Happy Pongal!

On Monday morning, we departed from Chennai for Pondicherry, where we spent two days learning about the French-influenced beach town and celebrating the annual Pongal festival with a nearby rural community. It was a nice change of pace from crowded and colorful Chennai. We enjoyed strolling along the promenade by the Bay of Bengal and observing the different aspects of Indian life and navigating India sans instructor for the first time :)

 On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to learn about and take part in celebrations of the Hindu festival known as Pongal. Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu. Though it is celebrated on the 14th of January, a St. Olaf connection with the Arasamangalum village allowed us to experience a full-fledged celebration a few days early. The village we visited was a Dalit community, meaning that residents of the village occupied the lowest caste in Indian society. Though India's caste system has not been recognized for the last 60 years, descendants of the former lower castes still face oppression from members of higher castes. As we have explored different Indian landscapes, we have learned about the residual effects of the former caste system and the limitations that it imposes on Dalit communities. For example, Dalits are confined to daily wage labor and many of them live in extreme poverty without consistent access to basic needs such as sanitation, energy, clean water, etc. Communities experience isolation, lack of opportunity, and even violence from other castes, which has perpetuated cycles of oppression long after the eradication of the caste system. With this knowledge, we were unsure of what to expect this Pongal celebration.

When we arrived, we were greeted by an overwhelmingly hospitable welcome. Representatives from the 750-person village welcomed us with loud music and drumming, colorful bangles and tilakas pressed onto our foreheads, which symbolize blessings and spiritual wisdom. The leader of the community, a powerful single woman named Selvie, invited us into her village by explaining that while they don't have much to offer, they wanted to offer everything they had to us. This notion of authentic hospitality permeated the entire experience. Though many of the community members spoke only Tamil, they still displayed concern for our needs and welcomed us with open arms. Through smiles, confused head nods, and various nonverbal gestures, we were surprised at the level of communication we were able to share.

We began the celebration by helping community members make sweet Pongal, which is a traditional rice dish symbolizing bounty and blessings for the year's harvest. Pongal is cooked over open fire in new clay pots. When the pots boil over, it is customary to cheer and celebrate the overflow of good things yet to come. After we prepared the Pongal, we joined children, parents, and grandparents alike in enthusiastic music and dance under the 90-degree sun. The heat did not put a damper on the pure joy in the crowd! Games and coconuts filled with refreshing coconut water followed, and we cheered Julia on as she became the first woman in the village to ever win one of the traditional games. Next, we tried our hand at the art of creating kolums, which are beautifully intricate chalk designs created with rice flour by the matriarch of the household to bless the family for the day ahead. We were then ushered down the road to a community member's home, where we were served a huge lunch of traditional foods including the Pongal we'd made together. We enjoyed the meal on fresh banana leaves on the floor, and were reassured that it was in fact normal to eat with our hands.

After the celebrations died down, we joined community members in a circle to process the day and learn more about the operations of the village, and initiatives in place to empower Dalits. We had the opportunity to ask questions about gender roles, relationships, outcomes, and means of oppression in that specific community. As a group of 21 women, we were blown away by the strong female leaders in the village who were working to create sustainable change within the Dalit community through education, representation, and improved quality of life. We left the conversation feeling humbled by the happiness and hospitality shown by those who had so little, and felt hopeful for the seeds of change that are being planted. We continued to process this intense cultural experience in our class meetings and discussed the implications of India's complicated social structure.

We were sincerely touched by the genuine hospitality shown to us by this community, and the experience shaped our perspectives on community and social development. We left Pondicherry with a new lens on India's diverse identity, and look forward to discovering further differences and similarities in Bangalore.

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Chennai Weekend

Greetings from India!! We have been enjoying some beautiful weather and keeping very busy exploring Chennai. 

On Saturday, our main objective was to hit the beach but we made some other stops along the way. First, we drove to St. Thomas Basilica, where St. Thomas himself is buried. A lot of us have been very surprised at the prominence of Christianity here, and this site was especially beautiful and significant to see. We then headed to Marina Beach, the second longest beach in the world! While we couldn't wear bathing suits or swim, many of us dipped our toes in and the beach was the perfect backdrop for many photos taken by us and our MCC student guides. After grabbing ice cream, we headed to another religious site, a Hindu temple. After taking our shoes off, we were allowed to enter the temple and got to see all the beautiful designs on the shrines (each one held the statue of a god or goddess) and observe men, women, and children worshipping. It was also very interesting to notice that the temple seemed to serve as a gathering space for large groups and families, which further exemplified the communal aspect of the culture here in India. By this time, we were all very hungry and had a delicious dinner of savory Indian crepes called dosas with a variety of sauches and fillings. 

Sunday was an entirely different, but equally interesting day! We went to a movie theater to see a Bollywood movie: Bajirao Mastani. While a lot of aspects of seeing a movie are the same here (big comfy seats and popcorn), had the movie was nearly three hours long and in Hindi, not English. However, the subtitles helped us follow the dramatic love story, and the costumes, dancing, and music were incredible. After that, we got to experience an Indian mall for a couple hours before heading home.

It's been incredible experiencing many unique aspects of Chennai, and today we took a bus to Pondicherry which we know will be an awesome new adventure!

Visiting Internship Sites with MCC Students

Our first major outing in India was this past Thursday when we accompanied MCC Social Work Students on their field work visits to local NGOs. Two Indian students were matched with a couple Oles to allow for a more intimate experience with the locals. Each NGO focused on a different social issues in India ranging from domestic violence, education, disabled children, and poverty in the community. Across the board, the day proved to be incredibly insightful and moving for all 21 of us. Some had opportunities to visit homes in the communities, others taught team building exercises, and many interacted directly with those suffering from these issues.

One example was an NGO called Mumford Community Development Society, which focused on community based rehabilitation for disabled people of all ages. Rachael and Natalia had the opportunity to work directly with members from the NGO as well as their clients. Part of their day consisted of visiting a rehabilitation center located in a slum along Marina Beach where they learned about the various mental disabilities affecting the patients. The highlight of their day was participating in a relay race with all the patients they met.

Amanda and Erin had the opportunity to visit a similar NGO, Krupa, which focuses on providing assistance to families with disabled children through multiple venues. In the morning, they were able to visit client families at their own homes. In the afternoon, they visited two vocational training programs that teach women from the fishing community, family members of the disabled, and ex-convicts how to weave, sew, and embroider beautiful traditional Indian clothing.

On Friday all St. Olaf and MCC students came together to reflect on their experiences the previous day. Brief presentations were given by each set of students to share the most impactful moments from their field work visits. Common themes included strength, resilience, empowerment, sustainability, and the difference between learning vs. doing. Dr. Miriam Samuel from the MCC Social Work Department gave a closing lecture about the importance of cross-cultural sensitivity and competency when traveling abroad and interacting closely with people from another culture. Overall, the experiences proved to be quite powerful for both MCC and St. Olaf students and a great start to a month of learning and traveling in India!