Good bye and thank you

Final post from me.

After one fast month spent with Vishakha seeing Rajasthani culture and learning every day about the NGO's work in theory and practice I certainly can say I learned a lot. I learned about the issues a women empowering NGO is facing in India on a daily basis. Going along with the staff in the field, interviewing them and the office workers about everything concerning the NGO's work has given me a clear picture of the huge and important mission Vishakha is on along other NGOs.

I've learned hands-on about Indian sociaty and culture. I've learned about the some specific problems India is facing and how Vishakha is challenging them. I've experienced the great hospitality and friendliness of the Indian people daily and I've lived in the beautiful and new environment the Rajasthani people are living. During this time I've seen centuries old palaces and temples and learned the history and legends behind them. Very much has happened during this monthof which only a very small portion is captivated on this blog. 

In addition to learning about Vishakha's work and Indian culture a wonderful experience has been getting to know the staff of the NGO better. During the whole month I've been treated with great hospitality whenever I've gone and despite how many times again I have asked the same questions. My co-workers have invited me to their houses, introduced me to their families, explained me things about India and showed me many beautiful and interesting places. Every invitation I unfortunately could not accept due to the short time I had here but I definitely am grateful for all those invitations.

I wish to thank all Vishakha workers for the hospitality received from you and the experiences I've had thanks to you. Of course I wish to thank all the readers as well and hope you enjoyed the blog..

Thank you all and good bye!

-A

Training day

On Thursday and Friday, 24th and 25th April, Vishakha had a training day  for the cluster-in-charges in Astha training centre in Udaipur. The training was about the issues the workers are facing in their daily duties specifically when dealing with the adolescents.

The lectures concentrated on health in general, hygiene, nutrition, development from a child to an adult and especially on adolescent issues. These are all matters the cluster-in-charges face when meeting with the local populace, specifically with young girls, and cooperating with the Anganwadi centres.

The lecturers were good. Despite my inability to understand Hindi, it was clear that the audience mainly consisting of cluster-in-charges liked what they heard and saw. In addition to normal lectures a movie was shown, workshops were held in small groups and activity tasks were arranged. And what I understood from the feedback sessions (mainly in Hindi, though) people had learned a lot of new important information.

There are now 35 cluster-in-charges from which more than 10 are new. First of all, the training was a great way to teach a large audience but it also worked nicely to bring the new and old cluster-in-charges, block coordinators and Vishakha's partner NGO Jatan's staff together. Between the lectures was group singing, when Vishakha's worker, a talented Musician Shivdayal, always got the group to join him in his singing and drumming. In the evening people were getting familiar with each other, telling stories and dancing. Despite the heavy information content of the two days the atmosphere was very relaxed and happy.

Training the workers in Vishakha is overall quite constant. When I asked the people who had worked for Vishakha for a longer time they said they had visited Astha training centre many times before on same kind of training events. New training days are already scheduled in the beginning of May so Vishakha sure wants its employees to know their business.

Election day, holiday

On Thursday the 17th we had a day off because of the elections. The world's largest elections started in 7th April and will continue until 12th of May in nine phases. Last Thursday was one of the busiest election days, people voted in 120 electoral districts in the area that covers 12 states, and included in those districts was Udaipur district in which Salumbar belongs. Whole Rajasthan was not included as people for example in Jaipur the voting will be later on. On 16th May all the votes should be counted and the new parliament will start its duties in the beginning of June.

Left finger inked for the mark of voting

Visiting the voting place did not take long. Without the voting rights I was not allowed in the school building where the voting happened and I waited outside for Vishakha's cluster-in-charge Vikram to do his duties. However, earlier that day we visited Mukal temple near Salumbar. After some thirty minutes of riding we reached the place. A rather new temple, around 15years old, was built on top of a small hill next to the river Gomathi. A Hindu temple with a big white dome is a common sight in India but what made this place special was the green garden built on top of the hill. All around us was desert-like dry environment: sand, leafless trees, thorn bushes and more sand. Even the river was very dry as the monsoon is still more than two months away. However, next to the temple was a green garden with mowed lawn, blossoming bushes and small, green trees. Behind the garden was a cluster of small shrines with the tiniest Shiva lingas I have seen so far in India. Too bad the close-in-photos or the garden photos were not that good due to stain in the camera lense so this time there are no photos about those.

