Today, my niece Becky is leaving for a year in India. I'm going to miss her like crazy. Though she lives in Chicago and I don't see her very often, there is something so comforting knowing that this awesome person is nearby. Now she will be several thousand miles away.In 2006, Becky went to India for 6 months for a study abroad. She studied in Jaipur and did volunteer work in the state of Rajasthan. The focus of her volunteer work was interviewing women in rural desert villages about their healthcare needs.
Since Ross and I love to travel, we couldn't pass such an opportunity up. I have wanted to go to India since I knew it existed. And we just had to go see Becky since she was so far from home. A friend of Ross' was also going back home at the same time for a long visit. We were able to combine the experience of visitng Becky and also traveling with Ross' friend and his entire family to one of the holiest temples in India - Tirupathi.
We flew from Des Moines to Chicago to New Delhi, India. After spending a few days in New Delhi, we took a train to a town near a UN-protected bird sanctuary and the Taj Mahal. Next stop: take train to see Becky in Jaipur.
The last time I had seen Becky was a few months before she left for India. She was this beautiful, brilliant, and somewhat bashful girl dressed in typical American college student clothes. And dare I say she loved to slouch?
When our train pulled into the train station in Jaipur, I saw a confident, tan, blonde, beautiful woman who stood leaning up against a pillar waiting for us. I almost didn't recognize her. She was dressed in a salwaar kameez (the long tunic with baggy pants typical for an Indian woman her age). And she looked like she belonged in that place.
After hugs and hellos, she promptly took us outside the station to find an autorickshaw - imagine a 3 wheeled Jeep without all of the metal that makes you think a Jeep could survive a collision. Becky haggled with the autorickshaw driver over 25 cents just like a good Indian girl should, and off we went to our comfortable hotel. The night before she met us, she had stayed in a one-room hut in the desert with a family. Now she had switched to city girl mode. The girl had grown up on us. I was thrilled to see it.
In the picture above of the two of us, we are in the Pink City in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. This was the first day I had ventured out in the Indian clothes that Becky had helped me to buy in Jaipur. The scarf worn across my shoulders is called a dupatta. I couldn't figure out how to wear the dupatta gracefully. In fact, it is still a challenge for me. Indian women who have grown up wearing a dupatta always seem to have it flowing around their shoulders just so. I always look as though I am about to choke - if I haven't lost or left it somewhere. And it is immodest not to wear it - which is my way of saying I look like the stereotypical Western whore if I am not wearing the damn thing.
After trying to wear the dupatta with style, I gave up. I realized that first day that the dupatta would win. It was going to end up in a ditch somewhere, or perhaps draped over a cow. I asked Becky to safety pin it discreetly to my shirt.
At that moment, I remembered when I first met Becky. She was about six years old and had come out with her family to visit Ross and I when we were living in Washington, DC. I remember this time with her when we toured DC because she was simply the coolest six year-old kid I had ever met. This was a kid who already loved pickled ginger. She was willing to try a few bites of Ethiopian food. She said hilarious things. She loved to read. She fought with her mom over what clothes she had to wear - no dresses, please. And fifteen years later, Becky was pinning my dupatta on me as though I was the six year-old.
I'm a total sucker for this niece of mine. But at least I admit it.
Becky's trip to India this year will be different. Her first three months will be spent in New Delhi, India. She will be part of an intensive Hindi/Urdu language program through the US Department of State. Then, she'll be off to Jaipur, Rajasthan to work on her Fulbright program. She is going to spend months shadowing what we would call nurse practioners/midwives in the Rajasthani desert. Some of these women have received formal training, and some haven't.
Becky will undoubtedly see things that most people would turn their heads away from in denial. It is impossible to live or visit India without turning your head daily away from things that would break your heart forever if you looked for even a moment. I am sure this experience will change her as much as her previous experience in India brought out her confidence.
Ross and I are planning to do everything we can to visit Becky again in 2008. We don't want to miss a thing.
More fascinating details on Becky's past work in India and what she will be doing during her Fulbright program: http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5780352420351837532&postID=7392565174999937170
