The Great Pondy

We took our first trip this past weekend to Pondicherry or The Great Pondy  as our MCC buddies call it. It was an exhausting 6 day journey, but I saw so many more versions of India along the way that I felt like I visited a few different countries, maybe even another planet along the way.

Dakshina Chitra:

Tricked out rickshaw at Dakshina Chitra

Our first stop was Dakshina Chitra. It is set up as a traditional artisan village in order to preserve the cultures of southern India. Watching traditional glass artists and tapestry painters was certainly worthwhile but just like an American tourist attraction, we had to walk through the gift shop (in this case set up like a charming market) in order to see the actual attraction. The vendors kept calling to me "Madame, madame, come look," something I am finding all to common wherever I go in India. The one unique thing about this "gift shop" was that you could haggle over prices with the sellers. I wasn't taken in by any of the so-called handicrafts but a few of my fellow students were very proud of their bargaining skills that got them a bamboo hanging for 800 rupees rather than 1500.



Ganesh :)


We spent the night at the Taj Hotel, a place equivalent to somewhere people would stay on their honeymoon. Who said study abroad can't be luxurious? But I won't bore with the details of a hotel except to say that 18 college students playing volleyball in the pool can clear the entire area in under 5 minutes.














Mamallapuram:


Temple reliefs and a goat



We spent all day Friday at Mamallapuram, a sight of many Hindu temples and reliefs, some finished and some left only partially complete. Our guide was Dr. Suri (remember the Gandhi-like man with the John Lennon glasses?). He told us the stories that the panels depicted from Durga defeating the bull-headed demon to Shiva saving a village from the floods of Ganga. But perhaps the most memorable part was seeing Veena argue with the "tour guides" that apparently own the temples. As soon as we stepped off the bus they tried to lead us on their version of the tour of the temple. Veena made it clear that we were not in need of their services cursing them in Tamil and English alike. Suri was afraid of these men but they were much more afraid of Veena. Still, I am finding that people will do anything to make a buck in India from offering you a tour you don't need to charging you extra to bring your camera along with you at multiple stops with in the same venue. The ingenuity and perseverance of these people is amazing.

Krishna's butterball

Auroville:

Laboratory of evloution?!

What can I say about Auroville? It is an experimental community near Pondicherry, settled amongst native villages striving to help the communities around them with handicraft projects, working on sustainable projects and striving to reach the ideal form of humanity based on the teachings of the "Mother." On paper the idea of Auroville is very appealing to me but as I spent more and more time there I became more and more dissatisfied. I appreciate many aspects of Auroville from the tsunami relief they do with village women to the earthen house design project at the Earth Institute. However, there are many aspects of Auorville that seem contradictory to me. They claim to have no religious or political affiliation yet they quote the "Mother" as if her word is supreme (seriously don't get me started on how a French-Egyptian woman can start a "revolution" in India). There's also the fact that they shun capitalism yet rely on the products that India's capitalistic economy is producing. They are far from self-sustaining in any way and what about the Eco-refugees whose land their society of mostly foreigners is built upon? And then there is their great golden ball of meditation meant to represent the birth of humanity or something. Seriously there is a huge golden sphere in the middle of the community that had to cost millions of dollars to construct surrounded by 12 gardens of artificial beauty. I can't see how this multi-million dollar project can be justified on the Mother's word when they are surrounded by some of the most impoverished people in the world. While Auroville is beautiful and in some aspects appealing to me, by the end I felt like I had left the planet on the Mother Ship (pun definitely intended). Stupid golden globe.




Soil samples of the world = EES majors freak out



Golden sphere of suck

Pondy and Ganesha Temple:



Yep, still in India.

On a happier note we made it to the certain of Pondicherry by Sunday. At this point I really did feel like we had left the country what with being surrounded by colonial French architecture. But of course India hits you in the face just when you least expect it. This happened to me outside the Ganesha temple:

1. There were so many people trying to sell me things. Seriously don't want your fake peacock feather fan even if it is free.

2. Why is there a Hannah Montana mobile in India at all

3. People get real pissed if you watch your own shoes outside the temple rather than paying for their service

and...
 4. I got blessed by an elephant named Lakshmi! In exchange for a two rupee coin Lakshmi will bless you with her trunk (a very odd sensation) and let me tell you that elephant was making bank.



