Issues with internet

I apologize for not responding to your comments. The server I am using will not allow me to access the blog directly to respond. Thank you for commenting. I will respond to them as soon as I can. I am working with IT at the housing office to figure out the issue.

Cabot

Swimming lessons

After talking about my snorkeling experience in Ireland I have convinced one of my friends that it is time to learn how to swim. 

Tomorrow I will be giving Madina her first swimming lesson and after she learns how to swim she will have the power to explore the underwater world like so many people never get to do!!!! 

I have never taught someone how to swim. Does anyone have any pointers? lol

Bringing life back to the basics

It is at a time like this, in a place like this, when you reflect and consider many things that make up your life.

For so many years now I have been focused on making myself the most competitive, yet happy, individual amongst my peers, in order to stand out and expand my opportunities. I wanted to be the best at everything and prove to everyone that I was capable of doing anything I set my mind to. Entrusting my adolescent wisdom I assumed my life would feel full and complete if I was able to achieve my personal desires and be looked at with respect for the accomplishments I had made in my life. Now as I sit here, in a world so different from the one I know, my personal perception of how life should be lived is in flux. I am reconsidering all preconceived notions I had about how life should be lived.

Upon entering college, my life turned into a rat race. I loaded myself down with classes, sports, extracurricular clubs, and two jobs to top it all off. My life was busy, and I worked really hard at everything I did. I thought, “If I can complete all of this and survive college I will be able to live the life I want and be happy.” This thought, and the notion that one day I would have the chance to change many people’s lives in a positive way kept me working tirelessly day in and day out. But looking back now, did I have it right? Was the life I was living truly going to find me happiness? I don’t know and I am still searching for the answer. Nonetheless, amongst the many questions left unanswered in my head, I have come to understand three common themes I live my life by. These themes have been highlighted in the brevity of my first week in India.  

I now want to introduce them to you and see what you think. Perhaps, from the infinite wisdom found amongst all our wonderful brains we can come to a conclusion on some basic themes one should live there life by. To me, these themes bring life back to the basics.

1)      Happiness

Life is not worth living if you are not happy. Happiness is a relative term, and you must ultimately decide for yourself what will or will not make you happy. If you are not happy, reconsider the way you live your life. There is always time to change, and who knows what that change may bring to your life.

2)      Family and loved ones

I don’t know what I would do without my family and the people I love most in my life. They are my backbone, my support, and my inspiration. I want to make them proud of the person I have become and let them see their time and efforts to shape and mold me into what I am today have not been wasted.

In my rush to take on the world I almost lost sight of this incredible truth. Family is your home base and your happiness depends on the happiness of your family and loved ones. So don’t forget about where you came from, because when you are alone in the world your family will always be your light in the darkness.

3)      A bigger purpose

It is at the age I am now that many of my peers and I are asking THE BIG QUESTION “What is my purpose?” This is no easy question to answer, but the answer cannot be found by simply wallowing in the question itself. The answer can be found in action, movement, and discovery of the world. I like to think of this saying “Life will not come to you. You have to come to life.” I walk with this phrase everyday recognizing what I want and the purpose I am searching for are not going to just show up at my doorstep one morning. If you are looking for a “bigger yes,” a “bigger purpose” you must actively search for it. Now get off your couch and get moving, because your purpose is waiting for you. Now go find it!!!

So, at the end of the day if you find yourself tired and overworked, maybe it is time to ponder these three questions about your life:

1)      Are you happy?

If not, what are you going to do to find that happiness?

2)      Where does your family and loved ones fit in your life?

Do they know how much you love them and appreciate them? I know in my rush to conquer this world I almost forgot to take a moment and let the loved ones in my life know how much they meant to me. I would be nothing without them.

3)      Do you get up every morning with a “bigger yes”, a purpose?

You should live your life with goals. They do not have to be big and complex ones. They can be as simple as making your neighbor smile or fixing the leaky hose in the backyard. But if you get up with a goal in sight every morning, you will have a direction and reason to feel fulfillment in the life you live.

These are the questions I have asked myself while in India. My life has slowed down here and I can mull over such questions as the ones above.

