Internship madness

As great as my trip to Hyderabad was, I was almost immediately thrown back into the chaos of school, work, and Pune. Oh, Pune…. I wish I could say I missed it a lot but I’ll be honest when I say Hyderabad was a lot better. There might be a little bit of bias thrown into that statement, but hey, it’s my blog.

ANYWAY, no sooner than the new week began, I learned I could officially start work for my internship- rather than simple visits I had been doing for the month of October. To briefly explain what my internship is, I work for a microfinance organization called Parvati Swayamrojgar that has 7 branches all over Pune. Each branch is located in the middle of a slum. My main task is to assess Parvati’s financial literacy training sessions- if they’re effective- if they can improve, etc.

2 and a half weeks later… I can officially say I love my work. I love what I do. I love the people I work with. Before officially beginning my internship, I had to develop a questionnaire to interview women on what they think of these training sessions. I went in with the goal of interviewing at least 70 women (10 from each branch)— I’ve thus far been able to interview 80 women! It has been nothing short of an incredible experience. Everyday, I travel to a slum, attend the training session, and then go forth with the task of interviewing at least 5-10 women. Since I was told to spend as much time ‘in the field’ as possible, I have been interviewing these women inside of their own homes. These homes are almost always miniscule, roofless, have no toilets, and sometimes do not even have a door. Up to 6-7 people live inside of these homes. And yet no matter how destitute some of these womens’ conditions seem, every single woman I’ve encountered so far has always gone out of her way to offer water, chai, or some type of food. In addition to talking to them about the training sessions and the importance of saving, I have also had the opportunity of listening to their views and their problems.

I’ve been to the homes of women who are mess hall workers, maids, garland makers, vegetable sellers, street sweepers, street food vendors, handcart sellers, tailors, and a variety of other occupations. While one may find it easy to subjugate some of these women as ‘lower class individuals,’ they are some of the most beautiful, most inspiring, and most hard working individuals I have ever met. And in my book, that makes them high class. They’re also hilarious, which makes it a bonus for me to talk to them J And if anyone is wondering how exactly I talk to them—I have an interpreter (and she’s awesome by the way)! Since I cannot speak mahrati, she asks them the questions and then translates what they say. But I’ve actually started picking up on some of the vocab (because of the fact that I interview at least 5-10 each day), and am sometimes able to gage what they are saying in response… which is amazing! And even more awesome, I have actually met a few families that speak Telugu so I have been able to speak to them directly, without the use of my interpreter. When this happens, she’s able to take a break for a while :P

In regards to the people I work with-- each of the 7 branches has a great office staff and the man who runs the training sessions, Mr. Kawalle, has honestly become my best friend. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. I see him every day for about 5 hours and he's almost become a mentor of sorts! But everyone has been so friendly and willing to help regardless of how busy they are. I think I definitely lucked out with the organization I was assigned to. 

I have about 2 and a half more weeks of my internship left—this coming week I am going to be doing in-depth interviews regarding my academic paper topic. I am writing mine on slum eradication- what’s been done in the past, what is happening currently in the 7 slums I work in, and what I think the future will be based on my research. Thus, these in-depth interviews will be on what those in the slums think- how they think slum rehabilitation and slum redevelopment should happen (if they agree with participatory development). The week after, I will be talking to a variety of local NGOs and Pune’s government officials to see what their particular views are. It’s definitely going to be a busy two weeks but I am looking forward to it!

I also have to mention that I have started taking the bus to each of the branches instead of rickshaws because it’s faster and cheaper. And that’s definitely been an experience. Jumping onto a running bus, or jumping off of a running bus, being shoved and pushed, and almost being hurled out of the bus due to the crazy driver’s braking are definitely frustrating—but mostly funny. I’m laughing thinking back on all of my experiences so far. All in all, my days have been tiring, but they’ve been so worthwhile at the same time.

OK so I hope that makes me all caught up on my blog posts! I am so sorry for anyone that actually read all of this- but hopefully my next post will be shorter!  

HAPPY (late) DIWALI!

I know this post is extremely late but better late than never, right? For those of you that don’t know what Diwali is, it’s the festival of lights- it’s the biggest festivals here in India. It signifies a new beginning, and is spent with family. It’s also best known for the use of fireworks and firecrackers. Essentially, it’s awesome. Refer to some of my facebook pictures if need be :)

So on October 21^st, I frantically turned in all sorts of papers/assignments/paperwork and got in a rickshaw to go to the Pune Airport. I was told it was extremely far away, and yet I got there within 25 minutes -_- And me being me, I got there about 4 hours before my flight even arrived… so I spent the time doing lots of people-watching, making new friends, and trying airport food- time well spent if you ask me. Once I was on the plane is when I realized I was heading back to a home I hadn’t been to in years. I wasn’t really sure what to expect considering I had not seen in Hyderabad in so long.

The first few days in Hyderabad were spent at my aunt’s house while the last few days were spent at my other aunt’s house. Looking back, I can’t believe how the 9 days went by so fast… but to summarize all of what I did while there, I saw family I haven’t seen in years- on both my mom’s and dad’s side. More important than simply seeing my family, I was able to talk to them, connect with them on a somewhat higher level considering I was no longer half a world away from them. It was incredible to see everyone. I felt so much love the entire time I was there- and it was great to see that everyone still felt the same way despite not having seen me for so many years.

 I was also able to see the 4 homes in which my parents and I lived in Hyderabad before moving to the US.  As I walked down all the little alleyways and roads, all I could think about was “wow I actually grew up here.” And for this reason, I am 100% glad I went to Hyderabad for Diwali break. One of the main reasons why I came to India was to reconnect to my roots—and I was able to do exactly this. In addition to seeing my family, I was reminded of my past- of where I come from—and ultimately it made me realize how far my parents and I have come. Moreover, it made me realize how much my parents sacrificed so I could have a better life. They left their families, their homes, the only worlds they knew to start entirely from scratch. It’s absolutely mind blowing to reflect on how much all three of us have grown up over the last 10 years. It’s even more mind blowing to think about all the experiences I’ve had, all the people I’ve encountered, and all the opportunities I’ve been presented with. There’s much more I could say but I’d go on for pages and that would just be painful for everyone, so I think I’ll stop here and say: I’m incredibly lucky. And no amount of words in the world are enough to thank those who have helped me get to where I am today (including every single family member). 

Onto the next post regarding the weeks afterwards in Pune!