Have You Ever Seen a Winged Grasshopper?

As I was catching up on one of my most favorite TV shows, Glee, a winged grasshopper flew on my green salwar kameez. No, it wasn't Jiminy Cricket... or maybe it was... I may never know! I've never seen a grasshopper with wings though, just like I've never seen an elephant fly! Let's hope it's a sign of the good things to come in the future with all the good work going on at VSSU...

I went to see the children Monday night for the last time before they left for a month to visit their families during the Durga Puja festival. Even though visiting all of them at once can be a wee bit overwhelming, I love them to the moon and back! Chameli combed my hair and put it in a ponytail while another girl sung Rabindra Sangeet (songs by a famous Bengali poet/songwriter) with me. There was a small boy that sat in the corner during homework time who didn't say much to anyone, so I asked him his name in Bengali and tried to talk to him a bit. Later, the children invited Aurelie and me to eat dinner with them, which was so nice because everyone either helped serve rice, lay the place-mats on the floor, or sweep the ground. The most adorable shy little boy that didn't talk to anyone during homework time sat by me as I finished my rice, daal, and soybeans, to fan me during that hot Bengali night- so sweet! As my family knows, I am always the last one to finish eating, so the children had to tell me several times to hurry up and eat the mound of rice I had been given. It was a nice send-off night with the children that I will always fondly remember.

When I was in the Kulpi Village on our weekly branch visit I realized how I've been living a life of luxury compared to the people here. I have never seen such hard-working people that still live in poverty and all I can wonder is why and how? Now I understand how people can sleep anywhere, anytime. Life can be so exhausting. Being an outsider looking in, I am accustomed to such a high standard of living which stands out in stark contrast to how the people live here in the villages. I have running water, a toilet, sanitation facilities, and reliable electricity in the States; things I have taken for granted. The villagers in Bengal have to carry water from the wells to their homes just to have safe drinking water, and they bath and launder their clothes in the ponds. You don't realize what you have until you have to live without it. The way people live here is another way of life, and I can't say that the way we live in America is better, but I think that basic sanitation facilities and reliable electricity are things that everyone should have access to. Even access to information for these villagers can be hard to come by, making it even more difficult to lift oneself out of poverty. I was reading Creating a World Without Poverty, by Muhammad Yunus (Creator of Grameen Bank) who pointed out an idea that never really occurred to me: poverty is created by the systems our society has made, spiraling those already in poverty deeper into the trap. For example, our banking systems don't even account or offer anything for the poorest of the poor, so how can they even dream of finding a way out? This is how he invented micro-finance, lending to the poorest people so they could find a way to live above the poverty line. Yunus also proposed the idea of social businesses, where companies are run like businesses, but they aren't run for profit, rather they are run for the betterment of society. The profit that is made is reinvested in the community. I love this idea and hope that more businesses like these can be integrated as a normal part of economies all over the world. I truly wish to collaborate with a knowledgeable company and create a local social business in West Bengal; it can happen if I believe it can!

Starting Thursday evening, the Durga Puja festivities began. We traveled to the surrounding villages and the nearest city, Kolkata, to view the pandals, or stands where the Durga idols are housed. The greatest part about these pandals isn't the beauty in the craftsmanship, but the sense of community and togetherness they create. Committees are formed for the building of the pandals, who then collect money from the local community members for the construction of the pandal and the idol, as well as the adorning flowers and musical ambiance. It was evident that the community members took great pride in their local pandals as they invited us to sit and enjoy them for some time. Many of these committees organize community meals at their pandals as well. It's really a beautiful moment when people come together and work for a united purpose. I adore how there is no sense of class division during this time. As Palbabu (another VSSU staff member) said, "There are no rich and no poor. Everyone is the same."

Palbabu is an older man, who kind of reminds me of a thin and jolly Santa Clause with a couple missing teeth. He invited Aurelie, Darpan, and I to his home for lunch since we were already in Kolkata to see the pandals. I don't think I've ever been so full since I've arrived in India. We ate at least five luchi each (like thick crepes) with accompanying broccoli and chickpea curries, followed by three different desserts (Gulab Jamun, Ras Malai, and another one). Palbabu then showed us pictures of his daughter's marriage while his wife brought us more food! This time she brought us a dish called Kitchuri, which is a mixture of rice and daal (lentil curry). Everything was super yummy, in fact the best I've had here so far, but I think I was about to have a food baby, as Leah would say! Later that night, Aurelie and I went to Mr. Mondal's house to have dinner with his son, Darpan, and ate most of the same dishes but not in the great quantity like we did at lunch :) It was most definitely a tasty and filling day!

