Family Visit
November 13, 2008
Well after a year of living in Kolkata, my family has finally come to visit. My mother, two aunts, and two friends arrived last week in Delhi. We toured Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur and Mumbai for ten days, then flew to Kolkata. After ten days of what I call the "American Princess Tour," we're finally back in my comfort zone of Kolkata.Click to Read more
Festival of Lights, at whose expense?
October 28, 2008
Today is Diwali, the festival of lights, perhaps the single most celebrated day in India. The mythological origin of Diwali is to celebrate the return of the Rama, his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana after a war in which he killed the demon Ravana. It was getting dark, so people along the way lit oil lamps to light their way. So Diwali is a festival symbolising the destruction of evil forces.Click to Read more
Survivor Wedding
October 22, 2008
Sometimes people say that being in India makes them feel "alive." I imagine they mean that it's an overload of senses, that each experience is an adventure, and that each good thing is invaluable. But I didn't quite have that same feeling of "being alive" until today. I had the honor of attending a wedding of four survivors. Click to Read more
My bag is made of garbage
October 17, 2008
Sarah arrived this week to see the Destiny center and to visit some of TEN’s other partners in India. Our newest partner is Darpana, an art institute in Gujurat that instructs students from across India, and in fact around the world, in classical Karnatika style. They also use the art forms, such as theatre and painting, to teach rural villages about social issues like HIV/AIDS and gender equality. Their recent project is to purchase plastic bags from the slums (thus providing some form of income for garbage-pickers), and to employ women from rural villages to weave these plastic bags.Click to Read more
New Clothes for Lakshmi Puja
October 14, 2008
Yesterday one of our donors, Swapna and Roy, came to Destiny to distribute some salwar suits and saris to our artisans. This was such a lovely gift for the women, since tomorrow is Lakshmi Puja and we are all going to celebrate at Smarita's house. Swapna has helped in the past by translating a video for TEN, and was visiting Kolkata for the Puja season. The women were truly grateful, since most of them prefer to save their money so they can move out of the shelter home. Click to Read more
Durga Puja
October 6, 2008
Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Kolkata, with hundreds of thousands of people flocking from all over India to participate in the festivities. Durga in Sanskrit means "she who is incomprehensible or difficult to reach." During this 6-day period, it is believe Durga leaves her husband's residence to visit her father, Himalaya's, home with her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik. Durga Puja is also a festivity of Good, Ma Durga, winning over Evil, Maheshasoora the demon (see photo of this demon squashed under Durga's feet). Therefore it is a quite ceremonious triumph of the power of Good over Evil. Click to Read more
New meaning to "outsourcing"
September 30, 2008
With the holidays coming up, we are currently working on tree, star and butterfly ornaments. The women at Destiny have stitched and stuffed the figures, and now they have begun to decorate them with beads. In order to speed up the process, and also to give job opportunities to more women, we decided to outsource some of the decoration work to the shelter homes. Today, one of our highly-skilled women, Puja, accompanied me to a government shelter home, where she used to live. She walked in with such confidence, introducing me to the staff members who used to look after her. But now, she was able to boast of her new job, her new skill, her new life. Click to Read more
Stolen childhood
September 24, 2008
Whenever I go to the shelter homes, there are usually new girls, recently rescued. Today, there was a group of very young girls, huddled in the corner. Because they are from a small hilltribe, many of them do not speak the common languages here, but rather their own tribal language. So it has been a challange for the counselors to communicate with them. It's truly shocking how anyone could find these girls sexually appealing. Click to Read more
Bishwakarma Puja
September 17, 2008
Today marked the beginning of Kolkata's puja season. Puja means worship, or ceremony, for the Hindus and today is Bishwakarma Puja. Bishwakarma is the Hindu god who created the earth, including humans and animals. He is today the patron of workers, machinery, and factories (relating to his role as the creator). So all factories close today to celebrate the god. Our girls pleaded with us to hold a puja, and we called a Brahmin priest to perform the religious ceremony.Click to Read more
Cooking Up Some Justice
September 10, 2008
Over the past few months, I have eaten some of the most delicious meals on earth. Each region of India has a different cuisine, priding themselves on their special aromatic ingredients and preparation techniques. One day, while at All Bengal Women Union, I noticed a room full of freshly ground spices. Apparently, they have a spice grinder on site and employ three survivors to produce tumeric, garam masala, red chili powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. But, they have no market for their hard work. The only consumers are the shelter home itself, which leaves piles of spice packets in their stock room. Click to Read more