News Flash: Wedding Shopping Break in Delhi!

Day 1: Chandni Chowk
On Thursday we had no plans for the weekend and by Friday we had set in motion a 2 day trip to Delhi. Early Saturday morning my mom, Anitha, Geetu didi (cousin-sister), and I set off towards the capital city, Delhi, in search of vibrant shops and finger licking good food.  First stop, Chandni Chowk!!

Chandni Chowk literally means "moonlit market."  It was part of the mughal city (in what is now Old Delhi) enclosed by the humongous red fort.  Built in 1650AD by the mughal emperor Shah Jahan, one of the city's main streets was Chandni Chowk.  Today it is one of the oldest markets hustling and bustling with constant activity.  The busy street is lined with stores and all the offshoot gallis (alleyways) have shops as far as the eye can see.  These narrow gallis create a maze where one would not surface for days.
First, we visited Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib Ji.  It is a very historical place in the Sikh religion because Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji (9th guru) was beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam in 1675AD.  After some quick praying and some parshad (umm ofcourse!) it was off to shop!

This market is a designer's dream with everything from gold buttons of any size to fabric of every shade to an array of bangles and beads.  It felt like an unreal world (almost like Disney World Anitha said).  Not only were the sights stunning (I won't forget to mention the criss cross of electric wires that seemed to hold the whole market together) but the sounds heightened the senses.  Car horns blaring in the distance to scooters zipping through the alleys, there was always some sort of commotion. 

We were so lucky to have a guide with us that seemed to know Chandni Chowk like the back of his hand.  As we whipped through the narrow gallis we suddenly stopped in front of this two story shop: Om Prakash.  This was the first stop to find the ultimate wedding reception sari (traditional indian outfit).   We saw numerous colors and I tried on more saris than I can count.  And then there was one.  The minute I tried it on I felt like a bride.  Besides finding 'my' sari I was amazed by the beautiful selection this store had.  Each piece burst with color and elegance.  It was one of the best stores that I had been to so far and it was packed with people!  How does one even find this place?  Afterwards we visited a couple more shops but nothing else compared.  We hopped on a cycle rickshaw for the trip back to the car.  As the day was winding down it seemed we had walked for miles and that the shops went on forever.  But then... Right when you think the shops will never end, a small plaque declares a heritage site of a Jain temple tucked away in the deep recesses of the market never to be found again... 

Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib Ji in Chandni Chowk

Famous for their Dahi Vadas

One of the gallis of Chandni Chowk

Riding in a cycle rickshaw in bumper to bumper traffic!

Blog me this...

hmm we've been slacking a little on the blogging...lo siento amigos!

So the last week has been pretty eventful. We met Dr. S & finalized our projects, moved into a new makeshift classroom, went to a YTTS staff meeting, shopped our asses off in delhi (i bought shoes and a sword), and then topped the week off with the best indian-chinese-kashmiri food EVER (crispy curried lotus stems anyone?!?).

We finally met with Dr. S on Tuesday to go over our observations and ideas for YTTS. She was running on Indian Standard Time (I.S.T) and made us wait for an hour before she decided to show up. The wait especially sucked because we had to sit there and listen to Col.BD* talk about his ideas for YTTS. Imagine stereotypical machismo indian uncle who refuses to listen. Ya, no thanks. Finally Dr. S showed up and we were able to go over our ideas and suggestions for our internship. Luckily, she was receptive and ended up giving us complete freedom to develop a needs assessment and outlines for community education workshops.

Thursday we were invited last minute to a monthly salary meeting, which is a meeting where the staff talk about site issues and receive their monthly paychecks. Dr. S was once again late, this time clocking in at a record 2 hours past time. But she's such an easygoing & likable person that you can't stay mad at her...plus she brings her teenage son everywhere so she's got the whole 'mom' thing going on. The staff meeting ended with a traditional Langar (lunch) with our partners in crime Kamleshji and Neelamji...(*sigh* always the photographer, never the photographed)

Friday we went to Badmajra to meet with Neelamji. Lakhvirji (our regular autorickshaw driver) picked us up in the morning and dropped us off at the new location for the classroom. The new place consisted of a two room building that ended up having a drunk sleeping off his hangover in one room and the other room having a dangerously loose ceiling fan that threatened to chop off anyone's head who neared it--but the heat was unbearable so we turned it on anyway and watched it rumble and shake. The drunk eventually left and we were free to clean up the space with a rug, some chairs, and a portable fan. The new classroom was definitely a step down from where the class was originally held. We tried to find out the reason for the move but Neelamji was kind of sketch and said that it was because one of the neighbors (a teen girl) would distract the kids from studying. I don't know, it just sounded strange to me--how could a 15 yr old girl force a routinely held community classroom to move locations? We couldn't get a better explanation, and the language barrier didn't help either. At the end of the day we still had a packed classroom & the children were happy to learn the day's lesson-- which is def what makes my heart smile (that and jalebi's).

