Day One in Bangalore/Bengaluru

12 June 2010

20:34

Well, I am officially in Bangalore. It is much cooler and less humid and less chaotic and less noisy here. It is a relief.

John didn’t end up meeting me at the airport. Instead he sent Thomas. I found him wandering around the arrival platform with the sign that he was supposed to be holding up for me rolled up in his hand. I could help be chuckle and be relieved.

We got in his taxi van and after an hour’s time, we came to where John wants me to stay. It is a convent, yes, and *convent* for ladies. I agreed to see the room. It seemed clean and alright. It had westernized private toilet but only a bucket and scoop for a shower/bath. The curfew is much too early: 21:00.

We drove for another hour. Thomas told me that we were going to look at a different place; however, he took me to SPARC.

The Bengaluru SPARC office is a small building. There are approximately one dozen girls and ladies that sit on the floor at knee-high tables inside. About seven take residence of a rug outside. I was told that this was a weekly meeting that the men from the federation have with John. There is a small kitchen inside and the bathroom is out back.

The girls and women are all very beautiful and stare in wonder with wide eyes and gaping smiles. First thing, they welcomed me with a meal or rice and some sort of saucy vegetables. They gave me a spoon out of kindness and laughed when I tried to follow their lead by using my fingers. At one point, an elderly woman even felt the need to stir my food for me. It was a pretty hilarious event, but the food was good despite John insisting that is was too spicy for an American tongue (not at all true).

The ladies here are a part of Mahila Milan. They have been doing some sort of savings and loan book keeping that I’ve heard about through the Bombay office. Some would leave and collect funds and then return to have others enter the amounts in their books.

The men, as I mentioned, are from the federation, which has input with funding and project planning. They were in a meeting with John and Thomas until 17:00. Their conversations were in a different tongue, so I could not eaves drop.

I didn’t have anything to do except sit and watch all that was taking place. . .which didn’t seem like too much. Everyone had a task, but there wasn’t anything spare to do. I sat and fought off the curtains of sleep.

I met another new girl that came to SPARC for training from a university somewhere east of here. Her name is Prageeja. She is working on her masters in Planning and has her undergraduate degree in Architecture. She is very sweet and kind. As the two outsiders (she has been in Bangalore for one month), we swapped stories about family and school. It was nice to have someone to talk to here. It is strange not having Americans around as there was in Mumbai/Bombay.

Around 17:00, John finished with his meeting with the men. He came and sat by me and jumped into business. He wanted to know what I wanted to do in SPARC. I know vaguely about some of the project that are taking place at this office. We talked about the GPS and GIS mapping of the slums project. It sounds like they are at a standstill because of funding for appropriate programming and the government refused to share any of their maps, etc. I tried to explain that I’m not a software engineer and would not be very successful at helping him develop a mapping/satellite program from scratch. He wasn’t very happy . . . but I went on to describe that I’d be helpful doing something more with structure design of a new public toilet system or with their projects dealing with sanitary and environmental issues (I don’t know the specifics of what these entail). We shall see what comes up in the next couple of days and weeks. I really need to go out a see what the slums in this area are dealing with, to figure out what is needed by the people and to learn what SPARC has for preliminary ideas, if any.

After the office closed, Thomas took me back here to the convent. I asked John to allow me to see the other place that he had checked out. He agreed at the time, but it never happened. Before we left, he asked that I try it here for two days to see if I liked it. It is a reasonable request.

One of the sisters silently showed me to my room and handed me a mosquito net out of the bare linen closet. She told me that supper was at 19:30. The sheets are old and dusty. I am glad that Avery suggested that I bring my own sheets. The sleeping pad is thin, but it will do just fine. It is a large room with two beds and clean tile floor. The courtyard is large, clean, quiet, and has countless plants all around. I even saw two dogs chained up around the corner . . . maybe they are friendly. . .

Supper with the girls was alright. I feel like a complete outsider and ate most of my meal is silence. They speak a different language although most can do introductions in English probably speak fluently. I was thankful for the home-cooked meal. Finally something that wasn’t drenched and fried in grease. . .all of these sister share a living space somewhere upstairs in the main building . I was told that there are approximately 34 women living here: nuns, students, working ladies.

Tomorrow, Thomas said that he would send one of his four daughters to show me around the city and to go shopping for some clothes. . . I would also really like to find an internet café.

I am unbelievably grateful for the cool weather here and calmness of the streets, but at the same time, I miss Mumbai and all of its activities. Without the busy buzz, this city doesn't **seem** so inviting.

Goodknight.