Life in Ogna

Here are my field notes again but I have expanded them and added some pictures for my blog.

12/11/10
•    Sam and I visited village famers where GMKS has done work and interviewed them. We Saw wells and dams constructed by GMKS to help local farmers. The biggest problem in the area is still irrigation and water management. Most of the farmers are subsistence farmers only farming for their family. Some will sell in the market only when they have good surplus. A couple families we also met migrate every couple of years.

13/11/10
•    We visited more village famers to interview. GMKS installed a plaque at one of the newer well sites. We also ate a lot of custard apples.

14/11/10
•    This week is Childrens week and the organization I am working with, GMKS, is celebrating it in  a number of ways. Today we visited a government school with GMKS, played games with the children, watched a traditional dance, and people from my NGO gave a speech about children and their rights.

 15/11/10
•    Visitors from UK from a donating organization came to GMKS to see the kind of work they have been doing.

16/11/10
•    I visited another school where GMKS was hosting another event celebrating child’s week. The primary school had a parade where the children sang chants about their right and girls’ right to education. There were also games and a speech.

17/11/10
•    We went to the Dharamitra for a short while and husked some very poor looking corn. We were planning on spending more time there today but there was a huge rain storm that cut our day short. but the weather did remind me of Minnesota, with the rain wind thunder and lightning, so I really enjoyed it. 

18/11/10
•    Today Sam and I went on another field visit to some water harvesting structures and a commune that GMKS and the Indian government have made. It was mainly more check dams and family houses. I really enjoyed the motor bike ride there too, it was calming and the weather was good.


That is just a day to day overview of what I have been up too. It’s been going pretty good. However I don’t actually have a set project that I’m working on. I am hoping that I will be able to visit more local farmers and talk to them and get a small glimpse of their lifestyle. That has been the most interesting thing so far. One farmer we met had a small house that 15 members of his family lived in. They are subsistence farmers so they only grow food to eat themselves, not to sell in the marking for a profit. But the problem is that this family isn’t able to irrigate their land and can only grow one crop during the year during the monsoon season. The food they grow during this time has to last them 8 months out of the year. I’m sorry to say but from the food stores that they had it was not going to last the 15 of them 8 months. The famer said his family often goes hungry because they do not have enough food. What GMKS has done to help this family has been to install a water harvesting structure, tank and hand pump, so that the rooftop runoff from their house goes into an underground tank that can then be used by the family as drinking water. GMKS has also provided this farmer with some lentil seeds that he will be able to plant next season. This is just one example of the rural village farming families that we have seen. Hopefully I will be able to visit more villages in this area that GMKS has worked with.

Field Notes

I though you all may be intrested in what I have been doing so far working with the Gandhi Manav Kalyan Society in Ogna village. These are some rough feild notes that I wrote up for class and to share with you.

Gandhi Manav Kalyan Society

21/10/10

• At headquarters in Udipur we read about different aspects of GMKS in last year’s annual report and watched several short films GMKS has put out.
o GMKS’s annual report was very insightful to all the things they are doing. However there are many grammatical mistakes. I would like to be able to review this year’s annual report but that is not possible because has already gone for printing.

• In the evening we arrived in Ogna and settled into our accommodations

22/10/10

• Visited our working site, the Dharamitra. Dharamitra means ‘friends of the soil’. It is an organic farm and training center about 2 K from where we are living at the GMKS

• There are 4 girls from the ITS program in Jaipur visiting GMKS for a few days. We joined them in their activities
o It was very nice entering our internship with a little others around. It also provided us with an opportunity to travel and visit the different aspects of the organization as well as rep the benefit of having someone to translate conversations and information.

• We drove around Ogna and neighboring villages viewing different water conservation techniques including check damns, wells, irrigation cannels, and the large government damn. Some had been established by GMKS and other by the government.
o The manual cattle draw well used for irrigation really impressed me. It seems like a very good and sustainable method for drawing water. Other pumps in the area are motorized, including ones at the Dharamitra.
o I have concerns and unanswered questions about the large government damn in the area. How many people where displaced with the low lying lands flooding and what was their compensation?

