finding rickshaw.

Happy New Year. This year, I’ve resolved to stop using the elevator. I live on the seventh floor and figure going up and down the stairs a few times a day will suffice for my annual exercise resolution. I also made a year-in-review picture, which is below. And because I haven’t posted in awhile, I jammed everything from the past few weeks into this entry.

URC

LRC. Launching the Livelihood Resource Center has encountered unanticipated though understandable delays. The computers that we received funding for in December still haven’t arrived. The only people interested in the counselor position are too qualified and are asking for much more salary than we can offer. This plus my not being a formal employee of SAATH and not fluent in Gujarati or Hindi or even NGO speak have slowed down the implementation. However, Monil, the Umeed student that we hired as our first LRC employee, has done an incredible job. In three weeks, he called over 500 former students and has many of them interested in enrolling in the LRC. Today, we finalized the registration website and on Monday, Monil will begin registering participants, collecting fees and surveying Umeed graduates on current occupations and desired advanced training. Slowly, slowly.

Work in general. I’m feeling more and more comfortable at work, especially in the field. I suppose it’s because over the past month I have been taking friends and family to see the slums and meet the community leaders and Umeed students. I get to speak Gujarati and more importantly, have become friends with many of the community residents.

Visitors. I will post soon all my visitors perspectives on what they saw here (Priti: I’m looking at you) in my next blog. Only half of them have read In Spite of The Gods, so maybe they will provide a view different than mine.

NYE

My sister pointed out that this was the first time I had ever been away from my family during Christmas. Thankfully, Mihira was here to celebrate the holidays. We spent Christmas visiting the slums, hanging out with family and EATING. It was comfortable, fun and relaxing. We then went to Aurangdabad to see the Ajanta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajanta_Caves) and Ellora Caves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellora_Caves). Both of them, especially Ajanta, were amazing.

Ajanta.

Accidentally discovered during the British rule, these caves were carved and sculpted between 1,200 and 2,000 years ago. After the caves, we went to Mumbai and spent NYE with our friend Saurin. Out of respect for those lost in the terrorist attacks and due to security, Mumbai, as a city, was toned down. Link to Pictures from Mihira’s Visit.

Shobin.

Before I could get sad about my parents, sister and Mihira leaving India, Shobdogg Millionaire showed up in Ahmedabad. I liked him here. I gave him the Rick “tour” of the slums and we checked out the Stepwells, the Sarkhej Roza Mosque (http://www.sarkhejroza.org/) and Science City (a NASA space came wannabe that doesn’t even compare to Troy Daze). While at the beautiful

Sarkej Roza.

Sarkhej Roza Mosque, we stumbled through a slum during a Muslim holiday It was festive and intense at the same times. Vivid colors and organized drums were mixed with shattered glass and adrenaline-inspired dancing. We also spent 1 day and 13 hours downloading Slumdog Millionaire. I loved the movie. I thought it presented so many delicate and controversial issues (communal violence, organized crime, begging/prostitution, corruption, etc.) in a tactful, sometimes humorous yet powerful manner. Plus, so much of the slum backdrop was similar to the slums here in Ahmedabad. (I know I’m a year late with this song, but Paper Planes by M.I.A is awesome)

Kite strings.

Kite Festival. Everyone in Ahmedabad is gearing up for Uttrayan – the Kite Festival — the kite flying tradition depicted in Kiterunner and that my dad called his favorite holiday as a kid. Unfortunately, I won’t be here for it. Our American India Foundation mid-point conference is this week (I take an 18 hour train ride to Nagpur in rural Maharastra tomorrow). To make up for it, Natassia, Ekta and I are going to take kites to celebrate Uttrand with our fellow fellows.

Pre-India 2008. (Courtesy of Facebook)

~ by findingrickshaw on January 11, 2009.

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