Another Article!!!

Aiya I made another newspaper!!!!!

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080204/jsp/nation/story_8858481.jsp

Katihar Health Camp

After Kamalpur we were going to Katihar. This was second most anticipated part of the trip after Kamalpur for me. I was very interested in revisiting the schools from my last trip, and to see their progress. Vineeta accompanied me to hold a little health camp for the children. When I showed her pictures of the children I had met on my last trip, she mentioned the children were malnourished, and could probably use a health screening. The health camp really spiraled into something that I wasn't expecting... neither was Vineeta. A woman that has started a local charity hospital in the center of town offered her hospital for the health camp. The people of Jyotirgamaya put up banners all over town. Approximately 500 people showed up for the health camp... I was expecting about 100.

Vineeta gave me a quick 30 second training on how to do an eye exam and test motor skills and I was off to work. The biggest hurdle with testing the children was illiteracy. Many of the children couldn't read, so the eye test was difficult for them. Most of the Jyotirgamaya children didn't show up for the health camp. The camp was held in the town center, the Jyotirgamaya children had no means of transportation. On our drive over to the center, Vineeta and I stuffed about 30 children in the ambulance with us. We wanted them to get tested. Most of the ailments Vineeta found were worms, scabies, lice, etc. Some were more serious: TB, neurological problems, thyroid issues. I found a couple of children that could use a pair of glasses...

I noticed that the free health camp drew people of all walks of life. Most of these people were middle class if not upper middle class. Not too many desperately poor people showed up to the camp. I don't know if this was poor advertising, or if they, like the students of Jyotirgamaya, didn't have transportation to this site. A lot of the parents were very pushy. If I didn't write 20/20 on their eye chart they asked me to change the number... :) 

The way the health camp was set up, I got to see the patients first, then I would send them to Vineeta. At any given time I had about 200 people standing in front of me asking me to take their child next... I realized I don't usually work with people on such a grand scale. I work in a team at work, I am more use to one on one or one on two conversations. At the end of this day I was mentally and emotionally exhausted like I have never been before.

That night when I went to sleep I was haunted by the images of the parents waiting to get their child tested. Some waited so patiently, some were so aggressively pushing their way. Writing the eye "score" reminded me so much of getting a report card in school. The parents were waiting for their child's good "grades." In some cases, with the really pushy parents, I was hesitant to give the child a less than 20/20 score. I knew that child would go home and get in trouble for their poor "score." The ignorant parent would scold the child for his/her myopia. One boy who had failing vision looked at me with a plea in his near-sighted eyes... I couldn't lie on his chart, I knew the glasses would change his life. 

Kamalpur - Paradise Lost

It's taken me a couple of days to try and write about Kamalpur, my Dad's village. We decided to go visit his village, because I want to build a school there and it seemed to be a great location for Rural Self Reliance. The roads to Kamalpur were surprisingly well paved and smooth. All of us were expecting the opposite. My uncle and cousin joined us for the trip. We had estimated Kamalpur to be 70 km from Patna... it ended up being more like 170 km. I felt like we drove to the ends of Earth. The scenery got more rural and more beautiful by the kilometer. When the car finally stopped, I know I had never seen a more beautiful place in my life. This place had been untouched by time for centuries. The fields were the greenest green I had ever seen. The backdrop of the village was mountain scape that I remember from my Dad's stories. The entire place was covered with palm trees. This place looked like God's paradise. Even Vineeta was wondering where we were? The village was a whole other story...

Villages in India are efficient, and they recycle everything... they are usually clean. The air quality is better, people keep their respective areas pretty tidy. The first thing I noticed about Kamalpur was how unclean it was. There seemed to be no "order" in the village. Walking through, the people looked haunted... Everyone followed us to my Dad's house. I remember this from my childhood. You're immediately famous for being "foreign." Our house was so small. When I was 10 this house was so big to me; we would run around hiding in the rooms. I looked at the sitting area of the house, it was no bigger than 10 ft X 10 ft... tiny! Half the village crowded in to this small space to see me. 

I was meeting with my family members, while Vineeta was talking to potential students, and Vineeta's father was looking for champions. There was something about the people in this village. It seemed almost as though they had suffered an extreme tragedy. I couldn't put my finger on it. Everyone looked as if the life had been sucked out of them.

I felt a very strong urge to run... I think half the village felt the same as well. Get out of this paradise. We knew that this area of Bihar was infested with Naxalites (a localized form of terrorism), so we had goals to get out of there before nightfall. I only sat and visited for about an hour, but it felt like days before I got up to leave. 