23/10/10

• First day of work at the Dharamitra. Cleaned the cow barn and delivered waste to vermi-compost bins. We also cleaned a field of left over brush after all the turmeric was harvested.
o We are learning methods of organic agriculture through hands on experiences. Recycling cow waste into compost puts heath into the soil.

• That afternoon we sat in on a workshop with village farmers.
o The workshop was entirely in Hindi and Mawari but it was still a good experience watching this group of farmers interact with each other. Many of them where very shy at first and even had trouble introducing themselves. Later on most seemed open.

24/10/10

• Workshop demo with farmers at the Dharamitra. Practical session.
o Short and to the point. Again presented in Hindi. We saw organic practices done at the Dharamitra: fertilizer bins that drain into the field, the fertilizer is made from cow urine and tree leaves, but can only be used on certain crops, vermin-compost bins to create healthy soil, intercropping techniques, natural pesticides and an array of organic seeds.

25/10/10

• Visited Kathodi rehabilitation center for tribals, sponsored by GMKS. GMKS built the houses and acquired land in the area for the people to farm and make a living from.
o I read about this center in GMKS’s annual report.

26/10/10

• Dharamitra field work. 7am. cleared a field of cut sufed muesli waste and fed it to the cows.
o This is one sustainable method used at the Dharamitra: using the waste of a harvest to feed the cows is a good. This is a good use of resources.

• After breakfast helped set up irrigation pipes for a field of ginger, away from dharamitra but still owned by GMKS
o It is interesting that farm fields here are very small neighboring ones are often owned by different people.

27/10/10

• Morning: continued the same irrigation pipes as yesterday.

28/10/10

• Dharamitra: hulled dried lentil brush out of field and piled to be processed later. We helped harvest sufed (white) musli from the ground with other laborers.
o It is hard to ask questions and get answers because of the language barrier. The few people that speak a little English are not with us on a daily basis. I am curious about where the laborers come from and how much they get paid. Also if this is their main source of income or just a seasonal job. I also would like to know where the harvest crops are sold and for how much. They must be different from other crops because they are being sold under the organic label.

29-31/10/10

• Weekend off. Traveled to Udipur.

1/11/10

• Dharamitra: set up irrigation pipes on a newly planted wheat field
o It is interesting the choices of crops grown in the area. Most famers do not seem to be subsistence farmers and are growing cash crops. In some well irrigated areas there are even fields of sugar cane. This is surprising because water is a very sought after resources here and sugar cane takes a lot of water to grow. On the other hand the monsoon this season has been very good so they may have the surplus of water to grow such cash crops.

• Helped harvest ginger with many of the same laborers as before.
o I much prefer the ginger to the muesli simply because it is easier to harvest and has a pleasant smell.

2/11/10

• Continued ginger harvesting.

• Course work.

3-4/11/10

• Course work.

5-7/11/10

• Holiday off. Traveled to Udipur for Diwali

8-11/11/10

• Traveling to Jaipur for our mid-intership seminar. I should be back in Ogna on the night of the 11th.

Post 6

I am very sorry it has been so long sense I have blogged. I was caught up in school work when our courses were wrapping up in Jaipur and once I reached my internship I have had no Internet or cell phone services. So I hope this will make up for some lost time.

Sept. 28-30
We had a overnight weekend fieldtrip to the region of Shekhawati in northern Rajasthan. The hotel we stayed at was really nice and even had a pool. It was nice to be able to take a swim. We visited an organic farm training center run by the Morarka Foundation as well as visited a large family farm connected with the foundation. It was really interesting to learn about some of the organic farming techniques. The foundation was actually pretty large scale and sold most of its production to overseas markets where organic foods make better profits.

During our trip we also visited an old haveli which we got to explore, the architecture and paintings where really neat. I wish my whole family could move into one, cousins and all.

