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2009-12-14T17:14:00.004+05:30

Dear reader,

This website has now moved to www.behzadlarry.com . I will no longer be using blogger to manage my site and have instead switched to a different content management system.

Although comments are not enabled on the new site at this time, I shall be making that arrangement very soon.

Best,
Behzad

2009-12-09T13:31:00.005+05:30

I have to go to Patna city (the old part of town) quite frequently, and this is what it looks like. Chaos. My operations manager and friend Pramod was driving and I filmed this from my cell phone.

Slumdog.

2009-12-05T11:23:00.002+05:30

Visited a slum this morning to see one of Nidan's schools in operation along with Kash, who is visiting from AIF New York. While there I saw these extremely adoptable puppies.

2009-12-02T14:35:00.004+05:30

If you are on facebook- then go vote for AIF. It's a chance for them to win USD 10k-1 million.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T13:05:00.001+05:30

Enjoy your turkeys, and your mashed potatoes, and your cranberry sauce. I'll be having chicken curry instead.

Back in Patna

2009-11-18T14:47:00.002+05:30

Back in Patna. I've traveled a lot in India, from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and every western state. But I never traveled East, or North East (of Indore that is). This was my first trip to Jharkhad, and to Jamshedpur. I must say that it was an eye opener. That city (at least the TATA controlled part) is clean, organized, efficient and GREEN. More so than any other city. Perhaps privatization of certain things (in India) is good. Bureaucrats shouldn't manage cities- or rather the current crop of Indian bureaucrats shouldn't. Dealing with them in Patna is a nightmare, and I've often thought that the city would operate better if it weren't for all the red-tape. A visit to Jamshedpur shows that this is indeed true.

Jamshedpur

2009-11-16T10:43:00.003+05:30

In Jamshedpur right now. Great city. One of only 2 planned cities in India, the other one being Chandigarh. Which means they mapped out the city, the streets, parks etc, before they started constructing it. Managed entirely by Tata Steel. The only city in India privately managed. One can see the difference. I'm partial to Tata to begin with and Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, JRD, and all are awesome. They have avenues here. Saw a sign for 7th and 8th avenues. That's how planned it is. And it's clean. Spectacularly clean compared to Patna, or even Indore. It helps to have India's largest infrastructure, steel, auto- etc company manage it.

More updates later.

Busy busy

2009-11-15T12:57:00.004+05:30

Sorry for the long gap in between posts. My bike arrived from Indore, which means I now spend a lot more time in the field- Starting at 6 AM, I visit Patliputra colony and Patna City (the old city- now a suburb of Patna). I'm leading a new recycling project in Patna city that will increase the livelihoods of over 300 female rag-pickers directly while providing them with insurance and free education to their children. The program involves setting up 10 cooperatives that purchase recyclables from the rag pickers (20 to each cooperative) and are given seed money by us. They in turn sell the recyclables to our MRF (material recovery facility) and earn a profit. We process, sort and pack the recyclables and then sell them to end processors. This increases the amount of stuff being recycled, increases the livelihoods of these women by giving them a place to sell the stuff they scavenge at a price higher than the market price offered by other exploitative recyclers and gives them insurance, their children education and also provides them with an ID which they can use to escape harassment from police while out scavenging.

A good project over all, but it means I get back to the office around 3 PM, and then spend the rest of the day (sometimes till 8-9pm) working on proposals for other places, or crunching numbers. Also we no longer have wireless internet at work because the router broke, so now you have to sit next to it and connect via an ethernet cord, which is means I can't write blog updates from my desk when free.

Joined a gym last week. Although that means I have to get up at 5 some days to make it there and then go make sure that trash is being picked up by 6:30.

Patna is beginning to feel like home. I find myself speaking Hindi with a Patna accent if not attempting Bhojpuri. I'll definitely add another language to the resume by the end of these 10 months.