Shrine complex in the backyard of the temple

After the holy place we visited the family of Vikram's brother, ate great meal and saw his place. Before going back home we also visited his parents quite near, and as usual in India, the treatment was extremely friendly. A good way to end the day trip!

Salumbar lake

The Salumbar lake lies just behind the office of Vishakha. Next to it is the very centre of the city - the vinding streets of the older town, the bazaar and the palace. You can still see the old walls and main gate to the city built close to the waterline.

The lake is a special place for the locals. During the festivals I've witnessed here in April you usually can find most people gathered by the lakeside, meeting friends and relatives and letting the fish enjoy the celebration as well - feeding the fishes is a popular way here during festivals. There's a good reason for the crowds to gather by the lake. The cool, relaxing atmosphere around this body of water is a good place to come and enjoy your evening. The comfort off the lake has attracted many temples to be built on the waterfront, even one built on a tiny island there. You can see at least five good-sized temples, both hindu mandirs and a muslim mosque, built there in proximity to each other.

A path on a narrow garden goest along the southern shore where you can find families on an evening stroll. From there you can see a tree full of noisy bats getting ready for the coming night and making swoops over the lake hunting for food. What surprised me with the bats was that they splashed themselves in the water while flying, perhaps fishing? I've never heard of bats that fish but then again my knowledge of flora and fauna isn't that good. They also might've been catching some small insects on the surface of the water for all I know. Maybe they are the reason why the lakeside isn't filled with mosquitoes.

Of all things in Salumbar - the big palace of Hadi Rani the winding streets in the older city, the gorgeous jain temples around the area - the lake is the place most fond to me. A perfect place to take a walk after day's working in a beauiful, tranquil scenery. And by all that I've seen the lake is a favourite spot for the locals as well.

Hadi Rani

I got to know more about the local legend of Salumbar by visiting the Palace of Hadi Rani and learning the legend of this local hero. You can see this hero in the picture below. 

Statue of Rao Ratan Singh at the Hadi Rani palace, Salumbar

The person the story is about is not the sad looking fellow riding the horse. Neither is the legend about the servant walking beside the rider. And definitely you are not going to hear a story of the warhorse in the picture. If you click on the image to see it bigger you can see the main character of the story on the platter carried by the servant – or at least her severed head.

Palace of Hadi Rani

The tale of princess Hadi Rani is a gruesome indeed. It is a tale about love, war and devotion. Above all it is a tale of sacrifice. It starts in the 17th century when Chundanwat leader Rao Ratan Singh finally conquered his love Hadi Rani and married her. However, the newlyweds didn’t have that much time for their honeymoon since Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor  had his eye on the Rajput lands and the beautiful princess of Roop Nagar, Prabhavati. Maharana Raj Singh I opposed Aurangzeb plans and asked Rao Ratan Singh to join him in the battlefield to stop the Mughal conqueror.

Palace area

Since Rao Ratan Singh had just married he was hesitant to join Raj Singh in the battlefield. However, his new wife Hadi Rani was the one to say that he should go and fight, not hide like a coward. Rajput honour was something not to be taken lightly. Hesitantly Rao Ratan Singh finally accepted Raj Singh's call to arms because her bride had told him so.

Palace of Hadi Rani

While her husban joined forces, Hadi Rani was still not convinced on him. As Hadi Rani felt that she was restricting her husband from doing his responsibilities on the battlefield, she decided to make sure he would not be restrained by his newlywed wife. On horseback, ready to ride and see the enemy, Rao Ratan Singh was waiting for Hadi Rani to give him a good luck charm to the battlefield. When a soldier finally brought the gift from the palace it was something else the husband had expected. It was his wife's head.

Hadi Rani had cut off her own head to uphold the Rajput honour. While she saw that her husband was not going to the battle with all his heart Hadi Rani made sure that he would. After this ultimate sacrifice shocked Rao Ratan Singh did like Hadi Rani had expected. He rode to the battle without any thoughts of retreating or giving room to the enemy after his wife had sacrificed herself to show him about Rajput honour.

Rao Ratan Singh fought bravely alongside Raj Singh I but his heart was empty. The grief for his bride made him lose the will to live and after the battle he succumbed to his wounds. The battle was not lost even though the Chundawat leader and his wife were.

