So for this blog, I thought it'd be cool to talk about some of the sights I've seen in and around Pune so far:

1) Aga Khan palace

Built in the 1800's, Aga Khan palace is famously known as the place where Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned for 21 months between 1942-1944. It's also where his wife and secretary passed away :( Though we didn't get to go into Gandhi's actual room, we were able to see it from afar, as well as different parts of the palace and the surrounding garden. Peeeektures below:

Indian flag, pre-independence 

the room that Gandhi stayed in during his imprisonment 

2) Parvati Hill

Our host mom, Swapna, took us to see Parvati Hill, where you can see the city of Pune in it's entirety.
     

3) Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani 

Over the weekend, I went to visit my uncle, his wife, and my great-aunt who live an hour away from Pune. They took me to Mahabaleshwar, which is this absolutely gorgeous hilly area 3 hours south of Pune. The whole area reminded me of something you'd expect to see in a Lord of the Rings movie. While there, we went to this syrup factory famous for making syrups from real fruit preserves. My favorite was kiwi :)

Tuesday Happenings

Today was a pretty eventful day :) Our hostel group woke up bright and early at 5AM to drive over to Pune's prime flower market with our host mom, Swapna. It smelled absolutely amazing. Flowers were unloaded by the truckloads, and were laid out in giant heaps around the market area. I was a little frustrated because my nikon was broken, but definitely enjoyed what I saw. Picture below:

From there, I went to my Contemporary India class and then to my internship. Today was super productive. I finalized my project for the organization, and got to listen in on self-help meetings of women from the area. They are all so incredibly inspiring; all are volunteer social workers and are consistently striving to make Tadiwala Road a better place to live.

After my internship, I along with the other hostel girls went with Swapna again to her aunt's home. Her aunt taught us how to make Modak, which is a traditional sweet from Maharashtra. To make it, we first   boiled rice flour with oil and water to make dough,  and rolled it into several small pancakes. Then, we
spooned a mixture of sugar and coconut onto each 'pancake' and pinched the sides of the dough to make dumplings. It was a lot harder than it looks! Picture below:

Back from day 3 at Deep Griha, and ready fo some more bloggin:

Today, we went with community health workers into the slum areas around Pune to check up on some of the sponsored children in the area. The workers went from house to house, asking children about their 10th and 12th grade exams, encouraging them to go to school instead of skipping it to help around the house, signing them up to receive free uniforms books and lunch from Deep Griha, and asking about their school experiences in general. Though the field visit wasn't directly related to maternal health, it was still very very interesting; I guess I didn't really picture slums the way I had observed them today. Though the area was highly populated and the houses were closely packed together, the houses were still advanced; many had water taps as well as computers and television sets. It was also very lively, not desolate as I guess I had imagined it to be (kind of like how slums were depicted in Slumdog Millionaire). I'm actually really surprised at how ignorant I was before.

 It was also interesting to note that everyone of working age within a household contributed to the family's livelihood, even children that attended secondary school. Some of the children we talked to had very disheartening stories, though. One was an orphan ( I think she was around 16) who lived with her elder siblings; she was forbidden to go to school, and was instead forced to stay at home and do daily chores. There were others who had failed their 10th standard exams multiple times, and decided to give up on school altogether as a result :(

After processing what I'd seen today, I also realized that conducting field work is a very difficult job; often times, children will follow along with what you tell them, but will still act according to their own agendas. If they don't like what you have to say, they won't follow your advice. Plus, conducting field work is also very draining. At this time of the year (pre-monsoon season), Pune faces extreme heat and sun. I've gained a lot of respect for the women that go out into these communities on a daily basis, working for 8 hours every day.

I'm still unsure of what my individual role at Deep Griha will be for these next 5-6 weeks, but I'm hoping those kinks will work themselves out very soon. 