Here's a video taken from my cell phone (sorry for the haziness) on one of the main market roads in Patna City. It shows trash recently taken out from a large nala (open drain) and now being dumped into a tractor. Having a small Bobcat, and a compactor truck would make this so much more efficient and environmentally/health friendly. But you have to use the tools you have.

Wedding

2009-10-30T12:35:00.003+05:30

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

2009-10-24T10:19:00.003+05:30

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

2009-10-15T15:08:00.002+05:30

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

2009-10-08T12:51:00.003+05:30

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

2009-10-06T10:15:00.004+05:30

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.

--
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.

2009-10-02T11:50:00.002+05:30

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.

All well

2009-09-29T16:38:00.003+05:30

All is well hither. Made friends with one of my neighbors, cooked some rice and potatoes, and wonder how I can kill time. Never have I ever wanted to come to work as much as over the past 2 days when I had absolutely nothing to do. Couldn't even find a decent book shop to go get something to read from. Will have internet at home soon.

Public transport is something that Patna needs to work on urgently. You can't even get an auto-rickshaw to yourself, but have to share it with 6 other people going the same direction- it is cheap, about Rs.5, but hardly comfortable. A cycle rickshaw is more expensive, at around Rs.10 to most places within the city center, but so terribly slow. Not only that, most of the men pulling these rickshaws look so weak that I feel I should be taking them somewhere instead.

I think holding a press conference to discuss what NSPL is doing and how the community can help would be a good way to start off a public awareness campaign. And public awareness is crucial. If people can be convinced to begin segregating their compostables from the landfillable trash- that would be a tremendous victory.

Out of sight is out of mind here, with streets swept clean, and piles of garbage around the corner.

The colony that I'm trying to develop as a model project has some rather furious residents. They want to know why there is so much garbage in front of their houses. Simple answer really- they throw it there. They want to know why NSPL doesn't regularly pick up all the waste lining their roads. Good question- why don't we? It's because we have a contract to pick up waste from each and every household in the neighborhood- from their DOORSTEP. They have absolutely no business throwing their garbage onto the street when we're coming to them and picking it up.

But of course, we have to keep the trash off the streets, so I'm planning to hold a community meeting, and then a drive that cleans the streets within the neighborhood of all the garbage we see. In the meeting it'll be made sure they understand that the trash on the streets is their fault- something they can easily avoid by simply giving us the trash instead of tossing it where they feel like.

But of course, all one hears is, "you should sweep more often" or, "your people should pick up all the garbage they see." Right, and who will pay my people to sweep the roads more often? Or who will pay them to pick up trash that shouldn't be thrown on the road in the first place? Of course, the residents think it should be done for the price which we're already charging- instead of correcting their ways, we should just throw more manpower into the situation.

Without public awareness, waste management is a one sided solution to a multi-faceted problem.

Moved into my palace.

2009-09-26T09:44:00.005+05:30

Not sure what to put in all the empty rooms, don't really want a whole lot of furniture. Rent is Rs. 5500. A thousand square feet, near the golf course, the ex-chief minister, the present chief-minister, members of parliament, for $117 a month. Only in India.

Giving out salaries today, and using Photo Booth on my mac to take pictures of all the employees for their ID's.

Also, this is where Charlie, one of the other fellows is serving his fellowship- in the state of Uttarakhand.

He's living at an ashram, designing a curriculum for the school there.

Moving in

2009-09-25T13:55:00.004+05:30

Moving in today, provided I get a mattress. Met some Koreans yesterday, apparently there's a Korean center in town that teaches Korean. The couple spoke decent Hindi as well. Were visiting us to discuss the waste management situation in Patna, along with a professor of civil engineering who specialized in water and waste management. He had some pretty good inputs.

It's dusshera season here, so it's getting pretty hectic around the city, lots of loudspeakers blaring badly tuned spiritual songs, larger crowds and more garbage. The closer you move towards the state of Bengal, the more intense the celebrations get. Bihar, of course, is right next to Bengal.