Lakshmi the elephant who blessed us



Market right outside the temple.

 

Chidambaram Natraja:

 Our final stop before heading back to MCC was Chidambaram Natraja. This has got to be one of the coolest things I have seen on this trip so far. It is a massive ancient temple surrounded by four gobrams or gateways meticulously adorned with hundreds of painted figures. And once you walk inside you see that this ancient place is still so alive and busy. We were actually allowed into the inner sanctum (sorry no pictures, at least not for westerners) where there were sages clothed in white performing blessings and rituals with coconuts and ash and so many people praying at various reliefs along the temple walls. It was senses overload with smells of smoke and incense and the sound of ringing bells and so much color. Definitely one of the most interesting experiences of my life thus far. Of course there was also the fact that I happened to have the same top knot in my hair as all the sages. Perhaps I was a Brahman priest in a former life?

One of the gobras into the temple and the temple pond

Creeper shot of one of the sages from the temple, we had matching hair!

All in all it was a great long weekend that taught me once again, you cannot neatly define India. It is so many different things in so many ways. You can't anticipate what you will experience in India you have to participate in it.



Only in India

Here's a list of the things that I have experienced that are, in my opinion, experiences and things unique to India. Some of them are things I love, some are things that challenge me, all are unforgettable.

• John Lennon concert at MCC. Definitely the greatest and most unexpected first night in India. All of the students and professors were great singers and musicians. And Suri, the MCC professor that will be with us for all of our trips, is so adorable and charismatic. He looks so much like Gandhi but make no mistake, he wears his circle rim glasses to emulate John.
• A baby cow chasing me on the side of the road so it could catch up with its mother. The loud mooing that suddenly came from right behind me was pretty surprising.
• Twelve adults in a rickshaw. I was sitting on the wooden board that was part of the "window." Half of my body was inside the vehicle and the rest was hanging on for dear life. It was scary and exhilarating. At least I had the best seat in the house.
• Seeing five people on one motorcycle. A dad, mom and three children. Side note, only the father was wearing a helmet, which seems to be pretty common in Chennai.
• Four tea breaks a day. If I wasn't addicted to caffeine before, I am now. Masala chai, mmm-mmm.
• Drinking straight from a coconut. It was not what I expected, more salty than I ever would have guessed. I still can't decide if I like it or not.
• The movie Speed playing on Indian TV in English with English subtitles. Seriously, this movie would only play in India unfortunately for the country.
• Open sewers in the streets where the water runs blue and gray and is edged in trash. The smell is almost unbearable for me. I am starting to understand water quality issues so much more. Furthermore, the amount of pollution and trash everywhere is astonishing. It cannot be explained.
• On a lighter note: nannanananananananan, I love nan soooooooo much.
• Also rice in some form at nearly every meal.
• There is a culture of men  touching men and women touching women. Because they cannot interact with the opposite sex, friends are very affectionate with each other. It is not weird at all as it would be back home. Instead it is very loving and widely accepted.
• At MCC, women have a curfew of 6:30. What the what? Gender inequality in my face. We as study away students don't have to follow this rule, but it makes it that much more weird feeling to be one of very few women out during the nights.
• Mango every thing!!! No seriously, everything. This morning I had mango cornflakes.
• Exchanging money at the bank was quite an event involving more paper copies than I have ever seen. I miss my online banking.
• Pick-n-Pack! I love that place soooo much. It's an Indian convenience store just down the road from MCC. I bought some more shampoo (I hope my hair starts cooperating), laundry detergent, etc. and three diet cokes. In all I got about seven things for about 8 USD. It was fantastic.
• Bucket baths, who knew? So refreshing and awesome and life changing.
• Eating with your hands, also who knew? There is actually a specific technique (only the right hand) and reasons behind the practice. Also, it makes you eat slower and enjoy the food more.
• Crossing the road in Chennai is terrifying. Even when I see old women strolling across the highway not bothering to look and with no fear, I still am terrified. Though last night I crossed all by myself...and proceeded to almost get hit by a motorcycle (sorry mom). Still at least I am getting better at it.
• Playing ultimate frisbee with our new Indian friends. They caught on so quickly and we got quite the impressive game going. Not to mention that running around barefoot in the dirt and mud is so much fun. Shout out to new Indian friends Das, Fawaz, Sujin and more.
• Sitting in my Eno hammock, looking out into the scrub jungle that is MCC. There are deer and wild boars and all other sorts of exciting flora and fauna all around. I am basically on vacation.
• Neem...is not my favorite thing.
• SOS Children's Village is great. It is a home for orphaned children that works on the basis of families rather than a centralized orphanage. It is such a neat place and it is right outside of campus. The staff said we could come back and play with the kids anytime, I'm excited.
• Finally, the food and accommodations at MCC are totally incredible and more than I could ever ask for. Curry for every meal is definitely something I could do forever.

