Sorry for the delay folks it has been a pretty crazy few weeks between my internship and everything else. For my internship, I have been working on a research report on women's gender issues in India specifically on the practices of honor killings, moral policing, acid throwing and how it continues to play a role in the country's society. While India is increasingly becoming a more developed society, it is still very patriarchal with women often getting the shaft when it comes to economic opportunities, social freedom, and healthcare among other things.
My internship also allowed me the opportunity to visit a small village outside of the southern town of Tirunelveli. This time I had a successful 12-hour train ride with no strikes in sight. At the field visit my supervisor, a few of the other CASA employees and I met with a number of local community leaders to discuss future efforts involving pensions and farming social benefits. Many of these communities around Tirunelveli have a large Dalit population (members of the lowest caste or "untouchables"). Despite India's progressive social and cultural changes over the past few decades, Dalits continue to be discriminated against and are often the last ones to receive social benefits. Most of the leaders in attendance were there to discuss their communities' efforts to obtain promised pensions and aid for the farmers in the area that are struggling to provide for their families. Though most of the meeting was conducted in Tamil, my supervisor helped me along the way with English translations. In addition to this meeting, we also met with some of the women's groups to go over some of the positive impacts of their activities that they have conducted in the last few months. I really enjoyed getting out of Chennai and actually meeting the populations we serve. CASA has tentative plans for us to visit some of our Child Free Labor Zone initiatives and talk to some of the beneficiaries of the project. We are hoping to find ways to improve service delivery so that more families are able to place their children back into school.
Hostel life has been interesting. For the most part, I have been ok but I was sick during Valentines Day with either a stomach bug or a parasite. Thankfully it cleared up. I've made a few friends here, most of whom are students at the local veterinary college. They have been really sweet and even invited me to a concert with them which was nice. Little did I know that the concert was actually a large music festival featuring DJ Snake....so many sweaty dancing people! Definitely felt like the oldest person there but the experience was fun. Its kind of funny really, I feel like I'm reliving some aspects of my undergraduate dorm life...friends knocking on your door at night, running down to the mess hall to grab food before they close, and late night discussions aided by sugarcane. Having some distractions from my internship and capstone class assignments has been very welcomed. I have been diligently working on my assignments for my Capstone course during the weekdays which both excites and overwhelms me because it includes a semester long project I need to complete before my graduation in May...just a little stressed.
As far as the city goes, I have been exploring it every weekend I can to try and see all the sights. So far I have visited Marina Beach, Chennai's lighthouse, a few of the city's museums, a shopping alley or two and many other places in between. To help me learn more about Chennai, I recently began reading a book by a Chennai called Madras, Chennai and The Self Conversations with the City. It has been really interesting learning about the "soul" of the city.
My internship also allowed me the opportunity to visit a small village outside of the southern town of Tirunelveli. This time I had a successful 12-hour train ride with no strikes in sight. At the field visit my supervisor, a few of the other CASA employees and I met with a number of local community leaders to discuss future efforts involving pensions and farming social benefits. Many of these communities around Tirunelveli have a large Dalit population (members of the lowest caste or "untouchables"). Despite India's progressive social and cultural changes over the past few decades, Dalits continue to be discriminated against and are often the last ones to receive social benefits. Most of the leaders in attendance were there to discuss their communities' efforts to obtain promised pensions and aid for the farmers in the area that are struggling to provide for their families. Though most of the meeting was conducted in Tamil, my supervisor helped me along the way with English translations. In addition to this meeting, we also met with some of the women's groups to go over some of the positive impacts of their activities that they have conducted in the last few months. I really enjoyed getting out of Chennai and actually meeting the populations we serve. CASA has tentative plans for us to visit some of our Child Free Labor Zone initiatives and talk to some of the beneficiaries of the project. We are hoping to find ways to improve service delivery so that more families are able to place their children back into school.
Hostel life has been interesting. For the most part, I have been ok but I was sick during Valentines Day with either a stomach bug or a parasite. Thankfully it cleared up. I've made a few friends here, most of whom are students at the local veterinary college. They have been really sweet and even invited me to a concert with them which was nice. Little did I know that the concert was actually a large music festival featuring DJ Snake....so many sweaty dancing people! Definitely felt like the oldest person there but the experience was fun. Its kind of funny really, I feel like I'm reliving some aspects of my undergraduate dorm life...friends knocking on your door at night, running down to the mess hall to grab food before they close, and late night discussions aided by sugarcane. Having some distractions from my internship and capstone class assignments has been very welcomed. I have been diligently working on my assignments for my Capstone course during the weekdays which both excites and overwhelms me because it includes a semester long project I need to complete before my graduation in May...just a little stressed.
As far as the city goes, I have been exploring it every weekend I can to try and see all the sights. So far I have visited Marina Beach, Chennai's lighthouse, a few of the city's museums, a shopping alley or two and many other places in between. To help me learn more about Chennai, I recently began reading a book by a Chennai called Madras, Chennai and The Self Conversations with the City. It has been really interesting learning about the "soul" of the city.
