Pictures

Hello all:

This is DJ, back home in Pennsylvania. It's hard to believe that just yesterday I was in India; the past few weeks went by quite fast. Now that most of us are back home and settled, we can finally share our photographs. Thank you for checking our blog and hopefully these photographs will do our words justice.

Check out these two links for pictures: (more will pour in daily as people get a chance to upload their pictures)

http://picasaweb.google.com/mumbaimoospictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/mumbaimoos

Enjoy!

-dj

Final days

Eight days since I last updated, and I won't bother with the usual apologies
- suffice it to say that I kept telling myself to post but just never had
the time or energy. We went to "Asia's Largest Water Park," Essel World,
with our Indian friends on the next to last day. Very interesting to make
comparisons between this park and parks we've all experienced in America..
It wasn't THAT impressive, but of course we were all too overjoyed to be
swimming in any body of water to notice much of a difference. On our last
day with the delegates, we went back to the deaf school and split up into
teams to play games with the kids. Aaron, Harish, Amey, Vijay, Anne, and I
played Chairs (Lights Out) and Charades with one classroom of students,
whose ages seemed to range from 7 to 16. Apparently the students are grouped
by English ability rather than age - I wonder how effective that's been thus
far. They seemed quite comfortable with each other regardless of age though,
but one thing we couldn't help but notice (well, speaking for the Americans
in the group) was that the students always automatically grouped up by
gender. When we would explain the rules of a game, the boys stood together
and the girls stood together - never mixed.

The children all knew how to play Chairs, but Charades was surprisingly
difficult to get across. Most of them seemed to have a shaky background in
Hindi or other native languages like Tamil or Marathi, and their English was
JUST beginning to develop. Aaron had made slips of paper with English words
like "samosa," "turtle," etc. on them, but each time a student came up to
act a word out, the teacher had to come along with us to explain the concept
of the word, AND how to act it out. Many of us said afterward that it was
disheartening to see the lack of creative expression they all seemed to
have. Of course I was pleased to see the strong focus on English at the
school, but what about everything else? Yes, English is important in terms
of ensuring a positive career path in India, but educators of the deaf
should also be considering the arts, math, and sciences. None of the
students really grasped the concept of acting words out, but it was fun to
teach nonetheless. We also played Elephant at the end, which they ALL
enjoyed very much! Some games are always a winner with deaf kids :)

At the closing ceremony, each of us shared what we had learned from the
experience, and what we would do in the future related to the missions
established by GRO. Hopefully Alim can post this information for our beloved
readers on the website.. I will ask him to do that, if possible. The deaf
teachers from the English school brought henna, which many of us girls had
been dying to have done on our hands, and very kindly did henna for some of
us Americans, boys AND girls. I got a design done on my left hand and on my
right foot/leg. The hand is almost completely faded now, but the leg/foot is
still going strong! Hopefully you'll be able to at least see the henna on my
foot, Dad! (Mom, don't worry: I took pictures of both.)

That night, the Americans boarded a flight to Delhi, and arrived at a guest
house at a medical school very late at night. We already noticed a huge
difference just from our cab rides to the guest house; Delhi was a lot
cleaner, the streets were much bigger, sidewalks were often lined with
streetlights and trees, and there were many more bicycle-cabs, for lack of a
better term. Alim's uncle, who owned the medical school/hospital, was nice
enough to let us all stay two(?) nights at the guest house. We visited the
Red Fort on an extremely HOT day, but I was excited to see this because it
was the homeplace of Shah Jahan, whom I had read about in the book "Beneath
a Marble Sky" (which I keep recommending to everyone, including you - I
loved this book!!). We also went to Connaught Place, an expensive shopping
area where I just browsed, and definitely did not buy.. The next day, Vai, a
fellow student from RIT who lives in India with his family, met up with us
to take us shopping at some of the bazaars. He showed some of us a very neat
store called Fabindia, and that was when the monsoon rain really hit. Wow!
The streets were flooded with water very quickly, and when we left the store
we all had to take off our shoes and run through the streets to prevent
losing our shoes. Fun :)

