Sukhamano, state-sider - Rob in India

January/ February Mega-Double Issue

And we're back … back from a trip to the Maldives, back to normal life at our sites, and back with the newsletter after two months (yikes!). This is the long awaited double issue, but double only in the fact that it covers two months, not double in length per se. We have to keep these things a manageable length. I don't want to discourage the few die-hards who actually read these each month.
I'm back in Kottayam, I'm healthy and I'm ready for action. But wait, where has everyone gone? If I ever had a semblance of a weekly routine, it has now been completely obliterated. We had the last day of classes at the college two weeks ago, many of my friends at the theological institute have been accepted into seminaries and are moving to far-away lands, Thursday is my final day at Baker LP and I'm feeling just a little emotional about all this. I will keep relatively busy until Easter, splitting my time between the boys at KNH Hostel in Kanam and preparing for two musical performances during Holy Week, but then what? You're just going to have to stay tuned to find out. In the meantime, let me give you the brief on these last two months – they have truly flown by.
Attending conferences has become a monthly activity. Some are poorly managed, unspeakably dull and, in general, a huge waste of time. The conference I attended in mid-January was the opposite of all of those things. The topic was, "Globalization: Life and Livelihood Issues." The attendance was small, maybe fifty people, but they represented most of South India, some states in the North and contained a wealth of experience and knowledge on the subject. During the week we heard from social activists, professors, pastors and priests, villagers and city folk. We heard first hand accounts from people who have made it their life's work to oppose many of the negative effects of globalization. Actually, the only people with little field experience were the four Americans, but we had a unique perspective on the discussion as well. While many people in Kerala have frustrations relating to globalization, a lot of times their complaints are vague: "Globalization is bad" or "America is the source of all that is bad about globalization." While there is certainly some truth in these statements they simplify a very complicated issue. No one mentioned even once either of these all too common accusations. Rather, they identified a specific concern (for example Pepsico sucking up all the ground water of a village, leaving the villagers without the basic resource for survival) and then discussed how to react to that threat. It was a hugely inspiring time and we made some close friends. We hope to visit many of these friends in April and get a closer look at the grassroots work they're doing.
In the last week of January, I visited the homes villages of several of my student friends, attended yet another wedding, experienced the craziest Church festival I've ever seen, and participated in the yearly C.S.I. Convention held in Kottayam. That church festival really was a crazy experience, maybe that'll become a blog post.
Emily came to visit during the first two weeks of February. We spent some time seeing the "sights of Kerala," as you can see on my Web Album, but we also spent some days in and around Kottayam. I really enjoyed exposing her to many of the people and places that make up my life in India. My newsletter may be magnificent, but it doesn't quite replicate the actual experience of being in India. I'm glad that Emily was able to get a first hand glimpse of the reality. Anyway, it's handy to have one more person back in America who understands when I say, "I was at the KSRTC stand and a goat drank my tea."
After Emily's departure I had one week back in Kottayam before my Indian visa expired and I had to leave the country - what a week though. Tuesday was sports day, which featured departmental tug off way, and the hilarious "slow race" on motorbikes. Wednesday was College Day. Many students presented dances and songs, and even yours truly got on stage for one number with the band "Rockin' Saints."
And then Kat, Beth, Laura and I went to the Maldives. I suppose that deserves some sort of explanation. The plan was always to go to Sri Lanka in February when we needed to renew our passports. Well, one large bombing in the Colombo railways station put and end to those plans, so at the last minute we diverted our trip to the next closest country, the Maldives. The Maldives is only about an hour flight from Trivandrum, but it's a whole world away. No, that is not their tourism slogan, though it would be a good one, it's simply the truth of it. Flying into the capital island, Male, was an impressive sight. The sea below us was dotted with dozens of islands; a green forrest nucleus, a white sand beach cell wall, azure sea ectoplasm and a rich blue … look I haven't had cellular biology since 9th grade. You get the idea anyway; it was really cool looking.
We did face one large problem upon arrival to the Maldives – a complete lack of cash. Our budget would have suited us quite well for Sri Lanka, but in a land where the economy literally floats atop a sea of tourism, bargains were hard to find. We did find a relatively cheap place to stay. The toilets reflected this cheapness by utterly refusing to function properly, but we managed. We also had trouble finding a beach, which is astounding being in a country with 1,190 islands. The problem was that most beaches were privately owned by resorts, and to use a resort beach you had to pay their (exorbitant) fee. Ah ha, but we got creative. We took a passenger ferry to a local island, one not controlled by a resort, and spent two glorious days enjoying a half a mile of beach, and an expanse of shimmering blue water all to ourselves. We also smuggled ourselves aboard a SCUBA boat and snorkeled over a beautiful coral wall, visited the national art museum, discovered how and where the locals eat and, my favorite, enjoyed relaxing for hours in a coffee shop, sipping an actual cup of coffee. That coffee thing may seem like a trifle, but after six months of limited access to western style coffee and no access to western style "just sit and read for an hour" coffee shops, it felt like a huge luxury.
That's it for now. Keep checking my blog for periodic updates, and don't forget to look at the updates to my web album. Ya, no Maldives picks yet. They will come.

