another article featuring paige (kind of)

i wrote this article for a website called chillibreeze.

paige's new birth blog

i know it's been awhile, and i'm not proud of that, but wanted to let you know that i have a new blog that will focus on current childbirth and parenting-related topics. there you can find my recommended reading list, links, my bio and more on the services i offer.

promise to write soon about all of our adventures in new york and new jersey, and my adventures in texas, which have mostly involved my amazingly brilliant and hilarious niece, genevieve, pictured above.

p.s. now i know what it feels like to be SERIOUSLY misquoted in the press! check out this article. NONE of these quotes is accurate, as is obvious i'm sure. it's quite pissing off...

fear

the other night, we were having a lovely dinner with sujit when suddenly there was an incredible crackling sound. kind of like the sound of rice krispies but so loud that you think the building you're in might be crumbling. we looked out the window, and a giant gulmohar tree was snapping at its base until it fell onto cunningham road, a road that is full of traffic all the time. a road that i travel on, either by foot or by rickshaw, all the time. the sound it made coming down was just as harrowing as the sight of it. hundreds of people immediately rushed to rescue those who were trapped. amazingly, no one was killed.

i realize that i carry around a huge amount of fear. i think i did even before i moved here, but it seems like there's so much more to be scared about in cities like this one. most of my fear has revolved around traffic (being struck by a car/truck/bus), but now includes being crushed by a tree. this is an old feeling. i have imagined worse case scenarios, gruesome deaths of loved ones, etc., ever since i was a young child.

workin' on it, people!

the last few days have been that kind of day where everything goes wrong. yesterday, thanks be to god, there was something that cheered me up. i was in a rick, stopped at one of those crazy, seven-pronged intersections when i noticed two young boys leading a family of camels across the intersection. it was pretty sweet.

what i'm looking forward to:
* seeing my peeps very soon
* getting a massage with my sweetie
* more visitors in the fall
* a walk in the park with nora

bom bahia

bombay. now that's a cool city. we really only had two days to enjoy it, and the rest of the time was spent at shumona's grandmother-in-law's beach cottage in janjira. omg, it was lovely. living in such a loud city (and for the record, new york is not loud) really makes one appreciate the quiet spaces. and surprisingly, no crows! but the best part was spending time with shumona.

i think i saw a good chunk of bombay in two days. we were shifting apartments a lot, which meant i got to see much of the city by taxi. meeting surabhi's friends was wonderful, and she was a very thorough and patient tour guide. we walked around bandra, strolled on marine drive at night, had yummy maharashtran food (sabudhana kichidi = my new favorite dish!), shopped in colaba, and took a very nauseating ferry ride across the bay to get to janjira. here are things i loved about bombay:

* sabudhana kichidi
* the vibrant street life (reminiscent of new york city)
* the no rickshaw rule
* organization of traffic (i.e. wide, nicely-paved streets, traffic signals, etc.)
* sidewalks that people can walk on
* old, beautiful buildings
* museums, art galleries (will have to hit those next time)
* the bay/ocean
* great public transportation

and probably more that i'm not thinking of right now. i'd like to go back and soon. there's a conference happening in november called birth india (very excited about that). the woman who is organizing it is from bombay, so i'm hoping it will happen there.

i don't really understand what people mean when they say things like, "bombay is craaaaazy," or "i'm scared to go to bombay." i mean, i guess i haven't read maximum city, which might have made me nervous to go, but it actually seemed a lot more chilled out in some ways than bangalore.

every time i saw tailors, i remembered ishvar and omprakash from a fine balance. and of course many of shantaram's descriptions of bombay appeared in my memory when passing places like the thieves' market or leopold's. and every time we got in a cab, i thought of prabhakar, el pobrecito. am i too attached to fictional characters?

in other news, i had a funny experience yesterday auditioning for voiceover work. i had to read high school text book entries for an interactive curriculum which requires american accents for the audio component. i read two scripts: the inner ear and the reflex action. it was actually pretty difficult. after being told by the sound engineer that i had a "sleepy voice," i tried my hardest to channel russ leatherman (the moviefone guy), raising my eybrows and bobbing my head and talking with my hands, looking absoulutely ridiculous but hoping to sound as animated as humanly possible. blake, you would have been on the ground...

the bummer is that the studio is over an hour by rickshaw each way, and i think that alone would make me miserable. if anyone knows of other voiceover work opportunities closer to the center of town, please let me know.

click here for bombay pics.

water birth in delhi

the most exciting news i've read in the last couple of days is that the first water birth took place in a delhi hospital! this is a big deal given that the cesarean rate in most delhi hospitals is 70-80%. check out more here.

in other news, we have added new photos to our flickr account. for photos of laura's and scott's going away party (including one of surabhi twirling a four-foot sparkler), click here; for photos of our going away gathering for jasmeen, click here; and for photos of our may day on asha's farm (and an ant hill to rival all ant hills), click here.

as the work turns

ok, i am receiving requests from all corners to get more specific about my work. those who have heard bits and pieces seem intrigued, those who have no idea, are down right confused about what i am doing in Bangalore.

so in an effort to bring everyone up to speed, i thought i would update on how the work is turning. you may remember that i knew that my work would be a bit unpredictable before i arrived in india. but a month or so into my time here, the shape of work became more defined.