Took a cycle rickshaw today, the old kind, not the new kind that AIF has designed. Have to take a ride in the AIF ones to see the difference. When I see one of the rickshawwallahs riding in the newfangled ones I'll ask him what he thinks of it.

Also, my apartment is a THOUSAND sq.feet. And it's just me in it. Maybe I'll make one of the rooms a home-gym/home-office. Gotta get some plants for my balcony too. Going to turn into Martha Stewart.

I have a houseva!

2009-09-23T10:15:00.002+05:30

Finally! An apartment in Patna! And where is it? On Baily road, near the Patna Golf Course, the Zoo, Laloo's house and the current Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar's house- oh and the airport too. It's a spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on the first floor. Should be all moved in in 2 days. Just have to scrounge together the basics the first. My landlord is a retired Colonel, a grenadier. The first landlord I could hold a conversation with. Excellent.

Composting & MRF

2009-09-22T17:59:00.002+05:30

So, we've narrowed down my 10 month focus even more. I have to make the MRF (isn't Wiki great?) turn a profit, and ramp up the composting operations.
First things on the list:
1) Figure out what system is really effective here for composting (NADEP composting looks like a winner)
2) Shove worms into it as well, so they can help the microbial action.
3) Find an Indian manufacturer of industrial grade wood chippers/shredders to make our biodegradable waste bite sized.

NADEP seems to be more agriculturally oriented, so it might need some modifications. Perhaps extra cow-dung (we have a lot of it). It might work well when coupled with worms.

The scope for recycling here seems tremendous. But to find a role for NSPL is somewhat of a challenge. Considering that there is very little segregation at source, the door to door collection will have to be put through a sorting process, which can get expensive.

On the other hand, Indian's keep aside the cans, stacks of newspaper and other such items aside and store them for a bit (to build their collection) and then sell to a kabadi or raddiwala. This person basically collects recyclable, reusable things from people's houses and then sells them to a bigger dealer, who sells them in turn to someone who actually processes those goods.

So a good balance must be found that ensures that people like the raddiwala don't lose their livelihoods while recycling is made more efficient at the same time.

House

2009-09-22T09:57:00.004+05:30

Will find out whether or not I'll get the apartment I really want in about 2 hours. If I don't get it I'll be moving into Nidan's Executive Director's house till I find a place. It seems it's harder to find a place to live in Patna than it is in Manhattan. Lots of meetings over the last two days.

I think my project has been finalized for the next 10 months. I'm going to develop Patliputra Colony, a neighborhood with around 350 households, and through this area develop and implement solutions to the various problems concerning NSPL's day to day garbage collection, revenue collection, recycling and composting. Things that work will be scaled up to other neighborhoods that NSPL works in.

NSPL bid for a waste management contract with the Municipality of a nearby city, and if we get the contract then I shall be helping set-up operations in that city from the ground-up.

Don't have a house, but I have a neighborhood.

2009-09-19T16:37:00.003+05:30

I now have my own neighborhood to take care of and develop as a "model" neighborhood. In terms of waste management, that is.

View Larger Map

Patliputra Colony, with around 850 households and about 4,250 people and around 2.5 metric tonnes of waste a day, a lot of which is compostable yard waste. Exciting. I'm going to develop the routing, collection, street cleaning, customer service and composting.

Current events.

2009-09-18T12:57:00.003+05:30

Current project: Working on streamlining payroll and collection.

Current housing situation: Chasing down brokers.

Current language: A new mix of Bhojpuri, Hindi and English. Put a va at the end of a word- such as phoneva, gharva(house), numberva to make it Bhojpuri. Easy enough. Also, if you wish to fit in even more, try to talk like you have a large paan in your mouth, the resulting incomprehensibility will result in everyone thinking you're native.

Current mode of transport: Whomsoever gets the unfortunate task of coming to my hotel and picking me up.

