28 march-feces at work

Today was Monday, and I was back to my weekday routine. I woke up at 6:30 and showered, but then got all wrapped up in this sensational pop culture novel (one of the ones we had bought from the roadside bookstall) and totally lost track of time. The novel is "2 States" by Chetan Bhagat and it is a typical Indian love story about a boy and a girl whose families don't approve of their love.

So I ran out of time to make breakfast but Jo sweetly shoved a bowl of oatmeal in my hands as I walked out the door and I ate on the way to work, balancing the food on my knees so I could read at the same time (seriously- it's THAT good).

WARNING: 'SHIT'TY CONTENT AHEAD.

Vishwanathan has a beard and flowing curls and looks like how I would imagine a yogi to look, only much, much taller. He is an expert in the field of eco sanitation and came to the office to give a talk about his work. Basically we spent an hour and a half talking about the logistics of...shit. I learned so much about sanitation in India! As usual, I'll just give you the highlights.

Firstly, there isn't an effectively organized sanitation system in Indian cities. Are you shocked? I didn't think so. In the centres of cities, most households are connected to the UGD (underground drainage system). Waste from domestic toilets gets sucked into a network of underground pipes leading to a collection tank where it composts in peace. This system is questionable as apparently there are places where water and sewage pipes cross. And so foreigners don't drink India's water.

Moving closer to the fringes of the city, households have septic tanks. These tanks need to be emptied and the job is done by sewage trucks. The trucks could take the waste to a waste water treatment facility, but there are a few problems. The facilities in India don't have the capacity to deal with all the waste that comes to them. In order for the treatment plant to agree to take the waste for processing, it has to undergo certain tests. These tests cost money and they take 36-72 hours to conduct. In that time, the sewage needs to be stored somewhere. Otherwise, many trucks are out of service just holding their sewage and waiting for test results. Obviously this is economically unsound and as a result truck drivers don't follow the system.

Instead, people pay the sewage trucks money to collect waste from their septic tanks. The trucks take the waste and dump it on farmland. Farmers like this arrangement, digging large pits to accommodate the raw sewage, because once it dries they can use it as manure.

Fun fact- apparently human feces result in a manure twice as effective as the farmland variety!

Where government inefficiency existed, the market created an innovative alternative. It isn't a perfect system, though. Dumping raw sewage on all of the food produced for India just cannot be a perfect process. Without separating the urine (containing nutrients) from the feces (containing pathogens) all of what a treatment facility would have removed gets dumped on the food. Farmers open outlets between sewage pits and open water sources to get rid of the sewage water...dumping it into the fresh water sources.

The interesting part of the system is how well it makes use of human waste in a back-to-nature cycle of waste and consumption. It helps consumers and corrects for a market inefficiency. However, the lack of regulation leads to noteworthy health and environmental concerns.

Vishwanathan also talked about traditional harvesting systems in rural villages. In other words, large water wheels turned by the power of bison walking in a circle, bringing up water from a well to a trough for community use. These traditional water systems have some remarkable engineering designs, and are a great option to turn to in drought-ridden areas. Even if preserved solely for the sake of eco-tourism, they are an important way farmers can generate revenue for themselves.

OKAY, NO MORE SHIT.

I am so happy I'm working with this organization. I have so much fun every day and the people are astonishingly friendly and welcoming. I ask endless questions and am sure my inquisitiveness is trying, but all of my queries are answered thoroughly and with thought. I had forgotten lunch in the hurry of the morning, but I gave the man who helps around the office some money and he brought me roti and sabzi and dahl from a local restaurant. Delicious.

The rest of the day passed in great conversation with the other intern. She studied at a rural university in Tamil Nadu and as part of a class on rural lifestyles, used to travel to villages around the state surveying villagers and educating them on government schemes that could help them. We talked about the domestic abuse rampant in such villages. One woman she had met reported that her husband broke her hand with a wooden bat when she refused to hand over her daily wages.

During her travels, she saw instances of abandonment, helplessness and child marriage. There were cases where parents contracted out their children for labour. The daughter, as young as 7, will be sent out to work as a maid in some large house, treated well or badly at her employer's discretion.

Villagers know little about the government schemes they can access for funds and assistance - this ignorance is one of the biggest issues preventing the alleviation of rural poverty. Then there is the colour TV phenomenon - villagers are exploited for their votes or their services, but the instances when they are truly helped are rarer. There is segregation between castes in villages, and each caste goes to their own place of worship. Intermarriage, even interaction is taboo and politicians provoke inter-group tensions as a means to garner support.

Conversation was long and interesting, but I can't go on forever in these blog posts so with that taste, I'll move on. The cab ride back today was the longest I've ever suffered through. My driver was named Mohan and maintained a running and increasingly one-sided conversation throughout the two hour drive.

He imitated Americans and Europeans ( I couldn't help laughing ) and displayed an impressive knowledge of American trivia, punctuating his Hindi with "Barack Obama", "Arnold Schwarzenegger", "Serena Williams", "big money" and more. He asked me so much about America and my life, and even attempted to teach me some Kannada.

Interestingly, he also asked me if I was married, if I would consider marrying an Indian man, told me that I looked like a Kannada film star. I would have been more flattered had I not been hot and tired in Bangalore traffic. I find people so interesting though, and it was definitely memorable.

I was irrationally worried that we wouldn't make it home for some reason, but we did and I spent the rest of the evening reading and blogging with Jo. Today has been wonderful once again and I can't wait for tomorrow!