Harroo there :) Ok, so as promised, here is a detailed recap of my past 9 days in India:

So I arrived in Mumbai on the 11th around 9:30 PM. It was HOT (84 degrees :o) I got to meet some other students from the program there as well as the director, so that was good. We all traveled together to one of the airport hotels where we were scheduled to spend the night. It was great overall, but the power went out while I was taking a shower. struggs. Here's a picture of what my hotel room looked like:

From there, we took a bus to Durshet for orientation. Durshet was interesting...it's like this forest/small town in the middle of this hilly area. There were lots of huge bugs, lizards, jackfruit trees, etc etc etc. I stayed with two other girls from the program in this really nice room :) it did have a small animal problem though, which wasn't fun haha.

While in Durshet, we got to visit one of the local villages and interact with the people living there. We saw a primary school, as well as a well where people collected rain water for their homes. We also helped one of the ladies prepare rice flour for their dinner that night. pictures below: 

A primary school in the village 

I have so much respect for that woman; how is she balancing two pots on her head? :o

woot success :) 

grinding rice flour 

From Durshet, we took a bus into Pune. It's a lot like Delhi, but definitely has its own feel to it. One thing I thought was really cool about the area is that it's dotted all over with college campuses; there are so many students here! It makes for a really cool environment with lots of coffee shops and hang out spots :)

Here is a picture of where I'll be staying for the duration of the program:

The lady that owns this apartment is so amazing. More on her later :) 

My mom came to visit on Saturday while I was here! That was really fun because we got to go shopping and all that good stuff :) She left back for Chicago already, though, so the fun was short-lived.

A part from class and my internship, I've been doing a lot of sight seeing in Pune as well. I'll probably make a separate blog about all the historic landmarks here (that'll probably be easier, right?) so look out for that 

Hey everyone! Sorry for the radio silence the past couple of days. I'll definitely be posting a very detailed post about how my past 3 days in India have been after I get to my hostel later today. For now, I can give you a little more information about the NGO I'll be working with for the next two months. It's called the Deep Griha Society ('hope of light) and caters to rural and and urban development within marginalized communities in Pune. I'll be working with the department of Maternal and Neonatal health to create awareness programs for expectant mothers within the community, and then also assist the department with planning and conducting seminars for adolescent girls, focusing on female empowerment. I'm super super excited :) But for now, I think it'd probably be best if I went and took a nap, haha. More blogging very soon!

http://deepgriha.org/

Aaaannnd we're off!

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to finally be able to use this :)

My Indian adventure began with a rocky start; I decided to take a gamble and fly standby to Mumbai, which didn't pan out so well, haha. Although I made my initial flight from Chicago to Newark yesterday on the 8th, I missed my connection to Mumbai. I tried flying standby to Mumbai again today, only to find out that all open seats had been given to paid passengers. Poopie. On the bright side, since I missed my fight yesterday, I spent some time in New York City! :D After lugging my bags to the Double Tree, paying a $12.50 rail fare from Newark to Manhattan (what?!) and paying a quick visit to the taco bell at the train station, I found myself in Times Square. So. Many. People. There were people street dancing, people dressed up as Disney characters, people with five cameras hanging around their necks, you name it. I took the usual touristy pictures (and noticed two pigeons fighting over a piece of chicken :-o) and headed north. The last time I was here, I didn't get the chance to see Central Park, so I spent most of my day there. The greenery was absolutely gorgeous; It's so amazing to think that such a vast park could exist amidst the hustle and bustle of New York. Plus, there were so many DOGGIES! Some pictures of Times Square/Central Park below:

                                                                      The New Years Ball! 

                                                                                                     shenanigans 

                                                                         more shenanigans 

                                                                                           Taxis...and someone's elbow.


Since I couldn't make my flight to Mumbai again, I'll have to figure out what to do tomorrow. Knowing me, I'll probably just sleep in and go to the airport in my PJ's :P. I'll be flying as a confirmed passenger, so at least I won't have to worry about not making the flight again (whew). Here's to hoping tomorrow goes smoothly!