Movin' day

Yesterday we finally moved out of our NGOs training facility and into our new home! We had the day off for Basant Panchami which allowed us the time to pack, move, and get settled. We are living on the second floor (what would be known back home as the third floor, but here the first floor is called the ground floor, the second floor is the first, etc) of the home/office of a gynecologist, Dr. Neelam. Her office for her practice and the NGO she runs are on the ground floor, she lives on the first, and we are on the second. The place is fine, the terrace off of our living room is incredible. There is a bit of work that needs to be done here- taking the conference room out of our living room, fixing the leaking squat toilet, installing a geyser (a hot water heater), and a bit of cleaning, but we are excited to call this place home.

Our new home is in Indira Nagar (pronounced Indra Nagar with a bit of a rolling tongue on the first r) and coincidentally two other AJWS volunteers live within a 15 minute walk. Bhootnath (pronounced boot-not) market, where we can get all the food and supplies we need, is just a short walk down the road. We also discovered a lovely vegetable market and park right behind our house and a guy selling milk in the morning right next door.

After unpacking and buying a few things for the house, we explored the neighborhood and took an auto rickshaw to Hazratganz, the main artery of the city. We met our friend, Trudie, for coffee and browsed the shops of Hazratganz before making it to Sanatkada, one of our new favorite places. We discovered Sanatkada because the owner, Madivah, spoke at our AJWS orientation about her experience with women and gender in India. After 15 years as Director of an NGO, she left and opened a craft and clothing store that sells fair trade products, many of which are now part of my wardrobe. This week Sanatkada is hosting a film festival and last night they showed a documentary titled 'When Four Friends Meet' about four boys growing up in a slum in Delhi and their perspectives on women, marriage, careers, and friendship. The documentary was insightful since gender-based documentaries are usually about women, and was followed by a great dialogue in a mix of Hindi and English.

Today we had our first commute to work and that experience warrants its own post with picture and video...

This evening I was feeling overwhelmed by our new place- the work that still had to be done, the dirty floors, our lack of groceries and basic kitchen accessories..but then we discovered we have internet here so my frustrations have disappeared!