Gone Like the Swallows of Capistrano

Swaying with the top of my train car in the upper-level bunk bed, I'm finally moving down the tracks on my way to Delhi. Now that my fate is in the hands of the Indian railway system, I'll have a real chance to reflect on the last three months. Have a seat while I tell you about how a bunch of little kids changed my life. 

I intentionally approached this trip with no expectations. The last thing I wanted was a few pre-conceived opinions formed on the other side of the world, so the less I knew what I was getting myself into, the better. The only sure thing was that I would be working with born-HIV positive orphans, and that I have never done anything like this before.

My first visit to Manavya's orphanage was the morning after landing in India. Not entirely sure where I was, what language people were speaking, or how I come in to make a difference, more than a few questions came to mind. These concerns flew out the window when right as we walked up, the kids immediately grabbed both hands and pulled me into the classroom, showing off their drawings and the tunes they were learning on the keyboard. Within minutes they were calling me David dada (big brother David), a name that stuck with me until I left. If nothing else, I thought to myself, at least I will give them as much love and attention as I possibly can. Turns out that they need those things more than they need computer classes, internet, or any other tangible I could provide. These kids spend their entire childhood secluded from society - they could benefit from some interaction with a person from another part of the world. So after such a warm welcome, apprehension turned into excitement and I couldn't wait for another chance to be around them.

In the beginning, I thought it would be a daily emotional challenge being around children with such bleak hopes for the future. However, I quickly realized this would not be the case. First of all, they take ART (Anti-Retroviral Treatment) medicine every day, so they don't look or act differently from other children. I also got the feeling that either there was no time for sadness or they simply don't know to be sad, because each child was nothing but smiles and energy. Most days they would come outside to greet me as I rolled up on my scooter, then pull me inside so I could read to them. Sometimes from their English workbook, but I usually just read the newspaper out loud. More than anything, they wanted to hear some English. And when they weren't studying or taking care of daily chores and responsibilities, they were playing cricket, running around in the garden, or playing boardgames. Constantly moving and stimulating themselves, these kids were an impressively active bunch.

Three months sped by. Everyone stayed healthy and there were no complete disasters, so I will claim a successful experience. I am certain that I will take away more from this whole thing than all of the kids combined. But if one piece of knowledge sunk into one of their small Indian heads while I was there, then this was a huge triumph. I consider myself an optimistic person, but these folks demonstrated the power of a positive attitude. This has helped me realize that any problems I think I have... are not real problems. They wrote the book on how to play the cards that you are dealt, and I am very lucky to know them.

I got more satisfaction out of my first week here than I did a paying job for an entire year. But I will get another paying job, mom and dad. I promise. 

A few scenes from my last days at Manavya and my going away/birthday party:

Mustache pic with two of the best drivers out there

Dramatic shot with the newest addition of the Manavya family

This is Vaishali. She manages a mental disability with a great sense of humor, and she will destroy you with her thousand watt smile

Thak You Manavya. Close enough.

 Per tradition, everybody feeds you cake on your birthday then smears it on your face

Let's get these cake shots over with

Me with the movers and shakers of Manavya - Ujwala, Maya, and Sushma

My coworkers and good friends Vrushali and Ashwini

Whatchu lookin' at?? Go 'head, get on outta heah.


Me and my buddy Harshad at the top of a very rickety structure. Great view though. Glad we made it down from that thing Harshad

Archana and her kids

The lunch crew




Group shot with as many people as I could gather

Silly; wise

Thanks for having a look at this stuff with me. At the moment I am continuing my trip up the Indian subcontinent - I'll be sure to show you a few pictures along the way. Happy Mother's Day.

Caves for Days

One more weekend trip while living in Pune. It was either a three-day beach party in the tourist hippie town of Goa, or exploring some ancient Buddhist caves. Call me an old man, but I chose the caves. Behold Ajanta and Ellora, two separate UNESCO World Heritage sites where a series of caves were meticulously carved out of giant rock walls between 200 BC and 600 AD. Both places are outside of the city of Aurangabad in northern Maharashtra, a quick five hour bus ride from Pune. Ajanta is made up of about thirty different caves with various stages of Buddha's life immortalized on the walls and columns of each one. Though cut from the rock over two thousand years ago, they were not discovered by modern society until a party of British tiger hunters stumbled upon them in the early nineteenth century. At Ellora, the caves are more expansive and have Hindu and Jain influences as well. They are all beautifully intricate and unlike anything I have ever seen before.  My brother, the geologist, would have completely lost it.  I visited during the dry season, so the surroundings were dusty and earthen-colored. During the monsoon, however, these places become jungles of lush greenery and waterfalls. Made me realize that India should be seen at least twice - once during the dry season, and once during the monsoon. 

A beach party would have certainly been a nice time, but I can do that in Florida. I'm not sure I'll ever come across a place like this again. 