Last of all I will leave you with a quick poem I wrote:

Life is a wave:

Like a wave life will pass,

So short we barely grasp,

Life peaks, and then breaks,

A speck in time that fails to last

What are you going to do to make this world a better place in your life?

Sunday Hyderabad Adventure!!!!

Today I embarked on my first journey outside of the ICRISAT campus. The world inside the ICRISAT campus is an American oasis in a desert of a developing nation. These may seem like harsh words, but Indians and foreigners alike will say this regarding the campus.

We started our journey at 10:15am in the morning, meeting in the housing lobby. We were planning on heading to the entrance of the campus and catching a Rickshaw to a market about 5 km away (3 miles). Our walk to the entrance was quite pleasant, trees could be heard blowing in the wind and on either side of us were demonstration crops of all the latest and most productive varieties ICRISAT had recently created. We got to the entrance and waved to the guards as we exited the sanctuary of ICRISAT into the unknown.  

Right off the bat things got interesting. I found myself being told by the experienced Spaniards (they have been traveling a lot in India) that we had to cross the street in order to flag down a Rickshaw into the outskirts of Hyderabad. I looked at the four lanes of honking, cantankerous vehicles and my instinct sirens were blaring “there is no way in H@%# you are crossing that street.” None of the vehicles were going to stop for us and the Spaniards insisted that I just start walking. I sucked in my gut, took a quick prayer, and stepped into what I thought would be my premature funeral. All of a sudden I was amidst a raging torrent of metal death traps on wheels. Cars swerved all around me, bikes were honking, and I, along with my companions crossed the street with as much dignity as we could muster. Upon reaching the other side-mind you there are no sidewalks- we waved down the nearest Rickshaw. After a couple of moments of confused pointing and the butchering of the place name we sought to go, the four of us, and our driver were on our way to the market.

Now a Rickshaw, is a three wheeled, golf cart sized vehicle, with a motorcycle sized engine in it. The vehicle has a roof but no doors. You are open to, and unprotected from the asphalt environment around you. I was told and have even seen 10 people in a single one of these Indian taxies. How they do it…….I have no godly clue. Even with the five of us, including the driver, it was tight. When I first got in the Rickshaw I was immediately told to keep all body parts within the ever so slight protection of the Rickshaw. Moments later I found out why as a bus packed with people passed only a foot from us. All I can say is the streets are like a mad house. Cars, Richshaws, motorcycles, bikes, people, and animals are all moving in no uniform way or direction. I would love to see the stats for accidents on a per day basis.

The drive to the market took about 15 minutes. In those fifteen minutes I think I developed acute asthma, as I was now finally being exposed to the atrocious air quality present in Hyderabad. I was breathing dust and fume of all sorts. My lungs and throat burned from breathing this air (and still kind of do). I could only think of how sorry I felt for these people who have to live in this all of the time. By some miracle we made it to our destination. We piled out of the Rickshaw as cars and bikes whizzed past us. People were everywhere and my senses we having trouble computing the immense commotion all around. We each paid the driver 10 rupees (about 17 cents) and started for the market.

Immediately we stood out like sore thumbs. Mothers with children, and the lame came up to us asking for money. I was told this would happen and put on a stern face and kept walking. The women in our group were a little more vulnerable. The locals were more persistent with them. It was a really overwhelming site. To see all of these incredibly poor, crippled, and dirty people on the streets. Nothing is more real than actually being and living an experience you have only heard or seen in books and on TV. I feel so much for them, and hope one day we can change the lives that they live now.

Our walk in the market took us through several streets of buildings with various stores from shoes and clothing to fresh fruits and meat. The whole time cars and bikes are only feet from us honking their horns in protest of the congestion. We stopped at a store selling shawls. Like this and many other stores it consisted of an open room similar to a storage unit. I giant garage door would be used to close the store at the end of the day. The Shawls were beautiful and came in more colors than you could poke a stick at. Maybe I will buy one before I leave for a special someone back home…..or who knows, I may be dead by then.