Needless to say, things have changed again, but taken a turn for the better, in my estimation. so let me back up and give some deets. (at the risk of sounding like i am sharing my work plan with you)

Essentially i am either supporting or coordinating efforts towards four different studies or projects. they are all addressing gender-based violence but come at the issue from very different angles. here goes:

1. I am spending most of my time right now on supporting the implementation and evaluation of an intervention with young couples in Kanakapura District. This is a peri-urban part of Bangalore, that is it is technically part of Bangalore city but is fairly rural in most ways. So this is project is a series of workshops with young married couples, that is married between 2 and 10 years. The men range in age from 25-33 and the women are between 20 and 27. These workshops cover communication, joint-decision making, sexual and reproductive health and some more complex conversations about gender and masculinity and power in the relationships.

The idea is for these workshops to catalyze a process between the husbands and wives by which conflicts can be resolved with mutual respect rather than exploding into potentially violent situations. The couples chosen are anyway low risk for violence, but building skills around communication and negotiation is revealing itself to be a really ground breaking opportunity in the lives of these participants. much of the feedback we have been getting is about how most of them had never had the opportunity to talk so frankly about sex and sexuality and struggles in their relationships. and more importantly, that these conversations are shifting the way they engage with each other at home.

2. The second project that I am working on designing and launching is with young men in the same communities that the larger health study has been focusing on. these are more urban low income neighborhoods in north Bangalore. The focus of my work so far has been 1) studying other male engagement programs in India and around the world to understand the best approaches and 2) building a strong team of male outreach workers to be able to do the community organizing necessary. So this is still in the stage of meeting and drafting job descriptions and other administrative tasks, but it is an exciting concept. The idea comes directly out of the health study which has shown in its preliminary results that the knowledge attitudes and behaviors of men greatly impact women's health-seeking behavior as well as health outcomes. So if men are reached at an early age with information and training on health, sex, sexuality and healthy relationships, then by the time they are married and negotiating life with a partner, their approach will be more gender equitable. These are the hypotheses, in a manner of speaking, so lets see what comes of them.

3. The third project is called the Bangalore Healthy Urbanization Project and is a collaboration with the Bangalore Municipal Corporation. Conceived of by the WHO Kobe Center, this city-wide project seeks to explore the social determinants of health. The some concept is also being implemented in five other cities around the world. So there are seven sites around the city that have taken up different issues and aspects of health - ours is the Robertson Road Area of Bangalore and we are focusing on addressing violence against women through creating enabling environments for early detection of violence and safe reporting.

This means working with health care providers and the local police force to build their capacity around addressing gender-based violence sensitively and effectively. The idea is to have trainings and workshops with doctors and other health center staff as well as with constables and sub-inspectors at the local police station. In addition the plan is to have community education for women and girls about the facilities available at these institution and the value in talking with health care providers about violence they might experience.

Whether this project actually happens or not is still up in the air. there are always a lot of politics when it comes to working with the government so we are still trying to sift through it all. no love lost, if it doesn't pan out. honestly.

4. Finally, phase three of the Samata Health Study is the qualitative phase where a subset of the survey respondents are asked to participate in in-depth interviews and some focus groups are held. In addition we will be beginning the formative phase of the follow up study on health care providers and their strategies and responses to gender-based violence in their patient population. My role in this has been limited so far, just helping get the study protocol prepared and submitted to the ethical review board and such. But soon the interviews with doctors will begin and I will be involved in that as well as in preparing the grant for this phase of the research.

*********
Sometimes I freak out at all the work that has to be completed in the next 8-9 months. But then i remember all the amazing people i work with and know that this is not a solo adventure, so many thoughtful and committed individuals have invested their energy into keeping this study moving and true to ethical principles at every turn. it is really inspiring to work with and among them.

The most exciting thing for me, is that, for the first time in my career, all of the projects (with the exception of the WHO project) we are implementing or designing are evidenced based, meaning they emerge from the study that we have been conducting. These are not simply theoretical experiments. They are based on the results of rigorous research and the ideas have emerged organically from the interpretation of these results. that is a satisfying experience. i feel lucky to be part of it.

MERU

apparently since Sahana had an unmedicated birth, Meru was bright eyed and alert from his earliest hours.



....but clearly likes to doze at every opportunity!




the signature lip that Sahana sported throughout her childhood as well.
So delicious.



the post-feeding face.... oh how yummy can a little boy be?!?!



see flickr for more photos as we get them. yay!