This past Tuesday, we watched another great Bollywood movie (I'm going to become quite the buff by the end of the semester...probably not but maybe), Rang De Basanti. The movie shows a British girl, Sue, coming to India to film a documentary about her grandfather's, who was an officer in the British army, journals about a group of men who challenged the British rule in the 1930s and the friendships she makes with the students she works with. Unlike many movies about the Indian Independence Movement, this movie portrays the use of violence as opposed to nonviolent means to fight oppression. I don't want to give too much away but I would definitely recommend it.
I finally have my internship set up! I know I had mentioned working at VIN home in my last post, but things were not coming together fast enough, so Pamela mentioned that she had a friend, Jaya, who worked in legal aid, among other things, and often did counseling for women in need. Today Pamela and I went to meet with Jaya, and it seems like everything will work out. Jaya really wants me to get a full experience of understanding how oppression works at different levels- legal, poltical, economical- and see how they are all interconnected so she has some big plans for me, which I am excited about. She is going to arrange for me to go to at least family court session to see how the system works, as well as a case filing to go through the hope and anxiety that results from filing a case. Jaya also determined that she wants me to write a report about what I see, think, and feel, while I am going through this internship and connect it with various research work. This is an excellent opportunity for me to explore macropractice and have a better understanding disenfranchisment and how to empower individuals on as many different levels as possible. I am really excited about this internship, as it is so close to what I am doing.
Today, when Pamela and I took the train to my site, we were in the women's car for my first time, since I have only ridden the train before with Mike- who obviously is not a woman. While we were riding on the train, women were buying nail polish and jewlery, gossiping, and feeding their children. I was sort of taken aback at what I saw. Compared to the mixed gender car, this car was so much more lively and exciting to be in. In the mixed gender car, everyone is very quiet and hardly acknowledges each other, however in the women's car everyone is taking care of everyone. They are helping each other on and off the train, scooting over to give more room for everyone to sit down. It is sort of like this mini-community that happens only in the train, an unspoken code that says "If you need something I'm here, now try this nail polish it will look great on you." I am really looking forward to being able to ride in the women's car as I continue my internship and I'm sure I will have at least one or two more experiences to write about.
This past weekend, our friend Ishan had his 21st birthday. To celebrate, we went to Mud Island (yes Mud as in dirt and water mixed together, there is another spelling, but for all intensive purposes, "Mud"), where Ishan's dad's company has access to some bungalows and houses on or near the beach. Mike, our friend Kunal, and I left my apartment in Bandra around 7:15 friday night and took a rickshaw to the island, which took about two hours. Now if you know Mike, and you know the size of a rickshaw, you know that it was a tight fit, but if you don't know Mike, he's a giant and rickshaws are not designed for longer trips,so the three of us were pretty much squished in the rickshaw through all the traffic for quite some time. When we got there it was really dark, so I didn't really get a chance to see the area until the next morning. However that night at midnight, Ishan officially turned 21. In India this means that everyone of his friends and family members calls him or if we had been in the city, would have shown up at his house. In fact one of his friends, Justin, showed up just past midnight with balloons. As it was, we all sang loudly for him and celebrated. The next day when we were having cake,Ishan cut the first piece and then went around to all 15 (ish) of us and offered us a bite of his cake. Apparently this is how its done. Totally fun and totally messy. I had never done this before, but it was really fun and it might start happening at my birthday celebrations from now on.
Mud Island itself is gorgeous. We were able to walk along the beach (my favorite) and take in some gorgeous sites. The water was really dirty so we couldn't swim in it but it was a great trip all the same. I forgot how much I missed being at the beach and wandering around.
We headed back from our weekend birthday bash celebration this morning, bright and early. Somehow I still ended up in the back seat with Mike and Kunal, which was pretty tight but not nearly as bad as the richshaw. We ended up back at the school around 9:00, in time for those who needed to to go to class and for me to meet Pamela! It didn't take nearly as long to get into the city as out of it, because there was less traffic.
Happy Ramzan Id! As all celebrations and festivals in Mumbai, Ramzan Id is a big deal and is currently being celebrated throughout the city with enthusiasm!
Peace, Love, and Elephant Kisses- Emmy
An Amazing Sunset over the beach at Mud Island
Hi Emmy,
ReplyDeleteYour Dad is here helping me to get from one up-date to the next. I am glad to know you are enjoying India and seeing so much more of Mumbai than I did. We had a tourist guide take us around the only day we had there and then off to Belgum. The place I remember is the garden on the top of the water tank. I hope there is one still there, it was so beautiful.
Your Dad has work to teach me how much I could do on the computer and my memory is not good.
Grandma