Evil eye

 

I noticed that my friend's baby was sporting some very cute black bracelets the other day and commented on the adorable adornment. My friend said, "Oh these? Yep, that's her protection against the evil eye. I mean, I don't believe in that stuff, of course, but my in-laws put them on her, and I just think the bracelets look cute."
 

Questions abounded. I've come across the concept of the evil eye in Turkey, but wasn't aware it was also a thing here in India.

My friend assured me it was. "You see all of those babies with the kohl on their eyes or a black charcoal spot on their face somewhere?" I had, in fact, noticed this phenomena of babies wearing pronounced eye make-up here (and have even commented on it in an earlier post). "Well," my friend said, "That's the baby's protection against the evil eye! We believe that if you have a beautiful baby people will get jealous and will curse you. But, if the baby is marred and marked with something black it offers protection from the evil eye curse--especially if the face is marked with black."
 

Ah ha!

My friend went on, "In fact, you remember how I had that tea party the other weekend where there were about 20 people over? Well, after the party was over my maid grabbed the baby and insisted on marking her to prevent any cursing. With so many older single, childless women over, she thought the baby was sure to be cursed!"
 

And suddenly I understand why everybody starts smearing charcoal on their children as soon as I arrive on the scene.

Ganesh Chaturthi

I was lucky enough to be in Mumbai for the start of the Ganesh Chaturthi (AKA, the ganpati festival), which is widely celebrated for about 11 days in the city. The festival celebrates Ganesha, the elephant headed god, who is the remover of obstacles and generally just a good guy to pray to whenever you want to start a journey or a new business or a new anything. Here are my two favorite Ganesha legends which I learned over the course of being in Mumbai.
 

How Ganesha got his elephant head. Ganesha's mom, the goddess Pavati, wanted to take a bath. So, she posted her son outside and told him not to let anyone in. Along comes the great god Shiva, who apparently was Pavati's husband but not Ganesha's father (I smell a scandal!). Shiva wants to be let in, and is furious when little Ganesha stops him. So, Shiva does what any angry stepfather being prevented from full sexual access to his wife does when defied by a well-meaning youngster--he cut off Ganesha's head. Pavati is understandably pissed off about her son's decapitation and so demands that Shiva find him a new head. Appropriately chagrined, Shiva kills an elephant, takes its head and plants it firmly on Ganesha's body.
 

How Ganesha showed off he was such a smarty pants, AKA every Hindu parent's favorite story. Ganesha and his brother both wanted to get married, and their parents couldn't figure out who should have the honor of getting married off first. So, mom Pavati says, "Which ever of you can encircle the universe first shall get the first bride. Well, Ganesha's brother, who I understand to be your usual athletic bro god, sprints off to circumnavigate the universe, but Ganesha simply walks around his parents 7 times and says, "You are the divine mother and the divine father, the creator of the world, the entire universe." Well, Pavati and Shiva eat this stuff up with a spoon--and gets who gets the first bride!

So what is the ganpeti festival, you ask? Well, various communities around Mumbai, as well as individual households erect shrines to Ganesha, where he is worshipped for 11 days. Hundreds of these public shrines, varying in size and majesty (depending, I guess, on how wealthy the community is) are scattered throughout the city, but the locations are highlighted by rows of lights leading to the shrine. Driving around the city looking for the shrines is actually a lot of fun--like a scavenger hunt with lots of illuminated clues! Some of the more famous Ganesha shrines can get pretty crowded and you have to wait on line to see the statue, so I felt pretty fortunate to be in Mumbai near the beginning of the festival where the lines were still minimal or non-existent. 

[The carnivalesque atmosphere]

These statues, large and small, are blinged out--silks, glitter, rhinestones, flowers, offerings, etc. Also, no Ganesha statue is the same and the artists get quite a lot of leeway in how to depict the god--sometimes Ganesha even takes on the aspect of another god (which, if you're a person totally unversed in Hindu imagry, like me, is totally confusing. The Hindu gods are all associated with various objects and animals, so if you've learned, for example, that Ganesha's vehicle is a mouse (weird, but true) and then all of a sudden you see him riding a tiger, it's like, "What? So, wait, he's taking on the aspect of another god, just for funsies?")

