After a very long two days of flying, I finally made it back to beautiful Heidelberg. It didn’t hit me until we were touching down in Frankfurt that I had left India. Suddenly the past four months felt like a dream and I immediately starting crying. Back in India, I kept waiting for the tears to come as I was saying goodbye to my friends in Pune, but we ended up more joking around and laughing. I was almost upset with myself because I wanted to let my friends know how much they meant to me. I guess, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time I see most of them, but my arrival in Frankfurt did signify the end of an incredible phase of my life. Next time I see them we will all likely be different – married, different jobs, more travel experience… 

I went to India alone, not knowing what to expect. I didn’t really like Pune the first couple weeks and had one of the worst cases of the flu in my life. My family and fiancé, Alex, felt so far away and I didn’t know how to handle India. I also didn’t know what exactly was happening with my career or if I even wanted to stay in my field. There was a lot of uncertainty in my life and I questioned whether I had made the right choice in coming to India. After recovering though I finally made it to a capoeira class where I met the wonderful and amazing Bond, Manoj, Sagar, and Sachin. I came home that night and told Alex that I would be ok – I had found my crowd, (and chiko
  chocolate milkshakes). That first night with Capoeira Pune I felt like I immediately fit in and that I had known these gentlemen for much longer than a day. Ana, who was out of town at a meditation retreat, returned the next week and I felt the same way about her. She was far different than the other expats I had met in Pune. She was learning Hindi, had an appreciation for both the good and bad about India, tried her best to assimilate into India culture and make Indian friends, and adopted I think what are the best aspects of Indian culture and capoeira: share what you have with your friends and family and don’t expect anything back, always challenge beliefs and actions you don’t agree with, and be open to new experiences. Over time I met other people new and old to the Capoeira Pune circle who became my travel buddies, my partners in crime, and ultimately long-term friends. As an army brat, I’ve moved around my entire life and I think it’s incredibly rare to meet someone that you feel a strong connection with. But here in Pune, I felt that way with this entire group of people. 

I learned some invaluable lessons from this group. For one, I learned how rigid I had let my life become living in Washington DC. I had become very dependent on scheduling – spontaneous planning and meeting of friends was difficult because I was so tied to my work, running, and capoeira schedule. I also realized how possessive I was of my time and things. I think this is pretty typical of Americans – we strongly believe in our right to
what’s ours and don’t like to share. If you give something you expect something back in return. This mentality just doesn’t work in India. People grow up sharing everything they have with their friends and family: food, toys,
whatever. The sense of family is also stronger, which I’m sure can be annoying in many ways because not only is your nuclear family in your business, but so is your extended family. Friends and family are also incredibly good at keeping track of each other, which can seem nosy sometimes. Why do you need to know where I’m going?? But in a country where anything can happen, it’s important to have tabs on the people you love. My second trip out to Kumbharwadi I asked my colleagues what the word was for thank you. They scrunched their faces a bit and looked at each other and said there are a few words but we really don’t say that here. Why I asked! Because it’s expected that you do right by each other and open doors, share your food, offer your jacket or scarf, take someone home or to the airport. While there are certainly many frustrating things about living in  India, I think this lesson makes up for a lot. I decided at that point to let myself go a little and try to be more spontaneous and open about sharing and never regretted it. It’s ok to depend on your friends and because one day they’ll need to depend on you. One thing we sorely lack in America is this sense of community. We don’t take good enough care of each other. But what could possibly be more important in life than your relationships with friends and family? 

