Wild West Showdown? Or Modern Day Calcutta?

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Número uno

Cab driver picks us up at train station after nearly 20 hours of car &train travel.

Cab driver quotes us 350 rs to take us to our hotel.

Within 5 minutes, proposes he will only charge us 300 rs if we let him pick up some other people to ride in the front seat.

Sure, we say. As long as you drop us first.

For the next few miles he drives slowly eyeballing everyone standing on the road.

Luckily Katrell knows the neighborhood well, so when he turns off route she says, no, go straight and he says - "Five minutes only mam."

No way we say. Us first.

He pulls up to the end of our street which is one-way. Says he can't take us. We say go around the block. He says no. We say let us out and hand him 200 rs. for dropping us several blocks from our hotel.

Showdown in the street ensues: he won't open the trunk. We threaten to call police. Crowd gathers. He finally opens trunk, all the while yelling at us. We get bags and start walking away. He then grabs our bag again and won't let go.

We escaped. The end.

Streetside Showdown Score:
We are 1 for 1.

Número Dos

Walking down the street, ever-present water bottle in hand. 6- or 7-year old boy tries to grab the bottle and I say no. He holds on, walking with me, both hands on the bottle and practically hanging from the bottle to get it from me. We carry on like this walking 20-25 feet. I give up.

He wins. The end.

Streetside Showdown Score:
1 for 2.

Katherine Branch, for The Learning Tea

Calcutta - Early May 2014

One of my favorite radio programs, On Being, had a lovely post on its blog today (http://www.onbeing.org/blog/simple-gifts/6303) from Parker Palmer about the inspiration he takes from Mary Oliver's poem, Wild Geese. He writes: "What I know for sure is that life becomes very painful when I don't feel at home with who I am, or with the rich diversity of beings with whom I share this planet."
 

///
Wild Geese
By Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
     love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean-blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
///

Both Palmer's words and Oliver's poem feel especially poignant having spent the last two days in Calcutta, where for the first time on the trip I struggled with feeling at home in myself and connected to the people around me.

Perhaps it's because we came straight from Darjeeling, where I felt so enveloped in the love and sweetness of our scholars there. Perhaps it's because I picked up a little bug along the way, and was sick and grumpy. Perhaps I couldn't get past the overwhelming intensity that is Calcutta.

Regardless, this poem brings me lots of comfort today.

This work is hard. India is hard. We have ups and downs and yet what always rises to the surface is love. Why else do this? Already I feel so much love for these young women who are braver and stronger and more motivated than I have ever been.

I realize this is more than a mission, an idea or a charity. These women have entrusted their lives to Katrell and the Learning Tea and Katrell has devoted her life to supporting them. What beautiful mutual belonging - a shared "place in the family of things."

Katherine Branch,  for The Learning Tea

Darjeeling: Early May 2014

Darjeeling - Early May 2014

It's Sunday morning in Darjeeling. Katrell and I are sitting in Sonam's Kitchen, on the "up up road" catching up on emails and such. The clouds are rolling through the hills, the streets and the cafe. Darjeeling is literally up in the clouds, and they often block our view of the villages below.

It is hard to describe the magic of Darjeeling. Even with eight trips to India under my belt I wasn't prepared for its beauty and tranquility.

I am extremely afraid of heights so I thoroughly researched the area ahead of time to see exactly what I was getting myself into. Of course none of what I read or saw helped allay my fears, but never-the-less I am here. And it truly is heaven on earth.

Darjeeling is a hill station in the Himalayas of India, across from Mt. Everest (which we could see if it weren't so cloudy) and on the edge of Nepal.

And though I am here in this indescribably beautiful place, I am only here to meet the The Learning Tea scholars.

We arrived on Friday to a house full of giggly girls, so excited to see their American mom again. Katrell visits twice a year - clearly not enough for the girls! They immediately embraced us, and welcomed me like family.

After settling in at the The Learning Tea center and getting a tour of the house (which is so lovely and clean and very pink!) we went for a stroll on the "health walk" up on Mall Loop Rd. We didn't step foot off the The Learning Tea property without one of the girls on our arm or holding our hands. Such sweetness and love!

