The Diwali Polka

Before I start another one of my weekly news updates, I wanted to inform everyone of my adorable little sister's fashion blog, High Street Holiday. She is very passionate about all things fashion, so her blog is chock full of pictures of high style. And thanks to the help of one of my bestest friends, I've discovered that I was using the old blogger editor so I couldn't add captions to my photos.  I hope you enjoy the newly renovated Zindagi Do Pal Ki, which by the way, means life happens in two seconds, which is very fitting because it never seems like I can crank out these blog posts fast enough.  There is so much to talk about and so little time to write it all down!

As promised from my last post, here is a case study from a women's self-help group from one of my first VSSU branch visits to Diamond Harbour:

The Ausum Women’s Self-Help Group located in the small town of Diamond Harbour on the banks of the Hooghly River, is made up of nine women members who have been taking loans of five to ten thousand rupees from VSSU for the past three years.  Dipti Bhuinyais is a young woman of twenty-two years who has one small daughter, pictured sweetly hiding in her mother’s lap.  She lives with her husband’s parents in this small town and has been leading this group for the past year.  This is her third loan from VSSU of 7,000 rupees that she put towards buying a rickshaw for her husband to grow his business.  Previously her husband had leased a rickshaw, paying daily rental charges, therefore decreasing his earnings.  With the loan, her family has increased their monthly income from 1,000 rupees to 2,000 rupees, allowing them to create better lives for themselves.  She hopes to start her own sari and ready-made business in the future so she can contribute to her family earnings and raise their economic status even more. 

By now, you can probably guess each week's regularly scheduled activities.  Of course, this week's itinerary included puja celebrations for Lakshmi, branch visits, train travels, and shopping adventures.  Have you heard of the Diwali polka?  It happens a week or two before Diwali (November 5th) where all the creepy crawlers come out to play.  You wouldn't believe the amount of crawly things with wings that gather around any light they can find.  Beware when you turn on any fluorescent bulbs, because these insects party it up and can sometimes even discover a path through the tightly-woven mosquito nets to find your bed.  I even saw a gigant-o crab crawl out from underneath the stairs that led up to my room, but I think the grossest moment of all was when I was non-nonchalantly showering and felt a tickling feeling on my leg to discover a behemoth cockroach crawling on it!  The only positive side I could find in that experience was the fact that I didn't have my glasses on so everything was blurry.    

Kali Temple

And so, my magical butterflies, Soma, Aurelie, and I took the rickety train once more to Kolkata on our Sunday holiday.  This is the first time I saw a temple in India; it was splendiforous!  As you can see from the photo, the Kali temple was grand in size and ornamentation.  This picture really doesn't do it justice; there was a huge courtyard in the center, dotted with varying sizes of temples on the outskirts.  Since Kali Puja, or Diwali, is several days away, a great crowd came to make offerings of flowers and prayers.  It was so crowded that we couldn't even get in to see the biggest temple (I think we would have had to be as famous as Aishwarya Rai or Shahrukh Khan to enter with ease).  Instead of spending hours and hours on end waiting to see the adorned Kali Goddess, we decided to see the River Ganga and wash our feet in the cleansing waters.  From here, we took a boat to Belurmath.  The day wouldn't have been complete without an infamous  'Kelsy klutz' moment though (is that why people call me KK?)... as I was rushing onto the boat, my left foot lost its grip and slid under me.  A bit painful, but I got over it soon enough to see the Ramakrishna Temple on the opposing side of the River Ganga.  This time we were able to enter inside to the cathedral-sized temple of mass proportions.  I was a bit of a rebel-rouser that day, taking pictures of the temple when there were clear signs in English stating that absolutely no photography was allowed, and I almost got off scot-free, but one of the Hindu priests spotted me and let me go with a warning.  It was definitely worth the risk though because I got some great photos!  

 

Ramakrishna Temple in Belurmath

We took another short train trip and then a teeny-tiny rickshaw to find Soma's house (as you can see, we really had to squeeze together... Aurelie even had to sit on Soma's lap)!  Aurelie and I wanted to buy some sweets for her family, but Soma being so hospitable, almost didn't let us.  We stealthily bought a couple sweets to bring to her family and took them along with us in the rickshaw.  Her father opened the gate to their flat and then Soma invited us to sit at her dining table, serving us aromatic basmati rice and an Indian omelet along with the sweets we brought.   With very full tummies and happy hearts, we left to go to a market near the Sealdah train  station, but surprisingly I didn't find anything except mango pickles to spice up the daily meals of rice and potatoes served at VSSU.  I met with a happy surprise when we returned from our excursion; a meal other than plain potatoes!  This time dinner was served with paneer, a type of Indian tofu cheese.  So delicious!  I couldn't believe my eyes the next morning when we were served something other than toast and bananas, and to top it all off ,it was my favorite breakfast- lucchi!  I was sitting on top of cloud 9 :)  

We didn't quite fit in the rickshaw...