Oct. 2nd-3rd

Yes that is the real Taj Mahal. It almost didn’t even look real when we were standing right in front of it. I can really see why it is such a big attraction of India. I have a lot more pictures that I can show all of you when I get home. In Agra we also visited Agra fort which had a really cool view of the Taj next to the river. After our day trip to Agra we spent the night at a hostel in Bharatpur. There we visited a bird sanctuary. It was like a large state park. We wanted to rent bikes so we could bike around and see more of the park but they were already all sold out for the day. but just walking around, it was really nice to see some Indian wildlife.

On the 9th of October a group of us went to Chokhi Dhani in the evening. It is on the outskirts of Jaipur and is kind of like a theme park except it embraces Rajasthan culture. We ate really good traditional food and went on a manual fairs-wheel ride which was run by a man climbing in-between the spokes of the fairs-wheel. we also watched dances, a magic show and went on a elephant ride. This actually made me quiet sad because the elephant looked very unhappy.

The Next day we went to a Dandhiya festival in Jaipur. It is a traditional dance of Gujarat, the state just south of us. We watched the experienced dancers in their elaborate consumes and even got to try it out for ourselves in the beginners circle. It was a local festival so we were the only foreigners there. Which happens a lot, so natural we attracted a lot of attention and even got an interview with the media, however I don’t think we actually made the news.

October 14-17 was our long weekend off of class so a group of 10 of us headed to Jaisalmer. We took an overnight sleeper bus to Jaisalmer and then had to take a local bus to a village outside the city called Khuri where we were going on an overnight camel safari. The bus we took was actually extremely over packed with people so some of us ended up riding up on the roof of the bus. We were traveling like Indians. Plus there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t stuffy like the inside, although it was just as crowded. Don’t worry there was a small sort of guard rail to hang on to for life.

We took off from for our safari in the afternoon. Camels are big and very bouncy, especially when they run. We stopped at a well to fill up with water then headed out into the dunes. The dunes weren’t like that of what you would think would be in a desert. They were sparsely scattered between grasses and small brush. We stopped in a small village of about 300 people all living in small mud-dung plaster huts that are a common site around the state. Then we raced the sunset and settled on some dunes for the night. We ate dinner and then played games in the dunes with our guides like tag and sardines. It was a lot of fun. We slept on blankets on the dunes. At night it got really cold and after the moon set the sky lit up with stairs scattered across the Milkyway. The next day we packed up and ended our safari but the adventure. We bus backed to Jaisalmer and spent the night.

Before our bus left for Jaipur six of us rented scooters for a few hours. We had a little bit of a rough start getting use to driving them but then we took off. We drove down to the lake in Jaisalmer which was very pretty and then set out to find a temple on the outskirts of the city. We found the temple where the temple was but didn’t actually make it there because we found a secret garden in a village that a man let us into there was a hidden pool with a bunch of young local kids swimming. I wish we would have brought our swimming suits.

The 19th was our last day of class before we all headed off for our independent internships around the state. I know I left a lot of information out about what has been going on in the class room in my blog. It’s not really the exciting part about being in India and there are not many stories to tell without making things too boring for a blog post. I have learned a lot about development in India and around the globe. I have also come to understand a little bit more about Indian history and culture. I know a lot more Hindi now then I knew when I arrived but I still don’t feel like it’s enough to socialize with. It was a short amount of time but a lot of information has been stuffed into my brain.

The Internship Phase

On the 20th I took a car to Udaipur with a few other students who are interning in the area. By the evening of the 21st I was in Ogna Village. I am working for an NGO called the Gandhi Manav Kalyan Society (GMKS) in the field of organic agriculture. I am here with one other intern, Sam, from my program. For the time being we are working at the Dharamitra which is an organic agricultural farm and training center. Dharamitra means ‘friend of soil’. GMKS also does other work with village and tribes people including water and natural resource management, and human resource, tribal, child, women and community development. I will be working here until December 3rd. It is a short amount of time for an internship but I think I will be able to accomplish and learn a lot.