 

Saturday, I went with Soma and Aurelie to visit another VSSU staff member's home. Her name is Nilangana and she is a tall, beautiful woman who lives two villages away from Ullon. She fed us a tasty lunch, but let me say I am very happy and proud to say I am a vegetarian! Nilangana gave Soma and Aurelie fish and chicken and I almost lost my appetite; she gave them the whole head of the fish, eyes and skulls included. Golly jee, I am so glad I didn't have to eat that, even though they were giving me grief about not taking it. Then, on the return train back to VSSU, a slimy guy thought it would be alright to get closer to me, and then follow me off the train and continue to be a womanizer. I was so pissed! Geez, men can be so irritating at times! Aside from that incident, the whole Durga Puja celebrations went really well. I especially enjoyed when Darpan, Mr. Mondal's twenty-something-year-old son, dressed up like a pregnant woman in a sari for the "Go as you like" contest at the Ullon Pandal Sunday night. Not surprisingly, he won first prize! Well chickadees, I hope you enjoyed this week's bloggie bloggerson's post. Feel free to comment about things you'd like me to write about or suggestions you have :)

The Mosquito Net is My Safe-House

The beginning of this week was filled with many traveling adventures to VSSU's micro finance branches. Monday we went on a visit to the Dhola Branch to see some of the women's self-help groups and the individuals who either take loans or savings with VSSU. We took another motor-bike tour the following day to the Diamond Harbour Branch to visit two women's groups. The leader of the last group we visited used her loan to buy a rickshaw for her husband so he no longer has to pay rental charges to use one everyday. She is so young: only twenty years old, and has an adorable one-year old boy. After completing these visits, I wrote case studies (like the one about this group leader) for VSSU to see how effectual their work is in the community on a smaller, individual scale. On the motorbike ride home, the wind picked up as the dark clouds rolled in the sky. It began raining steadily and we had to pull off to the side of the road and stand under someone's awning for the rain to subside. I was so very glad for the cooler temperatures that the rain brought, but it was ill-timed. We got soaked on the motorbike!

Bless the rain that brought cool temperatures and restful nights, but curse the rain that made me fall ill. As we were strolling the muddy and littered streets of Lakshmikantapur in search of new clothes for the children Thursday night, I began to feel tired and feverish. I thought that maybe I've been on my feet for too long, or maybe I was exhausted dressed in my rain-drenched sari, so I waited to see if those feelings went away, but they only got worse as the night progressed... I danced and sang with the children after we returned to their home, but all I wanted was to be in my bed and have my Mom take care of me. My Mom and I talked that night and she gave me her perceived diagnosis of a small virus and told me to go to the doctor the next day if I felt worse.

Later that night, fever high, body aching and shaky, I attempted to sleep covered up with my hoodie. Soma-di knocked on my door the next morning to teach me how to wear the sari, but I went back to my bed because I felt too ill to have a huge piece of fabric wrapped around me. She told me to take rest and continued to check on me throughout the day. It wasn't only Soma-di, but Mashi, the cleaning lady who barely speaks English, made a gesture through my mosquito net to ask if I needed food, and the three workers that bring us chai brought me a fluffy fleece blanket. It was so sweet; I felt so well cared-for :) After sleeping literally the entire day in my mosquito net safe-house, I still felt pretty bad, so Rotin-da (another worker in my office) and Aurelie took me to the doctor in VSSU's van. Apparently the change from hot humid tropic weather to wet rain gave me a small virus. Luckily, I sweated it out in a day and felt so much better the next morning as I started to get my appetite back.

Mr. Mondal even visited my room the next morning to check on me and ask me to come to VSSU's Annual General Meeting if my health was better. As it so happens that I was feeling peachier than the day before, I showered and came to the office to attend the meeting. Unfortunately, it was all in Bengali so I couldn't understand more than five words! I almost forgot to tell you about the bit of drama that happened before the meeting! Aurelie told me that Mr. Mondal and the villagers had a bit of a brawl that morning while I was asleep. Apparently some of the villagers are jealous that he has property, so they uprooted some of the trees he recently planted in the yard adjacent to VSSU. When he went to check on them that morning, the villagers socked him in the face and some of the VSSU staff pushed the villagers into the pond! A few moments after I arrived in the office, the police came and Soma-di told me to come outside with the other staff and villagers (everyone likes to know everyone's business, especially in such a small village). The officer followed Mr. Mondal inside and took his complaint in his office. Let's hope that is the end of this dramatic tale!

Now that the sun is back out again and the rain clouds have passed, the heat and humidity have returned. I will pray for more rain, but no rainy travels and illness :) Until next time, here's a quote from Nikita Koloff: "Capture your dreams and your life becomes full. You can, because you think you can."