Everyday: Transportation

First of all I am very thankful to say that we have a car! But I can't drive it. I have contemplated learning to drive it, but honestly it scares me. Every time I ride in the car I feel like we are going to hit a pedestrian, go off in a ditch, or get hit head on by a Tata truck and I don't want to be the one responsible for that- because let's face it- I am not the greatest driver in the world. So whenever I want to go somewhere without my husband I have a few options. When independence and close proximity are the name of the game, I go by bicycle. There would be nothing special about that except that all of my neighbors find it extremely strange that a fully grown woman who can afford a car would ride a bicycle (most of them drive scooters- scarey). They found it especially strange when I rode my bicycle while pregnant for "everyone knows that it can cause miscarriage". They also find it odd that I have a tendency to ride it in the hottest part of the day when no one else is on the streets. One lady told me that her kids asked her why American Auntie is able to go out in the sun. She said that it is because I come from someplace cold so I like the heat (ha). Really it is because that is when the kids are napping. One time I rode my bicycle with my Saree on and that was an interesting sight, but I will not be trying that again (sorry no picture). But my normal mode of transportation is by auto rickshaw. When I have both kids, Evelynn is strapped to me in the Ergo and Silas rides next to me. This again is very strange to the neighbors- most of them don't do it. Our gate keeper asked me why I take autos when we have a car and suggested that JP should always take me places (nevermind that he has to work). It generally costs me less than 2 dollars to go 4 km to the Walmartesque store. And really it isn't too bad as long as I am not pregnant or nursing a bad back. I call up my favorite auto driver a few minutes before I want to go anywhere and he shows up at me door 5 minutes later. Then I just catch some random auto driver when I want to come home. I do miss the independence of driving my own car, though I am a little nervous about driving in America in a month!

Every Day

I have been intending to start a new blog series for a while, and now that the a/c in the kids' room is fixed and we finally have office back, I have access to my computer at night. This series is about things I see and do every day. Partly to let others see what life in South Asia is like, and partly to help me remember. We are saying goodbye in about 2 weeks. I see this little farm everyday and I love it, for multiple reasons. We live on the outskirts of a growing capital city, and while new places of residence are going up all around us, this place keeps the village/farm feel alive. The land is about the length of 3 football fields and about that wide. All throughout the year the ground is growing something. These people are very economical and hard working. In rainy season rice grows. I love the color of fresh rice paddy. In winter corn, followed by wheat. I never really understood in 7 Brides for 7 Brothers when Adam said that Milly's hair was the color of wheat in the summer, but now I do. It reminds me of my daughter's hair. And now they have vegetables and greens. I love the little house. That blue color against the red dirt is a common site here.

Two Worlds

There are so many pictures I want to take and so many things that I want to write, and since I seldom sit down to the computer with calm around me, I write nothing. But today as I was eating dinner at a Western style restaurant called Mocha with my family I was so overwhelmed by the vast difference between the two worlds around me that I just had to write about it.
  One world is like the world I left behind (well kind of). Imagine the scene we saw at dinner tonight: A mom was setting up balloons in the restaurant for her 13 year old son's birthday party. She was wearing a satin designer kurta and high heel fashionable shoes on her manicured feet. As guests arrived in cars they all joined the other boys playing soccer in the field. The father in his jeans and branded polo shirt ordered food for the 20+ children. I would guess their bill tonight would be around Rs 6000 or $100 at least. That may not sound like a lot for a birthday party, but that is where the contrast comes in.
  Today my house helper took a series of public autos home from work. She sat in a 3 seater vehicle with 5-10 other people and her took her over an hour to get to her village. From there she walked home in her hand-me-down polyester kurta pajama suit and flip flops. When she arrived home to her 3 room, dirt house she immediately got to work doing chores. She had to pump water from her well in order to do the dishes, wash the clothes by hand, and take a bath. For dinner she probably made rice, daal, and some kind of vegetable. The rice she got on ration from the government and the daal she got with food stamps. Both of these she had to sift and clean to get rid of bugs, dirt...so that it would be acceptable to eat. Her family of 6 probably ate for less than $1 tonight. Tonight she will sleep under a mosquito net and pray that the power does not go out so that she can have a fun running to cool in her 90 degree room. She will never set foot in a place like Mocha not only because she can't afford it but because she would probably find it frivolous.
    I grew up in the first scenario and this to me represents a good percentage of Americans: drive a car, eat out at a restaurant at least once a week for $20 or so, go to birthday parties, wear new clothing, live in a house with running water, a flushing toilet, air-conditioner... Which is why it is so striking to me that this is the elite here- a very small percentage of the people and the majority are more like my house helper. And the two groups don't mix. Group A's children won't go to school with the children from Group B, and barring a miracle this separation will always be. Group A will always be served by group B, seeing themselves superior- and group B will continue to serve.
   As an outsider, the weird thing is that I can be in both groups. My best friend lives in a one-room flat. Her husband is a driver/preacher and she is a seamstress with very little work. They eat very simply, wear whatever is given to them, drive an old scooter and a bicycle, and pray for God's provision on a daily basis. For entertainment they do have a television, but mostly they sing praise songs together, draw, spend time together (when they have free time- which is rare). This is a life I little understand, and yet my eyes are being opened as I have been given the key to a woman's heart who is teaching me much about a world that is becoming my own.
   But at the same time, I can get dressed up in my nice department store suit, go to the mall, Mocha, movies...and meet a woman from the elite class who will quickly consider me her equal and worthy of her acquaintance (she doesn't know I really can't afford the things she can). And I can be interested in shopping and eating at nice places and traveling...and we could have a relationship too.
   In reality my world is somewhere in the middle of these two. Most of my neighbors have good jobs, half drive cars, some of them shop at the mall occasionally and most go out to a South Asian dinner on Sunday nights.