Galtaji

  Saturday the 25th a group of us went to see Galta ji on the edge of Jaipur, also known as the monkey temple. On the way we also passed the Suyra Mandir and a number of other temples on the hill. Dede and I also saw the Ambagarh Fort. It was a fun hike up the hill and back down the other side to get to Galtaji. The temple looked small from the top of the hill but when you got towards the bottom and went around the corner it opened up to some beautiful architecture. Like its name suggests there were a lot of monkeys, I even bought some peanuts to feed them. It was also nice to be a way from the crowds of the city and see some large areas of greenery. The view of Jaipur from the top of the hill was also amazing.

Adventuring in India

Ok where to start. I’ve done a lot of stuff in the past week. Here are a few pictures to illustrate

 

 On Tuesday the 14h there was heavy rain and the streets flooded, a lot!. this is a picture from the corner of my street. a few cars dared to drive through and kids came out to swim. I also went on the roof of my house to take a few pictures of the street when I turned around to find myself surrounded by monkeys. the didn’t seem interested in me so I made a quick dash for the stairs to escape

  The next morning, Wednesday the 15th, Jocelyn and I went to the deaf school before class. One of the teachers showed us around. The school teaches ISL or Indian Sign Language so my ASL skills did not work out the best, but many students where familiar with ASL. We weren’t able to stay long because we had to get to class but we are planning on visiting again.

  Friday we took a field trip to Jaipur Foot where they make and fit people with prosthetics. The organization treats all their patients for free and astonishingly it only costs the NGO around 45 dollars to supply a patient with an prosthetic leg. This is strikingly different compared to the U.S. where artificial limbs cost thousands of dollars. One of the reasons they are able to do this is because of new technological inventions that have made this sort of thing cheaper and easily produced.

  Friday Night we left on a train for Bikiner for the weekend. We slept on the train ride and arrived early Saturday morning. We took a Riksaw to our hotel at around 4:30 in the morning and slept some more before we started our day’s adventure.

  In Bikiner we got a guided tour of the Junagarh Fort. The fort was constructed between 1588 and 1593 by Raja Rai Singh who was an army general for the Mughal emperor Akbar. The Fort also had a museum in it to share some of its history.

  After the Junagarh Fort on Saturday we took a city bus to a nearby town, Deshnok, to visit the Karni Mata Temple, also known as the Rat Temple. According to legend, Karni mata, a 14th- century incarnation of darga, asked the god of death, Yama, to restore to life the son of a grieving storyteller. When Yama refused, Karni Mata reincarnated all dead storytellers as rats, depriving Yama of human souls. (lonely Planet, 253). I also heard another story about this temple. That is that during the black plague all who worshiped here did not get sick. It is also considered to be very lucky to see a white rat. Sadly we did not see one while we were there.

  This is the gate to the old city in Bikiner. We walked through the narrow streets of the bazaars and saw old havelis, homes of the upper class.

  On Sunday the 19th we visited two Jain temples in the old city.

  The Sandeshwar Temple was small but had very beautiful detailed paintings on the inside

  The Bhandasar Temple was larger but equally as beautiful with its paintings and carvings. We were told that the foundation of this temple was built on 40,000kg of ghee. The temple was not busy so we were able to sit and talk with one of the religions leaders of the temple for a while. I was able to blow the temple’s conch shell which was very exciting and made my trip. 

  That night we took the night train back to Jaipur and made it home in time for Monday’s class.

  On Friday the 24th we took a field trip to see some traditional dancing and crafts and even got to partake in them. The locals were previously a nomadic group that traveled from city to city but recently settled in Jaipur in an attempt to make a better living off of tourism. The trip was very fun and eye opening.

More To Come!

Holiday Weekend

  Friday the 10th after our Hindi class we took a field trip to visit a paper making factory and family run block printing and blue pottery factory. The paper factory made had made recycled paper from old clothes and other cotton fabrics. Learning about the processes was very interesting. The wages that the workers make seem small but are considered to be a livable amount to support one’s self.  Most of the paper is surprisingly made for cooperation’s like Hallmark, Walmart and others.

  At the block printing and blue pottery shop we saw traditional Rajasthan block printing and blue pottery native to Iran, famous for its light blue color. Hand block printed fabric is being replaced today by screen printing that mimic the block printing design. This is one of the few shops in Rajasthan that still use much of the traditional method

The dyes used in this type of block printing are made of minerals and horse shoes instead of some of the other organic vegetable dyes they use. They are traditionally darker colors like black and red because of this.

