Wedding

Attended a wedding for the past two nights here in Delhi. Indian weddings are so much fun. My friend Akshat's (my first friend ever - I've known him since I was 3) cousin was getting married. I showed up to their hotel after the India Microfinance Summit where I attended the livelihoods conference and received certificates for our top-10 entry in the case study competition. As soon as I got there, I was promptly taken through a series of wardrobe changes where my jacket and tie were replaced with a series of different kurtas (this is too big, too tight, too short- why are you so broad?) which eventually led to finding a kurta that fit just right. I was a given a long silky scarf and we were all set. Off to the cocktail/pre-marriage party we went.

Of course, within an hour or so, the long flowing scarf was wrapped on my head (all long flowy pieces of cloth fall prey to becoming turbans around me).

Akshat and I.

The actual wedding ceremony was the next day after a fancy- and delicious dinner (at around 1:30 in the morning) after most of the guests had stuffed themselves, congratulated both the families and left. Then the actual ceremony started, with the bride and groom in the center with the priest, and the friends and family huddled under blankets all around them (Delhi gets cold). It all got wrapped up at around 5 AM, with a tearful bidai (farewell) of the bride by her family. Since I was technically with the ladkiwale (girl's side), I felt sad too. I think that can only happen at an Indian wedding- getting sad when you don't really even know anyone. But over all, it was a great time and my congratulations to the bride and groom.

The bride, the groom, and their families.

Back in Delhi

Pooja and I co-wrote a case-study on NSPL for the Sitaram Rao Livelihoods Case-study Competition. It placed in the top 10. So I'm back in Delhi to attend a conference on livelihoods and get a shiny certificate, while the rest of Bihar celebrates Chhath.

Chhath is perhaps the most important festival in Bihar/Jharkhand. The sun god, Surya is worshiped and the devotees stand in various water bodies for over an hour reciting certain hymns. I got invited to Muzaffarpur to celebrate Chhath with Pramod, my office manager, but I had to come to Delhi instead.

The temperature is beginning to drop, with daytime temperatures already down to a balmy 80ºF in Patna. It's around 70ºF in Delhi right now.

My Bhojpuri skills have improved greatly, but it takes a conscious effort to try and speak it over Hindi. One of the reasons for that difficulty in switching is the subconscious effect of years of hearing Bhojpuri being spoken in Indian cinema/tv by characters who were depicted as being slow/rural/unsophisticated or Lalu. I never feel that when switching to Urdu or Gujarati.

Obviously, spending ten months in Bihar will rid me of many of the stereotypes that abound in India about the state. Bihar has the highest number of migrants that leave to work in other parts of India. As always, this is due to the lack of opportunities at home. My American readers are familiar with the debate raging in America about labor and immigration and how immigrants (legal/illegal) are often portrayed as stealing jobs from hardworking natives. That mindset can be found in India as well. Biharis face intense discrimination in places like Maharashtra, where "nationalistic" natives feel that they don't belong in their state.

Considering that they are all Indians, and not foreigners, this is a very disturbing trend that highlights the power that one's state commands in one's national mindset. The concept of "outsider" is very strong, and I feel that this is something that greatly hinders true national unity. State pride should be fostered, but it should come second to national unity.

The Mac is Back

So, in case everyone is wondering where I wandered off to- I'm sitting in the AIF office in Delhi- as I have been for the last 4 days. My Mac's harddisk crashed and the closest place it could be fixed was Delhi. So I jumped on the next available train from Patna and turned my Mac in to get fixed.

Now, after a replaced harddisk- all is well.

Coming to Delhi was an excellent change from the humdrum of life in Patna.

More updates later.

The Gangetic Dolphin

The endangered Gangetic fresh water dolphin has been declared the national aquatic animal of India, and its hunting, capture and trade has been banned in Bihar. Good news!

Muzaffarpur

Got to leave Patna for the first time yesterday. On official business, of course. Drove down to Muzaffarpur, the largest city in Northern Bihar with around 350,000 people. (Also famous for its litchis. Unfortunately they are out of season.) We left Patna, crossing one of the longest river bridges in the world- the Mahatma Gandhi Setu- over 5.5KM long. Unfortunately, the bridge is always under repair- and is the only road link to Northern Bihar.

Crossing the mighty Ganga was a great sight- the river is enormous- but there are a lot of silt deposits that make it possible for fishermen to get out and wade mid river.

The road we were on, although a national highway, was miserably narrow but in remarkably good condition. The change in scenery from the filth-ridden urban sprawl of Patna to the lush green countryside was very welcome, along with the rain that accompanied us all the way to our destination. As we wound our way to Muzaffarpur, avoiding cattle, cyclists, motorcyclists, cycle-rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, scooters, pedestrians, SUVs and trucks- I realized that the country is losing productivity, millions of man-hours and thousands of gallons of fuel because of these incredibly inefficient free-for-all roads. A distance of 72KM (44miles) took us over 2 hours. Infrastructure is a must.

The details of what was done in Muzaffarpur officially shall remain a mystery to all of you till plans are finalized.

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In other news, I got an aquaguard today. So I can finally drink water at home. Still no fridge.
Also- to all those who love restaurants and good business deals- this city needs a few good places to eat. So come invest in Patna.

Patliputra Colony.

Was out in the "field" today. That's what it's called when you step out of the office to work. I like that. Field work. Although I stepped into another office once in the "field", so I guess I went back to office work in the "field". Anyway, Patliputra colony is around 700 houses, and the contract for it stipulates that the company will only pick up door-to-door waste- domestic kitchen waste at that. And for that it breaks down to around Rs. 22 per house. Which is dirt cheap. And on top of that, they want us to sweep the street, pick up the garbage that is littered around the house, and pick up the tremendous amounts of yard waste generated in the neighborhood. Thus, the contract must be renegotiated.

Will discuss that with the neighborhood committee tomorrow. Then will develop transfer stations withing the area to better funnel the waste out of the neighborhood.

Motivation of the employees is a big issue- how do you motivate someone who handles garbage for a living and doesn't get much respect from the people whose neighborhood he keeps clean?

The more I look at it, the more important a public awareness campaign seems. Not just for the proper segregation of waste at source, or to stop them throwing their trash in the street, but to also get respect for our workers. How to fund it? Gotta think about that.