This family still plays music every night at 11 pm, in honor of the closing of the gate. They call it their duty, an obligation from Allah.

Check out Jill’s story here.

Manek Chowk Musicians

At 9:30, I went in to have my teeth checked for cavities. The nurse was washing something at the sink, which turned out to be the dental implements the doctor used in my mouth. So much for disinfection.

I do not have cavities at this time. 

I paid Dr. Tolia Rs. 50 and walked out at 9:35.

I am eternally grateful to AIF and to SAATH for the professional and personal experience that I have had over the past few months. Please check out this quick, 3 minute video to learn more.

You need the following to work in India:

• Frugality – Where a litre of milk costs less than $ 0.50, you gotta get it done cheap.
• Fearlessness – The ability to  face gundas on the street and in your head.
• Blinders – Remember Arjun and the fish’s eye? You will hear no even after you succeed at doing something. Stay focused.
• Ingenuity – Like MacGuyver, you will be required to make enterprises function with just two toothpicks and some dental floss.
• Resilience – It will go wrong approximately 15 times for every once that it goes right.
• A little crazy – Take all the crazy in you and put it together in a safe place because you will need to unleash it.  
• Confidence – This can make up for a lot of things, including incompetence.
• Optimism – So much shit is messed up in this country So many things work differently than in your home country that you HAVE TO trust it will work out, and it does work out.

This is not a comprehensive list. But remember to pack these along with your toothbrush and comb.  Though you can’t expect a pat on the head, you can expect to be fed to excess by coworkers and random aunties. Which may be just as good.

I recently read this article in the NYTimes, A Parish Tested, about Haitian American medical professionals wanting to volunteer in Haiti after the earthquake and finding aid organizations on the ground to be disorganized, unhelpful while the need is overwhelming. Still, they go. And they would go again. Diaspora medical professionals are getting organized, putting together databases of volunteer opportunities, creating links between Haitian students and New York medical schools, and building a hospital.

Similar to the way that the Kutch earthquake pulled together the resources and efforts of the Indian diaspora, I see this as a moment that will pull together and formalize the efforts of Haitians abroad in the pursuit of development. I am interested to see the fruits of these informal efforts 10 or 15 years from now. 

I hope that the Haitian community and the Indian diaspora community will take this opportunity to learn from each other and share best practices. The communities are neighbors all over New York,  in Elmont, Valley Stream and Queens and probably in hospitals throughout the tri-state.  Let’s see what happens.

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With the number of young non-resident Indian (NRI) volunteers at India’s NGOs today, it seems coming to India for service work is a new rite of passage. Manju Sadarangani first came to Kutch, Gujarat to provide relief in the aftermath of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.  She has fond memories of the village boy who wanted to marry her and of the impact she made with just a laptop and a spreadsheet program. Manju was a member of the first group of volunteers sent to Indian NGOs by the American India Foundation. Today, Manju is a political officer for the American Embassy in New Delhi.

The 2001 Kutch earthquake proved to be a galvanizing moment for pan-Indian philanthropy.  In the decade since, a steady supply of diaspora volunteers has come to India’s NGOs to work on service projects, not necessarily in areas where they have familial or linguistic ties. Young NRIs, motivated by the opportunity to be a part of India’s phenomenal growth story, are enhancing India’s vibrant civil society institutions. In the process, they are finding out a lot about identity, development and what it means to “serve.” 

The NRI supply meets a demand among Indian NGOs for professional managerial skills, transparency and fundraising capacity.[1] Young NRIs help apply for funding, set up evaluation systems, and professionalize processes. Their expertise in everything from Excel to English is valued for shaping strategies and implementing programs. However, both the organization and the individual deal with the frustration of unmet expectations.  Indian NGOs can struggle to effectively maximize a volunteer’s skill and time, or resist change from the outside.  Former volunteer Sanjana says, “I sort of got lost trying to figure out how to use my skills [at the NGO].” 

NGOs are equally frustrated by the assumptions and priorities of volunteers. Volunteers in general have knowledge of how things “should” work, and may not be as open to figuring out how things can and do work in the Indian context. NRI volunteers in particular carry assumptions about India they’ve picked up in the India-in-exile of their birth. But because channels are open, learning takes place. The greatest, albeit tangential, contribution NRI volunteers are making is enhancing NGOs capacity to utilize outsiders. For example, Seva Mandir in Udaipur hosts over 100 volunteers each year, and has a formal training program, housing and support services for volunteers.