We perused through various other stores for the next hour taking in all the new sights and sounds. The meat market was especially interesting. Meat was hanging from various stands out in the sun (I can’t imagine the food born diseases created here) and live animals could be seen in the back. I was told if you requested you could get them to butcher a live animal for you right-then-and-there. The Spaniards split up from Madina and I to do some more shopping. I stayed with Madina, and went with her to get food since she had not had breakfast. I didn’t eat because I did not want to take my chances. People are not used to seeing tall white people or black people and now that we were together, we stuck out like sore thumbs. People starred at us from all around and at times would point at us and get the attention of others to look. It was very weird and I have still not worked out the words to describe the emotions it conjured.

Before this blog gets to long I will end with one of the many other exciting and eye-opening sites I saw today. After Madina ate, we walked outside of the restaurant into the street. Loud music and talking could be heard on loud speakers. Thirty meters from us a crowd was forming and were adding to the congestion of the vehicles on the street; this crowd was literally blocking the traffic in the street. The next thing I knew gun-shot sounds could be heard and people were dispersing in all different directions. I didn’t know what to do but stayed where I was, protected behind some vehicles. Moments later I realized these gun-shot sounds were the noise of fire crackers and approaching through the crowd was a caravan of pink colored flags and vehicles. People were surrounding the cars and banging on drums. At this I moved in to investigate and turned on my video camera just in case something crazy was about to happen. Out stepped a politician of some sort, he was immediately over taken by people and kind of shoved along to a makeshift podium where he began a speech. People gathered around and we stayed a little bit to enjoy the visual chaos.

At that, we met up with the Spaniards and headed by to the safety and comforts of ICRISAT.

The Rickshaw ride back was just as crazy as the first!!!

The group of us consisted of :

Gloria- Spanish

Antonio-Spanish

Madina- African ( I forget which country)

Can you say "Crazy Driver"

We all enjoy a little thrill in our lives. Some people like cliff jumping, others like riding 50 ft waves. Now for the rest of us that are not so daring, driving can have its moments of thrill. In India that thrill is unremitting.

When I flew into Hyderabad, I was picked up by an AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center driver. I thought that was pretty cool, and realized I had only seen offers for taxi pick-ups and not car rentals. This was quite perplexing until I got my first taste of the Indian roads. We hit out first major city road in Hyderabad 20 minutes into our drive. We had been on the interstate previously, which was not busy at all. Now what I am about to tell conjures feelings similar to the ones you get when you jump into cold water from being in the warmth of hot air (it takes your breath away). Now on a city road, I found myself clinching the seat as we speed in and out of traffic. Auto-rickshaws, motor bikes, people, animals, the whole nine yards, were competing to get where they needed to go on the road. There was no organization to the madness. One second you were driving on the left side of the road (the side you are supposed to drive on in India) and the next you were swerving into oncoming traffic and people (horn blaring) to get ahead of a bike or something else that was not moving fast enough. In India, whatever road rules they have (if they exist) are more like polite recommendations. Mean while, my sleep deprived body is wishing I had packed a helmet and a mouth guard instead of some extra shampoo. In the end, by some inexplicable miracle, we made it unharmed to the ICRISAT campus. At that, I had enough excitement for the last 32 hours and proceeded quickly to my quarters where I slept for the next 12 hours. I also now know why they aren't to big on car rentals here. Hyderabad would be an inexperienced drivers worst nightmare (or funeral).

Tomorrow:
Tomorrow, I will once again risk my limb.....and possibly my life as I venture out into Hyderabad with some Spanish and African friends I have met. This may be my last post if I don't make it.

I have to say it has been nice. lol

Things are looking up-Saturday International Soccer

India is starting to look a lot more positive. I think I am finally adjusting to everything……that is not to say I won’t have my ups and downs.

Today I volunteered at the Hyderabad International School on the ICRISAT campus. I helped coach girls and boys soccer. I played with the grade 8-12 boys soccer team and the 12^th grade girls soccer team. I had a great time and it was so neat talking with all of the international students. It is incredible where these kids have been and lived. They have such a unique and great perspective of the world. After speaking with them it makes Americans look like they have been packed away in little boxes their whole lives. These students are very culturally accepting. I think some of the more culturally homogeneous parts of America could learn a lot by the accepting nature these students exemplify.