 [You can see how opulent the rooms where some of the idols are kept are as well. This was like being in a throne room!]

 [This is Ganesha, pretending to be some other god]

 [Little Ganesha]

 [This idol had a whole light show going on behind him as well!]

My friends told me that the best part of the ganpeti festival would be the final day where all of the idols get paraded down to the beach in a grand clamor of music and dance, then marched into the water. That's right, apparently, the waters of Mumbai are filled with Ganesha from past festivals who are submersed and left in the ocean. (What an amazing place to go scubadiving, no?)  I unfortunately will miss this final day of the festival since I returned to Delhi, but I did come across a few individual household idols being paraded down to the sea...

 [This is a small "household" procession toward the sea--complete with a flying "crane" throwing out confetti"]

 [Look what just one idol being paraded did to all of the nearby parked cars!]

Now, in the olden days, when all of the idols were made of mud, this seems like a pretty nice, and environmentally-friendly festival. Today, of course, when many of the idols are plastic or some other material, it may not be the most environmentally sustainable practice. However, other than that annoying "OMG, this traditional religious festival has actually become an environmentalist's nightmare" bit, I have to say that the ganpeti festival is totally awesome.

Mumbai is for eating

Primarily, while I was in Mumbai I did two things: eat and look at elephant god statutes. Both were awesome...but let me start with my tales of culinary delights.
 

Just so you understand the importance the eating plays in any vacation for me, this was my full itinerary for the Mumbai weekend:

Friday: Arrive, eat, visit some elephant god statues, eat, sleep

Saturday: Wake up, eat, walk around the city, eat, eat (yep, that's two eating activities right after one another!), walk around the city, nap, eat, visit some elephant god statues, eat, sleep.

Sunday: Wake up, eat, go to museum, eat, hang out with friends, eat, eat (again, can't get enough of the eating), depart.

 

Yep, I loves me some good eating. And Mumbai had it all, from street foods to fancy teas, from light seafood to heavy curries, from crispy appetizers to creamy desserts.
 

Just thinking about it, I'm actually drooling. That's not figurative. A little drool just dripped out of the right hand corner of my mouth and splashed onto my keyboard.

I know, you all want to be drooling too, right? Well, for your mouthwatering enjoyment, please see below just a few pictures of my culinary adventures in Mumbai. Also, for what it's worth, food in Mumbai is even cheaper than in Delhi!

[My favorite dish of the weekend--a sweet crispy crepe like thing called Malai Malpua]

 [Gujarati food]

 [These rice pancakes steamed in banana leaves were so good that people couldn't leave them along for long enough for me to take a picture!]

 [Mango lassis. creamy, sweet, with just a kick of nutty goodness]

 

 

 [Cafe where we had dinner #2 on Saturday, it was very lively, and served the best crispy papadum, piled high with tomatoes, onions, herbs and masala spices. Basically the perfect snack to wash down with a beer]

[This is a Chinese dish, which has been Indianized for the Mumbai audience--cauliflower balls with a sweet soy coating]

 [Pao bhaji, a Mumbai specialty which my friend's obsessed about--we had to come to this restaurant in particular as they apparently served the best pao bhaji in the world. Basically, it's a vegetarian sloppy joe with extra garlicky bread]

 [And, dosas, of course. Mumbai has GREAT dosas]

 [A selection of the street food we ate for lunch one day. I think India has some of the best street food in the world--the flavors and textures are so unexpected and interesting.]

 [We stopped for an afternoon beer on a rooftop overlooking the ocean]

[And, at night, we went to an ice cream place with local fruit flavors--yum, jackfruit icecream!]

