Keeping in touch with friends and family outside of India
hasn’t been as easy as I expected it would, but it’s definitely been
manageable. Before I arrived here I was
under the impression that I’d be able to use Skype, but a sloooooooow datacard
internet connection out in Haveri meant that wouldn’t be possible. Friends and family sent mail to Navachetana
Foundation’s address, but none of it ever arrived. So, during my first bit of time here a lot of
my communication back home took place via e-mail. After awhile, however, with the assistance of
my colleague Manjunath at Navachetana and a lot of haggling on my part, I was
able to get broadband internet installed in my house in Haveri. The installation process took over a month
and the connection has gone down several times, to the extent that everyone at
the BSNL office now knows very well who I am, where I live, and that my
internet is not working. But, most of
the time it does work, and it’s fast!
Getting it fast enough for skype is still a work in progress, and but the
fact that it’s in progress is something.
In the meanwhile, I have taken to using a service called
PokeTalk (which is just like Jajah, if you’re familiar with that). With PokeTalk you can make (paid)
international calls by entering your phone number and the phone number you want
to call on the PokeTalk website. Your
phone rings, you pick up, your friend’s phone rings, he picks up, and then it’s
like a regular phone conversation and internet dependency is no longer
required. It’s not free like Skype, and
there’s no webcam option so that you’re mom can see you really are alive and
well, but given my internet situation it does the job. And when I’m in Hubli for work I am able to
use Skype and speak with my family for as long as we want. As for mail, I’ve started using the Deshpande
Foundation Hubli office as my mailing address, and since then all letters have
made it to me without issue. I also keep
a blog documenting my time here, and my friends and family are avid readers.
Aside from all of that, I and other fellows have done a nice
job of bringing parts of home to our lives in the Sandbox. Our Thanksgiving feast was amazing. Without going into detail, let me just say
that Genny made an apple crisp in her rice cooker and it was unbelievably
delicious. And it turns out canned
turkey doesn’t taste as bad as it sounds.
More recently, Genny, Suzanne and I were the few fellows still around in
the Sandbox over Christmas, and Genny and Suzanne had me over for a great
Chrismakkah extravaganza. Again, the
food was amazing. We had sourced
supplies for weeks – in early December I was in Delhi and picked up some
vacuum-packed parmesan and olives, and between Genny and Suzanne brown sugar
was procured from the import store in Dharwad, four bags of fresh mushrooms
were discovered, and a contact was made at a local bakery so we could have gingerbread
cookies. Suzanne’s and Genny’s parents
also care packaged over some key holiday provisions, and Dulcie (a DF employee)
supplied us with a ton of great Christmas music. Suzanne and Genny spent hours decorating
their place (it looked fantastic), and even managed to get a small Christmas
tree. On Christmas eve a bunch of kids
from the neighborhood came over to dance to Christmas music with us and learn
more about Christmas and Hanukkah (I brought my menorah to India with me), and
they even presented us with Christmas cards.
Finally, I’m fortunate enough to have some friends from
graduate school who are also working in India right now. Even though they don’t live near the Sandbox,
just having them in the same time zone can be comforting when I’m missing
home. Two of these friends have gotten
married since I started my Sandbox Fellowship, and at both their weddings my
reunion with good friends was fun and refreshing.
All in all, keeping in touch with home has been manageable
and creating feelings of home here in India improves every day. And Nagendra (the executive director of
Navachetana Foundation), since I know you’re reading this, don’t worry: I know
that when I miss home I just need to be tough!
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