I will probably start volunteering every Saturday I am not traveling off campus. The best part about this is I get to play in all of the sports they offer!!! The school facilities are incredible. They have nice golf course grass everywhere and they have sports equipment for just about every sport you can think of (Badminton, Cricket, Soccer, Tennis, Basketball, Gymnastics, Baseball, etc.). I am really glad I got the opportunity to volunteer here. It will give me something to look forward to on the weekends.

While I was at the school this morning I met a parent who works for the U.S. Consulate. He said there is a U18 and up division for old people who want to play soccer. I will try to get involved in that as well. While we were talking I mentioned what I am interested in doing as a career (sustainability consulting), he said that there are people he works with and knows that could help me pursue this endeavor a little more. I am waiting to hear back from him.

Info on ICRISAT Campus and AVRDC- The World Vegetable Center

Follow this link to learn a little more about the campus I am staying at.

ICRISAT campus info:

http://www.icrisat.org/Icrisat-aboutus.htm. 

Follow this link to learn more about the people I am working for.

AVRDC- The World Vegetable Center: http://avrdc.org/

Follow this link to learn about the exact place I am working at.

AVRDC- South Asia office: http://avrdc.org/?page_id=703

The Dean of International Affairs at the Univeristy of Florida is on the board of directors for AVRDC. He is directly responsible for providing me with this opportunity. 

Words from a supportive mother

"Cabot, at this very moment, you are working on a real-life solution to world poverty.  That is big.  When you are feeling lonely, hold on to the thought, that just maybe, through what you are doing today, one less person will be hungry tomorrow."

~Mom

Week 1: responding to email questions (Snakes, Projects, Airport chaos)

Here is a little something I wrote to Kelly in response to her questions to me.

Answers to your questions:

So I am guessing you are the only 20 year old student living there? 

As of right now I have everyone beat by at least three years. In the office that I am working at I have everyone beat by two decades. lol

What about food? Do you just go to a cafeteria and are there other people there? Or do you have to go grocery shopping?

I eat at a cafeteria called the "Canteen." It is like our dinning hall but I have to pay every time I eat (so three times a day). The times to eat are very limited as well. It cost me between $1.15 and $1.85 for every meal. The Canteen is about the size of the middle sitting area in Gator D or a little smaller. The food is way different and I am still getting used to it. The main dish is always rice and then you get to choose from a variety of sauces to put on the rice. They also have tortillas (small ones) and fruit juice of some sort. They also have tid-bits of meat (sometimes). A lot of the meat is a pinkish, purplish color; I am not sure why. Maybe from the spices? Also, the food has lots of spices in it. The food that I eat is not that hot but I have been warned that some of the food is extremely hot and only people very accustom to spicy food should eat it.

There are other people who eat in the canteen. At any given time that I walk in there 40 or more countries may be represented by individuals in the canteen. That's to say there is usually a language barrier between people at the tables. Some Indians are good at speaking English but most people have very mundane English capabilities. Everyone is super nice though. I have met a couple of regulars in there. A Brazilian, a Kenyan, and an Ethiopian. The Brazilian and the Kenyan can speak alright English. The Ethiopian only speaks french....but we enjoy smiling at each other. I was actually going to go running with the Ethiopian today but he got a dentist appointment at the last minute and we didn't go together. 

In regards to grocery shopping. The food and water are to unsafe for me to eat or drink unless it comes from the campus. I would have a high chance of getting sick if I bought food on the streets. From what I have been told the grocery stores we have back home don't exist here. Think of the worst getto you have ever seen and that is probably the closest thing to compare to Hyderabad (from what I have seen so far...which is not much). If I were to buy food off campus it would have to be sealed in a package and be from a trusted company. My body is way more vulnerable to diseases here since I have never had exposure to them like Indian citizens. If I were to need water off campus it would have to come from a sealed water bottle from a trusted company. I have been told restaurants try to reseal water bottles and sell you tap water. I was warned to watch out for that because I could become very sick if I were to drink contaminated water. 

And can or would you leave by yourself to roam around outside of the campus?

