Field Visit: Wardha, Waigao: Jan 25-Jan 29

I arrived with Shilpa at around 8:00pm in Wardha. We were met by a bureaucrat at the train station who took us to the government guest house where we would stay for the next two nights before traveling back to Mumbai. In India, “bureaucrat” means the same thing as “public sector employee” in the US and does not necessarily carry the negative connotations of the word “bureaucracy,” which in both countries implies “slow and inefficient work.” He spoke very little English and was not especially chatty in Hindi, either. He was dressed in a light blue button-down shirt, dark slacks, and dark shoes—the classic official dress in any culture, it seems.

After we dropped off our bags in our rooms, the bureaucrat took us to dinner. We sat down on the floor (there were some tables on floor level and some with chairs). Apparently he had already eaten dinner, so it was just Shilpa and I who sat down. The food was great, especially the kofta, a fried ball of chickpea flour in a spicy brown sauce. I am starting to notice more of a difference between the mess food and other outside food that is more flavorful—the mess meals have begun to repeat. That said, I think I could be pretty happy eating rice and dal for lunch every day, just as I ate the same lunch for many years when I took my lunch to school in Seattle. We were traveling in an area of Maharashtra where Shilpa says people usually recognize her as a non-Maharashtrian; many people in the restaurant had never (or very rarely) seen a foreigner before, much less one sitting on the ground eating spicy Indian food with his hands and enjoying it. I was sitting with my back to most of the restaurant, but Shilpa said that many people were staring at our table while we ate—I became a celebrity for a night. One person asked for a picture, in Hindi, and Shilpa told him “after dinner,” but I guess he wanted one of me eating, so he went ahead and took one. I just laughed and kept eating my food. I generally do not mind when people ask to take pictures if I am walking around, but it was a little weird while I was eating. In other cities sometimes people ask for pictures, but usually not in this context. I bet I will have many more stories like this by the time my semester is over.

The next day, January 26^th, was Republic Day in India, their equivalent to the 4^th of July. We first went a government office and participated in their official flag raising ceremony, then were taken to another, larger government office where we again took part in another flag raising ceremony. I do not know what level of offices we visited, but the people we interacted with seemed to be fairly high up. People at both offices were introduced by their positions, not by their names. Often it is difficult for me to catch names when they are said quickly, but it is especially difficult to try and remember names if I never hear the name in the first place! After being shuffled around to a few different rooms in the office, we went to the sports arena in Wardha where there were official ceremonies going on. The Collector (I gather that this rank is somewhere between a Mayor and Governor in the US) was there watching the ceremonies, wearing a large red headdress. The ceremonies included marching by youth organizations, a marching band, and many dancing performances (see pictures below). The dancing was my favorite to watch; there were performances in the traditional styles of many Indian states.

Next, before proceeding to the village of Waigao, we briefly stopped by a bureaucrat’s house where he gave us some green tea. I think it must have been close to the sweetest 2 ounces of Lipton Green Tea ever brewed. There must have been two packets’ worth of sugar in the half-full small cup. This was my third cup of the day—there is a lot of tea that goes around at government offices, especially on Republic Day.

Finally around 11:30 we were on our way to Waigao, the village where we will be installing the next turmeric plant. The village was not a poor one—it looked like people had enough to live and were doing fairly well. There are not nearly as many expenses in village life, so most people making even a small sum of money can live decently. This seemed to be the case in Waigao. A couple bureaucrats, Shilpa, and I then had a meeting with about 40 women of Waigao who are part of self-help groups (SHGs). SHGs, an example of microfinancing, are common in villages across India. They collectively receive a loan from a bank in order to undertake an income-generating activity, then pay a small amount of the loan back each month with low interest. We talked—meaning they had conversations in Hindi and Maharati and I got glimpses of translations every few minutes—about turmeric production and quality in the village. After a long conversation, we went to see some turmeric being harvested. There were about 18 laborers working ½ an acre, which they would finish in one day. Male laborers, because they do digging and cleaning of the roots, earn 300 Rupees a day, while female laborers who clean the roots earn only 150 Rupees a day. This seems like an incredibly low salary, but a family of landless laborers with a few kids can potentially make more than a small land-holding farmer, especially in a below-average year. After observing the turmeric harvesting for a few minutes, we walked around the rest of the farm; I picked a bit of cotton, the main crop in Waigao, and ate some berries grow on trees and are called “ber” in Hindi. People here like to eat them green, but I think they taste too chalky and I prefer them ripe (orange) or dried. We stopped for another tea on the side of the road on the way back to the guest house at the end of the day.

On Friday we again returned to the village, this time to have a more informal discussion with a smaller group of women without any bureaucrats in the room. Again, by “discussion” I mean Shilpa talking to the women in Hindi and translating some of the conversation intermittently. The women were very impressed that I enjoyed the pickled turmeric that they offered me—they gave us a small jar to take back to campus. The pickled mango I have tried during previous trips to India has been too strong and too salty, but I liked the turmeric pickle and plan to eat a bit each day for an evening salt boost. After our meeting we went to another farm where they have a turmeric boiling operation set up. Most people in the village rent a boiling vessel, but this man owned his own setup.

We went back to the guest house, packed up our stuff quickly, and went to the train station. We were riding in the luxurious AC sleeper class for this journey, a 12-hour overnight ride back to Mumbai. I slept very well and Shilpa had to wake me up before our station to pack up my belongings. I am getting better and better at sleeping on trains and buses. I hope that by the end of my time here, I will be able to sleep in cars, though I doubt I will get this far in my quest to rest in moving vehicles.

On Saturday, after arriving back to campus at 7:00am, I took a four-hour nap before beginning my work. I spent the day relaxing and writing my field visit reports (I write one to catalog my thoughts for each place that I visit). I ate lunch with Abebe, an Ethiopian guy who lives across the hall from me. He invited me to play on the Hostel 13 football (soccer) team—their first practice was that night! I joined the team and went to practice; we scrimmaged for a while against another hostel’s team and discussed how we played at the end of the game. After playing a few minutes in size 10 cleats that the manager brought from the hostel for me, I switched back into my tennis shoes to avoid huge blisters—I should not have worn the small cleats at all, but now I have to live with the small blisters I got as a consequence. I played center back and will be at that position throughout the tournament. The tournament starts on February 3^rd and goes for a couple weeks; the style is a world cup-like group stage and knockout tournament between the 13 boys hostels. It is exciting to play soccer once again!

On Sunday I again spent most of the day relaxing, recovering from my week of field visits, and writing my reports. There was another soccer practice at 9:00, but not as many people showed up. This practice was much less serious and was cut short when the field manager started turning off the lights at 9:50. A couple guys from the team went over to argue and begged him to leave the lights on until the scheduled 10:00pm shut off, but he did not agree. The few minutes of arguing got us a few extra minutes on the field though, so it worked out about the same as if he had just come to turn the lights off at 10:00. It was amazing how pitch black the field was immediately after the last light was shut off. I am really looking forward to the soccer tournament starting!