"Where's Waldo?" That tool...

While on a trip to open bank accounts for 6 of our clients, we were in the bank for over two hours because around 1:30PM the entire bank staff had to take their lunch. (A sacred ritual) During that  time a women's microfiance self help group  gathered in the bank for their monthly meeting. I think my presence proved a bit of a distraction, because when I looked up at the group, all 15 members eyes looked back at me, including the slightly exasperated eyes of the nun attempting to guide the meeting. Three women promptly sprung to their feet and dragged me to the group to take a picture with them, clearing a spot at the center for me.  We took one picture, then they insisted I put on the sunglasses I was holding for another photo which makes me look like a total tool* so I wont be sharing that one.  This first below.

Despite Bangalore's reputation as the "Silicon Valley of India" I encounter surprisingly few foreigners around town (outside of certain expat watering holes). I find it hard to blame these women from rural villages for staring, because whenever I come across a foreigner, I'm so shocked I stare too!

*Definition of "tool" according to the Urban dictionary: "A person, typically male, who says or does things that cause you to give them a 'what-are-you-even-doing-here' look...The tool is always trying too hard to fit in, and because of this, never will." (Rating: 5548 Thumps up, 1157 Thumbs down)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tool 

(Please note the sink in right hand corner of this bank's meeting room. This is one thing I really appreciate about Indian culture: 1.3 Billion people who are OCD about handwashing. Especially helpful when you forgo a knife and fork because everything is considered finger food!)

When does it take months to pay off a $22 loan?

Check out CNN's coverage of bonded labourers in a brick kiln in the State of Uttar Pradesh, in North India. The system of giving an advance to a labourer, then having them come work for you to pay it off is common and legal in India, it's only when the element of force is introduced that it becomes an abuse of human rights and a punishable criminal offense. From owners forcibly returning escaped labourers to the kiln, to paying below minimum wage (As little as 11 rupees a day! ~$.25) to using beatings as a means of intimidation...CNN really does the issue justice. (About 5 minutes long.)

I love the irony of the supervisor's demand to be paid for giving a brief interview to the reporter, yet is guilty of withholding wages from the labourers. Typical.

My only addition to this report would be that often labourers have repaid the loan multiple times over but aren't aware because the principle/interest payments are withheld from the workers wages, and most labourers only have a couple years of schooling behind them so they are unable to calculate their payments.

Minimum daily wage* for an unskilled brick maker is 151 rupees ($3.35) in Uttar Pradesh, which means Durgawati, her husband and daughter should have been able to pay off her 1,000 Rupee loan within 3 days with both parents working. Instead they've been working 6 days a week for the past two months with no idea they have repaid the debt 17 times over. A 8000 rupee debt could be repaid within two months, instead of years...

Please join me in praying for India's modern slaves, that the rule of law would be strengthened in India so these labourers could access the legal protection from exploitation due them. 

Thank you CNN for raising awareness through your thoughtful work on this issue! 

*http://www.paycheck.in/main/officialminimumwages/uttar-pradesh
-
If the video doesn't work you can also view it here:
http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/08/generations-pay-off-debts-through-slavery/

One Aftercare Safari

A government meeting turns impromptu safari when the official takes us off-roading in search of 22 wild elephants!

Our office secretary read about 22 elephants on the loose in the morning's paper before we left on our trip.  Story here: http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/14/stories/2011031452960700.htm Little did we know we'd get to meet them later that day.

We met with the DFO to discuss a village watershed project we are implimenting in partnership with Intel, but the meeting was cut short when he asked "Do you want to see 22 wild elephants?"

Following the Department of Forestry Officer. Our little sedan struggled some when we got to the unpaved  mountain roads but there was no way we were going to miss this!

A view of the surrounding area. I love indian mountains. They look so different from the ones at home. Most of them rise abruptly from the landscape.  

We piled out of the car and continued on foot.  Neenu giddy with excitement!

You can see the elephants on the top of the ridge in the right hand corner. Follow the lightly colored dots (villagers) through the next few pictures as they trail the elephants from a distance. Seems the city folks weren't the only ones excited by this!

The elephants carefully picking their path down the mountain. Villagers watching from the ridge. The pictures are a little hazy because Forest Department Officers were using firecrackers to drive the elephants back to the forest.

The first of the elephants makes it down. Villagers streaming down the mountain after them.

Wow. Pinch me!

 I love how close we were allowed to get to them! None of this: "Elephants are wild animals and potentially dangerous, you should stay in the car girls."

My face was like this the whole time. That's the DFO on the left.

He's my favourite government official. Hands down. Looking forward to working on the watershed project with him!

Pondy Scheme

The interns and fellows set off for a spontaneous weekend in Pondicherry as a last hurrah before Christine and Monica return to the US. I wish there was bonded labour in Pondicherry. Wait, what am I saying?!?!? What I mean to say is: Pondicherry is a beautiful place that I'd love to call home and I'm already scheming on how to go back... 

-

Monica,  Emily and I splurged for one night at a historic hotel called Hotel De L'Orient. It still only came to  30 USD for the night and was easily my favorite thing about the town. I think Sara Crewe would have stayed here with her Captain father. L'Orient was only two blocks from the Bay of Bengal and still uses skeleton keys! 

The stairwell...

My slippers and bag on an antique aubusson rug. The room was full of French Colonial antiques. C'est mangnifique! 

The interior courtyard where we had notre petit déjeuner. Unlimited croissants!!

Casey downing a bottomless mug of robust Arabica coffee. (Pun completely intended.) 

[ SO ]

[ BEAUTIFUL ]

[ IT HURTS ] 

Whether the setting is pristine...

or has patina. 

This man was taking refuge from the rain against the back wall of a tea stall. When I asked to take his picture, he was adamant: "Je te l'offre en cadeau."  (Je pense! J'espere!) 

 I stumbled across several literary treasures, like Dagny Taggart's revolutionary motor seemed out of place reveling in the bygone colonial era...

...and a recurring motif from The Calling of Lot 49 caused me to ponder questions of ontology versus epistemology. Is it true that Pondicherry is the most delightful place in India? The French speaking auto drivers certainly held to that belief!

The town had a funny obsession with cubism.This little elephant is caught red handed making a passionate plea in defense of his own beautiful vandalism: "Stick no Bills"

But what Indian vacation would be complete without running through the pouring rain to catch your bus home? Henry and I have never been so grateful that all of India is en retard than when we showed up at our bus stop 15 minutes after the departure time and our ride home was not yet bound for Bangalore! 

So I missed a couple... Like, 15

My colleague, Casey, spent the morning tracking the coverage of our latest operation in the news here in India. He's much more thorough than I am...seeing as he compiled over 20 stories!  There seems to be 10 original articles that have been written, and many more outlets that have picked up these 10 different versions of the story. So, here is the complete archive as of 4PM IST.

(No, I dont except you to read them all, just marvel at the sheer number...)

National Newspapers – In both online and print editions
1.The Times of India - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangalore/Bonded-labourers-freed-from-Bantwal-quarry/articleshow/7025185.cms
2. The Hindu - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article926029.ece
3.  Deccan Herald - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/117323/39-bonded-labourers-rescued-quarry.html

Online
4.  Zee News – Incorrectly refers to us as International Justice for Commission - http://www.zeenews.com/news671719.html

Local Newspapers
5.  Daiji World – Many pictures - http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=90819
6.  Coastal Digest - http://www.coastaldigest.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17352:bonded-labour&catid=59:top-stories&Itemid=67
7.  Mangalore Today – Many pictures. Identifies us prominently - http://www.mangaloretoday.com/mt/index.php?action=mn&type=2086
8.  New Kerala - http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-96391.html
9.  Mangalorean – Picked up the Deccan Herald story - http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=210255

