Nizam's

Stardate 64518.6

23:03 - Shopping in India has another level of service. When you enter shops with proud owners, they sit you down serve you chai, and converse with you about their products and lives. After we went to a Kashmri rug and scarves shop and got our fill of chai.  We made our way to another amazing service that India offers: great food. We found Nizam's, which specializes in kabab rolls. We all ordered the double chicken double egg roll to satisfy our taste buds. We were not disappointed. These savory chicken and egg rolls with onions could calm the cravings of any appetite. Unanimously, we called it the best drunk food ever. The two condiments available to put on your spicy piece of heaven are the more spicy green sauce or the sweet and sour red sauce. I opted for the Christmas effect. A variety of people go to Nizam's, we met a Kashmiri doctor trying to work his way to the U.S. and an Aggie class of '07 who was eating her last meal in Delhi (and she remembered the list eater!). So all are welcome to their self-service scheme. Now the major focus of any one from the U.S. when eating Indian food is the stomach aftermath. None of us had issues, but it was touch and go on the way home. Although, I do blame that more on shoving eight people into a basic Toyota compact car.

The Curse of Nizamuddin Auliya

Stardate 64515.9


20:00 - In the afternoon, we made our way to Tughlaqabad Fort which is a ruined fort in Delhi from the 14th century.  This amazing old fort dwarfs the Purana Qila.  When the fort was being built, the King forced everyone to work on the fort and cease work on a well. This order angered a local Sufi mystic, Nizamuddin Auliya, who cursed the fort.  Nizamuddin Auliya ensured that the fort would be short lived and would be overtaken by herdsmen.  When a few years and the untimely death of the King, the fort ceased to be in operation. Arriving at sundown, we ran around the complex, a bit stir crazy from the day's lectures. We climbed on the ruins and settled on a hill where we had a panoramic view of the whole fort. The whole view was breath-taking as we rested and listened to the call to prayer from a local mosque. Next to us was a herder without a few of his teeth. He was the local look-out for the donkey and cattle herders, a sort of traffic conductor.

Later, we joined the local cricket match. The teenagers let us play a few rounds. Yours truly, scored a few runs, but here playing with the local herders with a bull tied up on the side, the aftermath of Nizamuddin Auliya's curse didn't seem half bad. It was almost too peaceful to be true.

Informal, Inc.

Stardate 64510.4

Traveling around the streets of Dehli, you will find small enterprises set-up on the sidewalks by locals. These entrepreneurs make their livings selling a variety of goods from hair-cuts to fake Kama Sutras.  Development specialists term this economic activity as the informal sector because this economic activity is not counted in the GDP and employment measures, but provide 'unofficial' income to the poor.  Unlike the black market, the informal sector activity would not be considered illegal in the United States or other developed countries, except for their lack of permit or meeting of safety standards.  While many lesser developed countries have a substantial informal sector presence, India's 'brand' of the informal sector tends to be more aggressive in their sales pitch and offer a more varied selection of goods.  Here, children come up to us after dinner hugging us and trying to use sympathy to peddle necklaces for the older boy standing a few feet away.  Each tourist location have men continuously hounding foreigners to buy their post-cards and flutes. For locals, small haircutting and shaving stations are set-up with chairs and mirrors or peanuts toasted on an open flame are scooped off the sidewalk and sold.

At the surface, the informal sector seems to be a completely beneficial way for the poor to fill a need within a market and earn an income.  However, this sector posses a few issues.  Why are these children out at all times of the day, talking to strangers and remaining unsupervised? How can these vendors be able to achieve sustainable growth for their business when they only have two hands to hold their inventory? Many of these entrepreneurs are marketed as nuisance or a government failure to provide decent jobs for its citizens, but in many cases, they represent an opportunity for the government or private enterprise to incorporate more of these low wage earners into the mainstream market. One way to achieve this goal includes developing a market place for these sellers.    These markets alleviate the coordination failure of small entrepreneurs of having goods from their villages and homes and not being able to sell them in a secure fashion.  Today, we went to a market that accomplished this; the Delli Haat market welcomes hundreds of rural and urban craftswomen and men to sell their goods directly to the buyers.  We saw a variety of goods being sold at this market from across all Indian states, which in turn, allowed us to see the greater diversity of goods that India can produce.  A draw back of these markets is that they do not solve the issue of the begging children or harassing men; these markets are simply too small to accommodate everyone.  Longer term solutions need to be implemented, such as day care programs and sufficient education, to handle to large scale effects of the informal sector in India.