View from the palace window

Cooperating with Anganwadis

Anganwadi in rural Rajasthan

Like told before, Vishakha cooperates closely with Anganwadis. Literally the word means courtyard shelter and its function is to provide basic health care in Indian villages. Anganwadis concentrate in health in general, contraception, nutrition and child-care. In addition to giving education to local people, the Anganwadis also may pass on medicines and give pre-school education.

To my surprise there are over one million Anganwadis in the whole India. As hospitals are not that common in the countryside, these small health and education centres are an important source of information, education, medication and nutrition.

Vishakha in action in Anganwadi

Vishakha's role with these health centres is cooperating and running the program with adolescent girls. NGO's idea is to have a zone for the girls to meet and do things together out of their families. This is a great way to getting to know the local girls and built a strong relationship with them. During my visit to one Anganwadi Vishakha the atmosphere was very casual. The workers sang and played with the girls and the group enjoyed the meeting. Some times there is more conversation, for example how deal with boys, some times more information and some times more action. All in all this peek in to the practical field work of Vishakha was an interesting experience.

Children, youth and workers at the Anganwadi

Cluster-in-charges

In the last post I wrote about the structure of Vishakha. Today we'll zoom in to the practical work of Vishakha and concentrate on the work of the people called cluster-in-charges.

Cluster-in-charge training in Salumbar office.

The responsibilities of a cluster-in-charge are varied. They are the Vishakha's women and men on the field doing daily relations work for the organisation, building rapport in the villages and doing capacity building activities for the women and the girls. In order to spread the cause and the vision of Vishakha, the cluster-in-charges are forming relations in their village clusters in general and specifically concentrating on certain people. For example, Anganwadi workers in the government sponsored child and mother care centers are a vital connection for Vishakha for both gaining information and spreading the cause. For this need to connect with the people in the different villages, the cluster-in-charges are usually local people working in the area and with the people they know well.

In addition to building the local network required for important contacts, the cluster-in-charges are working closely with the local Anganwadis. One of their numerous tasks is to do mapping of the local area. The cluster-in-charges do population counting but they particularly concentrate on the adolescent girls so that they know the amount of the girls in their area. In addition to the amount of them it is important to know the general situation of the young girls living in the area: Are they married? Are they working? In what sort of conditions are they living? This is the information important to understand in the field of social development and women empowerment.

A local girl refilling the water bottles of the cluster-in-charges

By getting to know the local girls more personally, the cluster-in-charges understand more about their daily lives. Another thing that the close relations make possible is the identifying of different skills the girls and other locals have. For example, if there is a person competent in playing a certain instrument well she or he might be asked to join a common happening later on to entertain and improve the unity of the village group. Of course, the skills or contacts of the identified individuals could be anything else as well.

Cluster-in-charges in training, Udaipur.

After the cluster-in-charges know more about the local people they are also doing case studies in order to find interesting and inspiring personal stories. For example, there might be a local villager who has become an air hostess, an occupation not at all common for a woman from small rural village. For many, especially for the girls and women, the life in their village might not seem full of opportunities and the lives often feel predestined. By telling the stories of women who have achieved things not so common for them and spreading the general awareness about women and their achievements Vishakha is doing the important and inspirational empowering work for the local girls and women.

More about Vishakha

You already know that the idea of the NGO is women empowerment. In this post you'll find out more about how Vishakha is doing its work.

Let's start with the structure of the organisation. Vishakha has staff of around 50 people working on offices around Rajasthan and on the field. My internship is concentrated on the Udaipur office and Salumbar office, where the latter was a base for introductory trips around the countryside. Main office is located in Jaipur and there are also other offices.

Main force of the staff are the cluster-in-charges, the people who are the first contact to local villagers wherever Vishakha has projects. Every c-i-c has a cluster of villages under his/her responsibility where they contribute to the women empowering work in many ways. Then there are the block coordinators who have block of clusters under them, coordinating with the villages and cluster-in-charges. Blocks form districts that are the responsibility of district team members.

All the time there are special concentration points for Vishakha where most of the effort is put. At the moment the three main points of concentration for Vishakha are domestic violence, girl empowerment and counceling centres for the youth.

First there is the big problem of violence against women, specifically domestic violence, where more attention is needed across the country. Vishakha challenges the violence by providing community based programmes, by researching on experiences of violence, by building capacities for case work in violence intervention and with the Mahila Salah evam Suraksha Kendra centres, among other things. The MSSKs are centres where women facing violence can seek support. Counceling and linking women with essential services such as legal advice, medical services and support for short stay are some of the services MSSK centres provide.Vishakha also has the MSSK module for other organizations to spread the much needed centres.

