First, to Navadarshanam and then to Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital and back to PV

At lunch the other day, sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs...

But somehow we still make room for icecream

For our final CSIM training session as a GSE group we went on a field trip to explore two different types of enterprises, the first was Navadarshanam which means new vision. Navadarshanam is an organization that concentrates on an ecological and spiritual alternative form of living that is inspired by Ghandi. The second stop was at Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital where cardiac care is the primary focus. Here I was able to see some truly incredible work.

Water, Energy and Waste

At our first stop we met with R. Rajagopalan at Navadarshanam. This is an ecological sanctuary that has been around for 21 years and is situated on 110 acres of land in Tamil Nadu (the same state as Ooty and next door to Karnataka). When Navadarshanam was first initiated, there were only 3 trees throughout all of the 110 acres, but through the implementation of solar fences, they have been able to keep the the cows from grazing and since countless native species of plants have grown back and the biodiversity has been entirely regenerated. There are still many cows on site and they are useful for their dung for bio gas, and for grazing the fire lanes, but no longer disrupt the land's native species. The property is completely off of India's power grid and primarily runs on solar energy (the org. has experimented with wind energy and other renewable forms of energy, but did not find success). The power grid in India is extremely unreliable, which I am finding to be true at the apartment also! Because Navadarshanam is in a rural area, electricity may be cut 12-14 times a day, and since it is so far removed from any city, the concerns and cries of the people at Navadarshanam are not heard . India as a whole is extremely centralized so power, pollution, waste, etc.all aggregate to the cities.

Rajagopala-ji

Cows grazing the fire lanes

     The idea of Navadarshanam was to develop a group of people to live and farm on these acres; people who would concentrate on spiritual health and environmental sustainability. However, Rajagopalan-ji was extremely honest with us about the hardships that the organization has faced throughout the decades; the primary concern has been attracting people. It has proved to be a struggle to convince others to leave their urban, modern lives for a life of positive development (of mind and environment) in rural Tamil Nadu. In order for the organization to progress they must have people to farm and sustain the land, but leaving a modern life for Navadarshanam often also means leaving your family.
     The trust that started the business is depleting too fast to uphold the entire organization, and so Navadarshanam has found greater sustainability by producing healthy food items to sell in Bangalore. They have found success in 6 million turnovers thanks to devoted buyers and stores. Their fiscal activity consists of visitors, workshops, and selling their organic farming products.

Navadarshanam

     R. Rajagopalan spent most of our conversation together expressing his concern for the future of the world in terms of environmental sustainability. He expressed that it is only a matter of time (likely a decade or so) until the depletion of water, gas, power, etc. collide and we face a striking struggle. He went on to talk about how he served his full sentence in the modern world, before joining Navadarshanam (2 years back) and seemed to diligently choose the word sentence, but also chose not to elaborate. He has decided to minimize the footprint he leaves on the world, but admits with remorse that Navadarshanam's footprint extends beyond its immediate surroundings. He travels all around the country and world preaching his concern through workshops and has empowered many people to live more conscientiously. Nonetheless, it is difficult to get others to compromise what they see as comfort, and oftentimes people's comforts take a toll on the natural world. He is afraid that the window of opportunity for society to improve this world is shrinking rapidly and time may exhaust before enough people agree to make changes.

Skylights

     As we listened to R. Rajagopalan speak, we sat in a building that was crafted entirely by Eco-friendly and sustainable resources. This particular home is made of stabilized mud blocks. The concept of creating mud blocks is really wonderful; they are made from natural materials that use up less conventional energy that is harmful to the environment. But also, when the materials are to be done away with, they can go right back into the earth where they came from, unlike concrete or metal. The roof has holes that are crafted in a way that light can come in to minimize the use of light bulbs, but rain cannot, and through convection all of the hot air is released so there is a constant comfortable, natural air conditioning occurring. There are countless simple solutions like these architectural ones  that can make a significant impact without compromising comfort and security.

