Smiling at Strangers: July 2012

Hello USA!

First I want to apologize for the one-month lull in my blog posts. For a little over a month I have been traveling through a relatively small portion of Northern Indian. I have been living on farms that were located in very rural areas of the country. Therefore, electricity, and Internet, was hard to come by. This was not very conducive for blog writing! Recently, I have settled down in Delhi for the last week of my trip and I am finally ready to share some of the experiences I have had over the past month.

In total I visited three different farms, two were in the state of Uttarakhand, and one was located in the fruit belt of India in Northern UP. The first was an organic farm in Uttarakhand, only a few hours from the border of Nepal, called ROSE. The farmland here was all located in the center of the village, and was shared by the community. The women of the families in town worked in the fields, while the men hung around at home, at shops, or in town. Women in the mountainous regions of India are often known for their hard work and long days, while the men have a reputation for being quite lazy. With the women, we worked on the land of multiple different families as they prepared the fields for rice cultivation. Agriculture is a livelihood for the family we were staying with and many others in the small town of Kanda. Unfortunately, the monsoon was late this year and the temperature continued to rise, which lead to rather slow and sweaty days. The lack of rain could be very damaging to their crops this season, and they were completely dependent on the monsoon because none of the fields in this area were irrigated. After about a week, working in the fields became very limited due to the heat, and my new French friend I had met on the farm, Victoire, and I decided to move on to another farm.

Moving to a new farm was such a great decision. We took a chance and went to another WOOFING farm (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms), called The Himalayan Farm Project. After taking a bus to the site, we knew we would have to hike about an hour to reach the farm. We reached the town in the middle of the afternoon, and began the long and steep hike up the mountain. This was a great challenge for us, and it was a huge relief when we finally reached the farmhouse. There we met other foreign travelers from Germany, France, Finland, Switzerland, and Australia; as well as the Indian family that owned the land. They began this project about a year ago and many travelers had visited to work on the land and contribute to the farm in many different ways. I really enjoyed working on the projects here, which included lots of planting for the monsoon season as well as projects like fixing the roof, feeding the cow, cooking daily meals, harvesting crops, etc. The group was great and we all enjoyed sharing stories and experiences with each other. It was hard to leave this beautiful place in the mountains, but the monsoon finally did arrive and I figured it was time to move to lower ground.

So I hopped on a bus and took another long ride to Uttar Pradesh (UP). Here I got off in the city of Saharanpur and a friend of mine met me at the bus station. Happy to see a familiar face, from here we traveled to his village outside of the city. As we drove through this area we passed field upon field of crops including but not limited to Okra, Sugar Cane, Lychee, Corn, and of course, Mangoes. My friend Umar’s family owns mango orchards, and I was here to experience the predominately Muslim culture in this particular area, and see what mango farming was all about. Here the farming was not organic, and included the use of chemicals like Calcium Carbide to ripen the fruits before they went to the market. Despite the unsustainable farming practices, the mangoes were delicious and the orchards were a beautiful and peaceful retreat.

The village was unlike any I had ever stayed at before. This area has very few foreign visitors, and the culture difference was very difficult. I was able to speak just enough Hindi to get by, but the questions never ceased and the visitors that came to stare at me continued to stream in. Although the constant attention was a bit wearing for me, it was a very rewarding experience to be a part of the daily life of this family. The children that visited me daily became particularly fun and happy highlights during the hot days. We would dance, sing, laugh, and teach each other Hindi and English hand-games. I think the family members and I began to better understand and interpret each other as the days passed, however, after so many weeks living on farms and villages, I was starting to feel burnt out. I was reaching the end of my trip, and feeling like I was ready to go home. After attending a beautiful Muslim wedding, I was ready to say goodbye and take my final bus ride to Delhi.

Here are some of my favorite photos of the three farm experiences.

See you all soon!

Taylor