Creating Partnerships

Sometimes you can squeeze a lot in a day! As I get ready to end a productive day, I marvel at the wonderful experience of meeting someone new, finding out how many things we have in common, and both parties getting excited about a now-shared vision. We met many great people today and look forward to discussing our partnerships even more in the future.

Sometimes our meetings took the more social form of sharing a meal (I especially like these type of meetings, don't you?). Here we are sharing a dinner with faculty from the Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai, Gandhigram Rural Institute and Lady Doak College. We even made a new American friend studying in Madurai as an anthropology graduate student!

Throughout the day, we were able to meet with the Director of the Gandhi Museum, Dr. R. Rengasamy, Associate Professor of History, Dr. M. Valliammal and Principal (President), Dr. A. Mercy Pushpalatha (both of Lady Doak College), and Associate Professor of Gandhian Studies and Ramalinga Philosophy, Dr. V. Alagirisamy. I am happy to say that everyone we've met so far is as excited as we are at the possibility of bringing ACC students to Madurai! They are especially excited about getting our students to spend time with their students and learn from each other.

We toured the Gandhi Museum and Library and learned so much concerning the modern history of India. Thank you Dr. A. Ravichandran for giving us the lovely tour!

Library bookstore

Some cool books:

Every library should have a cool staircase like this one!

Madurai

Internet access has been more problematic this trip than in years past - at least public internet access. It seems that more people than ever now have access to the internet and so public (read tourist) internet locations are harder to find. Our first hotel had WiFi but it was very slow. The hotel, Hotel Kanna, was located in a very interesting and bustling part of  Madurai.

Every evening we would be greeted with the call to prayer from the neighborhood mosque. Less than 2 hours later, the streets would get busier (we didn't think it was possible) with Muslim patrons moving about as they broke their daily fast for Ramadan. Friday was even more frenetic and festive as the Muslim population celebrated Eid al-Fitr.

Our second hotel which caters to local travelers rather than international travelers had no internet access at all. We've moved twice in Madurai because of internet problems. In the interim, we've been reduced to finding small, simple "cafes" (no coffee or AC) to work on our blog and research the area.




We've spent too much time finding internet access and then traveling to it, but sometimes the walk in the evening can reveal unexpected treasures.

It hasn't been all bad. Our rooftop restaurant on our first night in the city revealed a beautiful view of Meenakshi Temple's gopurams.

Dr. A. Ravichandran, the Gandhi Museum's head librarian, was kind enough to show us beautiful view of Madurai from the rooftop terrace of the old palace.

If you look closely, you can see the imposing gopurams of the Meenakshi Temple although they are 3 kilometers away.

Relief Projects in India

Yesterday was a powerful day as we traveled the country side with Jesse and Susanna of Relief Projects India. These two volunteers have committed their lives to help the children and communities of rural Madurai. They work with other local groups who have also sacrificed greatly for the women, children and elderly of the area. We toured the S.H.E. construction site and met the children and staff of the Mercy Home (run by a Roman Catholic order). We could not take pictures of the children as this is also an adoption center and pictures are not allowed. But we did meet beautiful babies and toddlers, all abandoned by local families and many with mental or physical challenges. We played with and talked to them and beheld the light in their eyes and the love in their hearts.

Jesse and Susanna were instrumental in helping us understand how non-profits and charities operate in this part of India. There are of course economic, social, cultural, political and psychological challenges, but having spent over eights years in India constantly working on relief projects, they had learned immensely from their successes and failures.  We know it will be a great educational and personal experience to have students discourse with them as we learn how they have approached the social problems of poverty, gender discrimination and rapid economic, social and cultural change.

One of the exciting parts of the S.H.E. is the focus on sustainability for this project. Hyundai has donated solar panels to power the facility. A diverse number of crops are being grown for short- and long-term profit (as well as employing local labor). And finally, sustainable practices in drip irrigation and land resource management are being implemented in order to teach other local farmers about alternatives to growing the ubiquitous (and heavily water dependent) cash crops of rice and sugar cane in this drought stricken region.

It is hoped that these efforts will increase trust and cooperation between local communities and the work of Relief Projects India. It will also help integrate and inform future relief efforts as information and resources are shared among all of the stakeholders.

Below are some pictures of our incredible day.

 Jesse and Susanna giving us a history of the Mercy Home

The inner courtyard of the Mercy Home

 The rural area where the S.H.E. pre-school and community education center will be located.

