The first three weeks

Saturday 1^st March 2014

Due to my research assistant/translator being very busy with other things recently, I’ve found myself having the last 9 days with almost nothing to do. After exploring my local area several times over and finding nothing but shopping malls (quite interesting actually, but I’ll come back to those later) and suburbia, and reading a few books (I have bought more already), I’ve decided to start a blog about my time here. It’ll be mostly day-to-day stuff for now; I’ll save any ‘deep and meaningful’ general thoughts I may have until the end. After all, I’m here for four months, and in somewhere that the dynamism is evident from the moment you arrive, I don’t want to jump to conclusions too quickly.

I should probably also tell you a little bit about myself, and why I’m here…

The first three months of my time in India will be in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where I am a research intern at Saath, a local NGO (saath.org). This internship is part of my Master’s degree in International Development, and the research I do here will constitute the main part of my thesis. I study at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and before that I did my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Oxford (U.K.), where I studied Geography. One of my courses there was ‘Contemporary India’, and this really fuelled my interest for this fascinating place in which I now find myself.

I arrived almost three weeks ago, in the early hours of the morning, after a fairly average flight from London via Qatar. My transfer at Doha airport was probably three of the most uneventful hours of my life, at least there was free wifi, which allowed me to chat to some lovely people about how dull the airport was and how hilariously tacky the Qatar-inspired souvenirs were (seriously, how many things can you make shaped like a camel?). The airport was busy, sterile, and everyone seemed a bit miffed. It was like a department store at Christmas time. Regardless, I boarded my flight to Ahmedabad (one of only two non-South Asians) and arrived here safely. The queue at immigration was enormous, and I waited about an hour for my luggage, but eventually made it to my new house.

My accommodation is basic compared to what I’m used to, but I’ve definitely got the best room in the house. It’s probably about 9m² and has a terrace overlooking the street (I got the penthouse, essentially). It’s also the only room in the house that isn’t shared, although apparently I’m really paying for that privilege. This doesn't bother me though, since the rent here is almost four times cheaper than in Utrecht, but includes all of my food and laundry. Despite this, I won’t pretend that I’m not exactly going to miss showering out of a bucket (or sometimes there’s two – one hot and one cold) or not being able to speak the same language as anybody in my household. People seem surprised that I don’t speak Gujarati or at least Hindi, is it really that shocking?

Looking North from my terrace in the morning. 

The food has been great so far, breakfast is usually either a rice-based dish, or spicy roti, or occasionally deep-fried vegetables and paneer, always accompanied by a delicious cup of tea. Lunch is always packed for my in my tiffin (except on Sundays), which I take to the office with me, or wherever I’m going interviewing, and it’s generally roti or rice, vegetables of some sort (quite often cauliflower, which I’ve really come to love), and a spicy soup. Dinner varies greatly, but always appears in my room at around eight o’clock every evening, and it’s almost always delicious. I am reliably informed that Ahmedabad is the ice cream capital of India, something that I do not have a hard time believing. Aside from two of the extremely popular local brands – Amul and Havmor – there are endless other national and international brands for sale in countless freezers and parlours across the city, I really could get used to this.

An average dinner.

My first few days were spent being introduced to life at Saath and being shown around some of their programmes, including pre-schools (Balghar), their Micro-Finance programmes (very impressive), centres which train people in trades for the construction industry (Nirman), centres which give people general employment training and placement opportunities (Umeed), and their programme which supports local artisans and aims to save some of the local dying arts (Rweaves). First impressions were excellent, the organisation and their work are truly admirable and inspirational (I could go on, but there’s not much I can say that their website and blog doesn’t already). In order to get to the office, I take an auto rickshaw, which by now I’m able to direct through the city (shouting and using excessive hand gestures to get over the traffic noise and language barrier). These rides are a lot of fun, and apart from the mildly terrifying motorcycle rides I get occasionally from friends and colleagues, definitely my one of my favourite ways to experience Indian roads.

My morning commute.

Visit to one of Saath's Balghar programmes.

During this first stage, I also became acquainted with Robert and Adrian (both very friendly and interesting) from FedEx in the USA, who are here along with others from the company, in Ahmedabad for a month working with local organisations as part of their CSR initiative. Robert and Adrian are working with Saath, and their project looks at safety in the local construction industry.

After my first week, I met up with some family friends – Michael and John – who come to India every year, and one of their stops in Ahmedabad this year fortunately coincided with me being here. We don’t get to see each other too often, so it was lovely to have dinner and catch up with them, in fact, it was rather surreal, yet absolutely great. In my second week, I was introduced to my research assistant and translator, who is part of Saath’s programme Youth Force, whose members I am interviewing for my research (I’ll tell you all about that sometime soon). After a brief introduction to the programme and a visit to one of the centres, we got straight into the interviews, and somehow I managed to do eight in just three days! Which brings us back to 9 days ago, i.e. when my free time began.