This strong entrepreneurial spirit of getting out there and trying to make a living out of nothing can empower a nation as it has with the United States.  If the Indian government can harness and incorporate this spirit more into its economy, India can help further develop its crusade of a democratic path to development without leaving this informal sector behind.

Titan of Tourism

21:44 - Due to the previous day's catastrophe and frustration, I took control of organizing and communicating to the bus driver where we wanted to go. Focus Foxies, I was a pretty decent Titan of Tourism. So here are the highlights of the trip.

Pretty awesome day, if I do say so myself.

Hungover and Lost

Stardate 64502.4

22:09 - What Happened on New Year's Eve in Delhi won't end up on the FFL, but I don't know if it will end up staying in Delhi. However, this story is about how we travelled on our own throughout Delhi. Our professor told us a few places to go. We started our journey hiring a SUV and driver from our hotel. We went to the Ghandi Smriti. We got to see where Gandhi Ji lived before he died. They kept his room and things the way there were when he passed on from this world. This Smirti was the first introduction (on this trip) to Gandhi Ji whose way of life and message changed many aspects on how we view the world.

After the Ghandi Smriti, we lost that peaceful feeling. Our guide did not understand where we wanted to go despite him indicating that he did. We ended up in Old Delhi in the North, instead of the New Delhi section in the South.  Old Delhi is home to more of the poorer and crowded population. Being from the U.S., it is harder to comprehend the aggressive, poor nature of this section. But our guide too us to the middle of this section and wanted to leave us with a rickshaw driver/ his friend. We were not having it. After a fair amount of unnecessary miscommunication and an enlarging headache, we headed back to New Delhi.

We finally arrived at Humayun's Tomb, which served as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. A few of us broke free and ran around the tomb area. We spent a bunch of time at a smaller tomb because we had no idea where the big tomb was. We finally arrived at Humayun's (real) Tomb.  This tomb towers over the surrounding gardens. On New Years Day, this place was extremely crowded because everyone had the day off and nonforiegners had to pay only 10 rupees to get in. As the sun sent down, we walked into the second Moghul Emperor's tomb and listened to the call to prayer. Still recovering from our hang over, we soon figured out why  this great emperor stumbled to his death; the stairs at this monument and during his time were killer steep! Eventually, we left for our hotel and chowed down on dinner because we hadn't had food for eight hours.

Six Hours, Three Different Temples

Stardate 64498.5

23:13 - The vast presence of different religions in India surprises me. Growing up in a country that prides itself on being a place to worship as you please, I have always felt that the U.S. could accept any religion and respect its followers. Yet in India, differences in religion are facts of life, not just a small characteristic. Today, we visited jest three of the major religious sites in Delhi: The Lotus Temple, Akshardham Temple, Gurdwara Shri Bangla Sahib.

The Lotus Temple created by the Baha'i faith rises up as a large marble lotus surrounded by nine pools.  We entered the temple in silence and immediately felt the meditating mood wash over us. Encircling the cold marble floors of the temple with my bare feet, I stopped by a window to see another temple rising out of the Delhi fog, the Hare Rama Hare Krishna Temple (Hindu).  I reflected on the idea of sitting inside a religious site in the U.S. and seeing another church/temple/mosque through a window. In College Station, we have Church Street, which has multiple Christian Churches; but Church Street only contains different sects within Christianity not other faiths. As I put on my shoes, I couldn't help realize that I have never really come across a truly diverse religious society.

