Hello again!
These past few weeks have been full of meeting new amazing people, going new amazing places, and learning new amazing things. I can't remember the order in which anything happened, but I'll give you a few brief highlights, just so you can see the breadth of experiences that make up living in Mumbai and a JDC volunteer.
• Bayiti, the old age home, is an awesome place. There are eight residents during the holiday season (now), and seven year-round. There are only two men and the eighth resident comes in so she has people to be with for services, etc. It is housed in a beautiful apartment with tons of natural sunlight in their screened-in porch. They get three hot, home cooked meals everyday, including kosher chicken on the weekends! The residents are the kindest, most generous people, and they all just want to sit and have long conversations about their lives and my life and their experiences and my experiences and every time I leave they beg me to stay. Kimberly and I went to help them with an arts and crafts project; we are making greeting cards to sell at an upcoming Indian Jewish book fair to raise money for the home. The cards turned out beautifully, and even the home's eldest resident, a 92-year-old woman with parkinson's, was able to create a masterpiece. They've invited us for Shabbat (services, a meal, a place to sleep, and they said they'll do our laundry for us) and I think I'll have to take them up on the offer in the next few weeks.
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| Bayiti resident George Taylor with his only photograph of his mother, Panina. |
• Shopping here is un-freaking-believable. It's mind boggling how cheap all these beautiful things are! I've been on a few shopping sprees already and no matter how much I buy, I can't spend over $30. I bought some kurtas (the longer shirts) and leggings so that I can fit in a bit more, some leather sandals so that I can walk like a native as well, skin products (like papaya face scrub, charcoal face mask, etc.) so that I might acquire an Indian glow, and some other odds and ends because it's hard to turn down handmade paper cards with elephants when they're 75 cents for six.
• I made flyers and have been helping to plan for Limmud, a day of Jewish learning, life and community. The conference will be on November 3rd and there will be Krav Maga, Israeli dancing, Jewish cooking, panels on Jews in business and the future of the Indian Jewish community, etc. It's been very interesting to sit in on the planning meetings and learn both how events are run here and what issues are important to Jews in India. One of the major issues is what they call intercaste marriages, or marrying outside the Jewish community. Although this is an issue worldwide, there are many aspects specific to India, including the fact that the community itself is small and getting smaller. Which brings me to another major problem: Jews leaving India. Making aliyah is very common for young Indian Jews. They either support Israel so strongly that they feel the need to join the army, feel as though they would have a better lifestyle in Israel, or want to meet their future partner. With many Jews leaving and many marrying out, the community is growing smaller every year and many fear it won't last very much longer.
• It is Sukkoth! This means it's sukkah time. Last week we went to build a sukkah with our Gan Katan kids and other adults in the community. The kids had a blast coloring fruit to decorate the sukkah. One thing I've learned about the education system here is that there is always a right way and a wrong way, a correct and an incorrect. Most of the time, the kids sit and repeat exactly what the teacher says, or they just copy down words and memorize. There is no "thinking outside the box" because they have to follow the directions. For this reason, I told them the one rule was that they had to be creative with the fruit coloring; I didn't want to see yellow bananas and red pomegranates. The results were amazing! We had green polka-dotted cherries and purple striped apples adorning our sukkah ceiling in no time. I also started doing "kablat panim" at the beginning of every Gat Katan class (thanks, Middlebury Hillel) to make it more interactive and less follow-what-the-teacher-says-and-complete-assignments-like-a-robot-with-no-meaning. With the dwindling Jewish population I mentioned before, and the fact that so many are finding Judaism less and less applicable and important to their own lives, I think it's important for me to make Judaism exciting for the kids in Sunday school. One of my goals for this year is to show the community how leading a Jewish life doesn't necessarily mean being orthodox, keeping Sabbath, keeping kosher, memorizing torah, speaking Hebrew, etc. All things things are great choices if they're the one you want to make, but I think if helping the Jewish community survive is a main concern, there needs to be a more accessible form of religion for them (especially the younger generation).
• I've moved to my new apartment! I've been living in Thane for approximately 28 hours now. It's a very nice flat in a very nice neighborhood. Thane is called "the city of lakes" because there are hundreds of lakes--or what I would call large, industrial puddles--scattered around the suburb. Although it's not the pond surrounded by grassy meadow and with families of ducks that we would imagine if a city in the US were called "the city of lakes," it actually is quite lovely. This area is much more family-oriented and you'll see families going for strolls along the roads next to the lakes in the evening. There are very few beggars and much fewer people living on sidewalks than in the city of Mumbai. It's a little bit cleaner and much quieter as well. There are all the shops I would need within walking distance, a gym down the road and a yoga studio next door. The yoga studio charges 150 rupees a month, which is roughly $2.50. For a month. I spent my first night here scrubbing the walls of the kitchen for what I think was their first bath since the building was constructed. Now that I don't fear I'll get violently ill from cooking in it, I've purchased loads and loads of groceries from the supermarket in the nearby mall, which also houses dozens of clothing stores, toiletry shops, electronics stores, toy stores, shoe stores, restaurants, and even a bowling alley, arcade (with bumper cars), and movie theatre.
• One thing I'm sad about in my new place is that I was really starting to make some good friends in Mumbai. People here are so friendly and Kimberly and I have really been able to connect with some awesome people around our age. It's very interesting to hear about their lives; they are so different from back home. Education is absolutely the most important thing in many families, and you choose your profession (or at least your area) at age 16. That is also when you go to college, for either arts, science, or commerce. Then, many people go for graduate degrees immediately after college graduation. You're basically done by age 22 or so and you start working, having already completed a master's degree. But through all of this, you still live at home in most cases. Your mom makes you three meals a day; your dad wants you home by 10 o'clock; and dating, smoking and drinking are out of the question (for most). I've loved talking to the young people about what it's like and they are equally surprised and much more perplexed when I say I've been living on my own for four years already (not that Club Midd is actually "living on my own."). They can't understand why I'd go across the country for school, and really don't understand why I would cook for myself (and really REALLY don't understand my eating habits: "Are you sure you don't want another chapati? Why didn't you take any rice? You don't want more sugar in that? You don't want any sugar in that? How come you didn't fry it? Why isn't your salad cooked?"). I've loved making new friends and now that I'm in Thane, I'll have to start meeting people here, too. I'm hoping I'm learning the culture well enough to not offend anyone or do/say something wrong socially. Being unintentionally rude wouldn't make me any friends, but perhaps they'll be more forgiving because I'm foreign.
That's all for now, and I'll update if I think of anything I missed. Feel free to ask questions so that I know what you actually want to hear about.
Love and hugs from India,
Leah
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