That night, most of us donned some kind of traditional Indian garb for a

dinner at Vai's family's house, where we finally met up with the members of
Group 2, the Monsoon Riders. It was strange to see so many fellow Americans
again! Vai's house was beautifully extravagant; servants greeted us at the
door and we were given a variety of drinks right away. Their backyard was
amazing - I didn't feel like I was in India anymore, at least not the India
I had been seeing for the past two or three weeks. That night, we boarded a
coach bus for Agra, and arrived at 5:30 in the morning for a walk to the Taj
Mahal. Unfortunately, my bladder was about to explode so I wasn't in the
best of moods.. but once we finally got into the gates at the 6am opening, I
was awestruck by the beauty of the Taj. There are really no words to
describe the whole place.. I hope everyone I know gets to see it once in
their lifetimes. It was especially meaningful to me considering I had read
that book, "Beneath a Marble Sky," which is the partly historical, partly
fictuous account of the story behind the Taj Mahal. I was so excited to be
at the place I had read about!! We spent over two hours just exploring the
Taj and its surrounding mosques and gardens. Lizzie, DJ, and I accepted the
persistent hocking of Taj Mahal t-shirts by a salesman who followed us as we
walked back to our bus, and I have a t-shirt commemorating my visit there
haha.. thanks Lizzie!

The coach bus drove us all to Jaipur, and we stayed a night at Vai's
family-owned hotel called the Om Tower - quite a different experience from
most of the hotels/hostels we'd been staying at. We were definitely sititng
in the lap of luxury - the hotel has a revolving restaurant, and a pool on
the very top of it! We went shopping at a few bazaars, and the next day we
went to the Amber Fort, a BEAUTIFUL fort with maze-like structures that many
of us got lost in and/or hit our heads on.. so much fun, though! Most of the
group departed that day to Delhi to make their flights back to Mumbai and ..
America. Greg, Anthony, David, and I are the remaining GRO'ers still in
India. It's been quite a trip, and it was hard to say goodbye so abruptly to
our fellow teammates. My bonds with a few people definitely strengthened
through traveling with them, and I learned a lot about myself and
others. And what can I say about India at the end of it all? It's a land
full of extreme contrasts, and a diverse population with respect to
religion, dress, norms, and attitudes toward deafness. Three weeks seemed
both insanely long and hopelessly short - I admit I hated it at times, and
loved it at others. I won't be going back for a while, but I doubt I will
never return to the first country I visited outside the USA. I hope to keep
in touch with the Indian delegates through e-mail and letters, and we do
plan on sending them some additional information that we didn't get a chance
to touch on during our workshop week, like information on HIV/AIDS
prevention and awareness. One thing the deaf community has in common on a
global scale is its tendency to spread information fast, so we hope this
will help in some way!

Tonight we're visiting a Rajasthani village with Vai, and who knows what the
last few days have in store for us.. Friday brings David and I a bus ride to
Delhi, a flight from Delhi to Mumbai, a flight from Mumbai to London, and
finally our last flight in what will hopefully be a very long time.. to New
Jersey. I'm not exactly looking forward to all that traveling - God knows
we've had plenty of that during our trip in India - but I'm looking forward
to seeing my family again, taking hot showers, seeing captioning on
television, and reading in English again! Hope the blogs have been
entertaining and informative for whoever's been reading these; I know we
could've updated more, but hope you all forgive us for our lack of time
allocation and energy throughout the trip!

Namaste :)

-Avi

Alim C.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

Empowerment

7: Empowering Each Other

I know, I know: shame on me for not writing for so long! Really, we've all been busy with developing and presenting our workshop/skits. Our last day at the "prison" - as it's now referred to among the delegates - was spent making teams, coming up with team names, making team flags, discussing issues faced by deaf Indians and deaf Americans, and coming up with team skits for the workshop on Sunday. I think that day rejuvenated us all; we felt like we were getting to know each other better, plus we were being productive.