There are two rules I have been given 1) do not go outside after dark (6:00pm)  (I don't follow that one) and 2) do not travel alone outside of campus. So as far as leaving campus goes, I have to notify AVRDC, ICRISAT security and have ICRISAT arrange a driver to take me to where I want to go. I also need to go in a group. So to answer your question, I would not leave the premises of campus alone if you paid me. I feel like I would be taken advantage of in a heart beat. At 3:00 am in the morning when I flew into Mumbai I some how ended up outside of the airport terminal. I was immediately hustled by a bunch of taxi drivers and a security guard had to come out and help me get back inside the airport (now that was scary). Also airport guards walk around with semi-automatic machine guns. That was my welcome to India, Yay!!!

 I do want to go off campus but I don't think I will do it for a while. I need to find a group of people who can speak the local language and who I trust. Even inside campus, the minute people find out I am American they start acting like I am rich and want american money from me.

Although I probably won't leave campus for a while, the campus is 3,000 acres. I have lots of agriculture fields to explore and there is tons of wildlife to see. ex. a million different types of birds and bats (huge bats!!!) and lots of peacocks, snakes (I have been told there are a lot of cobras and other venemous snakes), porcupines, monkeys, frogs, skinks...etc. You name it, they probably have it.

You say that you’re trying to crossbreed plants, but will you be there long enough to see the results? And how will you test its resistance to Bruchid and its tolerance? 

I will be here long enough to breed one generation of plants on my own. It takes about 6 years to truly create a new pure pedigree of plant to hand out to farmers. It is really amazing what they have and can do as far as plant breeding goes. We will test the plants resistance/tolerance by exposing the crop to bruchids. The ones that survive or fare the best we will keep to breed again. The ones that don't survive will be destroyed.

Week 1 thoughts

This experience has been quite overwhelming, especially because I have been doing all of this alone. As each day passes I am feeling more comfortable. I just don't know if I can take three months over here. 

I am really glad I am getting exposed to all of this. It is opening my mind to things I could have never conceived in America. It is also allowing me to appreciate to the nth degree how fortunate I am to live in America. I know there may be problems in America but after coming to India I feel so lucky to be an American citizen. This is one of the major things I want to preach when I get back home- how awesome America is!!!

Here are some quick thoughts I extemporized after coming back to my dorm tonight. I hope it gives you an idea of what I am seeing and dealing with.

I was out kicking a soccer ball around today to try and draw some attention to myself (I wanted a buddy to play soccer with). I just got a bunch of weird looks (I can understand why…a random kid kicking a soccer ball by himself in the middle of a giant field??). I then proceeded to go on a run in my yellow running shoes. I began stretching by the side of the road and if you didn't know what everyone was looking at you would have assumed they just saw an alien...... and I was that alien. It was like they had never seen anyone stretch before…. or they were just looking at my weird running outfit and shoes (a good possibility). 

Another interesting observation- I went running way out in the agriculture fields. Out there as it was getting dark there were two to three women running around each field with metal drums yelling. They weren't doing this because they were crazy, they were doing it because they were scaring the birds away. They don’t do this at night. Canons take their place at night. During the night you can hear cannon like sounds come from all the agriculture fields. In many of the fields they put small explosive cannons to scare animals away from the crops. Animal depredation adds a margin of error when doing crop research; Cannons and scary people are the best and most cost effective way of preventing this.

Also, this is a high security place I am learning. You can't take a wee without someone noticing. There are guards at about every corner on the campus (the whole campus is 3,000 acres, but the main portion is about 300) and you have to have a security badge on you at all times. At least I know I am safe. I am feeling much more comfortable here but I still need to find people to hang out with. The walls in my room aren't as interactive as I had originally hoped. I guess I have to go make some real friends.

I found out my project today. I am coming to find out they are training me to become a geneticist and vegetable plant breeder. I am getting crash courses in Mendelian genetics and I was shown a crop of mungbean in a quarantine green house that is supposed to be the crop that I will be working with. I will be cross breeding two different varieties of mungbean with the hopes of creating a Bruchid (Beetle insect) resistant plant that can tolerate a diverse array of environments. 