Well that's just a handful of things I have experienced here in only the first four days. I know this trip will hold so many more adventures and experiences.  I'll keep you posted.

Joy

Traveling to India: A Schedule

*I have slept maybe six hours in the past 48 hours so don't judge.

October 6:
7am: Wake up call from Jeri Bug so I can roll out of bed and head to the airport
8:15am: Arrive at GSP and check-in. I have definitely packed the lightest, should I be worried?
10:20am: Take off from GSP. Everyone is a mix of nervous silence and giddy laughter. No one wants to sleep as part of our jet-lag-aversion-master-plan that soon falls apart.
11:35am: Touchdown in Dulles, DC. We have such a long way to go...
Noonish: Eat lunch at Chipolte in the airport. A line of 18 students and 2 professors, I hope no one else wanted lunch.
1:58pm: Serena kicks my butt in ERS. She hasn't lost a game in a really long time.
3:25pm: Board the plane for Frankfurt. I was part of the first group of 6 going and apparently the lucky group. The second group was delayed and didn't have individual screens or movie options and had to endure three crying babies.

The DC to Frankfurt flight, (times still in US times):
4:47pm: We are served dinner on the flight. It is early and I am not hungry but I eat my "special vegetarian meal" anyways. Pretty decent for airplane food, way to go Lufthansa.
5-7pm: Watch the "Green Lantern" on my mini screen. It wasn't awesome but hey at least I had a mini screen. The poor second group was stuck with one large screen showing Cars 2 without sound. Sucks to suck.
7:07pm: Look up and realize everyone around me is watching Modern Family or 30 Rock. Seems like a much better plan and I proceed to "WatchEnjoy" in Lufthansa terms.
8:30-11:15pm: Try to sleep without much success. I can literally not find a comfortable position. I doze for about 15 minutes at a time.
11:20pm: We are served "breakfast" as it is now 4 something in the morning German time. Bread in package and strange yellow fruit are not appealing to my seasick stomach. At this point, all the time on the plane is beginning to wear on me.

Switch to German time, it's now Oct 7.:
5ish am: Land in Frankfurt and try to make our way to our terminal. It is literally the most remote place in the airport, the ever elusive B46. At least we get to see all the food and shopping options along the way. The duty free store reeks of perfumes and adds to my headiness.
5:45am: Eat breakfast (I guess my second?) at a cafe in the airport. I manage to get my hands on a "CocaCola Light." Oh delicious!
6:15-7:20am: Sleep in the airport on a few chairs curled in the fetal position. Why is it sooo cold?
7:30am: The second group arrives in the terminal very loudly. They are a little grumpy from their flight on an old 747 rather than our fancy airbus.
9:45am: Go exploring with Serena. I buy two Ritter Sport bars in a convenience shop because I love chocolate...a lot.
10:30am: Begin boarding the plane for Chennai. No easy feat with 20 people, but we do it rather efficiently.