My group: Heena, Amey, Greg, Prakesh, DJ, and myself. We performed two skits, one about family issues, a.k.a. "Dinner Table Syndrome," and one about access to media, a.k.a. Captioning/interpreters for television programs, especially news outlets. I was very nervous about the whole thing more than I normally would have been because it is a challenge to make sure everyone is included as well as on the same page, considering the language and cultural differences. Still, we all made it work in the end. About 250 deaf people showed up just to see us give our workshop, as well as to watch Murali's presentations. Their response was inspiring; they all nodded their heads in agreement to much of what was being said or performed on stage, and they even waved their hands in the air when something especially moved them. A lot of them came up to give us nothing but positive feedback on our workshop, and it felt good knowing that everyone - Americans and Indians alike - contributed to that. I loved when Heena wrapped our team skits up; she is so outspoken and confident that I hope that in 5 years, I will in some way see or hear her name within the global deaf community. Same goes for the (only) other deaf Indian female delegate, Arjit. Both have impressed us so much as deaf females in this country - I hope they recognize their capacities as role models for India's future deaf women.

The past two nights, we've gone to day 4 and day 5 of a wedding for one of Alim's 4820617 cousins. It was quite the cultural experience - one that none of us will ever forget, I'm sure! Day 4 was sort of like the bachelor's party for the groom, but his entire side of the family, men and women, was there. We smeared pithi cream on his face, fed him candies, dropped sprinkles on his face, and the boys threw eggs at him. Sounds unpleasant, but everyone seemed to enjoy it immensely! The only downside was the snowflake cream spray that people kept spraying around - the fumes were awful. Anyway.. The food was sooo good, and I was forced by one of his family members to get up and join the dancing circle. If you know me at all, you know I don't dance. I tried to the best of my ability though..

The fifth and final night was last night, and some of the girls went to Dadar to buy punjabi outfits. I got a reddish orange one, Sarah got a purple one of course, Mia got a white one with colorful paisley print, and Anne got a bright blue one. We looked great, and the location was beautiful. It was weird though; when we all lined up to shake hands with the bride and groom and their family members, the bride wouldn't let go of my hands! I was supposed to keep the line moving, but she wanted to hold my hands for the photographers. Lizzie later told me it's not uncommon for Indians to touch you longer than you'd expect in America. Interesting.

Today we went to a deaf school, and I loved seeing all the kids and how they were being taught. They were so excited to see us and to ask questions, learn our names, etc. We took them outside and taught them how to play "electric" (sort of like telephone but you use your hands to squeeze the person next to you, competing to see which team creates the fastest chain reaction), which they loved! I will never forget Ninad, this one little boy, age 12. He was so tiny for his age, but so lively and adorable.. Best smile ever, too, which is why lizzie gave him the sign name of "smile," which I think he was pleased with.

We're all on the train now, back to the hotel to do some team-building activities I believe, then it's off to Jehru beach in the evening. Avi signing off now in a puddle of sweat.. Love ya mom n dad.

Alim C.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

6: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Where oh where to begin; as always I am stumped on how to start describing my experiences over the past 48 hours. But I will try my best as I sit here on a bumpy old bus headed toward a village with the other Indian delegates (yes, finally!)..

David and I got up early on our last day in Goa for one final dip in the Arabian Sea. As we were walking toward the water, we noted that the beach was completely devoid of people. But soon, our less-than-20/20-eyes squinted as David pointed at a series of dark blobs in the distance. When we got closer, we realized that the blobs were actually cows! Eighteen cows to be exact, all laying on the beach together. It was quite the amusing sight - I wish I had a camera with me! While we were swimming, I saw them all get up suddenly and walk towards the houses beyond the beach. I guess it was time for breakfast?

After enjoying jokes and games at the Goa train station together, we had a not-so-pleasant train ride back to Mumbai that evening. Not all of us got our own beds, so some of us had to share the narrow platforms with each other in the sticky heat. Let's just say we were more than happy to get off the train at Dadar!

