finally! an interesting workday

It seems I may never complete my vacation description here. . . I’m too distracted and forgetful. Also, I just read the NYT piece on what to see in India in 10 days or less. . .it’s bullshit bad advice, in my humble opinion. Read and dismiss.

Moving on. . . While I find working at my present job largely uninteresting and unchallenging, I had the best three days of my Indian career last week. I went to a field office in the state of Jharkhand, a new state, carved out of the state of Bihar. Jharkhand is largely tribal, and land there cannot be transferred to non-tribals. I went to Ranchi- the state capital- where I conducted a training for two days, and then went on an amazing site visit with a local organization Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra (New India Rising Center). Sushmeta, a Coordinator at NBJK, took me around to a couple of villages where I met with women’s self help groups (SHGs), asked and answered questions. Sushmeta acted as my translator. It was a great time for me, and Sushmeta said “she loved me very much” and enjoyed our time together. She wants to take me to meet her family the next time I visit Ranchi. I can’t wait to go back. To me, the value of a place has little to do with the physical structures (from that perspective Ranchi is a bore) and more to do with the people you meet there. Here are some of my notes from the field visits to the SHGs:

1) The bookkeeper of the SHG was talkative and seemed like a natural leader. She nursed a 2 year old boy during the meeting. Near the end of a discussion about their birth control practices she mentioned that she came from a very poor family in the village. Her family could not afford a proper dowry, and it was not until after she was married that she realized that she had been married off to a man who is mentally retarded. She was upset at first but said that she took solace in the fact that her husband’s family (with whom most Indian women live after their marriage) was a richer family in the village. She was married at age 17, and now has two healthy children. Sushmeta told this woman that she should have her tubes tied, since she already had two healthy children and shouldn’t risk giving birth to a child who is mentally retarded. Advice like this is normal and often freely given in ways which most Americans would find offensive.

2) The women in the group looked very young to me- most no older than 23 or so. Some were much younger, and a few were older. All were married and were mothers or near motherhood. All the women wore saris. I asked them what they had learned in the group. The SHG was formed to be a savings and credit group. NBJK provides trainings on other issues as part of the regular meetings. The women said that they learned about birth control, menstruation, and breast feeding. Then the coordinator showed me the condoms that they give out, a sample IUD, a pack of birth control pills, and colored beads that are used to explain safe times in the cycle to have sex. About one third of the women said they had had their tubes tied, after 2-3 children. One woman was using the pill, and two or three used condoms. I asked whether they could talk to their husbands about birth control and family planning. Less than a handful said that they could. Most of the women were married at age 17, two were married at age 15, and one at 14. Most of the women had their first child within one and a half years of their marriage. After the meeting, I asked Sushmeta whether most of the women were generally in control of the family planning choices. Her answer was that India is a patriarchal society and unless a woman is outspoken, such choices are not within her control, especially in the villages.

3) I visited with an adolescent girls group. The girls were dressed in jeans, knee length skirts and t-shirts. One girl wore a salwar kameez. The members were unmarried and between the ages of 15 and 19. After their studies most of the girls said they wanted to be “independent.” One girl intended to join the army, and a few others wanted to go into social work (development work). I asked them if their parents talked about getting them married off. They responded with “Nos” but said that if their parents decide to marry them off then they have no option but to follow that course of action. They asked me many questions as well, including whether adolescent girls and boys hang out together in NYC. They also wanted to know the average age of marriage in NYC.