Moving on up!

To those of you who think i'm really roughing it, who worry about what i'm eating and where i'm sleeping... consider this: My new apartment has broadband and cable television, and I just finished a delicious meal of fresh garlic naan, vadas, and raita from the restaurant downstairs. So... welcome to the expat NGO life, such as it is.

I spent the weekend in Mumbai with Neelam; we had a wonderful time exploring the city and going for long walks by the shore. Her apartment is in a more affluent part of South Mumbai, so although there were still cows wandering about, they were immaculately groomed and well mannered (just kidding... but really, it's quite a nice area; much more of a 'hey, i'm in a strange European city' feeling than 'wow i'm in national geographic!'). One of the nights, we went to dinner at her friend's house, a professor who had studied philosophy at Brandeis; we spent the evening discussing Popper, Milton, and epistemology over white wine and baked paneer. You know Thomas Friedman was right when an American-educated Indian can quote German philosophers and has a copy of Pushkin's poetry on his bookshelf...

This morning, I drove down to Palghar with Neelam and Zelma Lazarus, Impact India Foundation's CEO. The state of Maharasthra (the most populated in India) is divided into Districts. Each district is then divided into blocks, and each block contains an average of 100-200 villages. The village, called Palghar, is in Palghar block, within the Thane district (see map below; we're located just two hours north of Mumbai). The NGO has given me a great apartment in their building, just a 10 minute motorbike drive away from the office (that's right... i get a scooter!). Maharasthra, once you get out of Mumbai, is really quite rural; since we're right at the end of the monsoon season, the entire area is green and bursting with leafy plants and lively rivers. I'm lucky that my projects, while allowing me to live in the center of town, will also take me quite frequently to the isolated villages scattered amongst the greenery, as well as to local schools and primary health centers. I'm looking forward to exploring, photographing, and of course, more writing...

Map of Maharasthra state; Thane province is on the west coast, just above the "greater Mumbai" region

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This evening, after settling in, I went shopping at the vegetable market... I bought bananas, pears, green peas, and some strange prickly red fruits that I was convinced would be incredible. I also got fitted for a pale green silvar kamees (a modern Indian dress), which, for about $8, will tailor-made and ready for me tomorrow (we're *really* not in New York any more, Toto!) Tonight at midnight i'm going with one of the girls from the NGO, Priyanka, to see the festivities celebrating the birth of Krishna. Everyone's really excited to show the foreigner around... and i'm certainly not saying no :).

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I have to say, for all of the contradictions of India, the problems, dirt, poverty, bizarre traffic patterns... one thing that I have not experienced is disappointment. The people i'm working with are unbelievably kind and accommodating (at the restaurant, Neelam was very assertive about making sure that there were no peppers in anything!); although they have 'less', the hospitality i've seen here is rarely witnessed in the West. The colors of India, too, are even more evident in the villages; beautiful women in bright colored saris walk along the muddy roads as elegantly as debutantes at a ball; they carry baskets on their heads and backs with pride and grace, making my own careful footsteps for clumsy intrusions. Traveling all over the country, from the steep slopes of the Himalayas to the busy cities, and now, to the most rural of places, I have started to get a feel for India, a taste for the life and the culture. I have much to learn, and there are lessons everywhere; between the cows and street vendors, rickshaws and locomotives, India is lurking... you just have to be patient, wait to be welcomed in. It's midnight soon, and I can already hear the crowds outside my window... I don't need another invitation.