We arrived at another Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Deaf-Blind facility somewhere outside of Mumbai. So tired, sweaty, sticky, and grumpy.. Food and showers were in order. Finally, the Indian delegates began to arrive, and we had an opening ceremony to commemorate the start of what we hope will be a long-lasting relationship between deaf Americans and deaf Indians. One woman offered a gold candle to us, asking both communities to light four separate wicks. Once all alighted, it would represent the eternal flame we all have in our hearts for the empowerment and success of deaf people worldwide. A beautiful notion that physically sort of failed, since the fans kept blowing out the flames! But still - it was an appropriate symbol to start off our week together.

Alim arrived that day, and it was good to see him! Unfortunately, the facility as well as its maintainers did not meet our expectations. The entire building, intended for deaf and deaf-blind students apparently, was full of iron bars and unwelcoming rooms. The walls around it were topped with shards of glass. At night, as we were playing spoons with everyone, one worker started turning off the lights, angry that we weren't in bed at 9.30. They also locked gates that were present at the landing for each stairwell, which enraged us even more because a) it limited interaction between the boys and girls, and b) it is a fire hazard, not to mention completely restricting.. We started to feel like prisoners, and wondered how the regular students during the year are treated here. As it got darker and darker, the building began to seem more and more creepy/imposing. the woman in charge of the building was mad that we weren't all in our beds, and eventually we were made to go back to our rooms and go to bed. Definitely not the ideal night, and Alim is making arrangements today for us all, including the Indian delegates, to stay at a hotel/hostel for the rest of the week. I have to say the final straw was when they shut off the fans in our rooms during the night; it was hot enough with just the fans, but I kept waking up drenched in sweat on a hard pallet bed. Gah! The one sweet relief was the small pool they had - we were able to swim in the morning, which of course made me very happy.

Now that our night from hell is over, we're all on a bus headed for a rural village. We will get into our groups - my group consists of myself, Mia, Hiren, and Chichen (sp?) - and meet with families with deaf children to discuss education and communication with them. I don't really know what to expect, but am curious to see how the day pans out! Miss ya mom n dad!

-avi

Alim C.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

6: Kodak Moments

People seriously love taking our pictures. Many of us have been randomly approached by strangers who ask us to pose with themselves or with their children for their cameras. It's the oddest thing ever; we're nowhere close to celebrity status back home obviously, but I guess just as much as we crave taking pictures of India - including its peoples - they crave pictoral documentation of our presence. "Hey look, foreigners! Wait, let me grab my camera." I don't know. It's a trip!

What's scary is they took pictures with their cellphones of some of us as we walked into and out of the ocean today. Girls, of course. They just blatantly did it too, as if they had every right to ogle us and snap pictures of us. It must be such a struggle being a woman in India. I'm sure their struggles are different, because the reason those men stare and take our pictures is because we're clearly female foreigners - not one of their own. But generally speaking, I don't think I'd want to grow up here, being a female. Wow. Just a very different culture; maybe some don't see it as sexism or a struggle at all. Or maybe most of them do.

I'm hoping to find out more about this when we go back to Mumbai (tomorrow, on another sleeper train - yay) and start our weeklong program with the deaf Indians. I'm sure some of the delegates are female, and I will hopefully build enough of a rapport to ask them about their lives as women in this country. We've (GRO) started discussing our two workshops already: the informal one we will present to the 10 Indian delegates about leadership and empowerment, as well as the formal one we will develop with the Indians and present to a large audience of deaf Indians from around the country (we hope). Can't wait to roll up our sleeves and get started!

Ended my day of traveling around Goa and visiting some historical sites (with a foray into their version of jetskiing as well - HMMM) with a beautiful walk by the beach under the stars. The water is so warm and the sky is so clear here. I was telling David, "Sometimes I dream about being hearing and living by the ocean - I would fall asleep to the sound of the waves constantly crashing against the shore." Oo la la. But hey - I'm grateful for even having the chance to stick my toes into the Arabian sea at all. It'll be something I'll tell my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren about :)

-avi
Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

Not Exactly Amtrak...by Avi

Yesterday, we went to a youth deaf club at the Helen Keller Institute. What a sight it was! I was the first to walk into the room, and I wasn't expecting so many people to be there; the room was filled with deaf Indians all around our age, and they seemed so curious and excited to have us there.