Saturday the 11th Jocelyn, Josh and I went to the Museum of Indology not far from the MSID office. The museum seemed to be set up in a house but it had many interesting things, many of which were unlabeled and cluttered. The met the Museum owner, Sharad Sharma, who told us a little more about the museum his father started and his families places for constructing a new Museum to house the collection.

Saturday was also the Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid-ul-fitr (the end of Ramadan). The streets were blocked off to cars and full of people. It reminded me a lot of being at the Minnesota State Fair. To escape the crowed that over powered our streets my host family, Josh and I went to the other side of Jaipur to Mama ji’s brothers house. We went to a nearby temple for a large family get together where we ate dinner and felt extremely out of place, even though seemed just like any other family reunion that I have gone to with my family.


Sunday the 12th a group of us went to the Albert Hall/Central Museum. The Museum was quite large compared to the Indology museum. It was also very crowded. Not surprisingly, like whenever we are out in public, we attracted a lot of attention. A group of youngsters followed us around and tried to talk to us and get in our pictures whenever they could. After the Museum we went back home to watch the Parade, as an extension of last night’s holiday.

The Parade lasted hours. We were able to watch it from the apartment where six students host families live. From the balcony and roof top we had a great view. The scene was very colorful and crowded. There were many floats depicting godly and historical events, performers and bands. After the parade many students went to the fair to ride the ferrous wheel which spun abnormally fast and looked like it could use a little more maintenance.

Here is a picture of my host family.

From left to right, Josh, Udit, Mama ji, Papa ji, and Dadi ji.










Feel free to message me or e-mail me with any questions or comments you guys have.

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Thursday September 9th. I have been living with my host family sense Saturday the 4th, their names are Ms. Mamta and Mr. Suneel Bansal. other then my host mother and father my family consists of their two sons and their grandmother. The older son left on Sunday for collage. There are also two collage students who rent the room upstairs. I’ve really been enjoying the family and mamaji (Mamta) is a very good cook. The MSID school is only a block away where I am studying. We have three courses for half the semester, Hindi, International Development, and a country analysis class. The other half of the semester I will be doing an Internship that has yet to be decided. Will more than likely be working in a rural community on sustainable agriculture and other issues. So far my classes have been very interesting and I’m hoping they prepare me well for my internship.

  

This is my room in our host families house. It is very comfortable and the nights have not been to hot sense we are at the end of the rainy season. Everyone here is very energy and water continuous. Although there is more water available now because of the rainy season there are still water shortages in Jaipur. We take bucket showers which are actually really easy and you realize that you do not actually need much water to shower with. I have also been doing my own laundry by hand even though I could get a maid to do it for me.

There is a pack of monkeys that live in the courtyard of our house, although I have not seen them in the past 2 days. Udit, my host brother, says they hang around this time of the year. The monkeys will actually come into the house and use the stairs that go up to roof. I think they are super cool but they are considered a nuisance here and can be dangerous.  

From left to right Caitlin, Josh, Ache (Caitlin and Peggy’s host brother), Udit, and Peggy. We were visiting the Birla Lakshmi Narayan Temple which is very near to our house.

The Moti Dungari Fort can been seen from the MSID office and my house. It is right next to the Birla Lakshmi Narayan Temple and the Ganeshji Temple. The fort is privately owned by the royal family and is not open to visitors.

On Sunday the 5th a few of us travel to the old city which is full of bazaars and other attractions. We also took a detour though a back alley where we found less touristy shops.

 

 The Ganeshji Temple is only a block away from my home stay house. Every Wednesday many people gather at the temple. This Wednesday was especially crowded because on Saturday is Genesh’s birthday and there is going to be a huge festival, parade and fair which thousands of people will attend. In front of the Genesh statue you can see giant balls of laddu which is a holly sweet.

Camels are HUGE!

Sites like this can be very common in Jaipur. There are many animals all over the city. I took this picture when walking in Raja Park which is a market street near my house.