The Colors of Rajasthan--Day 2 (New Delhi)

Wednesday January 15 –Day 2 (New Delhi)

Today we started off our day with a metro ride to Chandni Chowk, the heart of Old Delhi. I was so happy that this was part of our trip because the small alleyways and “easy to get lost” layout has made it so intimidating for me to do it alone.

The crowded streets of Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

Crazy wiring!

A stand where paan is made, which is similar to chewing tobacco and usually can be made sweet or spicy

I was in such amazement once we walked from the busy main streets to the small, crowded alleyways of Chandni Chowk. We walked past jewelry store after jewelry store, sari tailors, sweet shops, and fabric shops. The fabric shops with all of their beautiful appliqués and ribbons hung up on their walls were just waiting to be put on a sari or a salwar kameez. I didn’t want to buy any and then have to carry it all around, but when I get back from my trip, Chandni Chowk is definitely going to be one of my stops!

Cycle rickshaws

Men selling jackfruit

A shop where women can buy ribbon to put on their sarees and salwar kameez suits

An Indian sweets shop

 With the dangling electrical wires everywhere and the peppers and lemons strung together and hung outside the shops to keep the evil spirits away—this reminded me of the real India, the incredible colorful, chaotic, sometimes backward thinking yet frontward thinking, amazing India.

Men making flower garlands, usually given to the gods as an offering in a Hindu temple

We saw monkeys climbing on the wires, dogs sitting amongst piles of trash and a cute little cat trying to scale the wall of a building.

One of the many street dogs that we saw on our trip

We then stopped for a yummy samosa then went on our way to visit the Jama Masjid mosque. Surprisingly the mosque didn’t ask the women to cover up nearly as much as the Sikh Temple we went to later did. The women were given capes/bathrobes to wear even though they didn’t cover our heads at all. So we went into the Mosque, which was an outdoor space which could hold 25,000 people for prayer. After getting into the Mosque and away from the staff, I decided to discreetly take pictures and try to get away with not paying Rs 300 ($5 US) to use a camera. That didn’t work for too long though! A guard saw us doing that and forced us to pay. Then upon leaving, the staff had the women pay Rs 100 for the robe. I understand them wanting us to wear the robe, but I think it’s a cruel way for a religion and house of worship to make money.

The Jama Masjid Mosque

After the mosque, we went to a Sikh Temple, where I had a completely different experience. The Sikhs welcomed us to their house of worship. We all had to wear something to cover our head—women and men, but were never asked to pay for the head covering. In fact they were the ones offering us hospitality—chai, sweet semolina and biscuits. Sikhs are known for being very generous people. They provide two meals a day to people that come to the temple, and many people volunteer their time serving food and doing other odd jobs in the temple. I’m glad that we went to the two houses of worship because I would’ve had a bad taste in my mouth if we just went to the mosque.

A Sikh man making chai in the Sikh Temple

Women rolling out chapatis in the Sikh Temple

Cooking the chapatis

The rest of the afternoon was free for us to roam around. I decided to grab some lunch at Saravana Bhavan (a south Indian chain restaurant) with some other people from our tour group. I had a paneer masala dosa again, because it was just so good the first time I went there! Then I just came back to my hotel room and read my Kindle and relaxed the rest of the evening. I've been meaning to wander around Chandni Chowk because of all the history and small alleyways, and was the perfect introduction to our trip!

Where do we go from here?

On the metro ride home from visiting Kingsway Camp (SPYM’s de-addiction and rehabilitation center for adolescent boys) this past Thursday, I had a really good discussion with my supervisor. No, it wasn’t about the deep understanding of cricket or Shahrukh Khan. It was about the state of funding and HIV/AIDS in India. My kind of conversation. He said that for the past few years, funders such as UNAIDS and others have started to decrease their funding in India. He said that he wouldn’t be surprised if UNAIDS even left India within the next 5 years.

Like I thought, it was 1) because the rate of new infections have stabilized and even gone down in some areas and 2) with India being a lower middle income country now, funders want to focus their attention on countries that really need it.

So, that leaves me with some questions. Where does India go from here? How do they keep on the same path of lowering the infection rate? And on the flip side of the coin, with India’s new infection rates decreasing, where should UNAIDS and other funders put their priorities? Where will their money matter, where a country will not take it for granted and instead move up in the world?

I told him though that in my experience a middle income country is only charged with such a status because it’s the average of the country. And he said the disparity between the rich and poor is becoming more and more of a gap. He’d told me earlier in the day that there’s a mall not too far away from our office where items there start at $2,000 US….Coach purses for $5,000 US. Initially I was shocked, but after thinking about it, it makes sense. We’re in Delhi, the capital of the country. If India wants to keep growing and changing with the times, they have to bring in Westernized stores for the 1% that can afford it. I wonder what Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat book) would have to say about this.