     Our use of water, energy, and our production of waste really needs to be reassessed. Collecting rainwater will vastly decrease the amount of water wasted, and help our drains; installing an LED system of lights, saving gas, and using a solar focused system of lighting (via solar panels or skylights) will help regulate our use of energy; and by simply separating organic and non-organic waste for compost we can significantly decrease the amount of waste that we procure. The poet, June Jordan said, "We are the one's we are waiting for". I think this thought is really powerful because not only does it convey a sense of urgency, but also a responsibility to all. I have accepted, with open arms, the responsibility I have been given as today's youth and a future adult, but it is important to understand that anyone who walks on this earth can take some sort of action and do some sort of good for the present, which could largely influence the future as well. Rather than waiting for the next generation to grow into its role, the youth can start making changes today (and so can the adults and even the elders.
 Rajagopalan-ji wove in a number of materials for learning more about the environment throughout our conversation. Laurie Baker is an Englishman architect that met with Ghandi and after which stayed in India and created a campus on how to build eco-homes.You can also follow Joanna Macy's travels and exploration in what she calls The Great Turning, watch Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken or The Story of Stuff and What a Way to Go to learn more about some of the things that have inspired his work and the life he has chosen.

Fresh farmed food

Cardiac Care
     After Navadarshanam in Tamil Nadu, we headed back to Bangalore where we explored Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital. Here I was truly  touched by the work of Dr. Davi Sheety. Dr. Sheety currently works to give top quality healthcare to all people in spite of financial burdens or impositions. So far, he has never had to turn a soul away because they couldn't afford treatment.

Religious center outside the hospital

     Before entering the hospital, there stands a religious building with four separate sections, all of which meet in the middle and share two common walls. Each section houses a different place of worship; a gurdwara, a temple, a mosque, and a church. Then, once you enter the hospital there is a vast and beautiful Ganesha idol. In Hinduism Ganesha represents success and well being through to the end of your endeavor, whatever that may be, and Narayana (the hospital's name) means preservation of life; what a cool synthesis for a hospital to hold.

Telemedicine

Sam and Amanda at the hospital

     Narayana is the second largest cardiac center in the world and does 32-36 cardiac surgeries a day! 10-12 of which are on children, making it the largest pediatric cardiac center in the world. The average doctor here does 3-4 surgeries a day, whereas in the US the average doctor might do that in a week. The difference is primarily population, but by completing  6 days of surgery a week (compared to 1 or 2 for a US doctor) the doctors truly become experts in their work. Dr. Davi Sheety has saved 17,000 lives in counting. He also has invested heavily in telemedicine, this is where a doctor can meet with patients all around the world via web cameras and have consultations when they are miles apart. Sometimes these consultations lead to the patient needing to come to Bangalore to meet Dr. Sheety in person, or to simply go to their nearest hospital where Dr. Sheety can convey to their local doctors what needs to be done. On our walk through the hospital, we were able to see telemedicine in action. We also walked through the prenatal and pediatric ICU where I was completely taken aback and had trouble holding back tears.. There were rows upon rows of babies all hooked up to tubes, motionless and with their eyes shut. Upon leaving the ICU  I was uplifted to know that so many children were being helped and are in the right hands, but at the time it was a struggle to see so many babies that must have been in a lot of pain.
In a BBC interview that I watched, Dr. Sheety claims he is an ordinary man, not doing charity, but simply helping his common humanity with the talent he possesses and that is nothing extraordinary.

CSIM Family

Both of these excursions were hosted by CSIM. CSIM has taught me so many valuable lessons and has exposed me to some really remarkable people and enterprises. I am really thankful for the opportunity to learn from those that are fully immersed in the social sector and hope to take these lessons into my own future, working with society.

Sari Day

At work today, Friday, we all wore our saris! It was so much fun! All the ladies on the quality team wore saris of all different colors and patterns while all the men wore traditional Indian tops. In the morning our boss created a beauty parlor/ changing room in the small conference room. The women helped wrap us up in the dresses and adorned us with bindis. After which, the entire PremaVidya company met in the main office and joined together in chanting, prayer and meditation for our boss Naresh-sir. He is undergoing tests today to see if his brother is the right match for the bone marrow transplant. I have stressed this before, but it truly is a beautiful community that I have the privilege of working for and amongst . Everyone cares so much for each other and the support is unconditional.We all sat around in a circle and Naresh-sir's best friend led the first chant. All of our voices echoed and I entered a state of complete relaxation, I have never before been able to enter a state of such deep meditation. We were also led in a prayer from the bible and in another meditation and song accompanied by bells, drums, and a guitar. At the end we ate the blessed bananas and milk and sent on the bananas that we blessed to Mr. Naresh. So, not only did he receive our spiritual energy, but he also will be able to recieve the tangible energy provided by the bananas that were blessed through the various ceremonious activities. I am so lucky to be an engaged part of this community and I am really going to miss all of the wonderful people that I have the pleasure of working with each and every day.

