First Week in India

I safely arrived in New Delhi on July 6th, 2008 after my flight heading west from LAX with a layover of 3 hours in Taiwan. While in the LAX airport I met an Indian woman and her daughter who were also on the day long flight to New Delhi--and we quickly bonded and kept each other company. The mother taught me a few useful Hindi phrases, one of which was "shukriya" which, when I later tried to use it in Dharamsala came out sounding like "shakira"--a mispronunciation which resulted in both the Indian to whom I was speaking to and myself laughing at my difficulty in pronouncing the word.

When I arrived to New Delhi, I was picked up by the Cross Cultural Solutions taxi driver Jessy who took me on my first car ride through the streets of New Delhi to the CCS base. We passed by cows, hundreds of Indians walking around the streets and hundreds of cars jam packed on the streets. I met up with my group of UCSD Alternative Break volunteers soon thereafter at a restaurant and had the welcoming of royalty. Every one's faces lit up when they saw me walk up to the table and we were all pleased to all be together in India after a year of planning and fund raising back in San Diego.


New Delhi was a beautiful city, which I have learned is referred to as "the heart of India" (Vindra, a housewife in my Women's Group here in Dharamsala, explained this to me). The buildings were reminiscent of the cement buildings in the immigrant areas in the outskirts of Catalonia, Spain and even reminded me of pictures that I have seen of cement buildings in Egypt. There were 6 story buildings which, from the outside offered very little aesthetically; although, upon entering into the heart of the buildings, one would notice that the couches, tables, sinks, refrigerators, televisions, toilets, and air conditioning made quite the spacious and comfortable living-quarters. Appliances, furniture, and architecture were not as modern as in the United States, but I still found my particular living space more than comfortable. Sewage and trash are more present and visible here in India, a part of India which has been referred to here as "India's inheritance for being a ten thousand year old civilization." India is colorful and India has strong smells. India is bold and India is aged with wisdom.

Our first view of Dharamsala from the airplane that we took from New Delhi. The thick layer of clouds dispersed bringing a crisp view of the Himalayan mountain range into focus. It was breathtaking and, quite frankly, still is. We landed at the base of the mountain range and took taxis up to the lower mountain range in Dharamsala where we later hiked up even further to the CCS base atop a mountain. It's a steep climb up to our headquarters and the dirt roads are narrow and windy. The houses scattered along the mountains surrounding us are very modest and the water "gutter" continuously guides the rainwater down to the base of the mountain. It rains an average of two times a day and the fog rolls in and out precipitating the rain showers. It is humid and oscillates between warm and cold temperatures. Fans and air conditioning are available at ATMs, at our dining facilities, work offices, bed rooms, and certain shops in the market. We are living in this quaint mountain range with colorful decorations everywhere and a humble lifestyle where life is simple and slow-paced. Many areas would be labeled as "impoverished" by Western standards, but despite the poverty, the people walk around content and with joy--their bodies, countenances, faces, and interactions with each other are joyous. (I have come to really appreciate the head nod where one repeatedly leans one ear towards their shoulder and then the other ear towards the other shoulder.)

The CCS staff are amazing. They prepare delicious, safe food for us; they orient us into the Indian community around us; they paired all of us with ongoing volunteer projects within Dharamsala; and they have been at our beck and call these last few days driving members of our group back and forth to the hospital at all hours of the day. It is common for travelers to get sick in India and 6 people in our group of 12 have already been sick. All have recovered, except for two who are still recovering (one is still in the hospital with pneumonia which was contracted in the US and then made evident upon our first days of adjusting to being in Dharamsala and will hopefully return tomorrow night, and the other is on house arrest and taking antibiotics for a soar throat). Luckily, we have a doctor and two nurses available in our own staff from the United States along with many pre-med students from UCSD. The CCS Indian staff caters to us and has made soup deliveries, hospital check ups, and an ample supply of bottled water available to all of the volunteers.

My placement is with 5 adult housewives (their ages range from 25 to 46)who want to learn Mathematics, English, and computer literacy. There are two groups which are separated by skill levels: one group is knowledgeable of numbers, converses well in English, and are skilled in typing on the keyboard while the other group is knowledgeable of basic addition and subtraction, has limited knowledge of English, and has little computer literacy. My volunteer partner and I have designed a curriculum which caters to each woman's individual skill level. We hope to have the higher skilled women to give a presentation of a book of short stories that they will be writing; likewise, we hope to have the women in the other group perform a skit with addition skills that they can use in the market.

Our group from UCSD and the other volunteers are like family. We are all really enjoying spending time with each other and with Indian community members. Sicknesses, cultural differences, selfless volunteer projects, and adjusting to India have brought all of us close together. My friend referred to being here because of her desire to have "spiritual cleansing"--which I feel truly captures why all of are here in India.

India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and an age-old home to Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam to name just a few religions that all contribute to the spirituality that is intrinsic to the Indian way of life. There is a lot of time to enjoy the scenery, reflect about life, and exist.