Flight from Frankfurt to Chennai:
*Times become extremely confusing to me here as the lack of sleep sets in. The rest of October 7 basically disappears. It's crazy.
11:25am: As we take off I begin to immediately doze off. FINALLY. Except that I can't stay asleep for more than 30 minutes. I am constantly waking up to readjust my position. But hey, at least it is a little rest.
12:30pm: I am woken up by a stewardess. We are served lunch? dinner? I don't know anymore. I am served the "western" vegetarian meal, but would much rather have the Indian vegetarian curry dish than my overly peppered pasta. I am also very nauseous at this point from lack of sleep and the constant "I'm on a boat" swaying feeling. I feel like my head is no longer attached to my body.
12:30-2:00pmish: More intermittent sleep.
After 2: I wake up and feel rested enough and begin to watch Thor. I pause this a lot to talk to people around me or "rest my eyes" or whatever because the fact is, it just doesn't hold my attention. Who knew you would get so many movie reviews in a blog about India?

*Time really starts to go crazy here. I switch my watch to Indian time and am so, so confused.
12:30am (India time): Caitlin and I realize we have the same birthday, two years apart. She proceeds to tell the entire plane.
1amish: We are informed that the plane in front of ours has malfunctioned and is stopped on the runway and can't be moved. At 1:05 this changes to "crashed." Bad translation? Hopefully.
1:15am: We are informed that we have to fly to Bangalore to refuel and then fly back to Chennai for our final landing. Say what?!
1:45am: Land in Bangalore for refueling. The stewardesses try to keep us in our seats but that is just not happening. We are told that we should be back in Chennai by 2:45 but as Dr. Khandke says and hour in India always means at least 2.
3:45am: Land in Chennai! Since I know my crazy times confuse you, that was thirteen hours on one plane. Luckily I haven't gone crazy yet.
4:00am waiting in a line in immigration/customs. It gets a little hairy there for a second as they are suspicious of a large group of college students traveling together with no student visas. We promise we aren't registered for classes here!
4:35am: We get to baggage claim. This takes at least half an hour and for a few minutes I seriously fear that my luggage has been lost. But somehow we all manage to get all of our bags, yay!
5:05am: Enter India. We step outside the airport and walk down a small runway lined with hundreds of Indian faces. I am overwhelmed by my first experience as the clear minority in a situation. Luckily we meet Suri, our head man in charge for our stay at MCC. He leads us to the vans ignoring the honking and heckling.
5:15-5:40am: We travel by bus through Chennai to the MCC campus. Holy scary driving, it is like nothing I have ever seen. We see some very uniquely Indian things including two cows in the roads and a number of roadside shrines. Holy cow, I am in India.

*In case you missed it, it took us 36 hours, 36 minutes and 36 seconds to reach our destination (we know because Ryan timed us). But let me tell you, it was totally worth it.

6am: Upon arrival we are immediately served tea and biscuits, I love it. We also meet a few of the MCC staff and are shown our rooms. I sit on the bed only for a few seconds for fear I will pass out.
7am: I go for a walk around MCC with a few others. We see fruit bats, deer and so many plants. I am in love with the campus.
8am: We are served breakfast with both western and traditional Indian dishes. The rice dumplings and soup like dip they prepare for us is incredibly delicious.
9:05am: I go for another walk, this time with a different group of people. At one point I am literally inches from a full grown buck. They are beautiful, all still having white spots and being slightly shorter than North American deer.
9:30am: Serena, Elizabeth C and I go into a random wooded area through an inviting gate. It is an odd area that seems completely abandoned except for a few newly planted saplings. At the time it seemed very adventurous, but that could be the jet lag talking.
9:45am: Stumble upon a cricket game. We have never seen a match before and it is pretty interesting. However, we don't watch much of the game as we are soon approached by a group of friendly Indian men. They ask us for our "goodname" and tell us they work at IBM and that their boss, Shiva, "is a very good person, like you." They repeat this three times. They take pictures with us and upon leaving tell us we are all looking "very cute today." All in all a very amusing encounter.
10amish: We make it back to the guest house and sit outside for a bit. The air is very sticky, so we move inside to the dining hall and I begin this blog as a way to keep me awake. I am trying to save my nap for after lunch. As I continue to sit, it is becoming increasingly difficult, thus my continuous ramblings.

Things still yet to come today:
My first bucket shower, I am so looking forward to that.
A John Lennon tribute concert put on by MCC students.
Sleep.