Temple Hopping and Sari Shopping (plus a little about Ooty and Work)

     In Ooty we visited many really beautiful viewpoints and saw some gorgeous greenery. Ooty is known in South India to be a really romantic destination, its placed atop a mountain, and in the heart of the jungle where you can find vast tea plantations. Our drive up, after all of the hustle and bustle of breaking down and whatnot, was actually quite peaceful. Just before crossing the border from Karnataka (the state where Bangalore is) to Tamil-Nadu (where Ooty is) we entered a wildlife reserve and the remainder of the drive was through mountainous terrain amongst the jungle. I saw wild elephants, families of deer, peacocks and colorful birds. We also drove through a tiger reserve, but to my despair I didn't get to see any tigers. Bathroom breaks in the jungle proved to be somewhat of a challenge, the bus would just pull over on the side of the mountain and everyone would rush out to be welcomed by a slippery and steep hill.

     The bathroom situation in India is actually one of hot debate. Women must pay to use the restroom whereas men only have to pay if they want to use a toilet, urinals are free. For men, any wall around the city is pretty much fair game. In fact, the government has erected little temples near especially popular walls to discourage public urination in that place, and it seems to work. The public restrooms are often run by men and in order to enter (even to wash your hands) you must hand over a small fee (2-10Rs often). The restrooms are always filthy so I can't imagine where this money is going. 

Eating corn in Ooty... Before a monkey leaped fromthe woodwork and stole Kasie's!

     Throughout my trip I personally payed to use many public toilets, with one exception. On our way back to Bangalore, the bus stopped in Mysore and the four of us rushed to the restroom(we only had 2 minutes to get back) where there was surprisingly no one there to collect. When we were running back to the bus, a man came out of nowhere to receive the toll. None of us thought to bring money when we were caught up in the tumult of getting to and from the washroom in time. So, as the man yelled for us to pay, we glanced at each other and took off sprinting. At first he followed us, but we luckily we made it to the bus in the nick of time, it literally started to drive away before I was fully on. I guess this was our little act of protest?

     After we got back from Ooty, I had a successful week at work. We started narrowing our final project and have come up with some tangible goals to focus on for the remainder of the internship. It has been a struggle to fully understand what is expected of us. We are supposed to come up with a plan based on the company's main issue: scaling to 500 schools (and eventually 1,000-all of the schools in the state of Karnataka) while maintaining the quality that they have been able to implement in the 20 initial schools. Essentially, we need to figure out a way to measure and implement quality on this scale. Currently, PV only really measures quantitative data (numbers and such), but considering I work for the quality team, everyone is intent on pursuing and understanding qualitative data. So essentially, we are trying to figure out how the organization can reach all schools with an equal impact, how they can ensure quality, and how they can assess quality. This is increasingly difficult when you try to gather data from schools in rural and tribal areas because they have no access to internet (oftentimes simply getting electricity is hard-pressed) and most are hundreds of kilometers away from PV's office--so we can't just send the field team there to observe for the day. So far, we are trying to work with local communities, and have gotten excited by the idea of focus groups. I will keep updating as we progress into our final report, hopefully, with more answers. But for now, every answer I come up with seems to beget many more questions.

     This weekend was really fun and really relaxing- a good mental break. On Friday, we found a really fun place to go in the evenings called Banana Beach Bar (located in Koramanagala), and a few of us went for karaoke! The PV interns also had dinner with Cathy, our adviser from Wooster, and it was so delicious. That's where the photos of the Chinese food in the previous post come from.

