Mumbai...in the news!

The biggest piece of India news recently is that they (we?) won the CRICKET WORLD CUP! My love of sports at home (ha) has been transformed by the cricket-loving population of this country. Everyone watches, lives, breathes, dreams cricket... especially when the home team beats archrival australia in a super close match to win the semifinals and go on to the world cup finals versus Pakistan!

The game on monday night was amazing and right down to the wire and I could almost feel the whole city sitting on the edge of their chairs (or bar stools - cricket is best watched in front of a pint in a noisy dodgy bar) until the very last moment! wahoo!

Also recently, in the news TWICE is the fair city in which I am living! One of the articles (first URL) entitled "Visiting in Luxury, with Money Left for Philanthropy" actually mentions the organization that I am working with! The Bombay Leprosy Project splashed across the travel section of the New York Times. Love it. If you're interested/procrastinating... here are the URLs:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/travel/23frugal.html?fta=y

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/travel/tmagazine/10well-mumbai-t.html?pagewanted=4&ref=travel

(Thank you Rachel Van Tosh for sending me the mumbai's moment article, you new yorker)

Enjoy, keep in touch!

Bombay Leprosy Project

My internship, my contact, my job, my reason for being in this foreign land.

I have now been 'working' at the Bombay Leprosy Project(BLP) for 1.5 weeks and already have much to report! I know now that beyond learning about the technical parts of leprosy, being able to know which medicine to hand out, or even becoming more facile with the clinical jargon that a huge part of my learning comes just from opening my mind to the nonwestern way of doing things. It is hard not to judge the medical practice that I see every day based on the values and health codes that we have in the states. None of this would fly over there. That much is for sure!

The clinic itself is located in the back of a building in Sion Chunabhatti, very difficult to find, not really near any main city fun, but practical nonetheless. As you walk around to the back of the building, you enter by going up 4 steps and arriving on a little landing (no handicapped ramp) next to an open door. The door leads to a minute hallway with a bench on the side of it where patients wait. About 10 feet later, you enter the main room. Imagine a large classroom-sized room with 3 desks, a big center table (composed of 4 or 6 desks put together) a bunch of rusty folding chairs and plastic lawn chairs, 2 loud nonstop phones, and more people (patients, doctors, nurses, interns, secretary, computer technicians, driver..) than maximum capacity.

*Side note: this is something that I have discovered about India. It seems that since there are SO many people everywhere, there are usually about 6 more people to do one job than necessary. Passing a construction site? You will be guaranteed to see about 4 times as many yellow hardhats as necessary (who knows? 1/3 of them may be on a chai break at any given time)!*

Anyhow, the main room is packed and noisy and hot but everyone seems to like it that way (even me). Why? Because I suppose looking on the bright side, if you keep all the doctors in the same room, then 6 heads are better than one! If one of them cannot make a diagnosis, then someone must be able to. Another appallingly unamerican quality to the clinic is the lack of privacy. This is clear from the one-big-room setup but its amazing to me every time I see Dr. Pai checking out a patient on the back step of the clinic (outside) and asking the patient to just take his shirt off right there or show us his ulcerous foot while sitting on the steps. Women are given more privacy (I haven't seen any topless women so I guess they are) but all in all, its a fairly public affair.
This photo I took at one of our satellite referral centers. As far as I can tell, the BLP has referral centers in all the major hospitals and some in little slum areas too! In order to push forward with the eradication of leprosy, they have to reach the slums and rural areas. What a job! So this photo is at one of them in Bandra where the dresser comes on mondays and thursdays. That's the opportunity for the patients anywhere nearby to come and get their ulcers redressed. And in the conditions (tiny dirty little office, very few supplies, etc) this man is a champion! We watched as he removed bandaging and dressed 5 patients who got up [mostly foot ulcers] hugged him or praised him, grabbed their multivitamins wrapped in a newspaper pouch and bounced out of the office! He was joking and laughing and teasing (mostly in Marathi) the whole time! What a character.