Microfinance: A Case Study

Somehow, someway, there is always something new to say. Each week there are lots of fun, new stories to tell; there's nearly never a dull moment in Ullon village. This may surprise you simply due to the fact that it is a very rural area, but trust me when I say that these people know how to celebrate, dance, and have fun! Monday night was the final day of Durga Puja celebrations, so guess what?! Everyone went to the pandal structure to dance- to dance like I've never seen before. There was incense burning, throwing of colored powder, and intense sweating going on all around me. My face was covered in red paste that someone smeared on my cheeks and my hair was a bright, neon pink color from the colored powder that people threw in the air. Needless to say, my scalp was still pink several days later and there's still one patch on my left temple that has turned a dull pink color. The boys and girls danced separately, but that doesn't mean we didn't have dancing partners. As soon as I arrived, several teenage girls yanked me into the circle of continuous movement. At one point during the night, I danced with 6 or 7 littler girls. One of them gave the other one a little slap on the arm for taking her place where she was holding my hand. I had no idea I was so popular! It had gotten so hot and I started to get a cramp so I had to get out to get some fresh air, but I didn't want to walk back alone with so many drunk men around. As I was coyly passing through the men's circle, several asked me to dance until I found someone I knew to walk me back to VSSU. I don't think I've ever been so colorful or sweaty in my entire life!

Wednesday and Thursday morning around 7am each day, we made more field visits to VSSU's micro-finance branches. Instead of telling you about them, I will include some of my case studies so that you can tangibly see some of the work I'm doing here. Here are two of them from individual customers in Mathurapur village:

Dipak Halder is a loyal VSSU customer of ten years. He is a hard-working forty-five year-old man, with one son currently attending school in class seven. Ten years ago, Dipak began a bicycle repair shop with an individual loan from VSSU for 25,000 rupees. Now that his business has been established and he has repaid his loan, he makes daily savings deposits of 20 rupees, which adds up to 600 rupees per month. Dipak is able to live comfortably at 4,500 to 5,000 rupees per month after the establishment of his small business, repairing flat tires and broken bicycle frames.

Asit Sakari is an honest man of forty-five years with one son in the Appeline micro-finance business. He has been making daily savings deposits with VSSU for the past twelve years. This year he makes daily deposits of 10 rupees and hopes to increase it to 50 rupees as he is also making daily deposits with his son’s micro-finance business. Asit has been aloyal VSSU customer for such a long time because he is grateful for the ability to save money and earn interest, as well as benefit from loyalty gifts from VSSU such as an emergency torchlight. Since his education level is only to class four, Asit had to endure a life of poverty until he received a loan from the Finance Minister of India in the amount of 2,475 rupees so he could start his restaurant business. Now, he lives comfortably at 10,000 rupees per month and was recently able to purchase a motorbike for easier transportation to his quaint restaurant where items like omelettes, poratas, and chai are served.

Next week, I will include a case study from a women's self-help group so you can see the diverse customers that VSSU serves. I hope it tickles your fancy :) Friday night, there was yet another puja, this time in honor of the goddess Lakshmi. Although this puja was not as grand as the previous week's, there were still small-scale pandals that were festively decorated. This festival is celebrated more so in the home, and not outside in the village. Families enjoy lots of scrumptious food and sweets together, kind of like Thanksgiving dinner in America, but without the turkey and pumpkin pie. In honor of this day, Soma and I visited Mr. Mondal's wife who made us poratas and googney (chickpea and potato curry) as well as food from her prayer offerings, consisting of sweets and fruit. I had to kindly pretend I couldn't eat it all because the fruit was covered in ants, and as you might know, I don't like eating living creatures (even though I did eat that citrus ant in the Tetons, which was only one time before I went veg :P).

Saturday afternoon, Aurelie and I were invited to a football tournament. Apparently, we were honored guests because we were foreigners, so we got to sit up with the other V.I.P.'s. We were given small rose flower bouquets as a group of girls touched our feet as a sign of respect. Then, each of us raised flags to commemorate the opening ceremony for the month-long football tournament located in Lakshmikantapur, a village neighboring Ullon by two kilometers. Since we were honored guests, we were pressured to give a speech. We both looked at each other in horror and embarrassment; this was not in the plans! I went up to the microphone and said, "Namaskar. My name is Kelsy Hoffman and I am from America." I then proceeded to say a little about how I don't know too much about football since I mostly watch American football, but was excited to watch an actual match. All the organizers wanted was for the villagers to hear another language, so both of us obliged to this short speechh. We left shortly after and didn't get to see the actual match because Mr. Mondal needed VSSU's van that we had driven to the tournament. The organizers gave us some really good porata and aloo curry with sweets though, which was a bonus, especially considering the impromptu speech we had to give and the fact that we couldn't actually stay to see the match.

Queen Victoria's Royal Palace

That was no problem though, because it gave us time to plan our trip to Kolkata the next day. Soma, Aurelie, and I saw Queen Victoria's palace, the biggest colossal park I've ever seen, and some local markets (for shopping, of course). It was quite an eventful and tiring day and for the first time, I saw some other foreigners in India at Queen Victoria's palace. We ate lunch at a place called "Fresh & Juicy" (weird name, I know), where we met a lady from Canada who had been touring South Asia for the past two months to learn about yoga, surfing, and the local culture. It was really nice to be able to hold a conversation with a fluent English speaker, and she was really interesting to boot! On the train ride back to our VSSU home, I fell asleep from exhaustion. You know how sometimes you twitch in your sleep and wake yourself up? Well that's what I did as my head was bent forward in a napping position. It was only a little bit embarrassing when everyone looked at me and Soma asked what happened! Thankfully, there weren't any creep-o's on the train this time, but I'll know how to curse them out in Hindi if it I meet anymore. I only wish I had remembered that I know those curses for the last time it happened!

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 :)