting the road in the sleeper berth of an optimistically-dubbed "luxury" bus to Jodhpur. Luckily however I slept pretty well (my friend, however did not have it so easy!), and we were greeted early morning in Jodhpur by an exhausted Ankit, who also managed to show us Jodhpur palace on the way to a hotel to sleep! After a quick rest and a reunion with some old friends from the UK MC, we headed to Ankit's for breakfast and to enter the wedding whirlwind!

It was an absoutlely incredible experience, and amazing to get to be truly involved in the wedding. Ankit's family were incredibly welcoming and warm, and we spent the first day getting to know everyone at home, before going to a dinner and heading to the wedding venue the next morning. The wedding lasted 2 days, which for lucky us was spent going to the functions in late afternoons and evening, eating delicious food, and spending the mornings enjoying the truly beautiful location on a lake in the countryside. On the first evening, we got to perform in the big dance show that the groom's younger brothers put on for him - we'd practiced for as long as possible after arriving, and had amazing fun doing our Bollywood dance! I'm not sure if there's any videographic evidence but if there is I'll put it up here...

Following the wedding we took a quick trip to Jodhpur fort, before speeding off to catch our bus to Jaiselmer. Jaiselmer's the last town before the desert, and extremely hot at this kind of year. The tourists had all deserted (no pun intended), and the town and beautiful fort were ours to explore. Naturally given these conditions we decided that the only thing to do was to make for the desert on a two day camel safari! We headed out into the Thar desert, about 40km from the India-Pakistan border, and visited tiny villages and tried to make our camels run. It was very hot but we spent the hottest part of the day hiding from the sun playing Uno! and embracing the surreal... At night we ate in the dark (we were proper camping - no running water, no toilets, no lights) - absolutely delicious food, then pitched our cots on sand dunes and fell asleep talking and counting shooting stars - I'd recommend it to anyone, heat is nothing! There was some amazing wildlife to see; lots of Indian antelope - kind of a cross between deer and antelope so quite big, and very fast. I'm not sure what the name is in English but it's not a creature I've seen before. To my endless relief we didn't see any scorpions, and despite snake tracks we didn't see any of those either - although our guides assured us that if we liked they'd hunt some down for us to have a look at - eek!

After bidding a fond farewell to Jaiselmer we made an epic 24 hour journey across 3 states to get to hippy-haven Rishikesh. I finally got to travel by train! It was very convenient and comfortable - I could quickly get used to the overnight trains. And, after experiencing the buses in other states, I'm limiting my previous (hasty) statement about "loving travelling by bus" to the buses in Rajasthan, which are pretty serviceable! There goes my wish to be an intrepid local traveller... Rishikesh was made famous by the Beatles - they wrote most of The White Album in an ashram in the hills here, and since then it's been a favourite with backpackers, for good reason. It's beautifully situated at the start of the Himalayas, and on the Ganges - we headed there to do some serious chilling before the end of our holidays. Being so far up in the north, and close to the mountains it is pleasantly cool - I never thought I'd welcome being chillly at night before coming to India - and very beautiful. We covered all of the bases including bathing in the Ganges (or gingerly paddling, ahem), ayurvedic massage and a bit of self-inspired (self-led) yoga, and enjoyed lots of good food and bracing mountain air.

And that's it! Some photos are below... I can't believe that my time in India has come to an end so quickly. Despite some frustrations I have developed an enduring affection for this crazy country, and especially for the friends I've met here and shared my experience with - it's a time I'll always remember fondly. Even though I can't quite process the fact that I'm leaving, that this is the last time for who knows how many years that I'll see the buildings and streets that quickly (and unexpectedly) became familiar and comforting, as well as all the people who have made my experience, another part of me can already feel how much I'll miss it, and how lucky I've been to have the opportunity to be here.

I'm not sure I've quite managed to captuare the vibrancy of India in all of my posts here - the things that amaze every day, as well as the things that make me want to scream on a daily basis! But whilst I was travelling I read a book that comes close to doing it some justice - Out of God's Oven by Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa. It's a journalistic book which manages to capture elements of the society, culture, history, colonial legacy, religion and politics of India, and comes some way to reaching the modern essence of the country - for anyone who's interested I highly recommend it.

Next stop Beijing! I'm so excited to go and see China - I don't know what to expect at all, but will update as soon as I can. And for tomorrow; happy 21st to my little brother - I can't believe I'm missing your big day! Will be thinking of you. All my love xxx

2 Weeks and 3 days??

How did the time go by so quickly?

