Bhagawan Bharose

So here I am sitting at the Taipei airport enjoying uninterrupted net access after a long time :) Sounds spoiled eh? Bear with this message because a couple of my keys are not working for an unknown reason. The last two months were an amazing experience and far too much has happened for me to remember all of it. While this entire thing started off being for our public health practicum it turned into so much more. India never fails to entertain---never!!!

Sitting among the chaos at Delhi airport just some hours back (and I mean chaos-that too post-midnight) I realized that some things never change here. Absolutely no sense of discipline (people pushing and shoving for luggage carts)-no sense of professionalism (a poor family was told by Air India they would have to wait a day to fly for no apparent reason)-no sense of punctuality (at 11:00 flights that left at 10:00 still displayed on the massive departures board)---and yet everything just sort of falling into place and working out. A common joke across India is that the nation runs 'bhagawan bharose' a la 'at the mercy of the Lord' and boy is that true---be it the traffic or the million shops on the streets or the local buses which look like they will fall apart any minute (personally I feel even if the buses were to fall apart the people inside would still be sitting in mid-air because they are all so tightly packed in).

My time in Baroda was great as I got a chance to relax and spend time w/family---but even amidst all that I could not help but notice how quickly and drastically it is changing. Malls are springing up around every corner...grocery stores are taking over the vegetable/fruit markets (thank you Reliance)...and people are trying to be as western as they can possibly afford---or in some cases people don't even seem to care whether they can afford it or not. And interestingly---even after being a fairly conservative smaller city (though it is well on it's way to becoming a metro city in a matter of years) one can spot more and more CSW's on the streets. These women work between cities to meet client needs---e.g. Baroda-Mumbai or Baroda-Delhi or Baroda-Ahmedabad. The rates that CSW's earned in Delhi sounded low---but not after I heard the rates here---around 5-10 Rs. to provide services to one client and around 45-50 Rs. to provide services to 4-5 clients at ONCE. Cutting it short---will add on more later...