“As we get more comfortable here it is becoming easier to overlook the poverty that constantly surrounds us, which is both a blessing and a curse. As we were riding to work this morning in a cab I briefly made eye contact with a man driving a Land Rover that was overflowing with passengers in the back. It reminded me that this is his reality, whereas for us it is merely a privilege to be a part of his world. It’s unsettling that we are witnessing people’s lives and that it is a privilege for us to witness such things.”
– Written in my journal on July 11th 2014
I wrote a lot while in India, both on my public blog as well as in my journal, and found it was the best way to reflect on many things that happened each day. When I sat back to try to think about the communities I visited and the people I met, I found it really helpful to look back through past writings that trigger how I felt at certain points in time. If I think about my trip as a whole it is challenging to pinpoint specific events or people that forced me out of my comfort zone or to questions things I previously believed, but by honing in on specific events or experiences it is easier to describe the gradual transformations I underwent through out the duration of the trip.
Prior to going to India I had never been in one country (besides the U.S.) for more than three weeks at one time. At first I was worried that this would make my trip more challenging but I soon realized that this was actually helpful because I went to India with very few expectations and essentially no idea of what my life would be like once I got there. This was also beneficial because it meant that any interactions I had with local people and culture were easily more in-depth and meaningful than interactions I had with communities on previous trips. Unfortunately, since returning to California and getting back in the swing of school I’ve found it very challenging to really think about and reflect on my time in Kolkata. The moment I allow my mind to wander I become overwhelmed with all of the thoughts and feelings going around in my head. When I think about India my emotions range from pure joy to sadness and from relaxation to incredible stress. However, many of the positive experiences stemmed from interactions with people or experiencing certain aspects of a community, and descriptions of these experiences can help paint a picture of the ways in which such things shaped my physical and personal journey.
The Metiabruz Women
Since Kolkata is such a metropolitan area it was challenging to feel connected to a specific community, but by visiting delivery centers like Baruipur and Metiabruz I had a chance to experience less populated neighborhoods and get to know smaller areas. Although I only visited Metiabruz a handful of times I think that those visits provided the best opportunities for me to interact with a community and really speak to iMerit’s employees, who are also the company’s primary beneficiaries.
I feel very lucky that the majority of my research consisted of interviewing iMerit Team Leads because it allowed me to do my job while also getting to know locals and learning about their lives. One of the days I went out to the Metiabruz center I set up a meeting with Arfana, a Team Lead directing an image-tagging project, and I specifically remember when she walked into the office. She came in dressed in a full black chador but upon arriving in the office she casually shed the chador to reveal a beautiful pink outfit and matching earrings. I found it so interesting that she goes through so much effort to look nice, despite the fact that she cannot show her outfit on the street and therefore only her friends at the office get to see her that way. Thinking back to that moment now, I see this double-outfit scenario as a sign of her self-confidence and her desire to look good and feel good about herself regardless of how many people will see her looking nice. I also think that the juxtaposition of her two outfits represented the two worlds in which many of the Metiabruz women function – their home lives in a conservative Muslim community and their work lives in a progressive and tech savvy office atmosphere.
I think that the time I spent with the women in Metiabruz led me to truly contemplate my sense of both self-confidence as well as independence. I have always considered myself to be fairly independent compared to other people I spend time with in the U.S., but I was blown away the lack of independence that is available to the women in Metiabruz. I found it very challenging to interact with them because there were so few similarities between their lives and mine. There are so many things I do on a daily basis that are unheard of or unattainable to the women in Metiabruz, such as driving, going grocery shopping alone, or even wearing shorts. However, I made sure to remind myself that as an iMerit employee it was not my job to feel sorry for the women or try to make their lives more like my own. Rather, my job was to capitalize on the skills and motivation they do have to help bring about gradual change that will one day lead to greater opportunities for women in the community. My interaction with the women taught me a great deal about working in marginalized communities and how we can each learn from one another, rather than me working to thrust my values and and customs upon others. Metiabruz is rich with tradition and cultural pride and I truly believe there are ways in which the community can be improved and become more progressive without sacrificing cultural values and customs.
Monet and I pose with a groupf the Metiabruz women on top of the iMerit office building.
Kolkata as a City
As I think back now I feel like I experienced two different types of “India,” one being the workplace environment and learning about the lives of the employees/beneficiaries, and a second world consisting of life outside the office, where Kolkata and India exist and function just like any other city. Many of the best experiences I had in Kolkata, as well as some of my favorite days in India, occurred when I was exploring the city, either by myself or with Kathryn and Monet. One of my favorite things to do (even in my day-to-day life in the U.S.) is to go to a new place and simply walk around and explore, observing people and things that are happening. I’m fascinated by just watching life happen, and in a bustling and chaotic city like Kolkata there is always plenty happening.
I vividly remember the first Saturday I ventured out on my own and the triumph I felt after taking the metro all by myself for the first time to the Maidan area of downtown Kolkata. By this point in time Monet, Kathryn and I were pretty familiar with the area and since I had all but memorized the map I could safely wander with no plan of where I was going or what I was doing, without being scared or overwhelmed. I remember feeling pure elation as I weaved through vendors, animals and pedestrians on the sidewalks, strangely enjoying the feeling that no one really cared what I did or where I went. I think that exploring on one’s own is one of the best ways to experience a city because you are free to form your own opinions of things free from the judgment of others and the needs of a large group.
Walking and exploring on my own allowed me to see the day-to-day things that happen in Kolkata, many of which are not that different than what happens in San Jose, New York, or Paris: people go to work, people go grocery shopping, people hang out with friends, etc. Adventuring on my own also led me to one of the biggest realizations I had while in India, which is that we cannot assume someone is unhappy just because his or her own life is unlike our own. Although at many times I found Kolkata dirty, stressful, and difficult, to many people it is home in the same way in which San Jose and Eugene are homes to me. I think most people envy some aspects about another culture, and many Indians definitely embrace American culture, but at the end of the day it seems that the majority of people are very happy in their own culture, surrounded by friends and family.
Life happens every day, in all places, in all ways, and just because someone’s life is starkly different than my own does not mean it is worse. I’ve thought about this a great deal over the last few months because I think it has significant ramifications for how we think about international development – should we really impose our belief systems and customs on other cultures? Who is to say that one way of living is superior to another? This is obviously not a question I can fully answer but it is something I hope to come back to through out my career and travels.
A few pictures from things I discovered while exploring Kolkata solo.
As I mentioned, I feel like my time in India was divided between my experiences with iMerit and my time as a citizen/tourist – tourizen? – in Kolkata. Both of these environments forced me far out of my comfort zone on multiple occasions, and I can’t explain how easy life back in the U.S. now feels. I have gained a deeper appreciation for the life I have been given and I have been able to pinpoint the things that truly matter to me, both on a personal level as well as a community level. I think that each person we meet and each place we visit has something to teach us and I have a new found love for experiencing things that are different and challenging, primarily because being bored is simply a waste of time.
“To me travel is a triple delight: anticipation, performance, and recollection.” — Ilka Chase