Stay posted for our adventures in Delhi!

*names have been changed to protect the guilty

What is the biggest health problem in your community?

The focus of our field works is maternal and child health.  We were privileged to conduct two group sessions with groups of 10-15 ladies to obtain a snapshot of the health status in Bad Majra.  We asked questions such as: Did most of your deliveries occur at home or in the hospital?  Why didn't you deliver at the hospital since it is free? Did you use midwifes during your home deliveries? Did you take prenatal vitamins?  Most answers were as we expected except one: What do you think is the biggest health problem in your community?  While glancing at one another, the ladies answered, "Nothing really except in the summers we get heat rash."  This took us aback considering all around us were signs of malnutrition, anemic pregnant mothers, and vitamin deficiency.  It was also clear that most children had diarrhea.  In fact in one of our group discussions, one of the toddlers proceeded to defecate showing serious signs of diarrhea.
The age old saying "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind.  The predicament for us now is if the population thinks they have no health problems, are we coming in and creating new ones for them by pointing out things they are ignorant of?  Infant mortality in Punjab is currently 38 per 1000 live births which is much higher than the government goal of 30 per 1000.  So we, as educated public health students, know that ignorance is NOT bliss because people are dying unnecessarily due to preventable causes.  How do YOU think we can address the imbalance between perceived happiness and reality??

Crate&Prairie

Our meeting with Dr. Sangeeta (our supervisor) got cancelled yesterday so we decided to check out this small cafe in Sector 10. Willow Cafe didn't look like much from the outside, but once we stepped in and went downstairs we were blown away. The decor was a mix between little house on the prairie and crate&barrel. I know it sounds like a weird hybrid but it totally worked. We took advantage of the cute location for a quick photo op...

To chicken wing or not to chicken wing...

The other evening we ate at a restaurant called Bistro.  It was mostly American style food with an Indian twist.  The chef recommended chicken wings to go along with our Kingfisher Ultras and we were SKEPTICAL to say the least.  When these tasty morsels arrived, the mixture of sweet and tangy with Indian spices was irresistable.  It brought tears to my eyes (well at least the spiciness did).

  

Early Monsoon?

I woke up to the sounds of pouring rain.  As I groggily looked outside, it was quite dreary.  “Should we go to work today? Do people take a holiday when it pours like this?” We had heard that rain in Chandigarh is quite spotty so it may not be raining in our work area.  Anitha and I decided that making the trek in the rain to Bandmajra would be well worth it.  We called a radio taxi and promptly departed from Sector 10 (though Nanaji offered to drive again haha).  The rain only got worse as we were making the half hour journey to Mohali (the city where Bandmajra is located).  The dirt road began and our taxi driver dropped us off about a mile from the entrance.  By the time we arrived at the center we were both soaking wet.  We (tried) dried off inside and once the rain subsided Neelam Ji and Kamlesh Ji took us for a walk around Guru Nanak Colony (colony right beside Rajaram colony where the center is located).  There were fields full of green vegetables and sumptuous fruit trees in parts of Guru Nanak colony.  We stopped at their quaint local Gurudwara (Sikh temple) and had some parshad (blessed, sweet brown sugary goodness).  Then we went to the lunch (langar) at the Gurudwara afterwards which consisted of daal (lentils), phulka (tortilla), and sweet milk.  They served mango for dessert YUM! (that is one thing that I love about langar that everyone and anyone is welcome)  As we walked back to the center we came to know that the man living right next door, whose daughters come to the tutoring sessions, drives an auto rickshaw.  We made arrangements with him to pick us up from our house in Sector 10 and drop us right in front of the center which saves us the walk through the blistering heat AND sometimes the pouring rain.  Anitha and I happily took the auto rickshaw home.  It was quite a bumpy ride at times—at one point Anitha almost bounced right out of the rickshaw—but overall we were so thankful we could give back by hiring the rickshaw driver from the very community we are trying to help :)

A pomegranate tree that we stumbled upon growing inside someone's yard. We resisted the urge to pick it.

This also made my heart tingle...but that was probably from the spike in cholesterol..