 

Mumbai, generally

Upon the discovery that Delhi-Mumbai round-trip tickets are less than $150, I took off to Mumbai last weekend, along with my roommate and two and a half friends of ours (a couple and a baby) who are originally from Mumbai. I had been to Mumbai once before in 2010, but as my prior trip was the very first time I was in India, as I was alone during my stay in Mumbai, and as I was pretty  freaked out about the whole "Shit, I'm all by myself in India" situation, I never thought that my time in Mumbai was a proper representation of all that the city had to offer. So, I was excited to go back in the company of locals and really explore the place--at least as much as possible in a weekend during monsoon season.

Mumbai has the reputation of being more cosmopolitan than Delhi--apparently it's not such a big deal to wear knee-baring clothes there and its a very walkable city. Mumbai is the center of India's financial and artistic life,  but, Delhi is where all of the politicians and wealthy industrialists live. I kind of envision Mumbai v. Delhi as being a NYC v. D.C. situation--where the former is clearly the superior city. (Sorry to my DC readers, but if you know me at all, you know how I feel about this). Mumbai is also on ocean, which adds a nice beachfront to the city, though apparently swimming is a total no-no because the water is toxic and filled with elephant gods of festivals past (more on that in a later post). Also, apparently taxis there are just like, you know, normal taxis--in that you get in and they put on the meter without you even having to ask for it!!!

So, given what I knew/had heard about Mumbai, I arrived in the city last weekend fully expecting to be won over by it. And, as my next two posts will illustrate, I really had a WONDERFUL time there. But, I have to say, I prefer Delhi.

Here's why: Mumbai has a traffic problem, and Mumbai has a monsoon problem. The traffic problem really requires no further explanation-- it just takes forever to get anywhere. The monsoon problem was more interesting, though. It was raining hard for a good 70% of the time I was in Mumbai, but I seemed to be the only person who noticed it. All around me on the streets of Mumbai, life seemed to go on as if the gods weren't dumping an ocean on top of our heads--couples were lovingly strolling down the street hand in hand, vegetable sellers were hawking their wears, temple processions were processing, etc. Basically, I just got the feeling that everyone gets used to getting wet all the time and no one thinks of it as such a big deal any more.

I hate being wet, unless I'm in the shower or in a swimsuit. So yeah, for me the constant monsoon thing is kind of a lifestyle killer.

Having said that, I can put up with being a bit damp for two days and so didn't find my time in Mumbai too infringed on by the weather. As you'll see from some of the photos below, Mumbai is just so interesting and full of life that it's really hard not to be a bit seduced by the place.

[You maybe can't tell from this photo, but it was pouring down at the moment I encountered this procession. Nobody seemed to care much--except for maybe the bulls.  I think these guys were en route to Jain temple. Mumbai is really religiously diverse; in my wanderings I even passed a Jewish temple which had recently been reopened (it was a target of the 2009 terrorist attacks in Mumbai). Plus, my friends took me to the park where the Parsi community lays out their dead on the famous Tower of Silence to be eaten by vultures. Seriously, that is the burial rite--look it up).]

[This is the view of my friend's club, where we had breakfast one morning. Clubs like this abound in Indian cities and they sound very much to me like the stereotypical USA country club of the 1950s--membership is passed down generationally and clubs cater almost exclusively to folks of particular religious or regional affiliations. Membership is exclusive and not open to the public; in addition to hefty entrance and annual fees, new applicants must be recommended by existing members to even be considered. The clubs themselves are immaculately upkept and serve as social centers in the cities.]

 [Gateway of India. I dunno, you see one arc de triomphe, you've seen them all.]

[This is the view over Mumbai's harbor--all of that stuff you see there? Oil rigs. I've never seen so many oil rigs in one place--and so near a city, too. Fascinating, n'est pas?]

[Mumbai street art, they really love their elephants!]

[My friends took me to a secret little ghat/pool in the middle of the city. The legend is that the area of Mumabi used to be dry, until a god got thirsty one day and fired an arrow into the earth. A natural spring pool bubbled up from where the arrow hit the earth--and this is that spot. The natural spring pool is not very big, actually, but as you can see every bit of it is being used by folks for swimming, washing, hanging out with friends, etc.]

