bihar, kolkata, and the mayor of kathmandu

it's official, I leave on tuesday and I won't be returning to Delhi until the 21st. Good news is that I might have intermittent internet access on my little jaunt to Kolkata and Bihar.

I had a meeting with Ruchira, CK and the other intern Mal today. Mal and I make a pretty funny pair in New Delhi: one snow-worshipping red head from New England and a bubbly blonde from southern Illinois. 

A little background on my work in Bihar. We are working with a community that used to be a nomadic tribe called the Nutts (sometimes spelled Natts in English script). This group is classified as one of the "other backward classes" in the insanely complex and troubling caste system of India. When the British colonized India they exacerbated the system by deeming the Nutts as a "criminalized caste". The scope of these terms and their effects is hard to express, but in the end the tribe continues to suffer from desperate poverty and has resorted to trafficking the women into prostitution as one of their sole means of income. In some families the intergenerational nature of this business reaches 4 or 5 generations of prostitutes. Apne Aap has begun several projects in the community, especially focused around education of the women and their children in both literacy and vocational training as well as community mobilization (women, mother, teenage girl and children's groups). 

What seems sad, becomes devastating on further reflection. The village that I will be working with is one of two places in the world where polio has not been eradicated. The efforts to end polio in the region have been stalemated due to the deep corruption that exists in Bihar (e.g.: the mafia works with and through the police force....)

Mal is working on the public health aspect and I am working on women's rights/motherhood...so, no worries! We should have everything straightened out by the time we get back to Delhi. Ruchira is having Mal and I stay in her own ancestors house (apparently it has 20 rooms?). Weekend in Bihar anyone? 

The comedic relief of my day happened when I got completely turned around trying to get to work. New Delhi came close to its first experience with my infamous claire-tantrums (circa 2 years of age). Whilst I huffed and puffed, stomping and sweating around Anand Niketan, I ran into a security officer and asked for directions. He got really animated and started pointing at one of the cars. I walked over and a very dignified man in the back seat asked if I was going to see Ruchira Gupta. I said yes. He confirmed he was an old friend of hers and (I know, I know) against better judgement and desperate to get out of the heat accepted the lift to the office. He told me he was from Nepal (which explained his amazing accent but not his perfect English). When we arrived we shook hands and I headed to office upstairs while he went see Ruchira. He reminded me of the Nepalese version of my Grandpa Jim. During my own meeting with Ruchira later on, I mentioned I had met her friend from Nepal.  She replied, "Oh! He's the ex-mayor of Kathmandu! He's just serving in parliament now..." After a quick google search I realized he must be Keshav Sthapit, recently forced to step down by communist rebels. Go figure. 

more soon,

c