Our next destination was the magnificent Akshardham Temple built to honor a deceased guru. The Akshardham Temple compares to the many of the cathedrals of Europe with every inch of marble carved and its towering domes. Again shoe-less, I traveled around admiring the carved lotuses and elephants and came upon a side ceremony. A priest of the temple took me in and explained the ceremony. He told me about his Hindu faith and how they have expanded around the world.  He told me about the temple they built in Houston. Upon further clarification, he showed me the address in Sugar Land, Tx. I have been to this temple; in fact, it was the first way I was exposed to Hinduism. Thousands of miles away and we found a connection despite being a part of a ceremony totally foreign to me.

The Sikh Gurdwara Shri Bangla Sahib was our final destination and last occasion to take off our shoes. Different from the shininess of the other two sites, the Sikh Gurdwara had a unique feel to it.  We sat on the side as they sang. I watched as the local Sikhs traveled clockwise around the temple. This temple seemed used. All of the business men, housewives, toddlers with little turbans and children following behind gave the impression that the public used this space as more than just a symbol of their religion, but the working part of their faith.  As part of their complex, the Sikhs had a small tent set up to serve food to any one passing by, especially the multitude of homeless people living near by. This temple reminded me of my own Catholic Church at home with its dim lights and passion for social services. We were told that even the Sikh Prime Minister works a shift at the temple.

In the U.S., we have all three of these religions present, but not vocal. Despite our freedom of religion, I would argue that we do not have religious diversity. We have one major religion with other religions operating on the parameter. In India, many religions exist and almost balance each other. Even though Hinduism has the most followers, it does not hold the majority. As we in the U.S. move towards accepting more immigrants with different religions, we should take India's example into account and not fear the decentralization of our 'culture' or national 'identity'.  We should celebrate this decentralization and trust in our faith that freedom of religion will take us forward.

Financing a Dream

Stardate 64495.6 

20:08 IST - As our first outing in India, we visited the workshop and home of a recipient of microfinance services. The purpose of microfinace services is to offer the poorest a way to borrow and save money.  In normal situations, banks make clients offer up collateral for a loan or have a minimums balance to open a savings account.  However, the poor do not have the collateral or the minimum amount in order to do business with the banks. Over 60% of Indians do not have a bank account; therefore, they cannot obtain these financial services.  Companies and NGOs, such as Basix, help deliver these services.  In many cases, the poor only need loans of a few hundred dollars to make their goals a reality.  These small investments in their futures make huge returns in the form of more income and better, more sustainable livelihoods.
Our small, tired from jet-lag and famished group traveled about an hour to another part of New Dehli where we came to a place where our small complaints were not warranted.  Roughly 20 Americans huddled into a small workshop in a smaller neighborhood in New Dehli.  We watched and listened as 5 women told us about their experiences with their loans and businesses. The owner of this particular workshop space served as an informal leader of the group to explain her whole process.  Rinky is a 26 year-old women of New Dehli who had taken out a loan to buy sewing machines. With a 10,000 Rupee loan (roughly $250), Rinky could buy four sewing machines to start her business of re-purposing old jeans from the US into pants worn by Indians.  At a profit margin of 2 rupee per jeans, she began growing her business and now employs four people.  Rinky expanded her business to now have roughly 6 sewing machines and a machine to put elastic in the waist band.  Her new plans to expand include moving into a new living space in a nicer neighborhood to separate her workshop from her home for which she has already taken out a small home loan for.  Besides microloans, Rinky and her husband have been able to purchase small forms of health insurance to cover their hospital visits.  Also, Rinky pays into two pension plans: one for her and another for her husband. This 400 rupee contribution makes 10% interest and will be delivered to them when they are 58 years old.  Orphaned at a young age, started working at the age of eight, and finished the 10th year of school, Rinky never imagined that her and her husband would be able to obtain this type of success. With a thriving sewing business and her husband's cd business, she can support her younger siblings and help support her husband's family.

Although microfinance allows recipients to pursue their dreams on their own, it is not a cure for the rampant amounts of poverty in India and across the globe.  Basix attempts to provide other services such as pension and savings plans, education, and insurance.  The idea behind this multilateral approach focuses on the need to continually help the recipients to continually reinvest in themselves and grow out of poverty.