The other priority for Vishakha at the moment is the Adolescent Girls Initiative where the NGO is concentrating on girls between 11 an 19 years of age. In the UNFPA AGI project the concentration point is the thinking process so instead of, for example, supplying the families of the girls with food or other necessities, the programme aims to make the girls more initiative and wants them to stand on their own feet. Staying in schools longer and not marrying or having babies at a very young age are the main goals of the initiative. Important object of the AGI is to get the girls out of their rather sheltered lives and to see and understand more of the society and of the world.

Third main concentration point for Vishakha at the moment are the counseling centres. In this very new project started in Jaipur and Baghru in 2014 Vishakha is working closely with the youth in the villages.

Gangaur festival

After returning from the rural round trip on Wednesday, second of April, another Vishakha's cluster-in-charge, Vikram, took me to see the Rajasthani Gangaur festival at the lake. 

This Rajasthani festival is celebrated for spring and good harvest but as I undertood, perhaps the biggest reason for the celebration of Gangaur is marriage. Women worship the mother goddess Gauri known better as Parvati for a good marriage: unmarried women worship her in order to get a good husband while the married women worhip her to have a pleasant marriage.

While the details of the celebration were left a bit uncertain to me it was clear that the festival was a big happening in Salumbar. Crowds were gathered by the lakeside, women were dressed brightly and people were cheerfully feeding the fish in the lake. At dusk people started to move towards the city most apparently to continue the festival there. 

Around Salumbar

On second of April I got introduced to the countryside around Salumbar. I got two cluster-in-charges, Surej and Himat, of Vishakha as guides for me and we rode around the rural areas to see more about the local life.

The first thing of notice was the beautiful countryside all around us. The road wound around and over hills while we passed small villages, schoolhouses, goats, cows and buffaloes, people harvesting their small fields, children playing and of course, various temples. After a good driving we came upon a hill which had a small fort built atop it. To no surprise there was also a small temple inside the fort like in nearly every high or otherwise distinctive hill in Rajasthan. 

Himat told that the fort and the temple were rather new constructions, in fact they had been built in the early 20th century by the British Raj. The area was terrorised by bandits so the Brits built a small fort to keep guard over the area. Of course, the stronghold was also a way of the Empire to show their power to the locals perhaps too keen on getting independence, not just to fight brigands. As you can see, the views were wonderful!

On the way back we visited the house of Himat, ate a delicious meal and enjoyed the beautiful scenery near the Som Kamla water reservoir.

NGO Vishakha

As told before, Vishakha is all about women empowerment. Like everyone knows, we still have a long way to a world or society where everyone is treated the same way. But Vishakha shares a vision. This vision is to facilitate a discrimination free society founded on the principles of equity and justice. The NGO strives for this vision by concentrating on the rights of women and improving their status in the society by empowering them.

Vishakha has worked since 1991 when it was formalised as a registered society and the work has continued without stopping since then. The organisation is perhaps the most well known for the so called Vishakha Guidelines that were laid down in the 1997 in the aftermath of a Supreme Court case Vishakha and others v the State of Rajasthan. These guidelines defined what can be classified as a sexual harassment and they are to be followed when dealing with complaints about sexual harassment. The guidelines' definition of sexual harassment has been used in many cases, for example in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act enacted in 2013.

While the women are the point of concentration for Vishakha's, the aims of Vishakha are not only about empowering them alone. The empowering work should cover all the marginalised sections of the society and their specific perspectives should be integrated into state-level politics.

The women empowering practically means that Vishakha is developing women's capacities so that they have the means to build their own identities instead of the society or the family completely moulding their role. This means not only work with the women and girls but also working with men and whole communities and contesting and collaborating with the state in order to improve the status of women in the society. This contesting and cooperation includes topics such as education, health community development and violence against women. Especially the latest topic, the battle against violence towards women is one of Vishakha's key programme areas.

Vishakha's Block Coordinators working at the Salumbar office

Rajasthan, Udaipur and Salumbar

Rajasthan is lies in the west of India, next to the capital city Delhi in the east and the country of Pakistan in the west. A large part of the state's land mass is desert and the climate is dry statewide. Apart from the desert, scrubland and savannah are the most typical ecosystems in the state.