[I could not figure out this sign. Beware of boys running with purses?]

My work

After several conversations with family and friends it has been made to clear to me that no one really knows exactly what I'm doing here in India, other than "human rights law." So, I thought I might take a quick break from posting photos of street scenes to explain a bit about what I spent the vast majority of my days here doing.

Basically, I work on the right to health. Now, I can practically see all of my American readers scratching their heads and asking "Huh?" Well, my fellow compatriots, that is because in the USA we don't have a right to health. In fact, our Constitution doesn't recognize any economic, political or social rights (e.g., right to education, right to participate in cultural life, right to health) although it does enshrine most of the basic civil and political rights (freedom of speech, press, association, right to due process). This is for some interesting historical reasons which I won't get into now--but I will say that it is totally annoying that our Constitution doesn't recognize economic, cultural or social rights because it can be difficult to actually enjoy one's civil and political rights without the corresponding economic, social and cultural rights. (You try enjoying your freedom of the press if you've never learned to read because you have no right to education.) Of course, in the USA we can get away with this because we're a wealthy enough country that we can statutorily legislate to cover for this lacuna in our rights--e.g., even though we have no guaranteed right to education we DO still have universal schooling.

But I digress. The point is much of the rest of the world does recognize the right to health, which is codified at the international level in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 12, if anyone is interested). And, lots of regional treaties and domestic constitutions also explicitly recognize the right to health, so there really is a treasure trove of interesting case law and academic interest on this topic.

The right to health, btw, is not the right to be healthy--but basically a set of freedoms (like freedom of bodily integrity) and entitlements (like the right to clean water) which would allow a person to chose how healthy s/he wants to be within the limitations of her own body. It covers the underlying determinants of health (like food, housing, health care) which means that it is a right that is implicated just, everywhere. It's a really interesting field to work in.

So, what do I do in this field? Well, two things. First of all, I run this database. That means I research interesting right to health cases on the domestic, regional and international levels, brief the cases, and stuff them onto our website. It's cool because it means I get to learn loads about how this right has been interpreted in different jurisdictions (and I'm learning lots about international instruments as well) but I got a bit bored doing that, actually. So, I brilliantly realized that my job would be much better if I got other people to do my work for me. And so to that end I've started a bunch of initiatives with US, UK and Indian law schools where I train the students up in the right to health and then have them do my research and briefing for me. Wheeee!

Second of all, I work with my boss, the outgoing United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health on his mandate. This basically means lots of research, report writing, conference attending, conference planning, presentation writing, networking etc. So, for example, in the last two weeks I I (a) attended a conference on National Human Rights Commissions (b) wrote a foreward (in my boss's name) for the latest Amnesty International report on criminalization of sexual and reproductive rights (c) prepared a power point presentation on the issues of development v. human rights in the context of South Asian women's rights (d) tweaked the training I'm giving next week to some US law students (e) followed up with the 5 MIA attendees of a conference we're throwing in October (honestly people--it's a free trip to Delhi--why are you taking so long to get back to me??) (f) reviewed some translations of foreign cases and briefed a couple of more (g) dealt with the invoices for our case translators (definitely my least favorite part of the job).

So, it s bit legal, a bit project management, a bit administrative, a bit research and writing-oriented, a bit boring, a bit interesting. It's pretty different from my big law work though, perhaps unsurprisingly, I have found that the skills and contacts I developed there have been pretty helpful here as well. Hopefully I'll be able to say that about this job whenever I move on to the next!

Don't Drive Here: Delhi

To give you guys some idea of what I face every day going to and from work (and any other time I need to, you know, get anywhere in this city) please watch this delightful little video detailing driving conditions in Delhi. And you know what, this isn't even the half of it.

Mom, Dad, I suggest you don't watch this.

Street scenes from Mumbai

There will be a fuller accounting of my visit to Mumbai next week, after I've had time to write some proper posts detailing the delightful trip over the weekend. But for now, please enjoy the below: street scenes from Mumbai . . .