Monsoon Summer

I’ve noticed that no one has posted to our IDS blog, which makes me sad. Sad enough to post something myself, even though I was initially hesitant to share my rambling stories on a public platform. So here goes…

Bombay is an amazing city… one that I have a love-hate relationship with. It is far too vast to generalize, and the diversity you find within the city is mind-boggling. Some parts are stunning and beautiful, while others are gritty an overwhelming. It’s the kind of city I doubt you ever get to know completely. Even my taxi drivers seem to get lost in its twisting streets (or maybe their just trying to get that meter up).

The most striking aspect of the city is the enormous gap between the extreme poverty and extreme wealth of the city. Hanging out in the wealthy suburbs, shopping at American style malls, clubbing with the hipsters in Churchgate, you can almost forget that there is another side to Bombay. And I think that many do. The Bombay of the slum dweller, of the servants who live in the shanty adjoining my apartment, and the countless numbers who line the sidewalks to get some sleep at night, is not the Bombay of the upper crusts. And what so many seem oblivious of is what bothers me the most while I’m here. I can’t seem to ignore the poverty, but I also can’t seem to do anything about it.

I try to comfort myself by thinking that that is what I’m here for-- that I am doing something about it. I’m spending May-July working for an NGO called Pratham. They are the largest NGO working in the education sector in India. I am working with the Program Management team, helping with monitoring and reporting on project outcomes and doing some proposal writing. In addition, I have been asked to conduct research on health outcomes for girls enrolled in Pratham’s programs in Bombay’s slums. Each day I work, I find myself smiling with the realization that my first year of grad school actually has prepared me for development work. Why, just this morning I was reading a log frame!

India has been an amazing (rainy) ride so far. I’ve been gone from home for just shy of one month. It feels like I’ve been gone for a year. And I still have two months left to go. Despite this being an amazing experience I can’t help but feel homesick. I miss my friends and family, but most of all I miss my rain boots. I had a crazy notion that they would be an easy thing to find in a city that experiences three months of flooded streets a year… but I was wrong. So it has been my mission to find boots for the past two weeks. I’ll report back to let you all know if I have any luck. Pace.