     On Saturday, I finally got to see temples! I had gone to a few before but was really eager to see more. I was so intent on visiting temples because I thought it would give me better insight into Indian culture. So much of class and caste and everyday life revolves around religion. All states have their own individual languages, but Hindi is expected to be learned by everyone. There are little shrines and places for prayer on almost every corner, people's dress is influenced by their religion, most of India is vegetarian because of Hindu teachings, and cows wander the streets and neighborhoods because they are sacred in Hinduism. I desperately want to gain a better understanding and perception of what Hinduism is and what directs many Indian's lives. Navee and I were set on the idea of driving around Bangalore and seeing as many temples as we could. I was also able to pick Navee's brain about Hinduism throughout the day because of she and her family's practices. We went to the Bull Temple, Sri Nimisjamba Devi Temple, Shiva's Temple, Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple, Banashanken Temple, and Someshwara Temple, as well as a small temple that we mistakenly went to at the beginning. I really admired each of the temples for their own uniqueness and differences, but I think I appreciated the small one that we went in by accident the most. It felt the most pure and wholesome. Like most religious places, the temples encouraged donations around every other corner, but the smaller temple did not force you to pay anything and I felt welcome to observe and participate in their functions.

Kasie always has her CornFlakes

     We also visited Tipu Sultan's Palace on Saturday. It was really beautiful and a lot more modest than the Mysore Palace. There was a nice garden on the side and intricate woodwork throughout. It cost 100Rs for foreigners and 5Rs for Indians. I completely understand charging tourists more, and giving a break to Indian residents, but 95Rs seems a little steep. I mostly grow tired of being ripped off and manipulated by the shopkeepers and autos though. I have learned how to bargain and stand up for myself when it is necessary, but really I just want to be treated like everyone else; I wish it was as simple as saying we are all part of a common humanity.

After temple hopping, Kasie and I went sari shopping! It felt like I was on "Say Yes to the Dress" but I was saying yes to the sari. The ladies in the store were really helpful and accommodated our fairly strict budgets. I ended up finding a beautiful sari and I get to pick it up on Thursday after the tailoring is finished! I expressed my excitement to Darsana, my boss, and she said that we would all wear our saris on Friday, I can't wait.

Tipu Sultan's Palace

     This Sunday, I went to the opening for the new Autism Center donated by the Bangalore West Rotary Club. Cathy is connected to this group because of her involvement with the Wooster Rotary Club. It went really well and I met some really nice people. My only contribution to the center was packing a few books in my luggage and bringing them over from the states, but to my surprise they had us stand in front of the entire group and receive recognition for our (seemingly trivial) efforts in bringing the books and attending the function. They applauded us and gave each of us a gift and a rose. I felt really uncomfortable to receive acknowledgement for something so small when others were exerting so much more effort. For lunch, we had a traditional South Indian meal on banana leaves. It was very tasty and they gave us more than I could possibly stomach in one sitting (and that's saying something!). One of the rotary members handed us napkins, spoons, and water bottles (all of which no one else received) and said that if we weren't there, they would all be sitting on the ground eating. I really wish that no one went out of their way or changed their customs based on our presence. This is a problem I face in SE; trying very delicately to not make assumptions about what may bring others comfort. I sincerely wish I could be a part of the culture without any hiccups or alterations (or assumptions on what will make me comfortable). I do, however, really appreciate the effort that most people put forth, and it by no means goes unrecognized.
 

Sunday, relaxing after a long weekend:

Parisa

 

22 June 2012 Field Visit

 

(Today at school.) These high school-aged kids are like none else. Everyone is so incredibly friendly and happy. Each one went out of their way to reintroduce themselves and shake hands after class. We had a discussion where they were free to ask us questions, and vise versa. Most kids ended warming up pretty fast! One boy really wanted to see an American dollar, but the best thing I had was a California driver's license. Another boy said he wanted to be an engineer when he grows up and was eager to hear about how that can happen in the U.S. So many kids seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing and were happy to have us. As we left they rushed to the gate and waved goodbye. I probably would have been happier and would have conducted more factual research if I could have lingered as a fly on the wall, but everyone went out of their way to accommodate us.

That tends to be Indian culture: doing whatever is in your power to make your guests not only feel welcome, but special too.

Rava Onion Masala Dosa

Watermelon Juice, I forgot to ask for no ice... whoops, now I'm paying for it ):

Riding on a bike to go do field work at a municipal school

The school we distributed surveys at earlier this week. We got some productive responses!

^They LOVE selfies                                                                                                                                

Masala Mango

Creme & Fudge

Group Dinner with Cathy

Chinese Food! So good