The main characters who I work with there:
Nanda - one of the secretaries. I have no idea where she came from but she is loud and not very educated and skinny as a rail and generally raises mayhem all the time. she was also assigned to showing me around for my first week which was interesting because we spent a LOT of time together and her english is not very good, and my marathi is worse. We're pals now, she wants me to come to her house (1 train and one bus ride away), she tries to feed me ALL the time, her english is improving and shes determined to try to teach me marathi!
Dr. Pai - my contact at the BLP, the medical director of the joint, a very busy man. He is really sweet and includes me (even when he has to translate) in his patient interactions but is not much of a chitchatter (unlike most everyone else). An incredibly hard worker, very smart man, great english.
Dr. Ravi - today was his last day with the BLP but he is young-ish and really nice and funny. his "office" is one of the desks in the corner of the main room, so hes always talking to everyone. mediocre english but definitely enough to conversate!
Mr. Kamath - el jefe, boss man. I cant tell if he has any medical background (I think he might be a doctor too) but he mostly handles the administrative stuff. He's 76 and loves to crow over Nanda (mostly becuase shes too loud) and demand things from the interns. We get along well and spent today together going to a presentation of grant money from the India Development Foundation. He's very talkative (I think he just doesnt like silence) and his english is quite good.
The interns - medical school grads who are during their internship postings at a number of different places. The ones who are posted here for the month are awesome! The ones only posted for 10 days are quiet and look like they want nothing less than to be there. oh well.

Along with many many other staff members, computer techies, drivers, rural volunteers, etc. (many of whom are rehabilitated leprosy patients themselves)that makes up the peoples. A very interesting family workplace group.

One of the most interesting parts of working with BLP (besides diagnostic and other work at the office) is the outreach work that they do in Dharavi, Asia's biggest slum. Housing more than 1 million, it is truly a city of shanties and people and animals and mud and garbage and more people. Ive never seen anything like this kind of poverty and its really hard to go there where i stand out as a shining white person. People, especially chilluns, come over and stare at me and crowd around. We have been putting up posters there and handing out fliers and that kind of thing to let people know (in Marathi of course) that leprosy has a cure. very simple.

That is the BLP in a very small nutshell and there will be more to come as work gets more involved. For those of you who had your doubts, I am not a leper now nor do I plan on becoming one. I am not working with leprachauns. The end.

Ganpati Bappa... Morya!

This post is entirely dedicated to the amazing festival that is ending today after sweeping through Mumbai for the last 10 days! This festival is the Ganpati festival, celebrating the birthday of the lord Ganesh.

"In Shiv purana it is said that Ganesh was the creation of Goddess Parvati, who breathed life into an image made of clay. She placed the image outside the door while she was bathing and ordered him not to allow anyone to enter. Then her husband Lord Shiva arrived and was refused admission by the doorkeeper. Shiva became furious and severed the head of the idol. Parvathi was very upset over the incident as she considered the idol as her son (manas putra). To make amends Shiva ordered his servant to go and bring the head of the first living being he would meet. The servant saw an elephant, and he at once cut his head and took it to Shiva. Shiva joined the elephant's head to the body of Parvati's son. Thus Ganapathi came in to being."

Thus goes the story behind the idol and the festival is truly crazy in this city (more so than any other in India). It begins on September 15 with the carrying of the idol home. This can mean literally to a private home, to a huge tent built out of wood and tarpaulins, to a temple, etc. This does not simply involve carrying the idol (small ones are made of clay, large are made of plaster of paris) to its home, but requires lots of dancing, singing, drumming, eating of sweets, and general mayhem in the process! Here the idol will sit and be prayed to and celebrated for either 1.5, 3,5,7,or 11 days depending on however long the tradition is for that location (sorry if this is vague, im not completely clear on all the details). On its altar, the idol amasses sweets, money, fruits, incense, and many other offerings during its stay there. It is customary to visit lots of these idols all over the city because each one is unique and elaborate and beautiful! They range in size from tiny palm-sized little elephants to lifesize multiple story-tall gigantic ganeshes!