How could some place so beautiful have such an aura of sadness... we escaped about an hour later... the drive back to Patna was silent. All of us were taken aback by the depression of the village...

Patna - Super30

After our two day stay in Gangauli we drove to the capital of Bihar, Patna. After seeing some major cities in India, I can tell Patna is a bit on the lower end of the city spectrum. Millions of people, less organization, and quite filthy. There were more billboards here than anywhere else I went. India takes the whole billboard phenomena to a new level. There are billboards on houses, company windows, cars, and on other billboards... The city skyline is a mass hysteria of advertisement.

We were in Patna to visit some government officials that we wanted to talk to about schools and education. The meeting was cancelled on the first night, so we made some other plans. Back in the US Vineeta and I had met Anand Kumar. Anand has dedicated his life to training some of the poorest highschool students of Bihar to pass the IIT entrance exam. He picks out 30 students (his organization is called Super30) and his students have a 98% pass rate. Absolutely amazing. These students come from families where the yearly income is about 7000INR  (184USD). After meeting him in the Bay Area we decided to go visit his school. I was really interested in meeting his Super 30.

I didn't realize that Anand Kumar also held a class for about ~1000 students.  I think this class was for anyone that could get a seat. I was amazed by the number of people sitting under this tin roof. It wasn't even a classroom... just a large space covered by a tin roof. Some long benches that students were piled onto, knees dug into the person in front's back. 

I gave a quick speech to all thousand students :) in my very broken Hindi. The audience was very receptive, they had many many questions about NASA. It was nice, I hope I inspired them. I told them my Father's story of escaping poverty...

By the way, this moment made many of the major newspapers in India :)

http://bihartimes.com/newsbihar/2008/Feb/newsbihar03feb2.html 

Of sleep and the Winter

I have never been camping... growing up I would always tell people, if I wanted to camp I would just go on a vacation to India. No running water, no electricity, bugs, etc. The difference is in India you will experience these conditions in homes. In Gangauli Vineeta's family has a home. A nice village home, but there is no electricity, a water pump, and a floor toilet. All of these things were small compared to the temperature drop at night time, and the "bed" we slept on. The temperature was easily about 30 F... inside the brick walls of the home about 25 F. The way the rooms are kept warm is with a pot of burning coal by the bed. You sleep under heavy blankets and I guess just hope to make it through the night. It's nothing major for a young person, that's only doing it for the sake of adventure. I can't imagine how the older people and the babies survive winters in rural India.

The nights are so dark in India... You can actually feel darkness. It's heavy and thick. The air smells like burning wood/coal, and the only noises are random cows and birds. There's an element of peace in the dark night. I just felt like the whole world was asleep in those two nights... I've never felt that way in the US.  Someone sleeps, someone rises, there is always work to be done 24/7. In rural India, when the sun sets work time is over. Night time is for sleep. 

The smells and the sights of rural India are haunting. I can't believe people still live in these conditions. I can't believe millions of people live in these conditions...

Gangauli was my first village experience in India... on this trip. Gangauli is a large village (approx. 10,000 people) in the Buxar district of Bihar. We road tripped from Varanasi to this village, driving time about 5 hours. The roads in Bihar have significantly improved since my last trip. The government is making a serious effort in improving them. Roads are either smooth or in the process of being improved.

There is a certain amount of peace in a village... it would be equivalent of what a city dweller finds in a suburb I guess. Really quiet and a sense of community. People live in harmony with animals and nature. Vineeta's house is a large modest house in the village. We went directly to visit the girls school, which is held in the courtyard of the house. February 1st was the annual function, so the girls were deep in the middle of their practice. The school function is like any other school function held anywhere else in the world, except this one wouldn't have existed if Vineeta and her family hadn't started this school two years ago.

The school function was crowded. I would say 500 people showed up to watch the girls. It was amazing. I was sitting on the floor in front of the stage so I could video tape the occasion. I got mobbed by the children. They were absolutely amazed by the video camera. Too cute. The girls did really well. They had a comedy sequence that really showcased some great talent. Lots of singing and dancing...

Back from Bihar

Vineeta and I made it back from Bihar today... I was so happy to see Uncle standing at the platform. I don't have words to describe it. I'm sorry I haven't been able to blog... we had little to no internet connection most of our Bihar trip. 

I'll update my blog tomorrow with the many villages we visited... right now some well deserved rest.  I'm really missing California.