One leg of horseshoe-shaped Ajanta caves

This group of old Asian women could not get enough of the porters at Ajanta 

Paintings cover the walls and columns

That is Charles in there. He is from Belgium. I didn't know him when I took this picture, but we became friends later

Each cave at Ajanta features a statue of Buddha in a different pose

Cave guard upstairs at the main cave of Ellora.

I'll never understand how they cut this place out of one huge rock


From the top of Daulatabad fort. We went to see peacocks, but they are an elusive bird. The view must suffice

This was built to look like the Taj Mahal, but apparently doesn't hold a candle to the real thing. Still pretty nice though

Me and Charles sandwiched between our two new Indian friends

Monkeys stealing Cheetos. I see this happen every time a monkey gets near a tourist with snacks

As I finish this up, almost a full two weeks after my cave trip, I am relaxing at home during my last weekend in Pune. On Monday I get to celebrate my 27th birthday with everybody at Manavya, then it's off to Bombay where I embark on a journey to north India and Bangladesh. I will be sure to fill you in along the way. Per usual, I appreciate you coming to take a look. Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo!

Strange and Arranged

More than two weeks have passed since my fish and mango feast in south India. During this short time, a few big things have happened at Manavya, the orphanage where I have been working since February. Most notably was last Friday, when I got to experience my first Indian wedding. One of the girls at Manavya was married to another local fellow in a very traditional ceremony. The girl's name is Poornima, which translates to "full moon" in Marathi. As though these children could not get any more beautiful and inspiring, all of their names translate to words like "dream" and "delicate flower." Anyway, everyone involved was very excited and emotional about the whole affair. Everyone except for the bride and groom. They appeared stoic, rigid, and generally uncomfortable. I assume this was largely because it was an arranged marriage. For those not aware, arranged marriage is very common in India, much more so than love marriage. Many feel that the joining of two families holds more significance than the union of two individuals. This makes sense to me; only at a wedding, I am used to watching two lovebirds stealing playful glances full of pure affection, not two people staring forward like strangers on a city bus. And strangers they essentially are to each other - their wedding day was the third or fourth time they had ever met. Statistics do show, however, that arranged marriages have a higher success rate and last longer than love marriages. So maybe they're on to something here, it was just a little strange to me.

Apart from the absence of chemistry between the people of honor, the ceremony was fascinating and wonderful. Full of intricate traditions, each meant to signify the bond to be forged among husband, wife, and the two families. Poornima, the bride, is the first child from Manavya to get married and start a life apart from the organization, so this was really special. I wasn't able to catch on to a large portion of the nuptials, but I was throwing rice at the new couple on several occasions. They also decked me out in some traditional Indian wear. Which was amusing, but a lot more comfortable than any Western monkey suit. 

One of the drivers at the orphanage is a good photographer and used my camera for the wedding. Have a taste:

Covering Poornima with turmeric the day before the wedding. They do this for many reasons, mostly to ward off evil spirits and make her skin pop for the big day 

Henna time

This is the traditional set up for the ceremony - more customs going on here than I can explain

First time I saw this guy crack a smile all day. I think he's just realizing that he hit the jackpot 

That was beautiful. Now for the work developments. While it took me some time to figure out how to make a contribution during my short time here, I have finally gotten in together. Thanks to the guidance of Maya (my wise elder roommate) and a few very impressive people in Philadelphia, we have put together something we're calling Manavya Global. This project is focused on exposing the people at Manavya to the outside world through computer literacy, English, and the Internet. Manavya began in 1997 as a place where hopeless women and children with HIV could come to die with dignity. Now, they are marrying kids off and preparing them to be contributing members of society. With internet as an international common-ground and English as the language of the internet, it seems obvious that they should be familiar with these things. Manavya Global aims to make that happen.

With the proceeds from a few donations as well as some persistence, we have reconfigured our old computers, acquired two new computers, and established internet access at the orphanage. Four older students were enrolled in a computer literacy class that began last Monday, and we have recently lined up a professional English instructor to begin a spoken English course in May. Next week, we should have our first virtual exchange session, which is the beginning of a series of Skype calls between Manavya kids and some Indian-American students in the US. Further down the road, the plan is for more technical computer training and ultimately a way into the exploding IT market here. This has all come together in the past six weeks, and is designed to continue for years to come. But I've only got two weeks left, which will be spent showing children the internet and being embarrassed by the "typing tutor" computer program.

I could not be happier that I have been able to help out with the development of this project, and I can't wait to see the opportunities that come out on the other end. These kids deserve a lot more, but this is a good start.

This computer is exploding with internet

Configuring some mainframes with the Manavya staff

Last Thursday was Pune's Election Day for Prime Minister of India. This was one of two pictures I took before the police asked me to stop taking pictures

A political portable party on the move during Election Day

Thanks for reading, I hope the Easter bunny paid you nice, chocolatey visit this weekend. Come back when you can, I've got a few more things to show you.