I spent many hours wandering around seeing Ganpatis over this past week (especially because everyone is eager to show the tourist their special idol) from tiny to the one located at Lalbaugcha Raja which is rumored to be the biggest in Mumbai! In order to visit the temples and get through the cue to see the idol, you either have to be INCREDIBLY patient and devoted (the line was literally 15 hours long!) or you have to know whom to bribe. We went to see the Ganpati at Lalbaug at about 11:30 at night, took cabs becuase of no parking, and managed to sneak in and out taking a total of about 35 minutes!


This second photo is one (not taken by me unfortunately) of the ending of the festival which is just as loud and vibrant as all of the days before combined! For the ending, or the Ganpati Visarjan, the idol is once again removed from its home and carried amongst fanfare and throngs of dancing, singing maniacs to the sea where it is submerged! I do not know how to describe what this is like, but on the visarjan days the traffic is INSANE (imagine trying to drive in New York City while the St. Patricks day parade floats were being transported around the city, ALL over the city...with very few traffic signals) and the beaches are swarmed with people going to immerse their idols. You may wonder, what happens to the idols once they are dumped into the sea? well... the enormous masses of clay and plaster of paris and paint and ornamental jewelry and whatnot remain in the sea until they wash up on the shore and the beach is cleaned up! sorry mother earth.

For the purposes of trying to convey what this festival is like, I realize that I have dulled down the extreme spirituality and devotion to the idol that one sees when visiting them. I am not a very religious person myself, it is difficult to understand the power of idol worship but it is truly amazing to see the devotion that people have to this tradition. One example relates to the visiting of idols as above mentioned, that there were people who waited in line for 15 HOURS to get a 15 second glimpse of the ganpati at Lalbaugcha Raja. Perhaps i am just an impatient American but that shows some kind of devotion to me!

The more profound example of this was on one of my outing with the Bombay Leprosy Project. We were working in Dharavi, Asia's biggest slum, handing out pamphlets about leprosy, putting up posters, and generally trying to get the message out that there is a cure. This area houses more than 1 million people in structures made up of a combination of tarpaulins, scrap wood, corrugated tin where available, rope, and little else. Everywhere you look, you see people, garbage, animals, children taking a shit on the road, flies, cows, mud... and smiles. [I will write more on Dharavi later] It was unbelievable to me that there are people here who have nothing and yet in the midst of this madness you can find some of the most elaborate and enormous Ganpatis of them all! Who crafts them? Where does the money come from? How do they get a truck down the alley to move it in and then out again? I have answers to none of these questions but what I do know, which was clear from seeing them, is that these idols are a source of hope and joy and creative outlet and prayer for so many people (from bollywood babes to Dharavi dwellers). If not the spritual essence of the idol, it was the vibe that I got from the people who love them that sticks with me!

"Ganpati bappa Morya, Agle baras to jaldi aa"
[Father Ganpati, Come again soon next year]

Summary of Events

First things first. I now have a way to post photos and it on the Picasa photo site. The weblink to my photo albums is

http://picasaweb.google.com/erbergman/39149

Please check that out and I will try to keep it up to date with the postings that I put up on the blog!

I have not written in a while and so much has happened since my last post that I hardly know where to begin! Here is a brief overview of some of the most exciting events since last post –

1.Pooja’s dance show – One of the girls I have become friends with does traditional Indian dance. She is an actress and has just begun filming for her first big movie ever! So on Sunday morning, Rhea picked me up and we drove to Juhu to the HUGE Iskon temple there. We found our seats, froze in the over airconditioned auditorium, and watched an amazing dance show! From tiny tots in adorable costumes spinning like dervishes to the dramatic and spectacular solo pieces, the whole performance was awesome! Some of the numbers were accompanied by live music (like the River Yamuna album of Karakkol and Katak music) and some were danced to a recording. Each group danced one song with passion and flair but Pooja was truly gorgeous! What a performance (and new experience for me). The show itself reminded me of the spring New Haven Ballet expositions… but a bit different in style.