That's all for now folks,
Joy

Geology and Nutrition in India

            In the US, we think of vitamins as gummy candies as children or as tailor made diet regimes as adults. Vitamins are trendy supplements to improve your energy levels or make your hair healthier. Places like GNC offer custom vitamin packs for virtually every kind of “lifestyle” from the active young woman to an aging man. With the exception of prenatal vitamins, these supplements are rarely prescribed as vital to our health, but rather as a way to improve our health. I am not saying that all supplements are frivolous. I know myself, as someone who is anemic and has to take an iron supplement daily, that vitamins can truly be beneficial to our welfare. But the fact is that most Americans get more than enough of our essential nutrients from our varied diets and the geology of our soils and waters. The fact is that in developing countries, people are facing true nutrient deficiencies. Sometimes it can be because their varied is not as varied as ours because they lack the vast food distribution system American enjoys. More often it is that the geology of the country causes shortages in the soil food is grown in and the water these people drink. Furthermore, people in these countries do not have access to an overabundance of vitamin supplements that Americans do. These supplements would truly make a difference in the health of these people.

            Sixteen mineral elements have been identified as essential for our bodies’ functions. These elements are essential for 1) bone and membrane structure, 2) water and electrolyte balance, 3) metabolic catalysis, 4) oxygen binding, and 5) hormone effects (Combs). For example, Fluoride is essential for new bone formation and protection of enamel from acid erosion. In America, fluoride can be found in almost all toothpastes and is often added to water supplies as well. Of course, there are even fluoride vitamin supplements. In India, fluoride intakes as become an issue for both wet and dry parts of the country. In wet regions of the country, fluoride, a highly mobile ion, is often leached out of drinking waters. Therefore, people in these regions experience increased cases of dental cavities and dental caries. In dry regions, the opposite is experienced. The fluoride concentration in the drinking water (mainly ground water) becomes too high. The excess fluoride in people’s diets hardens bones, decreasing elasticity and increasing instances of fracture. There are also cases of dental fluorosis or white streaking and staining on the teeth’s enamel (Selinus, et al).

            Iodine is another mineral we rarely think about in the US. In the US we almost exclusively take in iodized salt. This is not a fact that the rest of the world faces. In places where people are not taking in iodized salt, such as rural India, they can experience serious iodine deficiency disorders. Iodine is an important nutrient in thyroid function and lack of iodine can lead to thyroid hypertrophy or goiters. I imagine that many people in America have never seen or heard of goiters as we have had iodine in our diets regularly for years. But goiters aren’t even the most serious health effect of iodine deficiency. It is also the cause of myxedematous cretinism, the leading global cause of metal retardation (Combs).

            As already mentioned, much of our nutrient intake is related to our diet. For example, we know iron comes from red meats and green leafy vegetables, calcium comes from dairy and potassium comes from bananas, etc. However, it should be noted that our body cannot fully absorb all of the minerals found in these foods, so you cannot rely on the total mineral concentration in foods.  However, ultimately the minerals found in our food goes back to geology and the minerals found in our soils. Just like geology varies globally so do the bioavailability of nutrients. This is even truer in places like India. Food systems are often highly localized, limiting access to only the nearest soils and thus the food only has a limited number of minerals. This can be further exacerbated by low uptake by crops, as is the case of zinc and excessive leaking as is the case of iodine. In iodine, there have been many studies that directly correlate instances of goiters with geographic soil deficiencies. In developed countries like the US, interregional and even international food transfer helps make these soil variances a non-issue. But as already mentioned, this kind of food transfer system is not available in India. Furthermore, the diets of many Indians are lacking even the appropriate foods for a truly nutritious diet. This can be seen in the lack of meat consumption and the high rates of anemia due to lack of iron (Combs).

            As we take our morning vitamins, it might be helpful to think about our own dependence on vitamins. Are we taking the vitamins because our diets, our soil, our drinking water aren’t providing us with what we need? Or are we taking the supplements for supposed health improvement benefits? If it is the latter, consider how lucky we are to have vitamins as a choice not a worry.

Combs, Gerald, Geological Impacts on Nutrition.

Selinus, Olle. Finkleman, Robert. Centeno, Jose, Medical Geology: A Regional Synthesis.