After getting off the metro, I told him how happy I was to be able to learn more about this topic from grad school. Not only to be knowledgeable about this topic, but to be able to ask these important questions and actually have a conversation with professors that might have the answer. But I am privileged. Even though I am part of the growing population relying solely on loans to go to grad school, I am still privileged. I am privileged to be able to take out those loans, to be able to live in the US and to be able to attend an American institution. Umm, SITers, I think there’s a little bit of Ken Williams rubbing off on me. Flashbacks of Social Identity class are coming into my head!

At 7:30pm on a Thursday and after a long day, it was certainly not the kind of conversation that I’d thought I would have on the metro ride home, but then again India is constantly surprising me and keeping me on my toes. And I am grateful for it. 

These are the best days of my life

This past Friday was one of the best days I’ve had yet here. Even though I’ve had some bumps (big bumps!) along the road with my practicum, I’m happy to say that I really think I made the right decision with being here. And Friday just further insured that for me, for a number of reasons.

After a quick lunch, my supervisor, a co-worker and I went to the two juvenile program sites that SPYM has, Kingsway Camp and Chandichowk. The first site we visited, Kingsway Camp, was a little over an hour away from our main office by Metro. New Delhi is constantly surprising me and the Metro was no exception. See my blog post on my Metro experience, here. 

Kingsway Camp, is a de-addiction and rehabilitation center for adolescent males who are in conflict with the law and currently have a substance dependence disorder. Though many of the services they offer fall in line with other juvenile rehabilitation centers, the way that SPYM provides the treatment, education and rehabilitation is one of a kind.

Three times a week, The Tehelka Foundation comes to the center and offers an expressive arts therapy and skill training program for the juveniles. The Tehelka Foundation is a non-profit trust that works with youth on “issues of governance and social justice, inspiring them to become agents of social change”. They use workshops, conferences, street plays, and youth festivals as a way to form relationships between marginalized youth and mainstream society.

I was so excited when I heard that an organization like this comes to Kingsway Camp. Experiential learning programs such as the art therapy program through The Tehelka Foundation is one of the best ways I think people can learn and change for the better. While in New Delhi, I hope to be going to Kingsway Camp a few times a week to help them with documentation and to get a better sense of their methodology and approach.

There is also a library that has been started at Kingsway Camp. Through the Fun of Learning (their literacy class), the boys develop comics about their experiences as a way to work out various issues. After drawing the comics, they record the description of each comic strip into an electronic pen. Once the comics are developed, they’re placed in the library so other boys can read them.

For boys that are illiterate and not able to read the comics, this talking pen is an excellent way for them to still grasp the concept of the comic. Similar to scanning a QR code with your smartphone, the boys can take one of the talking pens and place it on a coded box next to the comic, and in the author’s own voice, they can hear what the comic is about. 

For a program that just started up about two years ago, I was amazed by the amount of progress already. With counselors at Kingsway Camp having to go to an average of 4 court cases a day, you can tell that running this center is a group effort!

Recently, they started a canteen (small corner store) and a tiffin service (a service where someone delivers 4 food dishes to you, usually consisting of a vegetable, rice, dal and another dish). The program staff hope that soon the canteen and tiffin service can make the program self-sustaining. One can only hope!

Note: I’ll update this post with pictures once I can. 

Finding some quiet (and air conditioning) in Delhi

Usually when I’ve been moving around the city, I’ve taken auto rickshaws purely for the convenience. But after taking the metro, I think I’ve found my new method of transportation around here! At first when people told me they commute by metro, I assumed it was something similar to the local trains I took in Mumbai. Imagine train compartments always packed, people hanging from the open doorways and boys coming around to sell little trinkets. But the Delhi metro is far from that. In fact, it gives the New York City subway system a bad rap! 

For the most part, it seems to be a well run, world class designed subway system. With over 2 million people riding the metro each day, of course there’s going to be some delays in the trains but all in all it seems like a good system. So far the metro spans about 200 kilometers and is still in the process of being built. With financial help from Japan, they hope to finish the entire project by 2021. 

If you’re a frequent metro commuter, you simply buy a plastic rechargeable travel card for a deposit of Rs 50 (82 cents) and then just keep loading money on as needed. Otherwise, you can buy a token for your individual trip. In a complex city like Delhi, I’m a huge fan of this simple process. 

When I entered the station, honestly if I hadn’t known better I wouldn’t have been able to tell if I was in Delhi, Washington D.C. or London. Even though it opened in 2002 it still looks like it opened yesterday, with the clean floors and well-kept cabin cars. Maybe I was still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of trains in India not being the old blue local trains you see in Bollywood movies, but I was thoroughly impressed with it all. Having the metro cars air-conditioned didn’t hurt either! 

Call me crazy but it makes me want to live 45 minutes away from work just so I can get away from it all and have a peaceful commute! And better yet, they announce each upcoming stop then say “mind the gap”. A little part of me inside smiled when I heard this. Memories of another subway experience :) 

Who would have thought that I would find peace and quiet* in the metro? In a city that has around 20 million people, that’s hard to find. 

*Disclaimer: Peace and quiet will not be found during the hours of 7-10am and 4-8pm.