2.Touring around South Mumbai – Monday and Tuesday of last week were marathon days of touring and sightseeing with the best tour guide ever, Harsh Mehta. A Mumbai resident and fellow Haverfordian, he has been amazing in showing me all of the sights, introducing me to his lovely family, and generally being a fun friend! I took the bus (more on that later) into town on Monday afternoon, met up with Harsh and went to see the Gateway of India, Taj Hotel(s), Hanging Gardens park, and much more! On Tuesday, I went back into town to meet up with him and we went to get my cell phone fixed, buy REALLY cheap pirated DVD’s in the sketchiest place ever, met up with Karan (another Mumbai resident and Haverford student) and went out for a delicious Indian dinner on a rooftop overlooking the beautiful nighttime Mumbai lights! On Thursday night, I once again met up with Harsh and yet another Haverfordian who came flying in from her study abroad program in Hyderabad. Karen Terry, Harsh and myself went out to eat and then met up with one of Harsh’s home friends from high school and went out! It was really nice to see Karen and be able to talk to her about India especially because we were coming from a similar background. Both white female Haverford students in India for an extended period of time studying, there was a lot to talk about and learn from her!

3.My first meeting with Dr. Pai of the Bombay Leprosy Project - Finally after about 1.5 weeks I met with my contact from the BLP! We had been in touch for about 9 months and I was anxious to go to the office, meet the staff, figure out where I would be living and working for the next 2 months! As it turned out, there was someone occupying the flat that I would be moving into so I didn’t get to see it, but I did get to see the office of the BLP. Description of work and BLP activities will occupy a separate blog post… too much to say!

This is a very simple overview of a couple of the events since last post. Please look at the pictures to get a better sense of some of these activities! Cheers.

whirlwind... and monsoon

**************WARNING! LONG POST AHEAD!*************

I am trying to figure out how best to post some photos and everything that i try is taking eons. There are a few on a photobucket account under indiamazing, but even that takes forever. More info on the photos later...

Now i have been here for a few days and i am just beginning to get a sense of the crazy place that I am living. I continue to stay with the Deshmukh family and they continue to be incredibly generous with their time, home, affection, delicious food and much more! I am getting internet here at their home, but the connection is on and off so I find myself trying to post a blog entry and then ending up saving a draft because the internet dies! Oh well...

For a quick recap of the past few days that I have not posted any updates:
-Lord krishna's birthday was an impressive festival and quite a sight to be seen! I tried to describe the human pyramids and whatnot before I had seen them but I since a picture is worth a thousand words, i took lots of pictures! That was my first day here and in the afternoon, I went (by car) around the northern mumbai area (Bandra, where they live) with Prajakti (home mother) and Rhea (Prajakti's daughter's best friend - her daughter is studying at Emerson currently) and Pooja, another close friend of Prajakti's daughter). It was a blast! We went driving around so that I could get a sense of the area, found people in the street breaking open a vessel, stopped in the middle of the road, watched, and then continued on our way.

-After the drive, we parked and went to have a coffee at a fun little place called "just around the corner." Coffee and tea is everywhere here and, even more than at home, the coffee shops are where all of the youth go to just hang out! (welcome to my life, at home and now here...)

-other interesting event include the sat sungh that I attended that evening (i have no idea how to actually spell this, but it means sitting in the presence of truth). Prajakti is quite religious and is a teacher of the "Art of Living" courses that were started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (dad, not the musician). There are photos of her master all over the house and she strings new and vibrant marigold chains over them daily. This practice has a lot to do with meditation and breathing and inner peace, so the service that I went to was basically an entire room full of people sitting on the floor in front of an enormous shrine, singing, chanting, drumming, and praying for about 2 hours. wow. As a mainly unpracticing Jew, it was a big dose of religion for my first day in India but it was an eye-opening experience for sure. It was also quite perfectly timed (although i was exhausted... 9.5 hour time difference)because the meditation and silence gave me some time to think about where I am, what religion means to me, what I want to learn from this trip, and to reflect on how I came to be here... in India. Enough philosophizing. At any rate, that was beautiful and I have pictures of that as well! That concludes my first real day in India which was clearly rich and full and exhausting.