One thing that really hit me that afternoon was the story of one woman, who seemed very young (she couldn't have been more than 21). She said she is engaged to be married to a man in half a year, and is pretty much dreading the day. Why? Because she doesn't want to be forced to live under a man's rule, to be stuck inside the house abiding by his decisions - not her own. Also, she will have to wear a burka upon marriage, and that kind of headdress shows only the eyes. I didn't realize it until that moment that for deaf female Muslims, it must be extraordinarily difficult to communicate with others (on top of the typical barriers that present themselves to many deaf people) without being able to show the majority of your face. Deaf people are visual, and sign language is visual; how is she supposed to express her thoughts? She seemed so vivacious and full of personality at the deaf club.. I just wonder what will happen to her. I kept thinking to myself, "Imagine if I was in her shoes. I would feel like I basically am under a death sentence, counting down the days with a sense of dread rather than the expected feeling of happiness that accompanies marriage."

One other thing that surprised and saddened me was that most of them (there were probably over 50 present) didn't know what the Persons With Disabilties Act is. It's a law that is supposed to protect people with disabilities, including deaf people - comparable to the ADA law in America. We tried to encourage them to use that law to their advantage; if someone violates their rights, they can refer to the Act instead of letting it slide.

On a very different note, we left for Goa on a lovely sleeper train at midnight last night. That was a trip, both literally and figuratively. The train wasn't exactly posh - the toilets were just holes to squat on, the beds were padded slats pulled up from against the walls, and fans and barred windows were our source of ventilation. The beds were so dirty and sticky, but we made the best of it. Of course, it was very interesting to experience how some Indians travel - I mean, those cars were for those who could *afford* sleepers. Some just go in regular traincars, which don't have toilets and "beds." When I woke up in the morning, I could see the countryside and villages flying past as we made our way closer and closer to Goa. It was a relief to see a different side of India: less people, beautiful colors of nature, blue skies. In Mumbai I think I forgot the sky existed.

We went to the beach, and I was slightly sad on our way there because a) we didn't have the pool we were hoping for and b) many had warned us against swimming due to dirty water and the monsoon season. However, much to my enormous excitement, it seemed the water was okay to swim in. The beach was dirty at the farthest ends, but close to the water it was all smooth soft sand and warm, WARM ocean. I've never set foot in such warm seawater, and pretty soon DJ, Anthony, and Greg took their shirts off and jumped into the waves. I hesitated since I wasn't wearing a swimsuit - I'd only expected to wade in. After a few seconds of watching the boys swim, I couldn't stay out any longer and dove in with my clothes. It was the best feeling of the day. The sky was so blue, the water felt so good, the hills to our left and right were so beautiful, and we were all so relaxed and happy.

And, almost impossibly, it became more beautiful as the sun went down - my first Indian sunset - and the stars came out. They were so close, Sarah said, that it felt like we could grab them with our hands.

Two Successful Deaf Businessmen- by aaron

A local Deaf man who helped sponsor the GRO delegates' trip is K.
Murali, he is a leader of one of the NGOs in southern India. He is
well-known all over India among the deaf due to the fact he organized
the first Deaf Expo here a few months ago with the purpose to raise
awareness and foster exchange between government, organizations, schools
as well individuals to advance the cause of all deaf Indians. Murali
whose sign name is the same as 'mother' in ASL means flute playing
because his name means Krishna, a god often depicted playing a flute.
Since we arrived in Mumbai, we were taken around the economic impacted
areas, a polite way of labeling slums to grasp the reality of life in
Bombay for the majority including some deaf.

