Monsoon Shmonsoon

So the newspaper and my ‘reliable’ sources have said the monsoons have finally come…but I still don’t believe them. Since I have arrived I have been waiting for these so called ‘monsoon rains.’ What’s the big deal with these things anyway? When I would ask people about them they would always say, “oh, next week,” no matter when I asked. Then last week I was able to do a little research and discovered they were delayed by a cyclone storm in the Arabian Sea …or possibly because of global warming. So they are about 10-12 days later than other years. I guess the storms that I had been enduring were just pre-monsoon rains, which made me a little scared for the real deal. But after officially declaring the monsoon arrival in Pune on Monday, I am a little skeptical. I am about 30km from Pune and it has only rained twice this week overnight. Im beginning to think they may not exist. Not that I’m complaining. I say bring on global warming if it means more time without moldy clothes, mud caked shoes, nasty garbage strewn calf- deep puddles, and without swarms of malaria infested mosquitoes circling me while I sleep. Ok, ok, I recognize that the economy of over a billion people in this part of the world may rely on the monsoons, but Im on vacation! I think I’ve endured quite a bit already, with taking showers out of a bucket, washing my clothes by hand, having to quite coffee cold turkey, and now I just found out mango season is ending!! I think I deserve a little reward for putting up with all of these hardships. So is it too much to ask the impoverished rural farmers that are waiting for the rains to just to hold off a little longer? I don’t think Im being that unreasonable.

On a less important note, yesterday I conducted my first interview with a woman that lives in the area. It was the first interview to really test my survey, and it went pretty well. This woman is a little atypical of the women I will be interviewing because she has done very well over the past several years. Mainly a result of the women’s self help groups my organization runs she has started her own business of making vermicelli noodles and shipping them to stores in Pune and Mumbai. She also is taking a few courses at the local university, she helps manage her family’s land, and leads several of the women’s groups in town. It was pretty impressive. And she spoke openly about how these factors have led to her gain respect from her husband and in-laws. She said they used to tell her to be quiet when she would make suggestions, but now they listen to her and she makes most of the family decisions because she brings in a good deal of the family’s money. It will be interesting as I talk to more women and am able to compare the different situations.