Wednesday------------------------------------------------------

-Fish Market!!!!!! When I awoke in the morning, after breakfast, I was told to dress quickly, not have a bath (shower), and we were going to the matchi market! I had been warned by anyone who heard of my plan to accompany Prajakti to the fish market that it was dizgusting and smelly and I should not go. But I was determined (all for you, dad). So i hopped into an autorickshaw with Prajakti and down to the market we went! Again, wow. It was like a low-cieling warehouse full of all women crouched on little crates in front of plywood tables of all different kinds of seafood. I have pictures, but imagine little Indian women in colorful saris crouched in front of piles and piles of fish, prawns, crabs, more fish, squid, clams, everything! Then, when you went over to them they would scream out (hey lady! buy this! very fresh!) in Hindi. When you wanted to buy fish, you told them how much money of whatever kind you wanted and they would skillfully clean it right there on the spot for you in about 1 minute flat with their curved knife. Even my father, fish master, could take a lesson from these women! *again pictures* We were there for a while collecting all kinds of seafood. From there we rushed home and had to immediately have a shower and send our clothes to laundry because everything (i mean everything... hair, clothes, etc.) smelled like fish!

I had a lazy afternoon after a delicious lunch at Basilico restaurant with Prajakti and some of her friends.

Thursday-----------------------------------------------------

-went to the cinema to see Ratatouille - the cutest little pixar film about a rat who becomes a chef. Side Note: film is life here! In Mumbai, the home of bollywood, it seems that everyone follows every detail of the film star's lives, their new movies and music videos, where they live, who they are seen with, what clubs they attend... everything! So the movie theatre was quite different than at home. Some main differences:
-reserved seating - an usher takes you to them
-an intermission - halfway through the film the screen goes to an intermission screen and everyone runs out to get snacks
-the popcorn is cheap (<$1) and amazing! you can get cheese, salted, or caramel (or a combo of any of them... delish!)

the movie was adorable and i will definitely go back to see many american and probably some hindi films!

When we got home, we had a quick lunch and then drove all the way into town (really its into the city... south mumbai is the main city area and where we live is the suburbs, but its definitely city enough!) to try to buy a sari for Prajakti. The drive takes forever because of insane traffic, insane drivers, and sooooooooo many people everywhere! I don't know how to describe the downtown city area except to say that you can imagine the most busy intersection of NYC, multiply the people by about 15 times, give it about 20 years of deterioration, each shop a quarter of the size, and this goes on forever! (Consequently, I am incredibly blessed to be living up north in the suburbs... and dont think that this means picket fences and green lawns - its closer to regular NYC up here!)Town was exhausting, so we got home and passed out early.

Friday------------------------------------------

Another incredibly full day and Prajakti's birthday!!! Friday (yesterday) included many firsts for me. I will start with my first adventure outside the house alone (I know it sounds like I have been here a while, seen a lot, and this should not be a big deal... but it is!) - I needed passport sized photographs in order to get a cell phone, so I decided to brave the weather and try to find the film studio so that I could get them done. Uncle drew me a great map and off I went, umbrella in hand to try to get photos. I swear as soon as i stepped out the door, down came the monsoon (think sheets of rain)! After a 15 minute walk through puddles, almost getting hit by a million cars and rickshaws, I made it to Mohans photo studio dripping wet. I got some horrible passport sized photos taken and was told to return in an hour... there was no way that I was going to leave and come back, so I went next door to a lovely book shop, immediately found Jane Austen's "Emma" which I had been craving, went upstairs to the cafe to get espresso (which I had also been craving surprisingly) and sat for a while until I could go back and get the photos. From there, I made my wet way back to the house where i arrived soaked and triumphant after my first solo outing!

