Cayley – trying to understand the ‘Jati Panchayat’ system
05/21/2009
So I meant to write a lot more last time, but realized towards the end that it was dinner time and couldn't pass that up of course. I've managed to not get sick so far (hoping not to jynx it, considering I got sick on at least 5 different occasions two years ago when I was in Jaipur). The living conditions are pretty baller compared to the non-AC room I had in Jaipur. Granted, the house I stayed it was beautiful and it was a pretty authentic experience for the summertime in northern India, but it was REALLY hot and sweaty. At least when we sleep, we aren't sweating profusely. It is still strange to drink huge bottles of water and not pee very often throughout the day.
We went to a village today for the first time. It was kind of funny because the name of the village was "Malaaria" (but in a Hindi accent of course). The people speak Mewari there, which is really different from Hindi. I tried to speak to the kids and the mothers there (who spoke some Hindi, but not much) and it was kind of funny. I said things about five times and then someone from Seva Mandir (the NGO we are working with) had to change a few words to Mewari to get my question accross. The kids were really adorable, but the families are very poor out there. Most of them were in need of a good bath. It's hard to imagine living in really difficult conditions and in such extreme heat. It was at least 95 degrees today, and its very very dry and dusty outside of the city.
Aside from going to the village, we have mostly been cruising around the city in the mornings until we get really sweaty and tired, take a nap at the hotel and venture out again when we have more energy. We are still arranging our interviews with Seva to see how this film is going to pan out. It's been a little frustrating trying to figure that out along the way, because Seva changed their expectations of the film after we arrived, and to a topic that was pretty foreign to us (understanding the Jati Panchayat system).
The first couple of days were really difficult, but taking vitamins I think has made a huge difference! We are lucky enough to have complementary breakfast and dinner at our HO-TUL, but hte past 24 hours have been pretty greasy. Lots of fried bread-makeshift samosa concoctions, actual samosas, and then puri with some cooked veggies. It's hard to get fresh food when you are tyrying to avoid fruit and veggies because of the water..... and the who human feces in the soil situation..... bleh. We saw a 5 year old boy taking a poo in the little water creek on the side of the road today, which was a little disturbing..... we keep making jokes that after we gain all the weight from the fried food, one drink of the water and we'll lose all those kgs real quick. Patrick thinks it might be a good diet plan for weight-crazy americans back home... just export some of the water from the side of the road here! One sip would be a guaranteed laxative!
05/24/2009
This happened last time, but every time I go shopping and have to try on clothes, I have to ask for bigger sizes (being a bigger lady of course) and the shop keepers LOVE to remind me "big BIG size! Punjabi size!" It's kind of a running joke now because I think I've been told that I'm a punjabi size girl about 100 times in the past week and half, and the group just can't get enough of it. To add to it, the cute word for tush in German is "po po," so now the girls in the group (which is the majority, poor Patrick is highly outnumbered) joke about having a punjabi po po when the clothes are too snug ;P
We have been editing our footage for the past couple of days. We have a few interviews with Seva Mandir staff (people who are working on the project that we are filming). The premise of the film is to explain the Jati Panchayat system in a village called Malaaria, which I mentioned earlier. The Jati Panchayat (in a small nutshell) is the governing body in each village, which usually consists of five men. They make all of the major decisions for the village and serve as a kind of court system to deal with issues within the village. There is a lot of pressure on the people to only deal with their respective Panchayat because if they do elsewhere, say to the city, to have an issue resolved, their community with look down upon them. It's very complicated and multifaceted, so it's been difficult for us to wrap our heads around how these systems work in the village and how they oppress women. Seva Mandir is trying to do a kind of women's empowerment program to get woman to be participants of the Jati Panchayat, and to change the governing system itself so that it is more equitable for the women in the village.
I went to the gym with our pseudo host mom Sujata and Ashley and that was a really funny experience. It was super modern and there was extremely loud Euro/old American music/Bollywood music blasting in the background. After only 10 minutes on the treadmill, I was dreeennnnchhhheeeddd in sweat. Even though it was air-conditioned, I guess my body still wanted to sweat a lot more. After that, you can imagine Ashley and I were really really dehydrated. We got back to the hotel and got a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant (as a pre-dinner because we knew that the family wanted to eat at like 10:30 or 11 -- and we just couldn't wait that long).
We are going to Nehru Garden today, which is a poplar spot here in Udaipur. We have to wait until it cools off though, because the middle of the day is always unbearable. THank god we have AC.
No illness yet, yahoo!!
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