peace, sun, and ashoka

Yesterday I spent the day going to various temples and tourist sights near Bhubaneswar. It rained heavily in the morning, so it was cooler than normal but really humid. I started at the Peace Pagoda which is a buddhist temple right near the site of one of the Edicts of Ashoka. You can read about Ashoka here, but he was known for taking over India using great violence. He decided he did not want to be remembered this way, converted to Buddhism, and became one of the single most influential people in spreading Buddhism around the world. He had his edicts carved into the rocks surrounding the peace pagoda, which is now protected with iron gates.


As good a picture I could get of the actual edicts.



The Peace Pagoda:



When I arrived at the Peace Pagoda the man on the left in the next picture came up to me and started grunting and using hand gestures to tell me about the different gods at the temple. I don't know why he didn't speak, even Hindi or Oriya, but it was amazing how much he could communicate using body language and hand gestures. He showed me how to honor each of the gods and did a little blessing for me in front of each of the idols.
In fact, in front of the next god, he asked me the names of my parents to give them blessings. He asked if I was married, I replied no. He asked if I had a boyfriend that was "with my life". I replied yes and he gave me this string bracelet to bring back to Matt if "I wanted him for improvements". I believe what he meant was that I should give Matt this bracelet if I wanted good things to come to him. Of course, the broken english could mean anything, but that's what I'm taking it to mean!
















After the Peace Pagoda I took an hour long ride down to Konark to see the Sun Temple. Unfortunately because of how the timing worked I was there during the hottest part of the day...not very smart. So, it was not a very enjoyable experience even though the temple itself was really amazing. The second I stepped out of the car a man approached me offering his services as a tour guide. I knew from my trusty Lonely Planet that a guide was necessary because otherwise you'd have no idea what you were looking at, but to make sure to get a licensed, official guide. The man immediately pulled out a business card saying he was official, but I couldn't help but feel like I wouldn't ever know if it was real or not. Thankfully, he offered to give me an introduction before I agreed to hire him. Official or not, he was a really good guide!

The Sun Temple is one of the most popular tourist sights in Orissa mainly because it's not actually a temple - it's only a monument. The temple was built by King Narasimhadeva I. The story is that he had a son by a woman but didn't know it. When the grown son came to him the King denied him as a son and the boy dove off the top of the temple into the sea, killing himself. This was seen as a bad omen and the King decided to never open the temple for worship.





The entire temple is made of sandstone, and this sculpture greets you at the entrance. The lion and elephant are crushing man - implying to leave your pride at the door.


Every inch of the outdoor temple is carved in such intrecate designs.


Many of the designs are of musicians, gods, women, animals, warriors, etc.


One of the most remarkable aspects of this temple is all that it's survived. It was almost completely destroyed by the Muslims and then by 2 cyclones. The government of India has worked to restore most of the structures, but they have left some of the broken pieces out as a reminder of what the temple has endured. This picture is what used to be the very top of the temple.


The temple is designed as a huge chariot with 24 huge wheels and 7 horses, all carved out of sandstone.

The temple is probably most famous for all of the erotic sculptures that are mixed in with the animals, musicians, and everyday activities. Just a few examples, the next sculpture is of lesbians.

















The reason behind all the erotica is that when the temple was constructed there had just been a great war and the population was sparse. In order to booster population, the King decided to encourage sexual acts by putting them in plain sight on the temple architecture. I can't find anything to support this argument, but it's what my guide told me.



















In this aspect, my guide was very good. I met an American girl who is here in Bhubaneswar doing an internship with UNICEF who went to the museum with a few other girls and who's guide was so embarrased showing them the sculptures that he basically just pointed at them and walked ahead. My guide was very funny actually, and would point and say "lesbians, do you see?" "see, this one monogamous, and this one polygamous...see all the ladies?" It was quite amusing.



All in all, it was a great day. Long and exhausting, but also interesting and more fun than I've had other days exploring by myself. At the end of the day I was so tired and gross from sweat and sunscreen that I went to eat at one of my favorite "chaat" restaurants near my hotel. Chaat means snack, although they seem to serve regular food. My favorite dish in India is by far the rava masala dosa. It's served with sambar (the tomatoey stew type sauce on the bottom), coconut chutney, and garlic chutney. mmmm. It's really too bad they don't serve these in the States...maybe I'm going to have to look harder.

weekend update

This past weekend, I braved the 100+ degree weather and went out to explore Bhubaneswar by myself. On Saturday I went to the planetarium where they have one English show a day. It was about weather and plants, and quite unimpressive. But it was airconditioned, so I can't really complain! Here are a few pictures I took outside the planetarium in their "Astrological Park".





On Sunday I went to the Orissa State Museum. The museum itself was very cool, except that without airconditioning, and on a 107 degree day, it was exhausting! This next picture is one of the hallways. You can see that there are some homeless people that sleep on the edges of the hallway because it's in the shade and a tad cooler than sleeping out on the street or in the sun.


This is a plant fossil.



This baby skeleton was just too creepy. I don't think you'd see something like this in the States, but there it was, like it was no big deal...


