Sweets!

Yes, we are doing a lot of learning about how social justice is happening in Bangalore and in India in general. I will get to that. And I am excited about that. But I am also excited about sugar. Last night I had my first experience in an Indian sweet shop and it was delightful! Behind a long, glass case were rows and rows of sugary jewels. Some were multi-colored, others had edible silver leaf covering them, some were encrusted with nuts and dried fruit, others were formed into fruit shapes. We were in a spectacular group of ten and did much swapping and sampling of each others' purchases, which according to Anu (the professor leading our program) probably grossed out everyone around us since sharing like that isn't really done here. We were a big, gross spectacle, but no one could deny our glee.

So far the program activities that Hengasara Hakkina Sangha (HHS -- the organization we are meeting with for two weeks) have arranged for us have been mind expanding. We met with a garment workers' union and learned about the difficulty of getting improvements and changes made in the factories in Bangalore. Despite the obstacles, the union is able to support and protect the workers, who are mostly women and who are often unaware of the laws that exist to protect their rights. Of course, those laws are often not enforced, but they do exist.

Yesterday we spent an entire day learning about the caste system in India. The deep-rooted history of caste and the way it plays out today is incredibly complicated. After a day of learning about it, I felt far less knowledgeable than I did before we started. Every state, every city has its own expression of the caste system. Within Bangalore alone there are 102 different low-caste groups. It is tied up in religion, education, marriage, professions, social mobility, opportunity, economics -- I could go on and on. Our speakers are very careful of always reminding us that no matter how much they explain it, they are barely skimming the surface of how caste functions. Wow.

My head was spinning last night. Trying to sleep with so much information swirling around in my head was extremely difficult. The unreasonable intake of sweets probably didn't help much either.

I'm still absolutely loving being here. The weather is very pleasant and because it's monsoon season, it rains a lovely warm rain every evening around 5pm. Nothing too dramatic, just a friendly bit of water.

The food is still one of the many highlights every day. Yes, Mom, it can be a bit spicy, but I think my time in Guadalajara trained me well for that. This morning at the hostel we had a fantastic breakfast of idli, vada and sambar. Idli are made of rice flour which is formed into dough, fermented then steamed into small, flat dumplings that taste kind of like sourdough bread. Vada are savory, fried doughnuts that sometimes have onion, chilies, and other spices in them and sometimes are plain. Those can both be dipped in sambar, which is a savory veg broth with a variety of vegetables floating around in it. Wow! Way more exciting than oatmeal (which they do not serve here, thank goodness).

Practice saying Hengasara Hakkina Sangha. I've been saying it over and over in my head and once you have it down, it's incredibly pleasing to the tongue.

Wednesday already?

I made it safe and sound, as requested by my moms. It was a very long 24 hours of travel, but I sat next to lovely people on the plane and Air France has a wide range of on-demand free movies. Of course, they also temporarily misplaced my only piece of luggage, but it was delivered to me within 48 hours.

The hostel where we are staying is in the heart of Bangalore, but it's off the road, keeping is nice and quite. Quiet can be hard to come by around here, but it adds to the excitement of a bustling city.

I am absolutely blown away by the flow of traffic here. There is a grace and elegance to what initially struck me as bedlam. Once I threw out my own understanding of the way roads work, everything began to make sense. The traffic strikes me as a kind of language and I am definitely not a native speaker. If I stayed here and learned how to negotiate the flow of vehicles, I might improve my language skills, but I would always speak with an accent.

Food. I have yet to eat anything I did not immediately love. Southern Indian food is quite different from northern which is the most common Indian food found in Seattle. It is largely rice based, although there are several delicious flat breads that are great for sopping up the multitude of sauces and stews I've tried. One of my favorite meals so far was an Andhra-style lunch. A giant banana leaf is set in front of you, then people come and pile a mound of rice on your leaf, followed by a variety of curries. You eat it with your fingers and it is a massive amount of food to consume in one sitting. I'm definitely enjoying being a vegetarian for a while, and it's incredibly easy here. Most people are veg.

The acutal learning part of the program is only on day 3, so far, but we've packed a lot into those three days. Yesterday we went to the Court of Women, which was a symbolic court which put dowry violence on trial. From the start of the proceedings, I realized the practice of dowry in India is far more complex than I ever imagined. Even after listening to hours of testimony from women who have been victimized, I felt there was still so much more for me to learn. Nothing is simple. It was incredibly powerful and moving to listen to the accounts of women who have struggled and resisted being considered a commodity. On the one hand, I left feeling deeply appreciative of the freedom I have to be who I want and do as I please. But as I thought about women as commodities, I found many parallels between women in India and in the U.S. We may not practice dowry, but there are plenty of other ways in which women are considered property or of less value than men.

It's wonderful being surrounded by lots of people mulling over lots of big big ideas.

(I forgot my camera today, but will hopefully post some pictures next time.)

Let's Go!

I think I'm ready. The very small bags have been checked all the way to Bangalore, the immunizations have been administered (polio, typoid, meningitis -- very sore arms that day), I have checked and re-checked the location and safety of my passport, the trashy pop culture magazines and candy have been purchased. What more could I need?

The flight takes about 22 hours total with a 2 hour layover in Paris. How exciting to be in France while Le Tour is still going on! Of course I won't be leaving the airport, but if I look out the window, maybe I'll see a few cyclists.

There are still some lingering travel jitters, but pure excitement is keeping them at bay.

Ready!

When I was at the Universitiy of Washington I went to an informational meeting about a study abroad program to Bangalore, India. The timing wasn't quite right, so I wasn't able to go.

Fortunately I kept in touch with the professor leading the group and she is doing another month-long program this summer. She invited me to come along and assist, and I jumped at the opportunity to go.

There are approximately 20 students in the group and we will be learning about how people organize and do social justice work in Bangalore. The program goes from July 27th to August 23rd.

I can't wait!