Many people were out, enjoying this early evening walk and there are many street vendors along the way. We bought fresh roasted corn-on-the-cob from a woman sitting on the ground behind her cast iron wok, set on burning coals. Not five minutes later a monkey hopped up on the fence edging the health walk, and someone squealed. Within seconds there were ten or fifteen monkeys, including a few babies, all around us. So we did what anyone would do at such a moment: we screamed, threw down our corn and ran!

We then headed over to meet the other girls and their house-mom, Nita, at Darjeeling's new Pizza Hut for a special dinner out. Yum!

Yesterday was spent shopping for new bedding and a replacement rice cooker. And I was able to have lunch with some relatives of mine who just happened to be in Darjeeling at the same time. What an amazing coincidence! And they even got to meet the girls in person!

Last night Lakmit and Lux made us a delicious meal that we ate together at The Learning Tea center. We played roses and thorns - where you go around the table and say what your rose of the day was, along with your thorn - something that didn't go well or that you'd like to do better tomorrow.  Several of the girls couldn't think of a "thorn."  Amazing that these girls, who have suffered more than I probably ever will, who came from orphanages and unthinkable condititions, can at the end of the day think of not a single bad thing. It puts life into perspective very quickly.

We leave Darjeeling with full hearts, refueled and re-inspired to break the cycle of poverty one life at a time, by providing educations for young women.  

Katherine Branch, for The Learning Tea

Chennai - Spring 2014

It's been a wonderful and productive week for us in Chennai. Chennai is such a beautiful city. Located on the southern coast of India, Chennai is green and tropical and reminds me a lot of Southern California. And right now, it's really hot.

Though Chennai city encompasses a sprawling 130,058 square kilometers, it has a population of 72.1 million. That's about three times the population of  Mumbai (though much less condensed) and twelve times the population of the greater Atlanta area. But it doesn't feel overcrowded in the way other large Indian cities do.

We have been really lucky this week to meet many influential and philanthropic local residents. And on Tuesday we were welcomed to the Chennai Madras Rotary Club, which is the largest Rotary Club in Madras state. There we received many offers of help to move our project forward here in Chennai.

We visited the village girls in Vellore that Katrell met last fall. We were able to visit three of the six girls' colleges, pay off the tuition for three of the girls and buy a year's worth of books for all six. These girls won't be moving into the Chennai center (Vellore is a very bumpy 3 1/2 hour ride from Chennai) but coming from an area plagued by bonded labor and because they have no other options, The Learning Tea has promised to pay their way through college. They were beyond excited! And it was so fun getting to meet their principals and teachers and hearing about what good students they are. Our only requirement of the girls is that they pay it forward. The girls are to devote 10 hours per month, without pay, to the charitable cause or group of their choice.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the tireless efforts of our friend Barnabus, who handled all logistics for our trips to Vellore, and introduced us to the girls we were able to help in its neighboring villages. We are grateful for his company and his hard work.

Thanks for following our journey.

Next stop, Darjeeling: where I will finally meet the original scholars of The Learning Tea!

Best,

Katherine Branch, for The Learning Tea

Arrival in India - Spring 2014

Katrell and I arrived late Thursday April 24th in Mumbai in pretty good shape after 28+ hours of traveling. Both of us are India-philes. We have been here many times and have traveled with many people. But this trip is especially significant for both of us. And there is so much to be done. The Learning Tea is in a growth phase. We are working to open the new center in Chennai which involves interviewing potential scholars, viewing rental properties and everything that comes along with making a new home. We are traveling to Calcutta to get that new program up and running and we are making plans for the group of 5 that arrive in 11 days.

We are now in Chennai, after spending one day in Mumbai. Here we have begun working out details for the new center, setting up meetings with potential new scholars in Chennai city, and are excited to meet the village girls whose tuition debts The Learning Tea has pledged to pay off. We are also connecting with the Rotary Club here, who is instrumental in helping us get so much done in such a short time.

Thanks to all of you in Atlanta that come out for Dr. Bombay's monthly fundraising dinners. It is with your donations and support that The Learning Tea is able to help build better lives for these deserving young women.

On their behalf, we are ever grateful.

Best,

Katherine Branch, for The Learning Tea