On my last night in Pune, I went to capoeira class with a very heavy weight in my heart. This would be the last class and juice night with my friends (after every capoeira class our entire groups meets for juice and milkshaeks at a local restaurant). These were friends who had taken care of me –made sure I always had a safe ride home, made sure I got the gifts I needed for my family and enjoyed the best foods from Marahashtra, made sure I always had someone to depend on and to laugh with. As Ana and I pulled up to class, there were Manoj and Sagar (who had come back early from their vacation for the event) and all my other friends. It was the biggest class we had had in awhile b/c so many people were out on vacation or at friends’ weddings. Luckily, most of them were able to make it that night and I got to play in the roda with them one last time. At the juice place, they surprised with a few gifts and a beautiful card. And even though my flight was at 5:30 AM, my closest friends even got their butts out of bed at 2:30 AM to take me to the airport. We hopped on their motorbikes and someone brought my very heavy, gift-laden suitcases, to the airport. And yes it did feel like that scene in Harry Potter where they were moving Harry to Ron’s late at night for safety. I will never forget this kind of kindness and generosity. I'll miss riding around on two-wheelers through the city, meeting up for capoeira or crossfit practices in the park and having Sima bite my hair, watching Rocky Horror Picture Show on Shreyank's floor, slumber parties at Ana's, amazing discussions about reservations and Indian culture over coffee and beer, train rides through India with "samosasamosasamosabiryanibuyranibiryani", monkeys stealing bananas, Shakespeare in Hindi, filming Succuri's documentary, learning all the choice Hindi words to say to my Indian friends back home, and so so many other things. So thanks so much to Ana, Sachin, Manoj, Sagar, Gayatri, Arjun, Succuri, Shantanu R., Vipin, Minto, Shreyank, Sarah, Bond, Shantanu P., Bhargav, Vineet, Ritesh, Ishaan, Virendra, and Aritra!! 

See you in the roda, chutiyas!!! (Shutup Ana!!!!)

I’m wrapping up my work here in the WOTR office in Pune –which I haven’t described adequately enough in my blog. The WOTR Pune office is the main headquarters. WOTR actually has lots of small field offices all over India including Sangamner and Hyderabad. There are about 30 people in the Pune office and we’re located on a very busy street (Satara Rd) with lots of honking and unfortunately little variety of restaurants and shopping. This is a developing area of Pune located on the outskirts. The nice thing about the office is the beautiful patio, which the Executive Director, Marcella D’Souza, maintains. We all eat lunch and have tea out here amongst the potted plants and blackbirds.

It’s a very quiet work environment. There are only a few offices so the rest of us sit in a communal area. No eating or drinking inside (except water), very minimal conversation outside of the 2 conference rooms, and web
browsing is very controlled. Most of the staff speak some English but mostly they speak in Hindi or Marathi (local language of Maharashtra). It’s actually a pretty depressing work environment because it feels very lonely here! 

There are a few staff members I’ve connected with and traveled with that I will miss and plan to stay in touch with. It’s been great exchanging cultural experiences with them and hearing about their work and the challenges they face in working with villages. WOTR’s website really doesn’t do it justice with all the innovative work they’re doing. The organization has truly pioneered the concept of watershed development in India. The government frequently turns to them for advice on how best to work with watersheds in arid and semi-arid regions of India. I’ve already described their work on watershed development – now WOTR is focusing on helping villages to manage near-term climate change risks (namely, drought and temperature and precipitation fluctuations). They are developing some very innovative land treatments and technologies (like solar parabolic cookers and hot water challahs), and some great software to track their efforts and weather patterns. People at WOTR work here because they care about these issues. Some people have been educated abroad and could make a much better salary but they choose to work with rural villages for a fraction of the salary.

Overall, the experience has been incredibly good for me. It’s provided invaluable insight into the institution of the Indian village, the challenges of doing small-scale development, and Indian work and village culture. Here are some of the cultural lessons I’ve learned:
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1. To work with villages here you have to understand the cultural and religious sensitivities – and these vary by village, state, and region. WOTR is very good at framing its messages in ways that respect the villagers lifestyle and religion, which can be tricky when you’re talking about things like female empowerment. WOTR will actually frame its messages using stories from the Hindu relgion to connect with the villagers. They also use meditation as a way to help villagers visualize the future they want.

2. It's vey important to build good  work relationships. Don’t expect fast responses to your emails. It might take
meeting someone in person a few times before they even register your emails on their agenda. Once you’re in though – it gets much better. 
        
3. Eat with your coworkers! You’ll get much better food that way. It’s pretty typical here to get tiffin service (homemade Indian food delivery). For 25 Rs I get 4 chapati and a vegetable dish which is always delicious. My coworkers often bring food from home so at lunch, everyone passes around their food and you get to taste  everything! If you eat alone you’re stuck with your one vegetable dish. Also- only eat with your right hand! (the other hand might have poo on it or even if it doesn’t, it’s disrespectful to eat with your left hand).
      