To meet a need for structured support on both sides, formal exchange programs for young people from the West facilitate volunteer opportunities in India.  Among the more professionally-oriented programs are the American India Foundation’s Clinton Fellowship, the Deshpande Foundation’s Sandbox Fellowship and the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy’s Paropkaar Volunteers program.  Identity and the search for self is a motivator for many NRI volunteers.  Programs like Indicorps and the UK-based ConnectIndia have a more explicit focus on personal development through service for people of Indian origin. As former volunteers go on to work in the development sector, exchanges help launch new organizations and social ventures, bolstering India’s vibrant civil society institutions and changing attitudes towards philanthropy and volunteerism. Back at home volunteers are also moving the diaspora’s giving to India away from financial support of religious and education causes towards strategic engagement for social and economic development.

Charlie & King Tailor

King Tailors is a little men’s tailoring shop on Vijay Char Rasta, next to Le Souk that new Mediterranean restaurant [btw - a good place for Hummus, if you need a fix].  I first met the proprietor when my fellow fellow, Charlie, visited Ahmedabad. Charlie wanted to make a pair of Indian formal clothes, in the Narendra Modi-style Indian politician look . After two days of Khadi shopping, we needed a tailor. So, I called my friend, Bernard, who referred us to King Tailor.  He knows everyone in this town.

King Tailor is the MAN.  His stuff fits like a dream, and he remembers people. With his unpatented, low-tech filing system, if you go back 5 years from now, he’ll still be able to find your measurements and cut you a perfect pair of pants.  He’s from Jamnagar, in Saurastra and his theory on tailoring is simple — if I give you great products in a timely fashion at an honest price, you will come back, and maybe bring your friends. And it works. To date, I have referred three people to King Tailors [including my dad, who is very particular about his clothing], and counting. King Tailor is a funny guy, talking about how hard it is to marry off daughters and how he used to keep workers in his 4′ x 8′ shop, except things would go missing. If you’re in the market for a men’s tailor, check out King Tailor. 

However, if–like me–you’re looking for a ladies tailor, I have no idea.

Neelu was our key to the Mumbai party scene.  We had initially misjudged and dismissed him after he directed us to meet in an abandoned industrial park and pay 750-rupee cover to enter an empty bar.  But over the course of three days at the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Neelu proved to be a gentleman.  Alisa was particularly impressed with the manly way he yelled, in broken Hindi, at a cab driver who wanted to rip us off.

Thanks, Neelu. I hope your apartment is finally clean.

Neelu

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. Used with permission.

I met Nitesh in late 2009 at a Cafe Coffee Day (CCD!) on Judges Bungalow Road. A group of over 20 Amdavadis and expats had migrated there after watching 2012.  He was unobtrusive, diffident as he snapped photos from the corner. I went up to him and was like, “Hi, who are you?”  And before he could respond, someone answered, “Nitesh is a photographer!”  Nitesh documents events, and captures moments and women he meets in his work.  He takes the kinds of photographs that reveal an essential truth about their subject.  

Nitesh left Ahmedabad for Mumbai just a few weeks after we met.  He’s now the official photographer of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival and blueFROG  (till Feb 2010).  Before he left,  we met at Natarani for a Shamiana film screening. Nitesh handed each of us a signed postcard summing up his Ahmedabad experience.  “Why make change alone, if together we can all make bigger change,” he said. “This is what I have started believing in Ahmedabad.”  I had never thought of Ahmedabad as a transformational city. But then, I had never given it a chance. Nitesh’s experience is a lesson in the possibility contained in each moment.

It took time for Nitesh to find the possibility in this city.  He came to Ahmedabad after 10th grade, drifted for 3 years, and eventually dropped out of his B.Comm. course.  He spent most of his time volunteering around the city – at Zen Cafe, Seva Cafe, Manav Sadhna, local arts organizations, and raising money for causes with his camera.  Seva Cafe and Zen Cafe at CEPT are still his favorite hangouts in this town.  Ahmedabad opened to him; he became a journalist with DNA and Indian Express, and a professional photographer [freelance].  He says, “I discovered photography and camera as a way to share and capture moments, things, events with the world.”

Nitesh’s life philosophy, presented in this postcard, informs his work. It’s a great message to those of us still searching.

Nitesh Nitesh:  Photographer // Journalist // Activist // Social Entrepreneur

 To see more of Nitesh’s work and connect, check out his Facebook page.

That's Lu on the left.

Luciana’s an intern from Brazil, via Germany. She’s with SAATH as part of her master’s in Architecture and Planning.

Thanks, Luciana, for sharing lunches, for always being up for interesting things, for your bubbly personality. Thanks, also, for your generous contributions to the SAATH blog.   I will miss you.  Hope you’ll come back soon, or else that I’ll find a chance to visit Germany.