After meeting with the poorand disadvantaged,
Murali decided to take us to meet two local 'big men'
of the Mumbai deaf community that had succeeded in the tough world of
commerce in India. We were piqued with curiosity to meet two such men
who had overcome the furious pace of Indian life....this is not a
culture based on patience at all, instead time is of essence. Our trip
was delayed when one cab transporting four delegates-DJ, Avi, Kenny and
Anne-broke down enroute so we lost an hour waiting for them to catch up
on foot to a produce market district. The sun was out at full force with
no mercy and we were practically dying of thirst when we hiked to the
first man's business. The office was located in a business district of
Mumbai (I apologize because his name has disappeared out of my mind). He
is small-statured which is true for most Indians and in middle age. He
graduated from Gallaudet University and returned to India to work in the
family import/export business.

The same was true for the second
businessman we were introduced to, Sandeep, also a graduate of
Gallaudet. He was involved with his family business of hotels, clothe
discount stores as well cigarette exporting to the Middle East. The two
men were similar in that both were Gallaudet graduates who felt
obligated to return to India to the family business and both obtained
their own interpreters by training them themselves in ASL, a language
both felt conveyed concepts more accurately. The first man was involved
in sponsoring the Deaf Expo mentioned above because he wished the
standard of living for all Deaf Indians to be improved whereas the
latter one focused all his time on the business and his family leaving
none for deaf events. Sandeep was warm and very hospitable to us, he
took pleasure in signing with us in ASL in his office space. The banter
was continued later the night at a dim-lit bar filled with cigarette
smoke and loud music stuffed with foreigners and young non-traditional
Indians till 2 AM when the police was about to come in to search
everyone for contraband.

After arriving at the hotel, some of shared our
highs and lows of the day to get out our emotions and thoughts. Mia
still could not get over the fact that Indian society was heavily
male-dominated and that women were subjugated to their husbands and
fathers. Never mind that Indian men like Sandeep and his entourage
seemed more interested with the GRO male delegates leaving his wife to
entertain the ladies at times. Its the observation that men here are
gods in their homes and women are expected to obey whereas in America,
women have come a long way to stand as equal partners in the eye of the
law and society. This simple fact would be replayed every single day as
we journey through India. Right now we are on the sleeper train on an
overnight journey to the beaches of Goa which every Indian says is
fantastic! Good night!

A Simple Beach Ball by Lizzie Sorkin

Today's our 6th day in India and I have loved it each day. Its hot, humid, colorful, crowded, busy, delicious, overhwleming, intense, nervewracking sometimes, full of autorikshaws beautiful, and today was when it hit me... Its also hard.

Keep in mind I've been to India, I've experienced all that back in 2002. I saw the poverty, the malnutrioned babies, young beggars with beautiful smiles, a dead man lying on the street even...

This time around, for the past 6 days, the overwhelming sad part hadnt hit me yet. Some people in the group took it hard when we all first arrived. Tempted to buy food for young beggars or felt sick as we walked through the slums or struggled to see a young girl hold a unconcious baby in her arms... I was fine, and I asked myself if that meant that I was cold? Had I seen too much to care? It bothered me. Why was I so *shrugs* about it? I even told the group that we all know we can't help everyone, but a smile on their face for even 5 seconds makes it all worthwhile. It really didn't bother me as I walked past the slums, the kids, the poverty in my very face. I just did the normal "no" and went on my way. it happens all day, every day, I got used to it. It didn't bother me -- till today.

For those of you who don't know, Alim has a little "beach ball" project within the GRO India trip. He gives all USA participants a beach ball to give to a kid during the trip.

I gave one a few days ago at the Gateway of India wednesday morning while we were all looking for some people who did laughing yoga. We failed to find any but instead a young boy came to our group and asked us the usual. We all said no. But he stayed and watched us sign. Someone suggested a beach ball, luckily I had mine and decided to blow it up. Eventually we all got into a circle and invited the young boy to join and play with us. His smile is... Just beautiful. After awhile, we decided to go and I told him he could keep it. He smiled a big one and waved. We waved back as we walked away. Such a cute kid.