4. Don’t be a showoff. This is especially true if you’re coming from a developed country. I tried to correct a coworkers paper which had horrible grammar and structure. After I showed the bleeding draft back to her I basically didn’t hear from her again. It’s important to keep in mind too that Indians are learning British English.
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5. Adjust to a new work week – most people work 6 day workweeks and sometimes even longer days. I was
lucky in that I only committed to a 5 day workweek. But here, people take more frequent breaks. Tea in the morning, mid-afternoon, and late afternoon, plus a 30 min lunch break. 

6. If you go on vacation, you're basically expected to bring back gifts for your coworkers and friends. Food is a pretty typical gift.

Today I wrapped up one of my big tasks: completing a cost-benefit analysis of a watershed development project in the Kumbharwadi watershed that includes climate change adaptation treatments. It had a good reception and I’ll be evaluating more villages in the future! It’s made me realize that while I like doing this kind of work, I really want to work more directly with people on policy. That’s where the action is and for India, where the greatest challenge lies.

I recently paid a couple visit to Mumbai to check out the capoeira scene and see more of the infamous home of Bollywood. The people I met there and the work they’re doing reinforced my belief not only in the power of capoeira to build a sense of community and self-confidence, but in the importance of giving back. 

After the three hour train ride from Pune, I met up with Succuri (Sunil) and Chico (Shantanu) to help with a 3 day capoeira workshop for youth members of a Catholic parish. These two teach capoeira to a variety of groups but their passion lies in the work they do for underprivileged children in the city. After the workshop, over beer at their post-workout hangout, The Yacht (dive Indian restaurant with lots of cold Kingfisher beer), they filled me in on some of the work they’re doing. Succuri teaches capoeira at a local orphanage and assists Chico with a project that local Capoeiristas have started in the Bainganwadi slum in Shivaji Nagar, Mumbai. Despite having a secure job and international work experience, Shantanu quit his office job to start “Familia de Ouro” in the Bainganwadi slum. Chico and his fellow capoeiristas dedicate a good deal of their time to not only teaching weekly capoeira classes to a group of about 20 kids, but also to conducting vocational training, arts
and crafts, and teaching English (despite being taught English in their schools, many children that live in slums in India can barely speak, read, or comprehend English - meaning they will never catch up or have the same opportunities as their peers living outside the slums).  

The slums of Mumbai are notorious for poor water quality and sanitation, insufficient water supply, malnutrition, poverty, and crime. Recently, it was discovered that Bainganwadi was receiving only half of its allotted water supply due to government neglect and improper implementation of water supply plans. For these areas, it’s not uncommon that infrastructure upgrades and water supply lines are installed piece-meal and only during election season– after the election is over, the work stops. For the 500,000 residents of Shivaji Nagar, they have been promised a supply of regular water supply for two decades – but today residents still struggle to meet daily water needs and many resort to using sewage water.  As a result, slum residents suffer from tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera, etc…Many children can’t go to school because of water insecurity. Bainganwadi also holds the largest landfill in the city – many residents earn or supplement their income by
digging through the landfill for recycling and food. 

Succuri took me to Bainganwadi that Sunday – we joined a group of about 10 kids that day who were eager to learn capoeira. In capoeira, students are given a nickname or “apelito” based on their personality or the way they move in the game: Pimenta (hot pepper) was named for her temper; Raposa or “fox” was named for her slyness. As Succuri helped the kids with backflips (something I’ll probably never be able to do), I marveled not only at how great he was teaching these kids, but how happy they were in that moment and so eager to
learn. Capoeira and these amazing mentors are developing these kids into role models for their community. Simply having someone you know you can rely on is a big deal – but now these kids are developing faith in their talents and in each other. All this I could see from one visit. It’s enough to make you quit your job and move to Bombay…

Check out this other article written on the group: http://www.awolau.org/2012/03/08/dancing-across-cultures-youth-in-india-learn-brazilian-capoeira/.