Welcome to India

Pushing my rickety trolley cart containing all of my worldly possessions for the next year, I stepped out of the Indira Gandhi International Airport and into mayhem. I shoved my way to the prepaid taxi stand (if you don’t get a prepaid taxi you inevitably get ripped off going from the airport to the city) only to be told that the prepaid taxi stand was back inside the airport, but wouldn’t madam like a premium taxi? The meter does not work, but very good price. I wrested my trolly around and went back to the airport to be stopped by two men in camouflage with very large guns with the express occupation of preventing anyone from entering back into the airport.

Here’s the first reality of India: like it or not, fair or not, white people play by different rules, women play by different rules, and white women really play by different rules than the rest of India. After I persistently repeated the word ‘taxi’ and pointed inside, the guards waved me on. In this instance being white and being a woman helped me- often it does not.

I trundled my way to the prepaid taxi counter and got a voucher to Connaught Place near my hostel. The voucher cost 320 rupees. I had a 500 rupee note. Here’s the second reality of India: small bills are nowhere and everywhere, and you must often lie to get them. Even when People have change, (like the man at this particular counter with small bills in plain sight) they will often tell you that they don’t. Often times in order to break a large bill 500 or 1000 rupees- roughly 10 or 20 USD respectively- I have to go to a nice restaurant or a shop and buy something because no one else will accept them. I paid 300 rupees to get to my hotel, and tipped the driver in USD.

My first week in India has been primarily overwhelming (it takes time to get used to stares and crossing streets through blurs of rickshaws.) However, I am adjusting and starting to love what I find here. The people I work with are incredibly kind and friendly. Every women’s organization that I have contacted has been unbelievably helpful. So although my feet are streaked with the unfortunate cocktail that makes up Delhi street dirt and I sweat through all of my clothes within 3 minutes of leaving my hotel, I am settling and, I hope, beginning to thrive.

Starting with a Flop

My Watson year started with a gigantic flop. Literally. 8 days before I was supposed to get on a plane headed for New Delhi I sprained my ankle on not one but 2 sides. Who knew you could sprain your ankle on more than one side at once?

So after playing rugby for 4 years in college virtually injury-free, I sprained my ankle playing golf. More specifically, jumping over a ditch to retrieve a poorly hit golf ball. Typical. 4 weeks and one super intense brace later I am finally hobbling on my merry way, hoping that the sprained ankle is the only bodily injury of the year.

Plans have changed in the last few weeks; I’m going to India not Papua new guinea, specifically Delhi.

So what goes through the mind of a 22 year old right before she leaves her homeland for a year? A combination of the mundane and the plain. Such as: who knew so many Europeans wore fanny packs? Furthermore did they acquire fanny packs in the united states or did they bring them from Europe? From whence originates the fanny pack?

But beyond fanny packs thoughts also cross the mind about how easy life is in the United States. Finding food is easy. Breathing is easy. Walking down a street is easy. Drinking water is easy. You get the idea. I am about to go into a world where the easiness disappears (though life will still be far easier for me than many) and where things I take for granted, things that are effortless, become challenges.

In the last few hours I spend in the united states, I am enjoying the sensation of blending in to the people around me, drinking out of a water fountain (or bubbler for those of You reading this in Minnesota) and not having to put a lock on my backpack. Some pretty crazy things are going to happen between now and when I land back in the USA 348 days from now. Look for the next update in about a week.

Preparing to Jump off a Cliff

On July 25th 2012 I will shoulder my 44-pound bag, double check my scads of medications guarding against virtually every disease known to mankind, and board a plane for Papua New Guinea. Interesting tidbit of info on Papua New Guinea (PNG): my doctor told me that 60% of tourists who take anti-malarial drugs in PNG still get Malaria. Here’s to being in the 40%.

I won’t return to the United States for a year.

I won’t spend all of that year in Papua New Guinea; I’ll travel to  India, South Africa, Liberia and Nicaragua consecutively, spending approximately 2 1/2 months in each country. (The itinerary is subject to change due to sudden natural disasters, sudden disasters, and sudden changes in heart/mind/thought).

There’s a purpose behind the globetrotting: in addition to exploring the world I’ll be conducting independent research on the role of the voice in women’s activism. My research project is entitled Breaking the Silence, An Exploration in Women’s Oratory and Activism.

I have the stupendous opportunity to travel around the world thanks to the Watson Foundation’s Watson Fellowship Program. I imagine there are some pretty thrilling days in most peoples lives: being born, for example, or getting married, or having a kid. I haven’t been married or birthed a child, so all I can say is that the day I found out I was a Watson Fellow was the most thrilling day of my life that I can remember. The Watson Foundation literally says to you: GO LIVE YOUR DREAM – and you go.

More specifically, you jump off a cliff into the great unknown: or at least that’s what it feels like right now. My project has many loose ends (where will I live? with which organizations will I work?) and any contact information to groups and individuals in my Watson countries by readers would be very much appreciated.

Over the course of my Watson year I will use this blog to update my whereabouts and whatabouts. Many of the countries to which I will travel have scanty internet access, so I will not be posting frequently- but enough to ensure you of my continued existence.

To end this post with a highly cheesy and extremely relevant quote (of which, if you read this blog over the year, you will discover I am a huge fan):

“Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down” – Kobi Yamada