I'm now wrapping things up at work, all set for my last day on Tuesday, when I'll head to Johdpur for the wedding of a good friend's brother, before spending 10 days travelling ridiculous distances with good friends.

It's strange to reflect on just how quickly my time here has gone, but I'm looking ahead to Beijing, and I cannot wait. I'll be teaching English close to the centre of Beijing, and staying with a family on-site. Aside from wishing that I'd actually opened the "Easy Peasy Mandarin" book that I was so sure I'd study religiously every night as I was cramming it into my backpack, I'm feeling pretty much set.

I'll go with very fond memories of India - I have had an amazing time here, despite challenges, and I definitely hope to visit again to tour the South of the country.

And now I'm doing even more onward planning - the job that I thought I'd be starting back in London in August has been delayed until February 2010, and I'm currently trying to organise more work abroad in...the USA! Visa procedures are excessively traumatic (though an Indian person might tell me that it's just my karma for the number of people who I didn't sympathise enough with as I coached them through the equally traumatic process of coming to work in the UK), but stay tuned for more news once it's all sorted!

An afternoon of storytelling

Had another field visit to the HQ of our microfinance organisation today, and spent the afternoon sitting on mats in a cool, breezy room listening to the stories of the women who founded and now govern the organisation.

Stories about men not allowing their wives to participate in the self help groups when they started, saying that they were bound to fail, and later swallowing their words and asking their wives to join... About the organisation's staff investing their own money into the first groups to show that they were trustworthy, and win the confidence of the villages they were working with. About organising rural women to protest against corruption in local government, secure aid in times of disaster and insist that they themselves are able to monitor the distribution of funds... Stories of overcoming deeply ingrained prejudices and huge levels of adversity to create a solid organisation that sustainably and positively impacts the lives of it's members, and is growing exponentially year on year.

These visits are without a doubt the best part of my job. The energy with which the women approach their task, the sheer scale of their determination and what that has led them to achieve couldn't fail to be inspiring, even for the most jaded cynic. Today the president of the organisation told me that over the years, since the self help groups have become more and more ingrained into the communities they operate in, they've gradually started to notice the younger girls become quite bold. Listening to them for the afternoon makes it easy to understand where they learned their boldness!

Certainly microfinance is no cure for all the world's ills. Objectively viewed it's a good way to achieve small-scale democratisation of capital, and the model is not without flaws, nor applicable universally, nor immune to abuse. But for giving people the means to sustainably improve their livelihoods, and more importantly empowering them to take the necessary action to achieve this for themselves I firmly believe that it deserves all the hype.

Relaxing Weekend

Eating good food with friends, sari shopping, then heading to a hilltop fort for a view of Jaipur and the sunset...

The Rules of the Road

I should start this post with an apology, as the title is deliberately misleading... I'm sure that everyone will have seen the famous photos and videos of Indian roads, and already have (very correctly) assumed that the principal rule of the road is simply there are no rules.

In general, the approach towards driving is similar to the approach towards many things here; "every man for himself". If India had a motto, this would be it, however on the roads it could easily be extended to; "every man, dog, camel, horse and (occassionally) elephant for themselves".

Whilst always entertaining it's safe to say that in a country of 1.4 billion people, this isn't necessarily the healthiest attitude to take - all jokes aside traffic accidents are one of the biggest causes of mortality in India. Yet, in fairness on many roads that I see here the chaos does seem to be the only option. Many very busy roads are quite simply too small to deal with the volume of traffic that needs to use them, and without widespread and heavy investment in widening them and improving the surfaces, it's not easy to see any alternative to some good old fashioned crazy driving.

As for the driving itself - in common with most things in India, the keywords are enterprise and innovation. There's no such thing as "dangerous driving", just the ability to make creative use of space - thus it's never unusual to see some brave fellow cycling down the wrong side of a 5-lane road , normally with his wife perched side-saddle on the back. To help everyone drive crazily together there seem to be some general guidelines, the most useful of which I've listed below;

• Drive on the left (optional)
• Lane markings, wing mirrors, indicators and traffic lights are for decorative purposes only
• Use of full beam headlights at night is compulsory (anyone flashing their lights as they pass really likes your motorbike. Stud.)
• If you're lucky enough to find a pavement low enough to drive on, it would be a sin not to use it
• Use of indicators and checking of blind spots are inconvenient, and designed for sissies and girls
• So are seatbelts and motorcycle helmets
• So is insurance
• Your primary means of communication is the horn - the louder the better. If it breaks, you're done for - a short beeping translation note...