The one thing that is extremely neat about all of this is I am at the crop research mecca. This is where all the new and innovative crop technology and plants come from. This campus along with some others (around the world) are directly responsible for the green revolution that happened in the late 60's and 70's (exponentially increasing our capacity to produce large quantities of nutritional food). It is amazing the types of ideas and work they do. That is the one thing I love about this place....... I just hope I can make some friends that I don't have to talk with, via neolithic sign language.

I hope that gave you an idea of what is going on in my head and what I am experiencing. 

Can you say minority?

It is so weird here. I am working really hard on trying to emotionally handle it. I am no longer the majority but a very small minority. I am looked at differently, treated differently, and feel very alone at times. Hopefully in the next couple of days and weeks it will get better. I might have bit off more than I can chew this time.

Ireland wasn't this bad because it is almost like a European America, but India is a whole new monster. In Ireland I had other Americans to converse with and share my trip. Here I have no one (as of now).

Nonetheless, I will keep an open mind and try to adapt to this NEW WORLD as best I can.

First day at work

I made it to India. Words can't describe everything that is going on right now (nor can my internet connection). It is all very overwhelming and scary and really awesome at the same time. The stuff you see on TV or magazines is the real deal. India is wild.

I just want to let you all know grateful I am to live in the United States.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I am seeing and getting into now. I was really struggling yesterday, 1) I hadn't slept in 32 hours and 2) no one was around on the campus so if felt very lonely as a sat in my room (which has a balcony).

Today is much better though. I was warmly welcomed at the main office I will be working at and it looks like there are a bunch of really cool opportunities for me to get involved in.

En Route Munbai to Hyderabad

This is the first thing I wrote en route from Mumbai to Hyderabad. This is also about the time I started to panic about what I was about to do.

The first thing everyone probably wants to know is whether or not I made it to India. To my pleasant surprise I did. After a tedious/chaotic/stressful series of flights I am finally on the ground for good at last.

Now the rest of this email is going to be about reality. What is here. What is not portrayed with pleasantries and flowers, but what is real.

Reality is when you scan the horizon at the airport and see squatter settlements occupying any and every piece of land not occupied by a high rise or road.

Reality is when you either learn the norms of the society or get pushed around and taken advantage of (which happened to me when I first arrived in Mumbai)

Reality is when even at 3:00 am in the morning the airport is packed with thousands of people harmoniously orchestrating themselves in what I thought was chaos.

Reality is when the ratio of men to women is 10 to 1 (at the airport, it is more equal at ICRISAT).

Reality is when I see more employees working at a single airport than I have seen at the last two combined.

Reality is when the employees at the airport are found sprawled out all over the place sleeping. (They were sleeping in the departure areas, they were sleeping outside where the planes dock)

But most of all, reality is when you look at the front of your passport and see the  words “United States of America” and consider yourself the luckiest individual on the face of this planet.

Next time you think of how messed up America is, think again. You and I are incredibly lucky to be in the country that we live in. America represents our world’s best chance at bringing holistic happiness. If you don’t believe me, let me give you a tour of India.

Cabot……going on 24 hours of being awake 

The Day before I left for India

A new page is about to turn. I will be heading to India tomorrow at 5:00 am Ireland time (12:00 am Florida time). I will email everyone when I make it there and have Internet access. If you don't hear from me within a week-mom,dad- you should start to worry.

Ireland has been absolutely amazing. Our presentations at University College Cork went great. They welcomed us with open arms. There also may be some very good networking opportunities.

I guess all that is left to say is "the world is your oyster......now crack it wide open."

Irish Radio Interview:

Just before I left Ireland a radio station came to our house and interviewed some of the IRES Fellows (including me). They will be airing these interviews in a radio program. The details are below.

John Greene, Radio C103.ie

Where the Road takes me

Ireland (GMT) 7-8 pm

29 Sep & 6 Oct 2013 (2 programs)

http://www.c103.ie/On-Air/Where-the-Road-Takes-Me-with-John-Greene

Welcome!!!

I hope this blog will allow for more interaction among the people interested in what I am doing over here. Post comments and ask questions.