Saturday, November 18, 2006

Apologies for the Delay... Time Has Flown

There is much to report on since my last post. Almost every day I have wanted to write a blog entry, but never found a good moment to spend time on the internet. This is not because internet doesn't exist in Delhi, but because I have been living in other people's houses and never feel comfortable using their computers for a long period of time. I am living with an Indian couple now (more details to come), and yesterday I called an internet guy to come install an ethernet cable in my room in their house. He showed up with his cable, then took a look at my laptop and gasped.
"Macintosh, ma'am! This big problem, ma'am!" He fiddled around with his wires and changed all kinds of settings on my computer but couldn't open a connection. Apparently Macs are tough to work with. He left and I gave up on the idea of having internet in my room.

Then this morning, I turn on my laptop to listen to some music. I look in the upper right hand corner, and see that I am actually getting a wireless signal. I decide it must be an illusion... but figure I'll try to get on the internet anyway. Somehow, it works! I must be stealing a neighbor's wireless. The signal is kind of sketchy, but good enough. I feel extremely smug about having saved myself the fee for installing the ethernet cable and purchasing a monthly internet package.

So, where to start. I arrived back in Delhi on November 6th. While in Mussoorie, I'd heard about several Indian families who rent out rooms to foreign students, so I contacted them as soon as I returned to Delhi. I went to visit their houses, and fell in love with one of these places, which is where I'm living now. It's in a peaceful, quiet neighborhood called Sunder Nagar (which literally means Beautiful Town). The whole colony (ie, neighborhood) has only 148 houses and all of them are large bungalows with plants and flowers in front of them. I have a room and a bathroom in the house of Prem and Abha Singh. They've had lots of Fulbright scholars stay with them before and there's another American girl here at the moment, who is a grad student studying something about real estate. I stayed with Briar and Raj again until the 13th, then moved to my new place in Sunder Nagar.

The Singh's are extremely nice and laidback. Both Abha, and their servant, Ramesh, are excellent cooks. I take care of myself for breakfast and lunch, and on any day when I don't want to worry about getting dinner, I ask them to cook a little extra food for me. Being Delhi-ites, Prem and Abha never eat before 9pm, but they cook earlier in the day so I can eat my dinner whenever I feel like it.

Although things are great at the house, I am hardly ever home. I haven't seriously started my Fulbright research yet, because I am STILL waiting for the research clearance that I need before I can officially start. But, I have been busy exploring Delhi and I have also joined a group called the Outreach Committee of the American Women's Association. The American Women's Association is located in the Embassy compound, and does a million different things. Their Outreach Committe is a group of women who raise money to donate to NGOs and non-profits. Every week they go and visit all different kinds of NGOs, assess the funding needs of these NGOs, and decide how to allocate their money. I have gone so far on site visits to two diffferent NGOs, both of them children's homes. One was a permanent home for orphans and one was a temporary home for children whose parents have contracted HIV/AIDS. The Outreach Committee is donating to both of these homes money for sweaters, blankets, and mattresses, so I'll go back again with them to distribute the money.

In the meantime, Briar's good friend Catherine, who is a head of Outreach, has assigned me my own project. Outreach donates to a school called Forward Vision that serves slum children under the age of five. One of the boys at the school is actually nine years old, and completely deaf. He attends a school with three- five year olds because, due to his deafness, he has never been to school before. Even now it is doubtful that he is really learning anything, as he can't understand either sign or spoken language. I haven't met this boy yet but my project is to investigate this situation further and see if it would be possible or appropriate to place him in a school for the deaf. It's a great project for me because I'm anxious to try and improve this particular situation, and because it will give me a good background for my actual Fulbright research on attitudes toward hearing impairment and other disabilities.

In the meantime, I love getting to know Delhi. Prem and Abha are giving me a rich taste of Indian life there (in addition to a delicious taste of Indian food). A couple of days ago I went with them to a carpet warehouse and helped them pick two out of the dozens of beautiful, handwoven Afghani and Kashmiri carpets that the owner rolled out. Today I met their son and his wife and child, who are visiting from Dubai. Tomorrow I am going with Abha to her Buddhist prayer and meditation meeting. She is, she tells me, both a Hindu and a Buddhist-- a Hindu by faith and a Buddhist by lifestyle.

I've also made friends with a good number of fellow expats, through Briar and Raj and through my Australian friend Dan who works here as an engineer. Last night was a birthday party for Raj and another of their friends. An extremely wealthy Indian couple gave the party in their fabulous house-- all kinds of food, drinks, and dancing. (The only unnerving thing was the two security guards outside the gates with their AK-47s. I made sure not to make any sudden noises when happened to walk near them).

Today I went shopping with Dan then went with him to Hash- ie Hash House Harriers. It is this extremely eccentric running/drinking group that exists all over the world. Today we ran/walked through some trails and past lots of cows and goats in this wild area in the middle of Delhi. Afterward was a gathering at someone's bungalow where I was inducted as a new hasher (induction rituals highly resembling a Mory's night... complete with songs, pouring a mug on your head...).

Tonight the plan is to go out for a little bit then come back and get lots of sleep. I am hoping that my magical internet connection will not vanish, and will report again soon.

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