We took a couple days off of work to be tourists for a little while.
First stop: Dharamshala/McLeodGunj! This is where the Dalai Lama fled when the Chinese invaded Tibet. Its a beautiful little mountain town and really popular among western tourists wanting to learn yoga and meditation and see the Dalai Lama (he comes a couple times a year). The town just had such a great mix of people.... Tibetan monks and western hippie yoga fanatics mixed with indian locals....pretty cool vibe, but totally unlike the rest of India that we experienced!
some signs in mcleodgunj
candles inside the Tibetian Temple...i would have taken pics of the more colorful areas but they were prohibited for religious purposes!
and stopped by Agra to see the Taj...
the Taj!
the gang
And the Agra Fort, remains of the Mogul Dynasty
from the back of the fort we could look out and see the Taj in the distance.
little dear with crazy horns that was hangin out at the fort hoping we'd throw him some magic masala chips
the buildings were decorated with beautiful geometric patterns- some painted, some marble inlay
talking with women from one of Arpana's Women's Empowerment groups
In the final stage of our research we spent 3 days in Chandigarh, which is a rather large city about three hours southeast of Gajnoi. Chandigarh is known for being the first planned city in India. The city is divided up into blocks, each of which is supposed to be able to independently support the needs of its residents (a little market and essential facilities in each block). The layout of the city was actually designed by a French guy!
Each day we commuted to Baddi, an industrial area a little north of Chandigarh. Here we interviewed human resource officers from several different companies to discuss employment practices. We visited Colgate-Palmolive (maybe your toothpaste was made here!), Proctor & Gamble, TVS (they make motorcycles) and a couple other factories. Our objective was to learn more about the qualities they look for in employees and what their experiences had been like with employees from rural areas.
The Arpana Medical Center in Madhuban
Then we spent a couple days at Arpana’s Headquarters in Madhuban! We toured their hospital facilities, talked with some of the women in their women’s empowerment program, met some ladies who started a local dairy cooperative (and got to try some fresh paneer and a new cookie recipe they were trying out), and shared our project with more of the Arpana family.
driving through the rice paddies
Now we’re back in Delhi. We’ve spent the last couple of days hoping between coffee shops, staring at computer screens, and writing up a report of all our data. Right now we’re pushing over 60 pages! Crazy, but we have a lot of information. Tonight we’ll make some final revisions before everyone goes their separate ways on Friday.
anddddd drumroll please, its time for installation numbero dos.
and dont forget, WARNING: the following comments include numerous generalizations based on my extremely brief experiences, so take it with a grain of salt. J
1. Thumbs Up. Thumbs Up is india's version of coke. and it basically tastes just like coke, but with just a twinge of masala (indian spices). When you walk through town there are just tons of little stands selling drinks and snacks and things...most places will give you the option of plastic bottles which you can carry away, or glass bottles which you drink on the spot and then give back (empty) to the stand owner. So environmentally friendly!
2. Signage. India just has some really great signs. Some are punny. Some use funny "indian english" and some, like this one, are just....one of a kind.
What is vegetarian mama food? Good question. All I know is its probably deep-fried and delicious.
can you beat that? haha. BRO stands for "boarder road organization" or something to that effect. Photo credit goes to
julian :)
photo credit to julian, notice the mighty mustash as well.
3. Do you need to go to the complaint room? Thats what I thought.
4. Vehicle Decor. If I say "tractor trailer" you probably think of a big boring white truck. Well i guess we do have some colorful ones, but not like India. In india, trucks (or "Goods Carriers" as they are more commonly called) are basically hand painted works of art. Bright colors, hand painted words, flowers, and designs, tops overloaded with goods so that often there's a foot or so of brick or hay or something that extends over the sides of the vehicle, somehow stabilized by ropes...
5. Rickshaws. You can experience nearly every mode of transportation known to mankind on the of Delhi. Mercedes and "Good Carrier" share the streets with cows, bikers, and donkeys attached to wagons carrying oversized loads of hay, veggies, and bricks. Quite diverse. And this is not just on the small streets, this is on major roads, you'll just be driving kinda fast and then...oh whoops, guess we better swerve around that donkey... Its great.
BUT in my opinion, the best way to travel is definitely by auto rickshaw. These are little open-air, three-wheeled taxis that run on compressed natural gas. The drivers almost always try to charge you way more than they should, and don't like to use the meters, but its just so much fun.
Ingrid and i had the pleasure of riding in a rickshaw with some nice retro pink upholstery. snazzy!
6. Nimbupani is this amazingly simple and delicious drink that you can get just about anywhere...its basically fresh lemonade but made with this indian fruit thats the color of a lime, but technically is a lemon, but tastes more like an orange...anyways they're really good. You can also get it made with sparkly water and you have to specify if you want them to add sugar or SALT. A lot of people really like it with salt! I think its a bit funky, so i just stick with plain sugar.
7. Environmentalists? There is a lot of pollution in India, but there are tons of signs encouraging people to be kind to mother earth... "Green Chamba, Clean Chamba" signs make popular road decorations. But this one is my favorite:
