Picking up from the boy’s last post, last Sunday was a busy day of walking through a creepy village, attempting to find a recommended restaurant, where we finally and miraculously ended up after getting lost between several narrow and pitch black streets. Four colourful Bihari platters later, we moved onto the Lotus Temple, where more people looked at us rather than at the actual famous attraction. At around auto number five, and just on time to see the sunset, we arrived at Lodi Gardens (or prime photo-opportunity location), and felt transported into an almost mythical setting where ancient ruins interspersed the neatly kept lawns. Finally, India Gate was the last stop on our rather rigid schedule, as we had gladly taken the advice of an Indian woman who suggested it was best seen at night.

That same night we sat at another table for dinner, which was unheard of considering we had basically assigned seats from the very first evening, and we joked that we would be cursed – it apparently came true the following day.

Andy was ill, and couldn’t take part on our first day of research on the field. On our way back, our car was stranded in an ocean of rainwater – previously the Delhi roads – we were even told that Delhi traffic and road conditions turn into mayhem during monsoon season, yet we found it hard to believe how they could possibly get any more chaotic. Well, we certainly believed it when we were forced to abandon our car and wade through the disturbingly opaque waters to reach the bank of safety, after our driver had decided to risk the floods to skip traffic, causing the car to become grounded in a pothole, waking us up with a jolt. We stood on the bank helpless, except when we again assumed the role of photographers documenting the entire towing process. After the car was
exceptionally quickly towed, again reaching hard-ground, on our treacherous way back paddling through the murky waters, Chris suddenly disappeared. Half of him had been swallowed up by some sort of disguised manhole. However horrific for him, the sight of a smartly suited man drenched and shocked just made us all laugh hysterically, not helping Chris one bit. To top it all off, the journey back to the guesthouse took a staggering 4 and a half hours, at least we had time to dry.

Despite the curse, our field-day conducting primary research on the quality of education at a Delhi government boys-school exceeded all of our expectations. Everybody we questioned responded extremely enthusiastically and we were able to gather all the results we had hoped for, through questionnaires, focus group discussions and activities designed around the students. The school staff were so welcoming to the point of even repeatedly force-feeding us with homemade Indian dishes we “just had to try”. Several samosas and plates of rice pudding later, we were invited to play cricket. A swarm of children surrounded us, their eyes focused on the ball Andy was about to throw to Chris. We played for a while, with the entire school coming out of their classes to witness Chris’ amazing first go at the game and Andy’s confident proficiency. However, when it was our turn to make a name for us female cricketers, one of us used our rounders skills impressively whilst the other, to put it nicely, failed miserably (we’ll let you guess who is who). The game came to a natural close when the children’s excitement moved from the ball to selfies, turning the pitch more into a mosh pit.

The week continued with more field-visits, ending with another government school in Delhi, this time a much larger and all-girls school. Here we had the chance to survey a larger number of children, and also to facilitate an extremely interesting discussion with teachers, regarding their opinions on the barriers to quality education. Our visits will continue for a few more days, and we look forward to more interesting insights into the Indian education system and, of course, to the inevitable ensuing selfies!

GEO Bharti Interns

SEWA Radhanpur women and us.

Last weekend we went on our first trip out of the state of Gujurat to Udaipur in Rajasthan. It was our first time taking a sleeper bus in India and boy was it an adventure! We booked our tickets online and set off an hour early to get to the bus stop, knowing we’d get lost. However we soon realised that the address we were going to was taking us way out of town and was definitely not a bus stop! It was midnight and after many futile tries to call the bus company the Uber driver had had enough. Thankfully, he agreed to take us back into town to another address we hoped was the actual bus stop. We arrived at the address 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave and was hopeful that we’d be able to catch the bus in the nick of time. However once we got out of the taxi it became apparent that there was no order to where and when buses came and went. We frantically ran up and down the street following the directions from friendly locals who were sending us in completely opposite directions. Ten minutes had passed so we had to accept defeat!

After we regained our breath, Plan B was to find a ticket office where we could buy another ticket. The ticket office at what looked like a bus station was closed so we hopelessly tried asking some locals. We started talking to a man who knew pretty good English and soon we were surrounded by men trying to help us out (or find out why four foreigners were running around the place like headless chickens). One man insisted that he knew where it was and offered to take us there. We got to what looked like a shop lot on the side of the street and was instructed to sit and wait next to these two girls. They looked like they were waiting for a bus so I asked which bus they were waiting for. To our amazement they were waiting for our 12:45 bus that had been delayed by an hour! We couldn’t believe it!

The bus experience was the equivalent to that of the Knight Bus from Harry Potter. It felt as though we were going to tip on the top bunk, and the horn was the driver’s best friend. When we finally made it to Udaipur, we were relieved that we even made it. We immediately took a rickshaw to the City Palace only to find it closed, so we waited until it was open. We explored the City Palace and Udaipur and then rested at our hostel The Bunkyard, and spent the rest of the evening on the rooftop overlooking the water. That night, the monsoon rains finally hit and we experienced our first proper monsoon thunderstorm. There was a power outage so everyone in the hostel gathered around a single light talking and playing music. It was a great experience for us as we got to converse and share stories of India with others staying at the hostel.

On our second day in Udaipur we visited the Clock Tower and climbed to the very top! Afterwards we put our bargaining skills to the test and purchased some tchotchkes to bring home.

View from The Bunkyard.

During the week we took a trip to Radhanpur to see the SEWA Hansiba textile museum.  This three and a half hour journey outside of Ahmedabad had many twists and bumps but we enjoyed the journey and scenery on the way there. Once we arrived, we were greeted and immediately shown the museum which displays many communities worth of clothing and blankets. Each piece of textile had its own history, whether it was 150 years old or intricately detailed. We then had a lovely lunch made by the SEWA women. We also had the opportunity to speak with a few of the SEWA women about what they do for the women in Radhanpur and how they started. One very interesting question we were asked, and not expecting, was how women are treated in our respective countries. We came to the conclusion that everywhere women are fighting for equality.

GEO SEWA Interns

Soon after landing at Mumbai airport we were greeted by the welcoming faces of the RBI staff. We were quickly introduced to the Boston students over a much needed coffee, before heading off on the four hour drive through the mountains to Pune, on India’s chaotic roads. We made a brief stop half way through at a local service station, for our first taste of the Maharashtra cuisine, before continuing on to the RBI’s College of Agricultural Banking beautiful campus.

Our first day at work consisted of a tour around the campus, and a guided tour of the RBI museum and archives, where we were taught about the origins of the Bank and how it has changed over the years. The guides also gave us much insight into the Indian culture and values, and also the disparity between the different regions of the country.

On Tuesday evening after work, we decided to explore other parts of Pune, so we piled into a few rickshaws and set off to Mahatma-Gandhi Road. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by a stray buffalo wandering through the traffic, before finding a tree enclosed garden restaurant a few streets away for dinner.

On our third afternoon of work we were privileged to be invited to join a retirement celebration for a man who had worked within this campus for 37 years. Although some of the group were reluctant to join in, the celebration proved to be lots of fun. It was our first attempt at copying the locals’ dancing, which was hilarious and showed us that we were definitely not yet used to the Indian humidity or heat.

We were invited to attend a conference “Credit flow to the priority sector: Policy + Implementations” held by the RBI for bankers from all over the country on Thursday afternoon. It was a very interesting experience to see the bankers questioning the panel on the new proposals for micro-finance.

Everyone has had the most amazing first week in India, the RBI staff have all done their utmost to make us all feel welcome and at home, and we are all eagerly excited to see what the  next five weeks entail.

GEO RBI Interns

We arrived in New Delhi on the 25^th, two days before our first day of work. Our first taste of India was the surprisingly spacious and orderly airport, an impression entirely contradictory to our preconception of a lively and at times chaotic country. It only took us a short drive to get to our guesthouse on the periphery of Gurgaon, one of the myriads satellite cities of Delhi. The drive was probably the first real taste our weary and jetlagged selves experienced of the free-for-all, seemingly ruleless chaos they call roads. With cows one of many avid road-users. An endless chorus of car horns used not as an aggressive technique but more as a spatial awareness indicator. The next morning, we hailed an auto-rickshaw being pedantically cautious of fitting everyone in, before witnessing countless families squeezed in and hanging off the sides of these tiny motorised carriages. An extremely futuristic metro – miles better than the tube and Boston’s ‘T’ with far better security and even a women’s-only carriage – took us to the capital, even though we (the English interns) found it particularly odd that conversing on the metro is allowed. Some commuters even played music out loud, which we all consider a massive faux pas on tubes – it is basically a crime!

We opted for a safe and less intimidating introduction of Connaught Place, the former headquarters of the British Raj. Perhaps sticking to what we know, just for the first day, was a good idea when in India! Within the first 30 minutes of setting foot in the city, we were confronted with our first experience of celebrity: Ella was asked to pose with a whole family of Indians! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to keep the photo… but we were relieved none of us were blonde or God forbid ginger as the fascination would be at an entirely different level.

With the temperature edging 40 degrees and humidity at an unprecedented level, walking 9 miles was impressive with only a potato filled – yet delicious – pancake made of rice, a “masala dosa”, to sustain us. We managed to fit in 3 major attractions; including, an open-air observatory (the Jantar Mantar) and despite our best efforts we gained minimal understanding whilst it sadly dawned on us that people built these astrological instruments over 250 years ago, yet we could not even figure them out with the aid of simple descriptions. We also visited an incredibly beautiful and huge Sikh temple (Gurudwara Bangla Sahib), known for its golden dome and pool of water with purported healing properties. We girls came prepared with scarfs to cover our heads, yet the boys were forced to borrow not-so masculine sparkly embellished headwear (see picture!). When naively inquiring into a painting of an enormous diamond, in fact the largest in the world, we were told the British took it and it now lives in one the queen’s crowns. Our guide politely claimed that India had gifted it to the British, despite our unspoken collective understanding that they had of course stolen it…

Our first day as Bharti’s interns was full of surprises: firstly our office building actually resembled a giant greenhouse palace (see pictures) even containing a decorative fountain in its centre. Our day being filled with continuous free coffees and a never-ending buffet-style canteen, we were welcomed by the whole Quality Support Programme team, who were all extremely helpful and hospitable. We then spent the first few days trying
to grasp the incredibly complex Indian education system, as well as the different tools employed in primary research, and we have been commissioned several presentations to show our understanding. So far, so good!

GEO Bharti Interns

The team headed into week 2 free of illness and high in spirits. Saturday saw us venture into Old Delhi, the original city before the British built the new capital in 1947, via another pleasant metro ride that is putting the London underground well in its place. We felt this was our first taste of ‘real India,’ and getting lost in the backstreet markets unintentionally added to this experience. We finally made it to the Red Fort after stopping for masala dosas on the way. The fort itself was breathtaking, and was in remarkable condition considering it was built from sandstone in the 17^th century.

On Sunday, the team headed to Qutb Minar in a cosy 36°C (in hindsight, wearing a grey cotton t-shirt was a huge mistake). This was a monument built in 1193 by Qutub-ud-din Aibak immediately after the defeat of Delhi’s last Hindu kingdom. This marked the start of a 5 century long Turkic Muslim Dynasty in Delhi

Sunday night gave us our first taste of Indian ‘disco’ at Cyber-Hub, a collection of upmarket bars and shops in Gurgaon. Our attempts at Punjabi dancing seemed to amuse the locals, although the compliments of two Germans gave us some hope. However, the conversation soon turned to ‘Brexit,’ and the team decided to call it a night there and then.

Work this week had us focusing on preparing for our research that the team is due to conduct next week in two New Delhi Government schools. Monday involved a presentation on our preliminary research task. On Tuesday, the team visited the two schools that will be used to conduct our research. The team was pleasantly surprised by the schools, as they had very good infrastructure, and there seemed to be a very healthy atmosphere among the students. The hospitality was outstanding; we were near force-fed a selection of Indian snacks such as samosas and halwa, complemented with chai tea. Our research is broadly trying to improve the quality of rural education in India and this field trip gave us a unique insight into what we wanted to find out next week.  The remaining 3 days of the week were spent producing our final research methodologies after consulting with Bharti team members.

The team is looking forward to another weekend exploring Delhi, and spending four days in the field next week (trying not to think about four days without air-con). Onwards and upwards!

GEO Bharti Interns