Home-stays

Namaste!

So we all settled into our home-stays last wednesday! I live in a neighborhood of South Bangalore called Tyagarajanagar with the Rao family. The father’s name is Prabakarah and the mother is Shamela. They are an older couple with two grown children- a son named Ragu and a daughter, Shwetta. They have a beautiful town home with state of the art marble flooring and a gorgeous prayer altar off of the kitchen. It is a small room, so Prabakarah jokes that it is space enough for “small prayers” but for bigger ones you would have to go to a temple.

Their family has graciously offered us occupation of 2 ground-floor rooms which are separate from the house above, and my classmates Abby, Brooks and Michael share them. All in all we have been wonderfully fed and provided for and this generous family really has made this a home-away-from-home for all of us.

Prabakarah loves to entertain us with his elaborate life philosopies on love and knowledge, education, culture, religion, and everything else under the sun. His unabashedness has opened a window to the intricacies of Hinduism and Indian culture and I am forever grateful for it. In fact, the other day he took us to a large Hindu prayer gathering in a nearby park and also brought us inside nearby temples where we saw beautiful shrines, dotted our foreheads with traditional tamarec powder and drank the holy water they poured into our hands.

With his guidance we have also gained insight on the principles behind arranged marriage (which is still highly practiced). The fact that their daughter had a love marriage was a highly scandalous affair and took years of convincing. And at the moment their son is receiving marriage applications in the mail, fully equipped with extensive zodiac information to test compatibility. Amongst other influential factors includes caste which is still highly instituted despite any (inadequate) governmental attempts to eradicate the system.

We are also taught about the ancient indigenous health practices of Ayurveda and often find ourselves being patients in the kitchen! Prabakarah gives us tons of foods and herbs to eat that have Ayurvedic medicinal value. They look, smell and taste strange (and are sometimes quite repulsive) but make me feel great! These treatments have ranged from cloves that make my mouth go numb to multiple remedies for stomach problems to bitter gourds that clear our sinuses (and as we later learned are supposed to increase our fertility??). With an open mind and desensitized palate I’ve more or less become a believer!

A few interesting snapshots of my busy life: 1. learning how to cook a traditional South Indian meal at another homestay (we ate off of banana leaves whilst sitting on mats!) 2. Completing a complicated and slightly laughable assignment of buying foreign foods (listed in a foreign language) at a huge busy and crowded outdoor market 3. Counting (and having to dodge) cows on sidewalks and in streets while walking to class (which is very unlike counting sheep jumping over a fence while falling asleep though both are somewhat surreal experiences) 4. Being led in meditation and yoga before class by my professors and classmates, and 5. Getting my palm read and life journey foreseen by my host father (my future looks good!)

Other entertaining aspects of my life dealing with getting conflicting directions when lost (it is culturally unacceptable amongst Bangalore’s people to say “I don’t know” when being asked for assistance), and having to distinguish between the same exact side-to-side head wobble that is used here which could mean either “yes” or “no”. Talk about confusing! I am also constantly reminded every morning that I am in a foreign land- I wake up to the sound of a vendor walking up and down the street belting out what must be praise for his vegetables in a fast paced, nasaly and high pitched monotone voice in the language of Kannada.

So these are the new hilarities that have been introduced to my life in India! And my new comforts include (amongst many things) drinking fresh coconuts, eating pomegranate, having frequent tea and coffee breaks every day and getting to know my peers, professors and family! Life is good.

Bangalore!

The first word that comes to mind when I think of my now home in Bangalore is just wow.  Being here has shocked and challenged me in so many ways and I am slowly adjusting to life here and trying to take things in.  The city is very bustling, polluted and poverty-stricken, but at the same time extremely commercialized and filled with beautiful gardens and friendly, hospitable, wonderful people.

On the way to the hostile from the airport our van almost got into an accident with a truck full of chickens, but that is really just life here.  We ride in rickshaws and hope that our driver knows how to understand us, where to take us, and won’t overcharge us or take us circuitous routes.  There are very rarely ever traffic lanes, signs, or lights, and when there are they are almost always ignored.  Honking horns is a necessity and can never (and is never) under-used here.  You don’t go more than five seconds without hearing them really.

