When I first got off the plane in Bombay, I could sense that I was in India through the immediate wave of heat, sights of vibrant saris and a savory and musty scent that filled the air. Vibrations of adrenaline moved through my body as I realized that I was on the opposite side of the world and about to start a summer of work and discovery. Now, after months of researching, preparing and day-dreaming possibilities of my Indian summer, I am finally immersed one-fourth of the way through the TISES program and surrounded by themes of development, community health and CSR that I have devoted my studies to. So how do I feel?
Ignorant! I am realizing everyday that I am not capable of making any conclusions about India, Tata, or about this TISES internship. The complexity of it all is over my head. I am lost amongst a pool of languages as people switch from Hindi, to Bengali, to Santhali and even to English that I cannot understand. I am with people who give so much to the poor, yet blame them for preventing Indian social progress. I cannot even grasp Indian politics at the movies while watching the new Bollywood hit Rajneeti (nor can I even understand the Hindi). I meet the marginalized and the proudest of Indian development. I spend time in the roughest communities—be it Hindu, Muslim or Adivasi—observing doctors giving medicine and advice to the poorest of the poor. In the same day, I find myself talking to people of unbelievable privilege: rich hotel owners and Brahmin elitists and I remember being in a busti meeting a child so malnourished that he may die in the next few days. I have no practical experience to help him or to modify such a corrupted system.
Yet, I feel more informed than ever. I remember that Slumdog Millionaire is all that I knew of India just two years ago. Since arriving, I have had tremendous contact with so many sides of this country that I am beginning to understand the issues and organization of the chaos. I now know how to bargain on the streets. I learned how to survey communities. My preconceived notions are dissolving on a daily basis as they meet reality and I experience elements of India and Tata previously undiscovered by myself. I am learning realistic skills on health projects, behavior change and evaluation. Mostly though, I am becoming more aware of my skin color and what it represents to many other people, and the value of my perspective and approach as an anthropologist.
For my project I am focusing on creating an evaluation for the reach of health competencies offered by the Tata Steel Family Initiative Foundation to its beneficiaries. I am using qualitative methods of ethnography and interviewing to see how much they actually play a role in people’s lives and their needs and whether or not they actually reach the targeted populations. I am spending time documenting personal case studies through profiling and photographing specific community members I have contact with to create a better understanding of who the poor are that Tata assists. Everyday is a new struggle, whether it is inefficiency slowing us down, Moaist rebel activity interrupting our schedule, or the color of my skin causes too much of a stir to get work done. But with enough chai and persistence, I will surely get the most I can out of the TISES program!
Ignorant! I am realizing everyday that I am not capable of making any conclusions about India, Tata, or about this TISES internship. The complexity of it all is over my head. I am lost amongst a pool of languages as people switch from Hindi, to Bengali, to Santhali and even to English that I cannot understand. I am with people who give so much to the poor, yet blame them for preventing Indian social progress. I cannot even grasp Indian politics at the movies while watching the new Bollywood hit Rajneeti (nor can I even understand the Hindi). I meet the marginalized and the proudest of Indian development. I spend time in the roughest communities—be it Hindu, Muslim or Adivasi—observing doctors giving medicine and advice to the poorest of the poor. In the same day, I find myself talking to people of unbelievable privilege: rich hotel owners and Brahmin elitists and I remember being in a busti meeting a child so malnourished that he may die in the next few days. I have no practical experience to help him or to modify such a corrupted system.
Yet, I feel more informed than ever. I remember that Slumdog Millionaire is all that I knew of India just two years ago. Since arriving, I have had tremendous contact with so many sides of this country that I am beginning to understand the issues and organization of the chaos. I now know how to bargain on the streets. I learned how to survey communities. My preconceived notions are dissolving on a daily basis as they meet reality and I experience elements of India and Tata previously undiscovered by myself. I am learning realistic skills on health projects, behavior change and evaluation. Mostly though, I am becoming more aware of my skin color and what it represents to many other people, and the value of my perspective and approach as an anthropologist.
For my project I am focusing on creating an evaluation for the reach of health competencies offered by the Tata Steel Family Initiative Foundation to its beneficiaries. I am using qualitative methods of ethnography and interviewing to see how much they actually play a role in people’s lives and their needs and whether or not they actually reach the targeted populations. I am spending time documenting personal case studies through profiling and photographing specific community members I have contact with to create a better understanding of who the poor are that Tata assists. Everyday is a new struggle, whether it is inefficiency slowing us down, Moaist rebel activity interrupting our schedule, or the color of my skin causes too much of a stir to get work done. But with enough chai and persistence, I will surely get the most I can out of the TISES program!
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