India is da bomb(ay)

Greetings from Mumbai! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in India for just three weeks! I’ve been moving constantly throughout the country, so I’m getting a chance to really see the magnitude of the diversities that exist within it. For example, I thought everyone in India drank tea, and that Hindi widely spoken across the country. Evidently that is true of the North, but in the south, people drink coffee (it’s local and very good!) and virtually no one speaks or reads Hindi; their languages, such as Tamil, are much older, so they have resisted changing to a younger language. As a result, I win, because English has become the Lingua Franca.
I’m here looking at HIV prevention programs. In India, the incidence is still fairly small, but given its size, people worry that even a “small” epidemic would dwarf the number of infections and deaths we’ve seen in other parts of the world (for example, if India’s HIV rate reached 1%, there would be approximately 110 million cases; in South Africa, where the prevalence is 25%, there are around 22 million cases).
The work is fun. I’m meeting some people that have been in HIV for decades and been movers and shakers in India. A lot of amazing minds and passion in improving how marginalized groups and people with HIV are treated by society. But, I’ve had little chance to see India outside of work.
Last Sunday I went to a spa, owned by a woman who has done a significant amount of training for marginalized groups, to help them build skills that will allow them to earn money other ways. I got a massage, body scrub, steam, and foot reflexology. It was very nice to be so pampered for a change!
As always, being a foreigner to the culture has its difficulties. India is still a very male-driven society, and the places for independent and unaccompanied women are still minimal. As a result, after dark I’m usually restricted to the hotel; in Delhi we had a driver, which meant that I had a bit more freedom. By and large though, I’ve found people to be very helpful and friendly with me. People are constantly worrying that I’m not eating enough and forcing more amazing food (usually curry!) on me. I lost my voice for part of last week, and everyone had a home remedy that they insisted I try (I think hot water with tumeric and salt, though a little gross, was most successful). The staff at my hotel were wonderful—I bought some bananas, and they made me an awesome (and off menu) banana smoothie the other evening. Last night at the airport, it was difficult to get a cab from a trustworthy company, and I had a friend in Delhi calling everyone 2 minutes or so to check up on me, and a security guard making sure that the rickshaw drivers and other cab companies weren’t harassing me, and that I got into a cab safely. So, though there is a level of craziness/hectiness/survival-mode to adjust to, it gives me some peace of mind to know that help is usually there.
The food is amazing! Being Veg has never been so easy. Every time you eat, you just say “Veg” or “Non-Veg”. Pretty simple. A LOT of curry (including at breakfast!), but many varieties. Potatoes and rice have figured heavily into the food so far. Most of the foods that I know from home are actually northern cuisine (tikkka masala, tandoori, etc.), so a lot of times I have no idea what I’m eating. One of my favorite dishes has been idli, which is like a steamed patty of bland couscous, that comes served with sembal, a runny, spicy, lentil based stew, which okra, tomatoes and chiles, and chutneys, including coconut, which when made right, is absolutely delicious! That’s a very Tamil food though, and as I’ve just arrived in Mumbai (which is in Maharasthra), I’m not really sure what delicious dishes await me.