So far I have spent two months, February and March, in Rajasthan mainly working in Jaipur where my old internship place was. In addition to the many sights and experiences I’ve seen and lived in the capital of Rajasthan, we also made short visits to nearby cities and places with other interns and volunteers from our guest house.

The most fond memories in Jaipur are of Holi, the spring festival held in India. Experiencing the colourful festival with locals and other foreigners first hand was something we won’t forget easily. This Hindu festival is celebrated not only for the arrival of spring but also for the triumph of good over evil. The first night of the festival is the time for the Holika bonfires when people rejoice the victory over demoness Holika. The day after the bonfires is celebrated as Holi and it is the carnival day where people let themselves loose with the colour playing.

Our experience about the colour-carnival of Holi was certainly memorable. We spend four to five hours throwing and getting different colours thrown back at us. Everyone was smiling under the thick cover of various colour powders and whenever someone got his appearance too unicolored (because of getting drenched under a bucket of water or just being dragged and rolled in a big dark puddle of water on the street) people were helpfully throwing, pouring and rubbing new colours on you.

Pink City, Jaipur

The Holi festival is held once in a year but there are more things to see for those who do not visit India during March. Jaipur and the whole Rajasthan are filled with magnificent forts, palaces and temples and when you want to see the grandest building in whole India, or even in the whole world in many people's mind, just across the border of the state waits Taj Mahal. Among seeing the sights in Jaipur and experiencing the Taj in Agra, we popped for short visits in places such as the beautiful lake city of Udaipur where I nowadays work part-time, the holy city of Pushkar famous for the camel festivals held there every year and the Keoladeo national park with its wetlands and numerous bird species. Also very famous for Rajasthan are its handcrafs. If block printing, blue pottery, leatherworks or miniature paintings are something you fancy, Rajasthan is definitely a place worth visiting for!

Sun Temple, Jaipur

Keoladeo National Park

Of course, the things I have seen so far are barely a scratch on the surface. A weekend trip to a tourist attraction is not the most genuine way of getting to know the culture of the land however fascinating it might be. That is why I’m happy to see how moving to southern Rajasthan to live half a week in the lake-city of Udaipur and the other half in Vishakha’s Salumbar office gives new sights on everyday life in Rajasthan.

Udaipur is located in the southern Rajasthan, quite close to the state border of Gujarat. This 500-year old city boasts many such as the the grand City Palace, the Lake Palace and of course, the lakes themselves. Because of the relatively small size of the central city and the pleasant atmosphere there the city is a major tourist attraction. My work there is general office work in the Vishakha's Udaipur office.

Salumbar lies in the southern Rajasthan, approximately 70 km southeast from Udaipur in the Udaipur district. It is one of the blocks of Udaipur consisting of the Salumbar city itself and the rural municipality around it. Compared to tourist-packed, hill-encircled Udaipur, the cenre of the city is very small and the environment is mostly savannah-like countryside with villages here and there. In Salumbar my duties are more on the field. I get to see the block coordinators and cluster-in-charges in the field getting to know more about Vishakha's work and reporting about it.

During the first night on my arrival to Salumbar I got introduced to the lake situated next to the city centre. Compared to the bigger cities I had lived in India, Jaipur and Udaipur, the atmosphere of Salumbar was completely different. First of all, it was very silent. Strolling around the lake watching temples built next to it and literally on it (there was an island temple on the lake from which I am sure you can read more later on) in all silence was a new experience to me in India. Living in an Indian city that has more than half the amount of people of my home country was surely hectic enough and the touristy Udaipur has its share of noise and action as well. Moving to Salumbar's more tranquil surroundings surely sounds an interesting change of scenery and I'm eagerly waiting to see more.

Introduction

This blog is about an Indian NGO Vishakha and the everyday life and culture in Rajasthan, India through the eyes of an intern from Northern Europe working there.

In the first few posts I cover the work of Vishakha, a Non Governmental Organisation concentrated on women empowerment. You learn the aims of the NGO and their means to reach these aims. Later on you can read about the Indian society and the culture Vishakha works in.

All the information and experiences gained happen during my final internship month in Rajasthan, April, but most of the time I won't be covering the experiences in real time or on a daily basis due to the lack of computers or access to internet. For example, the Gangaur festival I participated the last week will be discussed later in a future post.

In the next post I'll cover more about the work of Vishakha. We at Vishakha hope you enjoy the one-month story of our NGO and Rajasthan!