Renata in India: Week 3

Since I was sick for the first half of the week, my first work day this week was Wednesday.

I went to work with a new intern, Benoit. Now that Liz left, I suddenly found myself in the position of a confident, experienced, independent, young American. It became my task to take care of Benoit and make his transition to life in Bangalore easier. I went from a scared, fidgety tourist to a confident guide in what seemed like no time at all. From the very act of crossing the street to braving public transportation and waddling through muddy, dirty streets I instructed him in the intricacies of how to survive in Bangalore. I recognized my 3-weeks-ago-self in his discomfort and apprehension. I can distinctly remember experiencing the same emotions during my first week here, and I am not exactly sure when I began to view this jungle of a city as just a dirtier and more frustrating version of an large city I've visited in the West. Hearing from others how Bangalore was actually one of the best manageable cities of India, I am very curious to see what nasty surprises Mumbai will hold for me.

After talking my boss out of giving us breakfast since I was still sick to my stomach and Benoit was appalled by the spiciness of Indian food, we found out the schedule for the day. We were to visit Makino, a large corporate company doing who know what. They had a rainwater harvesting system implemented a couple of years back and they were experiencing some problems with it. All the conversations between Makino representatives and Mr. Masagi were conducted in Kannada, so I only had a slight clue about what the problem might have been. He drained one of the filter-tanks from the excess water but I didn't really understood how that was to make the filter work better. Then he turned on the motor that would pump water from the borewell to the storage tank and we opened the lid of the tank to see the water gushing out. He claimed that it was clean, potable water, as good as bottled water. Of course I wobbled my head a little, smiling, which is the Indian way of saying "yes, sure, I believe you." But I regretted it immediately, since he told me to get down on my knees and taste the water. My shock must have been evident on my face, because he resumed lauding and praising him water. As per usual, I didn't really have an option to say no, so I put my hands together, let the water accumulate, and I raised them to my lips. In retrospect I realize that I could have just pretended to drink it, but silly me actually tasted the water. It was a little bitter, and I resigned myself to getting even more sick than before. Fortunately however the water had no ill effect on my health.

The visit to Makino was followed by a visit to the same coconut farm Liz and I visited a week prior. This time I was prepared for the mosquitoes, but even against my best precautions I still received a few stings through my pants and sleeves. The owners of the farm were present and they marveled at how quickly green vegetation has returned to the farm since Mr. Masagi's measures have been put in place. I had a very nice conversation with Chitra, the daughter-in-law of the owners. She volunteers with Greenpeace India so I was excited to share with her my thoughts on environmental protection.

The farm visit ended rather late and, again as per usual after a visit, Mr. Masagi dropped me and Benoit off at a random bus stop. I hate these occasions because it's impossible to know which buses take us home and quite often no buses come at all. My verdict in these situations is to just take a rickshaw home. Not knowing what part of the city we were in I had no way of judging how far from our hotel we were, so we got royally ripped of by the driver. I was mad at myself because I know I could have gotten a much better deal were I thinking straight, but in the end what mattered is that we arrived home safely.

We spent the first half of Thursday in the office. I was in charge of writing an amendment to one of the chapters in Mr. Masagi's book. Contrary to my expectations I found it rather easy to imitate his style in my writing. After lunch we headed to a conference with government officials to discuss a project proposal for a very large-scale rainwater harvesting system for the Kolar Gold Fields, a government owned gold mine. Despite having heard about the inefficiencies of the Indian bureaucracy, I was still shocked at how corrupt the officers were and how they in-effect rejected the proposal even against their own conviction that it would be very effective and useful. Blaming everything on regulations and formalities, they said that the project is not very likely to go through completion. However, two "helpful" men did offer to try their hardest to push the proposal through if Mr. Masagi gave them 30% of the profits! I'm glad that he made the decision to drop the proposal. I am not at all surprised that most Indian organizations prefer to keep their dealings within the private sector.

Friday was a chill day at the office, without internet or power. Consequently I spent the whole day editing a hard copy of the first draft of the book and talking with Benoit. Spending time with him made me realize that the single most important asset I have is my ability to speak English well and with confidence. I'm happy to be his English teacher and help him gain the confidence that he needs to thrive in the world.

Only four interns stayed at the apartment this weekend, Caitlin, Dan, me, and Alex. Diamond, Benoit, and Nadia went to Hampi and Liz, Bryn, Emma, and Joe were still in Delhi. Poor dear Caitlin is still so sick that she is making plans to go home. I think it probably is for the best that she does, but it makes me sad to think that her experience in India was so marred by a stupid sickness. I slept in on Saturday morning and went out to lunch with Vineeth, a friend from Dartmouth. It was an incredible experience, to see the "other side" of Bangalore. He took me to a nice and rather expensive restaurant after which we went window shopping to a mall where literally every single item was too expensive for me to afford. Even back in the U.S. those prices are no joke. I saw a lot of rich people, some westerners but mostly Indian. It's still difficult for me to fathom the insane socioeconomic contrasts in India.

On another note, I really want to take a yoga class while here, I'm just not sure how to find one and with the unpredictability of my schedule it might be difficult to find times