Another exciting event was my acquisition of a cell phone! After successfully getting my passport sized photos, uncle was able to get a cell phone man to come to the house to 'cell' me a SIM card. My cell phone from the states still doesnt work, but they happened to have an extra one which they have lent to me. Incoming calls are free for me and can be very cheap for you over skype (check it out at www.skype.com) and I would love to hear all of your voices ringing through! (please remember that I am 9.5 hours ahead of EST)

my number is:
country code = 91
Mumbai code = 022
my cell = 9930076506

try any combo to get me... i dont know what you need to do!

-then, last night after a delightful birthday dinner for prajakti, Rhea and Ritika (sp?) took me out on the town! We ended up going to Hard Rock Cafe (a far cry from an indian club) and having a blast! It was mellow and crowded and great music that reminded me of home (and kevin coughlin) and I immediately found a Canadian (blond hair = dead giveaway) for a little bit of foreigner conversation. I am not here to find all of the white faces and isolate myself from Indian culture, but this was the first foreigner that I have talked to (and honestly, one of probably three that i have seen thus far) and it was really refreshing!

Saturday-----------------------------------

Now here I am, finally updating all of the events of the last few days (sorry for the obnoxiously long entry). Tonight is a big feast because Prajakti's nephew will be married in a few months, so this is like a wedding shower type dinner. When she gets home, she has said that I can help her cook (so that I can learn) and then about 25 relatives will come for dinner! family overload!

I hope that some of this has been interesting and I would love to hear from you via email. I am checking daily and try to write back almost as soon as I get an email... so please let me know any news from home/school, or wherever you may be (aviva, rach, jeski, jules, etc.) and love to all!

Arrival!

After hours and hours of flying, a stopover in Brussels airport, and many delicious vegetarian meals of indian plane food... I have arrived in Mumbai safe and sound! Upon arrival in the Mumbai International Airport, I picked up my bag with no trouble and proceeded to get in line for customs where a man in uniform came over to me (just me, everyone else was waiting in line) and said "is this your only bag?" to which I answered "yes, sir" and he said "what is in it?" without thinking, I said "clothing" and he smiled and waved me through customs just like that. welcome to India!

I changed a bit of money to rupees and then walked out through the doors to find what must have been hundreds of people squished up against the barrier with signs of names on them. I was walking next to an Italian man who had almost just lost his passport at the currency exchange counter and we both tried for a few minutes to pick out our names from the waving pieces of paper. (This was all made more difficult because as soon as I left the airconditioned airport terminal, i stepped into air that you could move with your hand it was so wet! my glasses immediately fogged up!) I located my name on one of the many signs and pushed my way through the throng of people with my pack, my bag, and this man whom I was hoping against hope was the driver sent to fetch me. When we walked for a bit, I realized we were joined by a woman who was introduced to me as the drivers wife. (I later learned that his wife was with us to provide me with "physical comfort")

A 20 minute car ride through Mumbai (where they drive on the "wrong" side of the road) took us to the flat belonging to Prajakti (An aunt of Arjun Tasker, who just graduated this past year from Haverford and put me in contact with his family). I hardly know how to describe the generosity and welcome that I have stepped into here! (Arjun if you are reading this, a million thanks!)

I do not know what my plan is now because I had thought I would go to Goa (beach, chill, paradise) but since it is still the end of the monsoon season, im not sure that would be best idea... I have beed advised to go to Goa in the beginning of october instead when there will be more people there and the weather will be better. This entry is already too long, but as an example of the lifestyle here (holiday everyday!) today is lord krishna's birthday... and over breakfast this morning I was given a brief tutorial on the story of lord krishna. As a boy, he liked to steal curd, so now on his birthday people have strung pots of curd and water and money all over the city high above the streets! Today, everyone goes out into the street in huge masses and they form enormous human pyramids (maybe 30 people in one) with a child at the top who smashes the pot to release the money and curd onto the crowd!

Through my bedroom window, I see an amazing (and huge) city and the ocean. There is lots of exploring to be done, human pyramids to see, places to go and a pigeon just flew in the window. I will write more later and please keep in touch! love to all.