Author: Alexandra Card

Alexandra Card

My arrival to New Delhi involved immediate culture shock and a sense of being overwhelmed.  The process of getting a SIM Card, withdrawing money from the ATM, finding a phone to call the person I was staying with, and getting a cab to the apartment I was living in required me to force myself to take action and put myself in a proactive position.  The drive through New Delhi was also a bit of a shock as the driver of the taxi I was in swerved and honked through the dense traffic.  At first I was sure that we would get into some sort of accident, but it ultimately became clear that the driver of my car and those around him were very much in control and aware of what was going on.

 

In planning my work schedule, I gave myself about 5 days to adjust to Delhi before my first day of work.  I was very glad for this as I spent the first two days in Delhi sleeping and adjusting to the time change.  It took me three days to finally get out of the apartment I was living in and go explore the neighborhood I was living in.  The process of adjusting to a new city and country was relatively difficult for me at first.  I was confused by how the streets were lajd out and how to navigate through traffic.  I was quick to label the discomfort I felt as “culture shock”, but after some time, I realized that a lot of it simply came from the fact that I had never lived in a big city before.  Understanding this helped me deal with that discomfort and find ways to alleviate it.  One way I did this was by learning how to use the Delhi Metro.  By learning where the station was and the places it could take me, the city felt less overwhelming and more reachable to me.

 

During the weekend before I started week, I went out to a couple of sights in Delhi with another University of Michigan Student who was also staying in Delhi for part of the summer. Being that she had lived in Delhi the previous summer, she provided as a helpful resource for adjusting to the new culture and learning more about the city.  The temple and garden we visited were both extremely beautiful in very different ways.  These experiences made me very excited to explore more of Delhi and more of India as well.

Less than 24 hours stand between me and my departure to the airport for my flight to London, the first stop on my journey to India.  I currently am experiencing a mixture of excitement and anxiety about my upcoming trip as I think about what is to come.  Less than one week ago I was in Ann Arbor taking my last final exam.  I’m feeling a little bit of whiplash with the quick change of events.  The past week has mostly involved me trying to spend as much time with friends and family in my hometown before I leave.  My time in India will be my first time out of North America and my first time viewing a world that does not look like the typical American landscape.  I am most nervous for the logistics of getting to this new place and navigating through an unfamiliar city and new culture.  However, I am lucky to already have a couple contacts in Delhi who will hopefully be able to assist me in learning how to adapt to a different lifestyle.

In India I will be working in New Delhi at the NGO Safai Karamchari Andolan, which is led by Bezwada Wilson.  The organization works to eradicate manual scavenging in India and looks to find more dignified occupations for individuals who worked in manual scavenging.  I first became aware of Bezwada’s work upon hearing him speak at a Social Justice in South Asia Conference hosted by the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan.  I previously had been unaware of what manual scavenging was, but Bezwada’s passionate words and first hand experience dealing with the effects of manual scavenging led me to research more into the subject.  As a pre-law student interested in going into civil rights law, the issue and its role in Indian society and law is very intriguing to me.  I am very grateful to be able work with Bezwada and learn from his personal experiences at the forefront of a social justice movement in India.

I will be living in Jangpura, a neighborhood of Delhi, with a child rights lawyer named Anant. As someone who is involved in another field of civil rights law, I am also interested to learn about what Anant’s job looks like and what sort of issues he tackles.  His apartment also has an outdoor terrace that overlooks a lovely public park, which is an added bonus.   The apartment is a bit of a distance from my work, so my morning commute will likely involve two rickshaw rides and a trip on the metro.  However, I have been told that a commute is part of the experience of living in Delhi.

The next two and a half months are unlike anything I have done before, so I’m not quite sure what they will bring to me.  However, I am excited for something that is completely new and the opportunity to experience a different part of the world firsthand.