After various failed attempts at loading my blog, I have finally succeeded! I am currently in rural India, where I am writing to you from a village located in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat. I have been in India for almost seven weeks now, and am just about three weeks into my site placement at a grassroots NGO working on Dalit rights issues. Since I’m here as part of a fellowship organized by American Jewish World Service, I’ve been asked to refrain from naming the NGO I’m working with on my blog. I’m volunteering with an organization that deals with politically sensitive issues, so naming names could bring a threat of endangerment to the organization or its workers (at least that’s what I’ve been told, and it’s best to tread lightly when working in a foreign environment). So for the next 8 months, I’ll just have to refer to the place I’m working as “my NGO” or “the NGO I’m volunteering with.” Thanks for bearing with me!

Since I haven’t updated in a while, I’ve got some major backtracking to do. I’ll start with my first month in India, since that’s the easiest place to begin. I arrived to Ahmedabad in October, following a series of long and tiring flights. I’ve made many a journey across the world, but for some reason, my flight to India was particularly tiring. I’ve attributed this to the fact that I was so anxious about what was to come – would I like living in India for the next ten months? Was I going to get harassed by touts when I stepped off the plane? Were the other fellows going to like me? Was anyone going to be at the airport to meet me? Was my NGO placement going to work out? Since I was awarded the AJWS fellowship in April, a million questions had been swirling around in my head as to how this experience was actually going to turn out. Once I arrived and began to come to grips with the reality that India is finally happening, I felt like a huge weight had finally been lifted off of my shoulders.

And yet, after seven weeks in India, I still find myself missing China (and the US!). I try not to compare India and China too often, because I feel like it will only detract from my experience – sometimes, though, I just can’t help it. China and India have been declared the two next “rising giants” on the world stage, so I feel like it’s natural to weigh them against each other. The cultures are so different, though, that comparing the two can make understanding them that much harder. Judging from previous experience, I’m guessing that this comparison thing will pass as time goes by (I tend to attribute it to culture shock), and then things should get really interesting.

For the first month of my stay in India, the other fellows and I were living at Kochrab Ashram, located in Paldi district of Ahmedabad city. Kochrab Ashram is the first ashram that Mahatma Gandhi set up after his return to India from South Africa; it is from Kochrab Ashram that he first began to strategize his vision for the Indian independence movement. He later moved from Kochrab Ashram to a larger location, called Sabarmati Ashram, also in Ahmedabad; now, when tourists come to the city, they usually go to the larger Sabarmati Ashram to check out some of Gandhi’s artifacts (including a letter that Gandhi wrote to Hitler). That means that the Kochrab Ashram, while still lovingly tended, remains the more peaceful of the two – a perfect oasis set back from the bustling city roads. Besides the ashram’s residential monkeys and a local political gathering here or there, the only other occasional sites to be seen are now-elderly Gandhians who trickle in from the streets, dressed in handspun khadi, to study on the ashram grounds.

In true Gandhian style, the ashram is simple but adequate. The food we ate was all pure vegetarian, meaning that it did not include meat or eggs. (Note: in India, pure veg includes dairy; there’s little concept of veganism here). We became accustomed to bucket showers and squat toilets, the latter of which I had previously been regularly exposed to in China. Here are some photos of our accommodations:

Bedrooms, Holding Four to Five People per Room

Kitchen, Where We Held Cooking Lessons

Female Lodging Accommodations

Shower (aka Faucet/Bucket)

Bathroom (For Those Who Haven't Seen a Squat Toilet)

Kochrab Ashram Grounds

The "Gandhi Stage," a Meditation/Exercise Stage Where Our Classes Were Often Held

Luckily for me, the place I’m living now is just as peaceful as the ashram (if not more so). After a month of living a pretty basic lifestyle, I don’t know how easy it would be to adjust to the chaos of an Indian city. Of the fellows, I am the only one living and working in a rural area, which in some regards I think is much easier than living in an urban one. I don’t have to negotiate for rickshaws; my meals, while basic and lacking in variety, are healthy and provided for me; there is no pollution or garbage lining the streets; and I don’t have to worry about stepping in cow dung. Honestly, what else could I ask for?

Stay tuned for more updates from my rural Indian adventure!