Today, we were all getting ready to check out of our Mumbai hotel and bring our bags to the deaf club in the afternoon before our train to Goa. As we were all getting taxi's and arranging roles for who has the pagers, directions, and packing the bags ontop of the taxis, a young boy had come up to me but I didn't even bother to look at who was tugging me and just shook him off. I was helping gordon with her bag and he was persistant with us. Sorta just standing near by and watching us. Finally as we were getting ready to sit in the taxi, I finally looked somehow and it was him. That young boy who I gave the beach ball too and I immediatly smiled and gestured "beach ball you?". He smiled and laughed yes and pointed where I had given it to him. All of the sudden it hit me... I pushed him away. I ignored him. He meant nothing to me. I sat in the car amazed and waved at him, he followed us as the taxi was backing up in reverse... We had some water and coke left over and gave it to him... I waved bye again and... Dammit.

If I had one more day in Mumbai, I'd take him with me to chowpatty beach and buy him food, play with him, spend all day with him. I'd invite him to join us to the park, or take him to the movies. If I had looked at him earlier, instead of helping gordon with her bag or making sure everyone was ok with the taxi's.... I'd hug him a big one and ask for a picture. But I didn't.

As the taxi drove away. I sat in silence as tears rolled down my face. Why was I so stupid? Why was I so mean? I couldve done this, that, or this. But I didn't.

I took it really hard on the way to the deaf club. Its been a few hours since and I've gotten over it, to a point. It still hurts and I'm still mad at myself. But, he was damn happy when he got that beach ball, and when he noticed I recognised him today, and he waved us a warm good bye as we left. He's a happy kid... With a beautiful smile. I wish I could bring him home with me. I really do.

My Fair Lady

Hmm..
1) We were on the train headed home after shopping in Bandra, I believe, and we were all seated together in the same end of the car. The train made a stop, and sometimes at specific stops the people really pour in; they're so anxious to get on/get a seat if possible. Sarah and Anne were together on a small seat, and a man rushed on and gave them a dirty look, as if to say, you women are sitting here? Get out. The girls felt like they had to get up off their seat and give it to the man, even though they were there first. Not the best scene in the world to witness, and I'm sure not the best feeling in the world to have on their parts.

2) Already I'm used to the eyes of at least 10 people staring at me the majority of the time when we're out in the city. How do you get used to so much attention? We talk about this a lot: do they see us as Americans first, deaf people signing first, or women first (if we're traveling by gender for some reason)? We mostly agree that they probably are fascinated at first to see so many people signing, simultaneously noting that we're foreigners/probably americans. Then they might wonder how "disabled" people could possibly be able to travel to other countries. There have been a number of times when the staring comes from men, and I know it's because I'm a female, and I'm also white. It's uncomfortable but at the same time it's not like I didn't expect that coming here. I have these urges to turn around and scream at them sometimes, but I know I can't do that here. I guess it's like an inner conflict - respect me and my culture, or abide by the norms of theirs?

That reminds me of the experience we had on the train last night. Yesterday we visited the helen keller institute and met students in an English literacy class (of course I was so excited! Literacy is extremely important to me, after all, especially among the deaf). Afterward, Lizzie had to go to the airport to pick up Smitha, and we all had the night to ourselves. We split up, boys and girls, and us girls went to get our eyebrows threaded - a cheap and very efficient way to shape eyebrows! I hadn't had that method done to me since middle school, but was quite pleased with the results for each of us (Mia, Sarah, Anne, and myself). Anyway.. We caught a train with Raj, the deaf man we met through Sujit who has become like our voluntary mother hen. He knows the ins and outs of Mumbai, and is terribly concerned with ensuring we get to our destinations alright.. I think he really cherishes spending time with us, because its not often he hangs out with other deaf peers. When it was time for us to get off the train, a literal stampede of men swarmed INTO the train. They were pushing and shoving and yelling and it was crazy.. We all tried to grab onto each other's arms or bags or anything possible.. Someone tore the belt loop off the back of anne's shorts, and when we got off the train she was extremely shaken up. Of course, as we were trying to comfort her, a huge crowd of people circled around, curious to watch us. Mia was so angry at the unnecessary force used by the men getting on the train, plus at all the eyes on us, that she yelled at the men on the train just before it started to leave the platform.

