Back in Bombay... once again

Back  in Bombay for my third trip- I can’t believe that in the past year this is my third trip to India. I’ve grown to love this city, country, and culture. I’ve learned so much and questioned my assumptions and preconceived notions as to the stories I’ve heard about India. It was been two weeks since I arrived and it felt so great to land and know my way around the entire city. The weather is incredible hot--- almost 100 degrees everyday with the sun beating down on you. I am in my element, this is my favorite climate, the only thing to make it better is a hot cup of chai on the street corner. Life is good. What makes this trip so much better is that I can speak some hindi- it has made a huge difference in making connections and getting around. It always shocks the locals to hear me say a few phrases in Hindi. Little by little I am learning how to have a conversation in another language for the first time ever.

I am working again with Haath Mein Sehat (Health in your Hands in Hindi) for the summer and the project is going really well. We have an incredibly dynamic group of individuals on our team that work really well together and we are ahead of schedule in terms of our planning for the summer. I am so happy to be working on a collaborative group project as most of my previous work has been solo- this experience taught me the value of working and sharing ideas with people that bring you to think about things from such a different angle. This summer my role is to introduce all the new members to the city and the colleges we work with. It feels really great to be established in this city to show up to a college and have the professors know you and work together with them on a project that you have created.

The bulk of my summer will be split into two projects: carrying out a three week hygiene education program that we will be presenting to Teach for India and also conducting an ethnographic research on the use and storage of water in Behrampada- a slum in the Bandra East part of Mumbai. I am very excited with how well the programs have been designed, all of us in the group have spent countless hours putting together the programs by taking a holistic approach and applying the research knowledge we have gained from Berkeley to put it into action. This is my line of work- its right up my alley. HMS has prompted me to think about going into Public Health for my masters… but that will be down the line… after the Peace Corps.

Not only am I excited to work on our project but also to explore the city some more. My time in Bombay will be characterized by the long conversation while watching the sun set on marine drive, taking trains so packed that you think you don’t have enough space to take another breath, eating food so spicy and rich of flavor, and challenging my ideals of the value of money through understanding different perspectives. I never used to be a city person- in fact growing up you couldn’t get me out of the woods…. but Bombay has completely changed that in me. Now, I love cities- especially this one… the chaos, the hustle, the noise, the warmth, the crowds, the buzz, the dynamics of it all.