These are ancient tribal cave drawings. In fact, there's an entirely separate Tribal Museum that I had intended on going to after the state musuem. Unfortunately the heat got to me and I wasn't up for it. Maybe next weekend!



I found this amusing, that right near all the ancient tribal artifacts, like primitive tools, there was this riser being used in museum construction...it looked just like the ancient artifacts to me, but it was actually being used.


There was an ancient tribal music display - here are some flutes.


This last picture is one that I took in a juice shop that I stopped in on the way back to the hotel. I am in love with these hanging ornaments that are unique to the state of Orissa. You see them hanging everywhere and they come in all colors and sizes, but are always the long cylindrical shape.



Also over the weekend I officially met Rajesh - he works at the coffee shop in the hotel lobby. I've interacted with him every day since he's the one I go through to get real drip coffee (everywhere else in Bswr serves Nescafe instant coffee...yuck!). I ordered a piece of chocolate cake to be delivered to my room (I know, I'm a hopeless chocolate addict!) and when I paid for it he asked me if I had any foreign coins because he collects them. When he delivered the cake I gave him one of each of the US coins (although he already had a quarter and a nickle in his wallet). I learned that he is a business student in Bhubaneswar and that he plans to go on to get an MBA after that...being a barista at Cafe Coffee Day is just a summer job for him. I asked him if he liked his job, if it was a good job, and I was taken aback by the answer. He told me "you shouldn't think of jobs like this is a good job and that is a bad job - it's lucky if you have any job".

Yeah, it's all about perspective.

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raja

Unfortunately I missed this festival while I was in Chennai, but I noticed all the swings in town and after learning about this holiday. Well, I just had to tell the story...

The festival is called Raja (or Rajo) and it only happens in the state of Orissa (where Bhubaneswar is the capital). Raja is an agricultural festival and is most popular in the coastal regions of Orissa. It signifies the beginning of the agricultural year and is sort of a celebration of the beginning of monsoon. The story is that monsoon signifies that Mother Earth is menstruating. Therefore, any agricultural work is prohibited (because you wouldn't want to dig the soil or irritate a woman on her period)!

It's also called the "Swing Festival" aptly because they erect giant swings, like the ones on children's playgrounds and people swing for 3-4 days (mainly unmarried girls).

Here's a little explanation I found on the web:
"Raja is also considered as one of the chief festivals of un-married girls or the potential mothers. The women folk, especially the virgins, forbid all kinds of manual works during these three days of Raja-festival. They don't carry water, cut vegetables, sweep the houses, sew clothes, grind grains, comb hair, walk in bare foot etc. So, all kind of restrictions are imposed both for the land and the women-folk. They move up and down in the swings rending the village sky with their joyous impromptu songs. "

Too bad I missed it - it would've been neat to see this festival in action...

back to bswr

I arrived back here in Bhubaneswar on Thursday night after a 20 hour train ride from Chennai. It wasn't actually as bad as it sounds. Below are just a few pictures I took on the ride including my upper berth and a quick glance down the train. Also below is a picture with my roommate in Chennai, Esha. We got along very well and I'm planning a weekend trip to visit her in her hometown of Bombay.

Things are relatively calm now. I'm back to work on computer programming, which is what I'll spend the majority of the next few weeks doing. Although I'm also going to make time to do a little sight-seeing. In fact, I'm going to go to the planetarium this afternoon for an english showing. I'm not quite sure what to expect - hopefully something cosmic!

I also had my first incredibly sexist experience last night. I went out for dinner and drinks with Dan, Anjali (who's apartment our office is in), Deepak (my "assistant"), and Sudhansu (one of the survey monitors from our project). We went to a place called The Cave. We sat down and were about to order when the manager came to our table and asked us to leave because there were women in our group. I supposed we could've put up a fight, but it didn't seem worth it. Too bad, because it looked like a cool place. You know, it doesn't really me angry for myself nearly as much as it does for the Indian women who deal with this stuff every day. I mean, I can always go home to a place where I'm treated equitably, but these women don't know any different. Sudhansu mentioned that it wasn't really that big of a deal because most Indian women wouldn't want to go to a place like that anyway because people get drunk there. That just doesn't seem like a good enough reason to think it's ok. I can't say I'm particularly surprised, just saddened I guess, to feel first hand how it feels to be looked down upon because of my gender. The experience actually makes me feel very lucky because it was really the first time I'd felt like that - something most women in the world aren't able to say.

sunday off

We had a free day on Sunday, although it ended up being the most tiring being out in the heat and humidity all day long. I spent the day with Esha (my roommate from Bombay) and Karl (from Detroit, but at college in Edinborough).

This is a picture of me outside of Parthasarathy Temple. An old woman just came up to me and put this powder on my face and then asked for money. I gave her a couple rupees, and then wiped it off...


We weren't allowed to go inside the gate here, so I'm still not sure what this temple and moat was all about, but it was very beautiful and peaceful.




