Welcome to my blog!

The purpose of this blog is to share with you my upcoming internship in Mumbai (Bombay), India and the journey in preparation for it. It has so far been an interesting experience and I have not even started my trip yet.

Why the name? I will be in Mumbai during June and July, the beginning of the Monsoon season. Learning to wade through flooded streets and work with this natural phenonema is to me very similar to the learning experience I have had so far and am sure to face in India. Most of India's water supply falls during the Monsoon season. It is kind of a feast or famine on water. I found this analegous to India itself, a nation of extremes and it will be my challenge to learn to work with and within it. From what I have understood of India, this amazing nation will both pull on me like the raging flood waters and at the same time fascinate me like the tranquility of a steady stream.

I have the priviledge to travel with another student who has now also become a friend. She is as talented as she is kind and fun. Together we will set out to work with an inspirational company that is dedicated to empower women in deplorable situations, often in the slums of Bombay, to better their lives. The company works with small textiles producers and our task is to develop a plan to standardize the production process so they can deliver a more uniform end result.

Before I continue with this blog I want to take a moment and thank my family, friends and college. They have been very instrumental in making this trip possible and encouraging me as I am learning to have the two most important things in this journey: patience and endurance.

I hope my blog will entice you to consider traveling to India and help you with your preparations.

Let's start swimming!!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Our first goodbye

Today we headed down to Utan to say goodbye to one of the fabric producers. Zia, Shameema, and their three kids will for always be in our memories and they have taught us so much. They managed to reach across the cultural barriers and explain some things that others left out. They treated us like family.

We also picked up some items they had specifically produced just for us and we were after another delicious Shameema lunch treated to fresh coconut water.

If everything goes according to schedule, today should have been the last day we took the trains. I will not miss it. I am so tired of being pushed and pulled in a way that resembles more a fighting ring than a public transportation method. If you are the unlucky one at the end of the line trying to get out of the train you have quite a fight ahead of you. By the time the first passenger has tried to get off the train, the 100 waiting on the platform have decided that they have excerpted enough patience and start pushing their way in. Good luck getting off. No, I will definitely not miss the commuter trains in Mumbai.
Tomorrow, we have a meeting with the president of the NGO we visited in Kutch. I should be getting some sleep but instead my head cannot rest, thinking about what to do with all the things I learned today.

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