Getting used to carrying 2 phones around- my mentor carries 3. 3! I think I might need a 3rd one soon too. The first is a Delhi number, the second is a Patna number that NSPL gave me, but it has many restrictions on it- so I might end up getting my own 3rd one. Or maybe a device that holds two SIM cards, so my pocket can be spared.

Even though I'm on the banks of the mighty Ganga, I've barely seen it for more than a few seconds once or twice while driving places. Have to fix that soon.

First opinions

2009-09-17T16:40:00.004+05:30

Still searching far and wide for a place I can call home for the next 10 months. There's a shortage of decent apartments in this city, especially ones that are both easy to access and in relatively safe neighborhoods.

Getting used to life in Patna , Bihar for that matter, isn't that difficult for someone who's already acclimatized to life in India. Though the stories of chaos in the streets aren't exactly true, it can be said with confidence that much work needs to be put into this state to bring it to par with the rest of India in terms of general urban life.

There isn't one operational traffic light in this city of 1.8 million, every major chouraha (intersection) is manned by a traffic policeman who directs hordes of commuters who have absolutely no respect for the policeman's authority (he does have very little). Roads are routinely blocked for unbelievably large political convoys replete with flashing lights and blaring sirens. One would think the state politicians spend more time driving with flashing lights then enacting legislation.

The major roads are built decently enough, but lesser ways seem to be perpetually in disrepair or under construction, neither of which allows for an easy commute.

There are multiple gowshalas (dairies) within the city. The cows are sustained on a healthy diet of organic trash from the vegetable and fruit markets, domestic refuse and drain water. The very best for Patna's milk lovers. Of course, the areas surrounding these gowshalas also sustain the local energy traders. What do they trade? Barrels of crude? Electricity? Natural Gas? No. Cow dung cakes. Of course, these provide fuel to thousands of fires in the city- an essential energy source. But to have Patna's sidewalks covered in drying dung- that's something that can be worked on.

Paan. You can hate it or love it, but if you reside in Patna, or for that matter any city across this paan chewing (and spitting) belt of India you can't avoid it. I have yet to walk into a building here that doesn't have red streaks in various corners. Coming from a waste management perspective- it raises the question- how do you get people to stop spitting everywhere!? This, of course is a problem in other places in India as well- both paan and gutka are popular in India, but the rate of consumption (eye-balling it) seems much higher here, then say in Indore, MP.

Let's get to the point now, the reason I'm here- garbage. There's a lot of it here- about 700 metric tonnes a day. Unfortunately about 30% (or less- you can never believe bureaucrats) of that is picked up the same day. The amount that does get picked up is unceremoniously dumped on the outskirts of the city. Processing? What processing?

But more stuff on garbage later, I have to go find a place to live now.

Tea with the ambassador

2009-09-16T15:17:00.009+05:30

Had some tea with the US Ambassador to India, Timoth J. Roemer.
I decided to take a quick nap while the photographer was clicking away apparently.

Update

2009-09-16T13:22:00.003+05:30

Greetings from Patna!

I'm getting used to life here, though I'm still not settled. I've seen a few flats/apartments/houses, and am going to see a few more- I hope I'll have a place of my own soon. Patna is crowded, hot and dirty.

On most days I work out of NSPL's office in Maurya Lok Complex, on other days at Nidan's office on Boring road. Yeah, the main road in this city is called Boring Road- what that says of the city, you can think for yourself. :) Actually the full name is Boring Canal road, but between you and me, we can leave that canal bit out.

I'll go exploring around the city more when I have my own place- and some easy form of conveyance. Going to go back to work now- and put a long update up later. Have a tender for a municipal bid due tomorrow.

Much love from Patna.

Edit: Also, bear with me as I finalize what the site will look like, can't spend too much time on design at the moment. If anyone knows a good blog/content management system that is easy to integrate into a website- let me know.