Walking the streets has been the most eye-opening.  There are tons of stray dogs and roaming cows (often with painted and decorated horns) and also many beggars who are most often children.  The sidewalks and buildings are often in shambles, but for those who live here, that’s really just how it is and that’s that.  There are tons of vendors everywhere selling everything imaginable, and all the clothing, fruits and flowers are so colorful I feel like I’m in sensory overload.

On another note, I’ve learned new skills!  I’ve adapted to eating delicious and spicy south Indian food with my right hand using no utensils (left hand is taboo and you should never use it for any public interaction).  Also, taking showers with buckets is fun!  And navigating and crossing streets in New York will now a peace of cake for me.

On the wonderful people: everyone we have met at the. hostel has been very respectful, selfless and curious about our culture.  The kids love shaking our hands because they’re taught that it’s what Americans do.  They also love greeting us how they greet each other, with “Namaste” which translates to “I bow down to you” and they often put their hands together and give you a slight bow.  During our first morning here a group of schoolboys offered to sing traditional songs to us (in their native language of Kannada) which was a beautiful introduction to their culture.

Academically we have had introductions to the history and culture of Bangalore from our Country coordinators here in India (Leo and Bhargavi).  We’ve also had guest lecturers, including a wonderful pediatrician who introduced us to many of the flaws in the Indian health system reflecting various social, economic, and governmental problems.

As a group, we’ve been incredibly busy and we’re already very close to one another.  We’ve all been dealing with this new exposure together which makes the transition a lot easier and I often feel strangely (but wonderfully!) at home.  Tomorrow, though, we will separate as we meet our home-stay families, have an introductory dinner with them at the hostile and move in!

I really hope that settling in and living with a family will help me start seeing things through the eyes of the locals.  I feel like I will be able to start understanding everything I see and learn better, and I think that being as sheltered as I have been makes things more confusing and difficult than need be.

That is all for now!

Geneva!

It’s crazy to think that I’ve been gone for less than a week! Besides getting over jet lag and adjusting to being away from home my group has been very busy getting introduced to the vast and very complicated realm of health on global and community levels (and everything in between!)

The 33 of us, along with our professors and traveling staff are already a very tight bunch and I am incredibly happy to say that we make up a deep respectful, trusting, open, and very beautifully diverse mini-community. Each of us has had to cope with being away from all those we love but have been able to rely on each other for help and support. We all know we’re going through the same anxieties and we are so excited to start this wonderful and life-changing journey.

So far, we’ve been hearing from multiple guest speakers. Some are leaders of local Geneva NGO’s concerning their influence on community health across the globe, others represent local sectors of trade organizations and give us insight on their impact on health goods and services. We’ve visited the UN and have been introduced to the extremely intricate workings of health systems (economically, socially and biologically) from World Trade Organization, UNAIDS, and World Health Organization officials. Today we visited the World Health Organization where we heard from experts on Traditional medicine practices as well as the HIV/AIDS situation globally. Tomorrow we visit a hospital and learn the basics about the health care systam on a patient-care level. Needless to say, with these guest lectures and separate lectures from our own professors, we’ve had a lot on our plates!

A little bit about the beautiful city of Geneva: in its relatively small population of 178,000 there are roughly 189 ethnic groups and 4 prevalent languagues spoken (French, German, Italian and English). It has beautiful scenery (the Alps and Lake Geneva, as well as the antique architectures), wonderfully friendly people, and consists of a very trusting and accepting community in its politics and mindset. And of course, it has delicious chocolates, cheeses, breads and pastries. I wish I had more than a week to explore it but can’t wait to get to India in just 3 more days!

While I am missing being at home, I know that I have been given a very unique opportunity to learn about what I am most interested in. It is really refreshing to feel that I am part of a network of students and teachers who are so intrigued and passionate about everything that I am, but that bring so many different perspectives to the table. All in all, I couldn’t be happier!