Rented – Never Sold

India is an interesting place where interesting people do interesting things.

For instance, my mattress (though not itself a person) proudly advertises that it is in fact “Rented Never Sold.”  I’m sure this is really an awesome selling point.  …somehow.

I’m no social scientist, but I have come up with a rough theory of horn honking in India.  I believe it to be a similar scenario to Pavlov’s dog, except this time the dog rings his own bell.  That bell is a honk.  Every driver does this because it creates a wonderful reward for them.  That reward is that they get to honk their horn again at least once within the next 30 seconds.  Of course while this is a privilege and not a duty, per se, no one would pass up this treat.  Sometimes when they feel they’ve earned a particularly well-deserved reward, they will honk multiple times in succession.  Or they will honk because there is another car on the road.  Or they will honk because someone is walking on the sidewalk.  Or they honk because someone else honked and they figure, hey I want to get in on that too.  They may even honk to ensure their horn is still working (a lot can change in 30 seconds).  If my rudimentary theory is correct, Indian drivers must be some of the happiest people on Earth.

I bought some milk tonight.  It came in a bag.  This wouldn’t be terrible if I didn’t hope to use the milk more than once.  It’s basically the type of bag that frozen vegetables come in, only thinner.  No sealing that bad boy.

Things open late here, and close early.  The Bread Omelette guy doesn’t start up until around 10 AM.  For serving breakfast.  And you know what takes a lot of time?  The food you just ordered.  But you know what takes even more time?  The bill.  I have often wondered if it was just one guy with one hot plate making all dishes, then calculating the bill on some primitive counting device, perhaps an abacus.  However the funny part is, the server to customer ratio at some places exceeds one.  We got ice cream tonight.  There were four of us in the shop.  There were at least five guys working the counter.  One to scoop, one to receive, one to serve…

And then there is that maddening head bob.  When one seeks to express yes, they move their head side to side on the horizontal plane.  No is indicated from the vertical plan.  Indians have created a third form, however.  Rocking their head side to side towards their shoulders.  And you know what it means?  Nothing.  Or everything.  Who knows.  But the worst part is that nine times out of ten it is a silent head bob.  No positive or negative verbal indication.  Just a head bob.

India is an interesting place where interesting people do interesting things.

Photos are of me and some friends cooking, IE interesting people doing interesting things.  This is from weeks ago now, I hope to get some photos up soon.

Let’s Put the Cart Before the Horse and See Where This Thing Goes!

This post is mostly obsolete in all information (other than the paratha), but since I wrote it I figure I might as well post it.  Future posts will be more reflective of the present reality, and will include my photos / videos vs google imgs.  That being said…

So far India is pretty cool.  Which is to say it’s unbearably hot.  And humid.  And sweaty.  The food is great, and I’m even ready to forgive whatever food made me exceptionally ill two weekends ago.  Though this is mostly only because I don’t know which meal it was so I don’t know where to focus my anger.  I have discovered paratha, however, which is, essentially, deep fried naan.  That should kill all the germs (check out the oily goodness; this piece happens to be filled with potatoe).  I’ve also seen two White people who have no connection to IJM in the city, my first sightings (since I began drafting this post last week, I have since been to a big mall here and saw tons of White people – at least 8).  I’m all settled in my place now.  I basically feel like Abe Lincoln because I don’t have internet I now have internet!!

The title, unfortunately, refers to the status of work so far.  Though, to be clear, I’m speaking only of my work specifically.  IJM has been hard at work, rescuing 273 people in one operation this month!  I played my part by sleeping off my jet lag while others made the rescue.

To be clear, this is not a pity post.  It is a post of wisdom gained.  They told me don’t come halfway around the world thinking I’d rescue slaves and be the big hero.  I even believed them.  But I still hoped.  And so now that I’ve been here two weeks and only now starting to get a little work sent my way, it would be easy to feel disillusioned.  After all, doing very little would at least be much more comfortable at my parent’s house.  And yet, the amazing thing is, 273 people are being rescued.  The great advocate team here is progressing cases in court.  The aftercare team is rehabilitating broken lives.  And every other team is playing their own vital role in the process.  And what’s my part?  Sleeping off jet lag.  Reminding people to please use English.  Technically I am not a critical cog.  And the work goes on.  This is painful and refreshing at the same time.  God doesn’t need me to get these things done.  Which makes me sad because I wanted to be a kinduva big deal.  But makes me so relieved because wow I’m sure it’d be sorta kinda hard if it really was all up to me.

Elephants, Tigers and Naan, oh my! I’m going to Chennai

That’s right friends, in less than two weeks I’ll be boarding a plane for Chennai, India (cue the jaw-dropping for those who remember when I’d never leave the city, let alone the state, and certainly not the country!).  I will be serving as an intern for International Justice Mission (IJM), an organization I am very passionate about.  They operate to combat some of the world’s biggest injustices, especially sex trafficking and bonded labor.*   I encourage you to learn more about them, and you can watch the video below as a first step.

I’ll spend a week in DC for training first, where me the Pres will probs hang out.  From there I’ll be off to India for two months.  I’ll be based in the city of Chennai, which is a South Eastern coastal city, and capital of the state of Tamil Nadu.  The Chennai IJM office focuses on bonded labor.  I will be serving in a legal capacity (though details are very much TBA) through Pepperdine Law School.  One particularly cool aspect of my assignment to Chennai (I admit, I wanted Mumbai) is that a fellow Pepperdine Law student spent the summer in Chennai two years ago.  That Malibu and Chennai would have any connection is exciting; that it would be in the battle over bonded labor is thrilling.** 

I hope to be more bloggy than I have been in the past.  I expect normal access to email, fb, etc.  Stay tuned for updates, photos, etc.

*To give a very simple sketch of bonded labor, much simpler than it deserves, imagine the following scenario:  Drought has hit hard this year, and Farmer Raj’s crops simply did not grow.  He now needs money to provide for his family, money that would have come from the crops.  As such, he goes to Mr. LoanShark, who assures Raj that he will provide Raj with a loan.  As a condition, Raj and his family will work for LoanShark, earning a salary that will allow Raj to repay the loan.  What LoanShark does not tell Raj is that the ‘salary’ he will provide Raj is less than the ‘interest’ he will charge on the loan, thus ensuring Raj and his family will never be able to purchase their freedom.  This can and does continue generationally.  In 2013.

**Granted there may be other connections I don’t know about, haha.