KNH (Kindernothilfe) Hostel (Bala Bhavan) in Kanam

I've alluded to the rascals many times, but now I officially present to you the boys of KNH Hostel in their very own article.
Since sometime in late October I've been visiting KNH Hostel. The KNH actually stands for a German word, Kindernothilfe, which means "Helping poor children." KNH Hostel is also often referred to as Bala Bhavan, which means "boy's home." I normally just say, "I'm going to Kanam," Kanam being the village where the hostel is located. This hostel is home to about 60 boys ranging for elementary school age to college age. It is a place for boys who, for one reason or another, cannot study and live at home. Some of the children are orphaned; others come from poor households that cannot accommodate the expenses of schooling a child. Though almost every one of these children comes with a heart-breaking story of their own, my visits there have (almost) always been extremely joyful affairs. The boys are full of life and energy, lots of smiles and they are never shy to teach me some new tricks.
The first time I visited Kanam was something of a traumatic experience. Once my conversation with Mercy Miss, the head warden of the hostel, ended, children overran me. "WHATISYOURNAME?" "HOWAREYOUIAMFINETHANKYOU!" "WHEREAREYOUGOING?" I answered as best as I could while trying to manage five or six handshakes at a time. Thomas, another one of the wardens, shooed away the younger children and so I was left alone with just a few of the older boys. We sat down together in the main courtyard and started to learn about each other. I asked them their names, what they're studying, which is their favorite subject, etc. They answered politely, and then scrutinized me at length in Malayalam. Finally, one the oldest boys, Subin, paused, gave me a good once over and proclaimed, "You have a very large nose." "Yes and you have a very large mouth" I thought to myself. This cat and mouse game of dialogue finally came to a close when I saw it was time to catch my bus to Kottayam. I only spent a few hours at the hostel, but at that point, I was convinced that I didn't need to come ever again. Somehow I ended up back the following week.
I'm glad to say that the first visit was the only one where I actually feared for my life. Each time I went back to Kanam I enjoyed it a little more and a little more. Now I can say that it's probably my favorite weekly activity. I absolutely adore those guys. I go when I have time, usually on the weekends, and stay from one to three days at a time.
My daily activities there are basically split into two categories: time with the little ones and time with the big ones. Time with the little ones usually occupies my early afternoon hours. One common activity is going for "wild" walks. I call these walks "wild" for many reasons. They usually involve walking across many people's private property and entering homes without warning. We also often disturb tourists at a nearby "rustic retreat." To these boys, no land in or around Kanam is off limit and they move about it with incredible confidence. Normally by the time I catch up with one to say, "Deepu, we really shouldn't be in this man's yard" we are already inside his house and drinking a cup of his tea. The strange thing is, most people don't seem to mind the intrusion.
These walks are also a lesson in local flora. They pick literally every flower they see and give it to me; usually the gift comes along with some sort of message like "I love you, Uncle" – incredibly endearing. We also have tasted every edible thing in the nearby forest. We eat oranges the size of a bowling ball, pineapples, the chewy lining of pods dropped for trees, coconuts, and these incredibly sour pink fruits. I always look forward to these walks, but they have been toned down recently. Now Mercy Miss insists that several older boys come along as well. This usually mitigates the wildness by a significant margin.
The other main chunk of time is spent with the big ones. These guys are more the conversational type. We often go for quiet, non-wild walks in the early morning, sometimes not speaking for minutes at a time, but simply enjoying the coolness of the air. At night we often stay up way past curfew and discuss all things Malayali and American. One of our favorite activities is trying to tell jokes. This is an incredibly difficult task.. Most jokes assume some level of inside knowledge of a culture, and also utilize some sort of wordplay so we have to tell each other these jokes using a combination of Malyalam and English. Usually the jokes don't translate and the response to a punch line is only the sound of a cricket chirping in the distance, but occasionally we have a winner. Here's my favorite so far:
"Yesterday (name someone in the room) was trying to get a coconut from the tree by throwing stones at it. He failed because one of the leaves kept getting in the way. So finally he climbed the tree with his machete, cut down the leaf and slide down again, satisfied that he could now dislodge the coconut with a stone."
Now that's a great joke. I'm headed off for Kanam this very afternoon so who know what adventures await me. I'm excited because it's been almost two weeks since my last visit, but no worries, in May when all of the students are off campus, I may just make Kanam my temporary permanent home.