In america, I would expect a woman to do that. In india? Raj looked so worried that mia had done something that would provoke the people.. Because she's a woman, they don't expect her to protest or be opinionated. We quickly ran off.

Had some unpleasant experiences today, involving getting lost with anne, dj, and kenny and then getting sick.. Mumbai is overwhelming enough as it is - its even more intimidating when you don't know where to go. Raj saved the day though - he finally found us. I felt pretty sick until later in the day.. We visited two different deaf businessmen, and that was pretty interesting. Both were different people with diff attitudes about being deaf in the business world, but one thing they agreed on: their businesses would not thrive without the presence of interpreters. India is in dire need of more interpreters (among so many other things)..

So tired. Went to a club tonight and really enjoyed ourselves - tomorrow, start planning our workshop, go to a deaf club, then take a sleeper train to Goa. Sorry for the less than eloquent post... Is past 3am ! Goodnight -
-avi

by aaron

I hope noone was hoping to read the blog for June 1st last night and was disappointed. I had barely any sleep since I got here but last night, I passed out when we arrived back at the hotel. So now I feel very energized to keep going on! I also wanted to make two correctiond concerning the last blog.... Surij's name is really Sujit and the deaf school is located in Bandra, not Bandar. Still not used to all the Indian names and spellings.

Yesterday we paid a visit to the NIHH which is the deaf school I mentioned beforehand to interact with the ISL students so we could see how they signed ISL which is remarkably not too difficult to comprehend if one uses ASL. There were approximately twenty students so we broke up into two groups with ten Indians and five delegates so they were free to ask us any questions about ourselves and America. It was really good because we learned about each other quite a bit like they assumed all of us delegates grew up together in the same school and town. They didn't realize we came from all over the USA and they were impressed that we all were attending college to obtain our degrees. They told us a bit about themselves like their castes, religion, friends, life as a Deaf Indian. Greg and I were exchanging ASL/ISL jokes with two fellows and that was pretty cool cuz we understood one another, and the jokes were similar anyhow. Those students were the only group using ISL in the whole school because ISL was recently established there in 2001 as an alternative to oralism which is the dominant method there. The students said that they were all instructed in the oral method but hated it so they switched to ISL, the natural language of all Deaf like American deaf because verbal communication is not easy for us. That is one universal theme that we all share. Also those students were mixed ages and some attended college, other high school and were finished with school-they came to NIHH to practice their ISL with three deaf ISL teachers.

After that we walked through the area searching for a good place to eat and found one. It was sooo hot yesterday compared to the previous three days so it even nice to be able to sit in a secluded AC room within the restaurant. Mia, Anne, Raj, Anthony and I were at one table so we ordered various food such as panner palak (creamed spinach), chicken masala and other dishes. I decided to go ahead and eat with my hand by tearing a piece of bread and soaking it up with the food and eating it. Indian culture emphasizes eating and shaking ONLY with the right hand since the left is used for toilet business.

Later on, we went to the Helen Keller Institute, a place that provides vocational training for the deaf-blind. We walked to the top floor into a small classroom with a short lady dressed in a colorful dress... chola I think its called and about 10 students, all male except one girl. They met there after school to practice reading and writing English since that would give them more opportunities if they had that advantage within India. They were surprised when all of us delegates walked in because we were foreigners, all of us were white which all Indians are fascinated with. Mia and Anne were different-with Mia, they thought she was Indian due to her complexion which she thought funny. Anne was another story....the guys asked me or other male delegates what her story was and how she came to America. I laughed and told them to go talk to her themselves. They were laughing and said no! Indians don't really hang out or really talk to the opposite sex except for family and close friends. I asked them if they could, would they walk down the street with a lady friend instead of their male friends. Again they laughed like it was a far-fetched thing to ask. That was interesting because Indian society is segregated based on sex....train boxcars for men and women, temple lines for men and women, men sit together and women together except for families. I would love to tell more but I gotta go to a meeting now to discuss the day! Till then...