This was a piece of the temple that they were in the process of building out front. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple, but that was definitely more picture worthy than the few shots I was able to get outside. We arrived right at 4 and walked around to the house of 3 different gods. They pulled the curtains back (closed throughout the day so that the gods could rest) and allowed people in to pray and offer gifts to the gods' feet. The statues of the gods were amazing, so big and beautiful. Most of all it was great that Esha was there because she's also Hindu and was able to explain any questions we had.



After the temple, we went down to Elliot's Beach. This is me with Esha.


A few fellow interns - from left to right is Karl, Shalin (India), Eivand (Norway), and Nikhita (India but an undergrad at Brown).


This next picture is one that got us all talking. This young girl (probably about 5-6) was doing tricks on this tightrope while a large crowd was gathered around. I think it really impacted most of us that weren't from India that a practice like this could take place. There was a man and woman playing music, presumably this girl's parents, but there's no way to be sure. A few of us launched into a depressing conversation about the prevalence of child labor in India and how big of a problem it really is. The Indian natives were offering a unique perspective, not condoning or justifying the practice, but explaining how and why it comes to be. They provide a simple example that if a husband dies leaving an unskilled and uneducated woman as head of the household who has no job prospects, is it better for the child to be taken out of school in order to beg for money/clean a wealthy person's house/walk on a tightrope for entertainment, or for her to starve to death on the streets. I have no answer to this problem, and seeing it first-hand was truly depressing. It justifies that NGOs and other humanitarian organizations are fighting so hard to eliminate child labor. However, it seems so prevalent in this country, that it would take a drastic shift in mindset of the entire population to accomplish this goal. Not impossible, but discouraging...


Well, that conversation happened right as we arrived at the beach, and we decided to salvage the rest of our day and try to enjoy ourselves. Here are just a few shots I took...it was really surreal to be at a beach where everyone was fully clothed on a 95 degree day.




My foot and Esha's foot.

The boys got to strip down and go swimming. At first I thought they were lucky because there weren't any norms preventing them from doing so, but then I thought about how gross the water was (with trash flowing up on the shore) and I wasn't too disappointed that I was missing out!

Shalin again and Dany (Venezuela).

kancheepuram

Yesterday we visited the headquarters of an MFI called Hand in Hand in Kancheepuram. This is a very rural village with the nearest "town" about 5 kilometers away.



They took us to some of the "family based enterprises" that have been started due to loans from Hand in Hand. The following is a picture of an embroidery enterprise. These women are attaching beads to this sari.


This particular business is doing very well. The women said that before they started taking loans 5 years ago they were only able to take commissioned sales where a buyer was able to pay for their purchase in advance. Now they are able to buy supplies and have a small stock of saris for potential buyers. They are able to buy the materials for one sari for about 300 rupees and sell the finished product for about 1000. Not a bad profit margin. Although, they say that they could still use a bigger loan because they would like would like to expand.

I didn't take a good enough picture, but these saris were so beautiful.


Another embroidery enterprise.


The next business we went to was a cycle shop. Hand in Hand worked with some women to train them how to fix bicycles and they have opened a shop right on the main road.


They even made it into the local paper.

This is the owner of the shop.



Hand in Hand prides themselves on a "5-Pillar" approach to development. They focus on child labor, SHGs and microfinance, citizen centers, health and environment. We went to one of their training centers that focused on the environment. They have many initiatives in this village to reduce the amount of plastic that people use. They've also planted many trees and educated people about how to properly dispose of wet and solid waste.


Kalina, you'll like this one - they teach the women how to compost with worms and recycle the products for their gardens and agriculture.


Next we visited a vocational training center where daughters of SHG members or young SHG members were learning how to sew. Each person had their own portfolio of tiny versions of thec clothes they had learned to sew and they were very proud to show us.


At the end of the 2 month course, they are given a certificate which is recognized in commercial garment shops. We asked the girls what they wanted to do when the course was finished and a few said they wanted to go work for a company, a few said they wanted to start their own business out of their homes, and a few together wanted to start their own business in a retail shop.


Lastly we visited a weekly meeting of one of the SHGs in the area. Apparently we were late and so most of the business of the meeting was already finished, but they humored us by pretending to have the meeting anyway. I really didn't like that because one thing I've really internalized is how valuable these womens' time is. Regardless, they stuck around and answered a bunch of our questions and were very gracious.


One thing that we asked each group was what they think has changed in their lives since joining the self help group. They said the main thing is that they are not afraid to talk to men and people in power now. They have so much responsibility and power within their group that the confidence has spilled over. Accompanying us on our visit was a man who had worked in microfinance for many years with a company called NABARD. He asked the group if they had heard of NABARD and they said no. A few seconds later a woman in the back said (and I take this from the translation of course) "If you ask us what is NABARD and then we say no, you should tell us what it is you're talking about." Of course, this is not data or hard significant evidence, but the confidence just exhuded from these women. It was quite remarkable.

Of course, you have to take these interactions with a grain of salt as we were being led by staff from Hand in Hand. We know that they would never take us to a group that was not affected positivly by their loans, just as they would not take us to an enterprise that was failing. It's inspiring to see the stories of the people who are so positively affected by this access to credit, but we can't forget that the experience is not universal. I will write more on this topic later, mainly because there's too much to say, and I've already posted a lot!!