 The stone (lasts longer!) school/community education center (rear view)

Learning about the construction plans that include full access for the physically challenged (e.g. elevator)

Front view of center

Storage and office building with sustainability farm in the back

A view of different crops being grown

Bovine break

Tandem

Well, Sam has arrived and we're off. He's brought good luck to my journey already! I've tried several times over the years to get a first class sleeper berth on an overnight train from Chennai to Madurai or on the return leg only to find all of the berths booked! I've even had to travel without air conditioning in 2nd class, no AC because of time constraints. It wasn't ideal but manageable.

We booked our tickets at the tourist reservation counter at Chennai Central Rail station. When we arrived on Tuesday night, we found someone in Sam's berth! Admittedly, I was a little stressed out, but I couldn't imagine that a rail system that had been around since 1858 would have made a mistake!

Turns out, our wonderful clerk at the tourist reservation counter upgraded us to first class! 2nd class AC would have been great! 1st class AC was outstanding! 

Thank you railway clerk and thank you Duranto Express!

We're in Madurai and I'm happy to be visiting my good friend Dr. Ravichandran and meeting his two children for the first time!

Madurai Work

Rennison and I are now in Madurai after a great time in Chennai. We are now gearing up for conversations with administration and organizations at various institutions in this area. We are excited to bring our vision of creating a study abroad program at ACC focusing on comparing and contrasting social problems and the work being done to solve them in both the U.S. and South India.

To that end, we are meeting with people (or planning to) with a view toward creating strong, meaningful and lasting partnerships. Some of these include groups focused on social action and volunteerism (Place for Change), organizations focused on study abroad experiences (South India Term Abroad), and local educational and social change institutions (Gandhigram Rural Institute and Madras Institute of Social Sciences).

As you can see, our plate is wonderfully full meeting with dedicated and caring professionals working towards social change and pathways to success here in Madurai and beyond. I know ACC students would find this experience we are working hard to secure a transformative event in their academic, personal, and professional lives!

i am acc!

 Dr.'s Lalgee and Echevarria-Cruz at the Shore Temple of Mahabalipuram

Travel and Arrival

After 40 hours of travel time and four airports, I arrived in Chennai ready to work, explore, experience and imagine what life here is like and what it can teach us sociologically. The sights and sounds (a plethora of both) are truly outstanding to behold as the city life lives and breathes before us. Here are some examples of what I've seen already:

The streets of Chennai

The rickshaw drivers of Chennai

Globalization also has its place here (the inside of a KFC chicken restaurant):

But also does education!

And religion.

And, of course, over all of this is the watchful eye of the father of modern India, Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Beginnings



Gandhi statue "Salt March" at Marina Beach



Well, I lost a day literally and figuratively. I thought it was Thursday when in fact it was Friday! 

I found myself periodically thinking, “I’m in India!” only to then think, “But it seems so normal that I’m here!” I was nonplussed by the two thoughts occupying my mind from time to time. I left my hotel yesterday and started walking. No place in particular in mind. As I walked, I found myself going through an impromptu checklist – “Oh, yeah. There’s a horrible smell. Check. Cow eating from the garbage. Check. 5 million horns honking unnecessarily. Check. 5 people in a parking lot directing a private car to park each with their own specific job. Check. “

At one point, the list stopped and I found myself walking. Just walking.  Marina Beach, a popular place for families and college students,  was up ahead and so I had some place to go. Swimming is actually prohibited at this “beach” as the current is too dangerous. It is a great spot to look out at the ocean, however. Many of the fishermen who live along the beach lost their lives during the tsunami of 2004.

I was really nervous about returning to India after so many years. I hadn’t anticipated that things would normalize with me so quickly upon my return. I couldn’t even pay the 20 rupees (Rs.) extra that the rickshaw driver wanted for a trip to Spencer Plaza. I have traveled that route too many times in the past and argued with drivers over the correct rate. Before hailing the driver, I told myself that I should just pay whatever fare he asked as it was my first day in India and I could certainly afford the fare. However, when the moment arrived, normative structures flexed and directed my culturally appropriate and expected behavior to demand the “ka rect rate.”

Chennai rickshaw drivers are notorious for never using their meters and for demanding of everyone – even locals – higher rates. I used to get really angry as I would feel cheated and singled out as an outsider but I’ve learned not to take it personally (since they did this to everyone!) and to see it as an illustration of market forces in action. I will pay what I can afford and he will accept what he can afford to accept.  Supply and demand.  (I paid Rs. 80 to go to Spencer Plaza and Rs. 150 to go home!) Same distance! Of course, the heat and Kipling's advice ("Now India is a place beyond all others where one must not take things too seriously--the midday sun always excepted,") played a role in my decision to pay a higher fare.

All in all it was a good first day. I woke up at the appropriate time and had a hearty Tamil breakfast. Walked to the beach. Took a rickshaw to the mall to get a SIM/local number for my mobile. Had dinner and went to bed by midnight exhausted and more importantly - healthy!