With some of my first interviewees.

My first thing to do was plan my travels for the month I have after my internship here in Ahmedabad (mid-May until mid-June). I ploughed through my guidebook thinking that the south might be a little unbearable at that time of year (I’m not really a beach/temple person anyway), so decided to stick with the north. The plan is to go from here to Mumbai, and then as follows: Kolkata, Varanasi, Agra, Amritsar, Delhi, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur. I’ve also booked two weekend trips in the coming weeks, the first to Jaipur, and the other to Udaipur. Apart from a few train tickets (which can’t be reserved more than sixty days in advance), I think it’s all booked and waiting for me.

So, I’m back to having nothing to do, but don’t quite realise this at the time (as far as I knew then, it was just going to be a couple of days off). Next idea: explore Ahmedabad’s tourist attractions. Again, I turn to the guidebooks, and see that most sights are in the old city. I jump in an auto rickshaw and head over to that side of town. It’s Sunday, so I don’t expect it to be too busy. I could not have been more wrong. It’s market day, and the streets of the old city are absolutely rammed with people buying and selling everything imaginable, including the odiferous meat market, complete with birds of prey swooping down from every corner of the sky to get their talons on some tasty entrails.

Walking through the old city.

 When I finally fight my way through the streets I come to my first stop, Sidi Sayyid’s mosque, a beautiful edifice, with some exquisitely carved windows. I then moved on to the fifteenth-century Jama Masjid. It was an oasis of calm in the bustling city, where I spent an hour or so wandering among the columns; admiring the stonework and watching the chipmunks dart around. From there, I went around the corner and after pushing my way through a large herd of very inquisitive goats, came to the tomb of Shah Ahmed I. That about completes my tourism in the city so far. I’m determined to go to the Calico Museum of Textiles before I leave (the tour starts at 8.30am and it’s on the other side of the city, so a very early start for me), and if I get really bored there’s always the Gandhi Ashram. I have quite enjoyed watching the development in my own street, which, since I arrived, has gained another house, and pavements.

Jali screens at Sidi Sayyid's mosque. 

Tourist-selfie at Jama Masjid.

Jama Masjid.

I have been into the office a couple of times this week, but the internet there isn’t working, and there not a lot else for me to be doing at the moment, so I have been attempting to ‘relax’. Boredom is my nightmare, and usually, this what ‘relaxing’ leads me to. I’m sure you’re thinking, how can one get bored in India?! I had the same thought, so after reading a few novels, I decided to walk around and see what there is to do near my house. I’ve covered about a 4km radius now, and found three malls (including two bookshops – thank goodness) and countless cows. Major observation about India number 1: COWS. They are everywhere, along with dogs. Indian malls are sadly everything I expected them to be: just like they are in Europe or the USA, except possibly worse. It is nice to see a mix of foreign and Indian brands, but at the same time apart from on Sunday it seems, most of the shops are empty except for a few extremely bored staff (who are probably considerably over-qualified for their jobs). When it’s busy everybody there (apart from the very few foreigners one might see), everyone is the same: either families or groups of young people, but all dressed extremely similarly, eating fast food, and seemingly attempting to display their status as part of contemporary India’s new middle class. I generally observe exactly what I’ve read about in various media and journal articles: scenes of excess, mass consumption, yet all in an ‘Indian way’ – a fusion of some of the worst aspects of both cultures. Despite holding little attraction for me in terms of shopping or food (although the Oreo milkshakes are delicious), the malls are fascinating places for a social scientist with an interest in contemporary Indian society, or globalisation in general – it really is in full force here.

Just one of many, many cows.

Major observation about India number 2: the noise. Nowhere before have I missed silence quite so much. There really never is a quiet moment here. The streets throng with traffic and the sound of engines and horns (it seems that one uses the horn to indicate your presence on the road to anything in the vicinity); there are always people on the phone, and music playing somewhere. Even in the middle of the night there are dogs fighting in the street, and the early mornings always bring the vegetable-sellers with their carts through the neighbourhood, shouting and ringing bells to alert residents to their presence. The 27^th February was Shivarathri, which meant music and a procession through the streets starting at around 7am (at least that’s when it woke me) until lunchtime, quite possibly the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. Although I must admit, something which seems to come with this constant noise is the acceptability of singing whenever and wherever, without anybody noticing or caring, something I can certainly get used to. Whilst the noise might get to me at times, it also demonstrates the undeniable vivacity of this place. Despite the never-ending sounds, there are moments of tranquillity, such as at dusk when I stand on my terrace and watch the countless bats of all sizes flying across the twilight sky, with such peace and grace, sometimes even low enough to seemingly make eye contact. The cows are also quite tranquil.

Shivarathri procession viewed from my terrace.

That is an extremely long first post; if a reader has made it this far, allow me to offer congratulations! I’ll try to make the following entries shorter, but I’m not promising anything.