What does a normal day look like in India? Besides lots of time driving and talking with rickshaw drivers, very little has stayed consistent. Here are a few snapshots from the second week in Bangalore. Monday (6/24) Breakfast? Our new hotel feels more like home. The staff (like any preschooler’s mom) is quite intent on ensuring that you eat breakfast. I go on a morning walk and re-enter the warm, lemon-scented lobby. “Breakfast?” the receptionist asks. “I will,” I reply. Never have I ever forgotten about breakfast, then been spurred to action by someone’s reminder. I go back to the room and get a call on the shrill room phone. “Will you come for breakfast?” “Yes.” I’m usually at breakfast a little earlier than Rachael, and I never failed to receive a, “Will Madame come to breakfast?” question from the omelet man. Rest assured, I have eaten breakfast today. Black Market 101 India has a large informal economy, and Rachael and I have now experienced it firsthand. Our homey hotel doesn’t have a gym, but fortunately there is one 50 feet down the street. We walked in to try to get a week-long membership. The young lady at the desk showed us the first floor of exercise machines, and the second floor of weights. She then took us to the third-floor yoga studio, which was approximately 120 degrees. “We close at the end of the month,” she informed us. No problem, we were leaving at the end of the month. “Can you give us a deal?” I asked. “Normally we have a higher price, but we can do 100 rupees ($1.30) per day since we’re closing soon,” she replied. Perfect. I instinctually started heading down the stairs to get out of the heat, expecting us to return to the desk below to complete the deal. “No, wait,” the lady timidly said. “There are people below and we don’t want them to see and learn about your special deal.” Ohhhhhhh I see. I handed over the cash, sweating. “Don’t tell anyone!” she reminded us, waving her hands. We promised. We spent the workday Monday visiting Three Wheels United (TWU) field offices, small hubs where community organizers and collection agents worked from, in different areas of Bangalore. The women at these offices gave us valuable information on the different types of driver groups and the process for finding new drivers. Everyone was incredibly friendly and willing to speak with us. Tuesday, “I have dreams for my children” Our translator and TWU employee Chandini lives next to an auto driver’s family, and we spent all of Tuesday with this family. Bireash, a 36-year-old driver, lived with his wife Shobha, and 12 and 13-year-old kids Nikhil and Rachana. We visited their cozy home and spoke with them about their daily life, challenges and hopes for the future. Bireash woke up at 5am every day to spend several hours at the gym before beginning his 8am-11pm workday. Although the family only earned about 1,000 rupees ($15) per day, he paid for each of his kids to attend relatively expensive private schools. “I am not educated myself, but I have dreams for my children,” he told us. After dropping the kids off at school in the morning, Bireash would drive until 3pm when school got out. Meanwhile, Shobha would spend the morning cleaning the house and preparing the pani puri street food for later in the afternoon. After an hour of rest, Bireash and Shobha would wheel out their cart to a nearby road and sell pani puri from 5-9pm. Bireash drove for a couple hours afterwards as well, getting to bed around midnight. Rachael and I spent the day driving around the neighborhood, filming, listening, and playing with the kids. Watching the couple set up the pani puri stand was a colorful (and delicious) highlight. I made a video from our footage, check it out below. Wednesday, “These are my role models.” Chandini, our taxi driver Charu, and I (Rachael unfortunately got sick but recovered quickly) visited several auto stands throughout the city to speak with random drivers. I wanted to learn how drivers made decisions about financing their vehicles, what challenges they faced, and what they enjoyed about their work. In about ten conversations, common themes emerged. Similar to the statistics we received before entering India, about half of drivers own their vehicles, and half rent. Most drivers who own vehicles get loans from private financiers which offer high interest (about $1,200 total interest on a $2500 loan) but give loans to almost anyone without requiring much documentation or collateral. Drivers complain about traffic (longer drives, less passengers, less income), police fines, and Uber & Ola (ride sharing apps that take a cut of each ride and increase competition). However, despite low income and long hours, every driver said they enjoyed their work. Why? Freedom. I heard… “I don’t salute to anyone.” “If I want to take a rest in the middle of the day, I can.” “My family’s Hindu god temple is 100km away, and we can drive there every year in my auto.” Many drivers chose their job over other service or manufacturing work because of the autonomy it offered them. Others can't imagine life any other way. One driver, Sashikumar, spoke excellent English and willingly shared his experiences. His daughter was getting an MBA from a college in Bangalore, and his wife worked in a garment factory. Sashikumar’s auto had three beautiful paintings. Mother Teresa and Abdul Kalam (Indian scientist and president) were on the front, and actor Rajinikanth looked out from the back. “These are my role models,” he told me. The paintings were done by his friend, and each cost several days wages. Now he gets to see these beautiful paintings in his windshield every day. Thursday, Our second Bangalore hotel was very close to both the TWU office and Ulsoor Lake, a sanctuary of calm in the bustling city. The path by the lake provided an excellent destination for my morning walks. Thursday was a slower day at work: we caught up on note taking and went out to lunch. In the afternoon, we met with a TWU employee to learn more about how the company is streamlining its process for qualified drivers to get new loans. In the span of five minutes, we also completely shifted our plan for the next week, deciding to go to Chennai (an hour flight) instead of Chitradurga (a few hours’ drive) because of a special press conference happening in Chennai the following week. Friday, This too is sacred Three Wheels United and several other companies and NGO’s started a driver cooperative several years ago as a place to help drivers learn from each other, take small loans from the group, and be in community. On Friday around midday, a ceremony was held for the opening of an office space for the group. We attended along with several other TWU employees, and were happy to find our community organizer friends from Monday there as well. I was expecting some speech or announcements to be made about the new office, but instead, the whole ceremony was a Hindu blessing. A small alter with a picture of a Hindu god, a large banana leaf, and flowers sat on the ground, and a combination of blessings, chants, scents and flowers were introduced. The audience participated some as well, putting the red dot on their foreheads and doing several other ritualistic motions. Rachael and I were a bit hesitant to join in, but everyone was very calm, informal, and inviting. Several people were filming, and the leader guy was reading off his phone. Later in the ceremony, each person received a few flowers, which we put by the alter. I felt honored and grateful to experience the ceremony. The message was clear: the work we’re doing here holds significance. There’s no divine separation between work and temple. Driving a rickshaw or being in this community matters, and is connected to a greater purpose. We’re opening a new office, creating something new, and this creation is very good. That ended the work week, but only started the action. Rachael and I traveled to the nearby town of Mysore with Brooke VanSant, part of Santa Clara’s Global Fellows program (different program, similar names, often confused). We found an auto driver Babu who spent his whole day with us, serving as our informal tour guide for some local hits off the beaten path. He was truly a beautiful man, speaking proudly of his city and even letting us briefly try driving the auto on the country roads. We saw palaces and temples, ornate wooden elephants and real elephants, artists and aroma therapists, ate splendidly, and took a yoga class the next morning (Babu got up early to take us). Here are a few pictures.
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