Full-Time Interviewers

Today I woke up very, very early because Maulin (my current roommate) went to the bathroom early and I thought he was awake because it was time to wake up for our appointments. So I got up, found out he was only awake for the bathroom, we both tried to go back to sleep. We tried seeping, to no avail. So I got dressed up and jogged up and down the stairs of the 5-story hotel, taking intervals per flight to run up and down the hallways. It made me sweaty almost immediately (heat + stairs), and I may have injured my ankle again. Maulin joined me on the staircase run after a time. I think we may have been upsetting the servers, though, since they would watch me run up and down the stairs, and when we returned home tonight, we noticed they had put some "obstacles" on the staircase, like flower pots, and a couch in a hallway.

A fast note on the liquids situation: we currently buy all of our water in bottles. If we are offered drinks no from the bottle, they must be boiled. Otherwise, we could get sick from the different, foreign amoebas and bacterias potentially in the local water. That means tea and coffee (and hot milk) are our social drink. And I have had a lot of tea in the last few days. Our massive water bottles are always lying around. I am wasting a lot of plastic.

After a creative breakfast of cereal with hot milk, we started our 9-hour day of interviews. Initially we only had 2 interviews spread out in the day to attend, but by way of Indian "go with the flow" customs, we ended up with about 6 separate interviews with government officials, professors, and World Bank experts. We were like the embodiment of an NYUWagner panel!

The first two interviews we had were at the Government of India's sanitation office. They were extremely informative, we left with complimentary scarves and oodles of readings. The men were really pleasant and knowledgable. I think that really encouraged us in our project and our objectives.
The office, however, was less than impressive. It seems like the funding for the GoI buildings is little to nonexisttant. We walked into the building and found ourselves in a grimy building with falling wall laminate and rickety elevators. We were escorted into the the appropriate office, while walking through a messy hallway that was brimming with old ramshackled office furnitures. Going into the offices, you feel like you might have been transported to the 1970s not only by decor and design, but by the outfits of the men-dominant workforce as well. Chances are, that's about right.

It is also interesting when we walk into any building; they all have security and metal detectors. However, us 3 girls walk right in and they smile at us without a hint of question, but Maulin is always stopped, checked, and his bag opened. Clearly he is with us, and clearly he is speaking perfect english with us, but apparently the brown male needs to be checked because he's suspicious...

We went over to the Habitat Center and ate lunch after making some phonecalls for more meetings with the contacts we were given. I ate a pizza and curly fries at a little shop called "Wild Willy's Western" to see their interpretation of "ethnic foods", which was surprisingly good and fairly American. Good job, India, you are officially the best country at imitation American food.

We had to run back to the old GoI building to have a meeting with the joint-secretary of water. Overall, the meeting was a waste, but we learned a lot about what NOT to expect from certain government officials, as well as what we need to try to do more to drive a conversation on the right path. We redeemed our meeting morale with another World Bank expert, Smita, who quickly enriched us with her great knowledge on rural water issues in India and lavished us with even more publications for us to read.

After a fruitful day full of notetaking and listening, we came back to the hotel to undress, relax, and buy tickets for our flight to Orissa.
We met up with Deborah from NYUWagner for a nice dinner out, Lodi Garden. We found ourselves at a restaurant in something like a garden. Another swanky night, but the food (although not Indian) was really delicious, and the ambiance was super neat. Something similar to a teahouse, with a garden restaurant (for nicer weather). The lime soda (sweet/salty) was pretty good, too!
We talked about our Indian experiences so far, and about school and random stories we all have. A very nice night with Wagner kids.

Our evening cabbie was, unfortunately, a pretty grumpy and aggressive guy. He used the horn almost every other meter, and I was tempted to warn him that he may indeed break his horn if he continued.