Short beeps - "I'm changing lane/turning/speeding up/overtaking/not stopping for that red light/not letting you out."
Medium beeps - "Get out of my way" (with varyng degrees of annoyance)
Long beep - "Please try not to crash into me as I speed along the wrong side of the road" (mainly used by truck drivers)

Having said all that, I'll confess to secretly loving traveling by road here - before I arrived I saw train travel as the epitome of any trip in India, but after only a few bus journeys I absolutely love the sights to be seen when traveling by road (some pictures here). Often it's the only time when you can get a good look at Indian daily life, while remaining relatively unobserved - for anyone traveling in India I definitely recommend jumping on a bus in the daytime to see what you can see...

Coolest day!

Last Friday myself and my new colleagues (some students from the US) spent the day on a field visit, way away from our office, in the Chaksu district of Rajasthan. One of the microfinance organisations I've been studying was holding it's 4th Annual General Meeting, so we went along to see some of the actual impact of the organisation on it's members. Not knowing what to expect, I ended up having one of my best days here so far - the entire event was incredible.

There were over 550 women from rural villages attending - they in turn represented 145 autonomous Self-Help Groups who actually make up this particular microfinance organisation. The picture below is of me with the president of the organisation, who absolutely kicks ass - she's been in the organisation since it started 15 years ago, knows and is trusted implicitly by seemingly all of the women in the organisation (around 1,600), runs everything and everyone like clockwork and has had such a huge impact on the lives of women across the district that a few years ago she was flown to the White House to meet the President.

We arrived early morning in the middle of a downpour - which didn't do much to dampen the atmosphere - and got to light the ceremonial lamp to mark the start of the meeting! The event was a really nice way to see what a huge difference the organisation has made in the area. The basic operation involves establishing small, local self help groups of women who save money together, and allowing them to borrow small sums of money (providing the only alternative that doesn't involve an extortionately high-interest lender; needless to say in rural areas the majority don't possess the kind of capital required for a traditional bank loan), that they can use to fund income-generating activities such as handicrafts or agricultural work. This model has been well tested (and proven) throughout Asia and the rest of the world as a way to substantially improve the quality of life of rural families - because they work with, and effectively borrow from their neighbours people are very committed to the self help groups. The loan default rate is around 1%.

I'd argue though that the economic benefits are actually topped by the social impact that's come from economically empowering the women (and it is only for women - again and again this has been shown to be the most effective way to ensure repayment, and ensure the money goes into families). Rajasthan is famously very traditional in outlook - whilst it's amazing to see such an old culture being well preserved and blended in with modern life, it often means that in rural areas opportunities for women and girls are all too few. The ongoing dowry system financially cripples families, who thus devote few other resources to females (sadly more advanced pre-natal screening also means that there is an increasingly high incidence of female foeti being electively and sometimes forcibly aborted). There is a low literacy rate amongst rural females, who are often married early and without any means of earning are entirely dependent on their husbands or families. Some families still practice purdah, whereby married women are required to veil their whole face in the presence of men other than their husband - as several parts of the same family often live together this can mean that even at home a woman has to cover up, to avoid her father-in-law or brothers-in-law seeing her face. This is much more common in rural areas but even in Jaipur the practice exists, although it's difficult to see how widespread it is as obviously the women rarely venture outdoors.

Therefore giving the women here the opportunity to make a small independent income is only the tip of the iceberg - contributing to the household generally automatically improves their standing and treatment, as well as allowing investment in things like education for their families. Needless to say it's also a huge self-confidence booster, particularly as the organisation regularly run skills-building workshops teaching the women basic leadership skills, and the knowledge needed to run small enterprises. Finally, because there are so many members involved in the organisation (1,600) they've started to exercise increasing levels of influence with local government and policy makers, people that individually the members wouldn't ever have a chance of accessing.

In short, the day was completely inspirational. It was also special as I haven't had much of a change to interact with Indian women other than the women I live with, which is a real shame. Women mainly stay at home, so it's easy to look down a street here without seeing a single female face (which can feel eerily lonely), and even if I do by chance meet women, unless they're from the educated middle class it's quite rare for them to have much English. I'll definitely remember it as one of my favourite days of the whole trip - more photos of voting and dancing below!