Other references
10, 11. NewsPolitan – picked up the Zee News article - http://newspolitan.com/forum/art/india/bangalore/GE5DCNR2GA6UCVCB  and the Times of India article - http://www.newspolitan.com/forum/art/india/mysore/GE5DCN31GQ4UCVCC
12.  WebInida123.com – picked up the New Kerala story - http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20101202/1642097.html
13, 14.  An Hour Ago India – picked up the Times of India and Hindu stories - http://www.anhourago.in/show.aspx?l=7053172&d=502 , http://www.anhourago.in/show.aspx?l=7051898
15.  New Front World – picked up the Deccan Herald story - http://newfrontworld.com/2010/12/02/bantwal-39-%E2%80%98bonded%E2%80%99-labourers-rescued-in-vittal/
16.  IPL (Indian Premier League) Extra – picked up the Hindu story - http://iplextra.indiatimes.com/article/0dxF6cCcn4bON?q=Bangalore
17.  Schemaroot.org – picked up the Times of India article - http://schema-root.org/region/international/non-governmental_organizations/
18.  NGO Blog - picked up the Times of India article - http://www.ngoblog.com/bonded-labourers-freed-from-bantwal-quarry-times-of-india/

Vernacular Media
19. + Articles were published in both the local Kannada and Tamil newspapers. We are waiting on translations of the articles, and we are getting them translated by people in the office.

READ ALL ABOUT IT! 42 Released from Slavery

MANGALORE, INDIA - Another day has dawned in India and our little portable printer is busy making release certificates declaring the labourers free of their (fictitious) debts! Check out some of the local media coverage below including pictures of the victims looking happy (no one smiles for pictures here, so the straight faces are good :-). The articles use the number 39 because the papers went to print before one missing man was discovered and reunited with his wife and child late last night. That brings us to 42 rescued!  

Thank you for your prayers, especially for safety and government initiative! Our God is definitely an awesome God!

This morning a pastor friend in Bangalore tipped me off to this article in the Times of India, India's largest English daily: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Bonded-labourers-freed-from-DK-quarry/articleshow/7026195.cms.

The article in The Hindu demonstrates the competency of Assistant Commissioner Kavalikatti and the plight of the labourers:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article926029.ece

The Mangalorean's article is full of images and paints a story that's more "in process" here:

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=210255

I love this little girls mischievous smile.

Total rescued this year: 215 (Target is 220, corrected from 210.) 

Total Release certificates this year: 135 (Exceeding our target of 110!)

We were hoping for 50 percent of those rescued to receive RCs, but got them for 62 percent instead! PTL!

My Indian Woody Allen

Every day on my walk to work I would take note of the Indian man that looked like Woody Allen. He would always be at his post,  elegantly leaning against the tree opposite his tender coconut stand. Watching his tender coconut peddling competitors snatch up customers with their diversified offerings of coconut water, tea and biscuits just a few meters further down 80 Foot Road. (This picture was taken after my Indian Woody Allen had already liquidated his inventory.)

He only had two outfits, one a variation of the other: a lungi, short-sleeved dress shirt,  turban...and specks like Woody Allen's. Now short sleeved dress shirts are a terrible concept, and a lungi is like a short sarong for men (another terrible concept) but this man could pull it off wearing these items--in mismatched patterns no less. Did I mention he was barely 5 feet tall and looked to be pushing 80?  I know that he only had two outfits because one day he took his house down...

Yes, deconstructed his house. It was only a frame of bamboo with a blue tarp. But he took his house down. With the blue tarp cast to the side of his plot I searched for what must be the trappings of a simply elegant life. The bare spot revealed a neatly folded suit of clothes perched on top of his second pair of sandals (no longer here, he took them), and four empty liquor bottles.  

 

I should have taken a picture of him before he moved. I always wanted to but figured I should learn to ask in Kannada or Hindi to be polite. But now that I'm looking at a picture of Woody Allen,  the glasses are the only common feature between the two of them and I feel badly for convincing my roommates that he was the spitting image of Woody Allen. My Indian Woody Allen is actually much better looking, though I can't remember exactly how or why. My roommates, and you, will have trouble getting the image of Woody Allen out of your head, so I'm afraid I've done my Indian Woody Allen a disservice.  

I hope business is better elsewhere...

Sash enjoying a tender coconut. I'm pretending to, but am really waiting to get a cold diet coke at the provision store across the street. If only I liked coconut milk, then perhaps MIWD would still own a tender coconut stand on 80 Foot Rd!