Courage.

Myself and the Cornell students with Sindhu, our SVYM Program Coordinator (front, center), and some of the women residing at Shakti Dhama, a women’s shelter in Mysore.

Typically, once a woman is married, she belongs to the husband’s household, and cannot return to her parents’ house. Some seek refuge here, at Shakti Dhama, a place created solely for their safety. Shakti Dhama, which means “Power House” in Kannada, is a nationally renowned women’s shelter located in Mysore. Founded by the former Chief of Police, the shelter is always open to women (and their children) who seek shelter from their husbands or his family for a few hours, days or months. 

The women at Shakti Dhama had the courage to escape their abusers and neglectors.  To say enough is enough. To seek safety for themselves and their children. To break cultural norms and risk stigmatization. To try to rectify their household situation by seeking professional counseling. To learn a new skill to provide for themselves and their children. These women awe me with their resilience and courage.    

Strength.

Left: An elderly tribal woman hoeing a new plot of land near the Kabini Backwater.

A few weeks ago, our group traveled to each SVYM project site. As we drove along the red dirt road, past farmland and through little villages, the role of women in farming livelihood became increasingly apparent. Here, the plow is considered to be sacred – and women, being impure, are not allowed to use the plow. Therefore, all of the backbreaking farm labor is left to women – picking stones, hoeing, weeding the fields, planting the crops – in addition to preparing and bringing food and water to their men in the fields. 

The strength of women, physically, mentally and spiritually, is incredible. While men sit around town and adolescent boys play cricket, women are nowhere to be seen. They are the invisible backbone of society, whose silent productivity allows their men to live the lives they do.

Walking in Her Shoes

Unfortunately, when Westerners think of women in India, their perspectives are blurred by the media – particularly of women being viciously attacked in public places. It’s unclear whether the increased media attention is because of an actual increase in such occurrences, or is attributable to the growing international movement to empower women (i.e. GirlRising, One Billion Rising), or some combination of the two. Despite all this, I have been perpetually reminded of the strength, courage and determination of women in this society.

At SVYM, it doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman, just that you have passion, drive, and a yearning to serve others within and outside of your community. As a result, it fosters a supportive environment, seemingly open women who defy cultural norms. From an outsider’s perspective, SVYM is a beacon of hope for the future of women in this small part of India. It will be a long road – we’re still continuing to make strides at home – but it’s a wonderful start.

To improve readability, I've split the rest of this post into the following four mini-stories: Strength, Courage, Determination and Hope.

An SVYM Staff Dinner

Last night, the Cornell students living in Sargur and Kenchanahalli were invited to attend the monthly staff potluck at one of the physicians' homes in Sargur.  Once we arrived we realized that this was a dinner for the Executive Board of SVYM, the directors of the SVYM hospitals and their families.  It felt incredible to be welcomed into a group of such intelligent, driven and passionate individuals.  We had so much lighthearted fun - we played Telephone, had a huge Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament and played a math game (sorry Cornell, I was out long before the Indian children I was playing with... hahaha) - and had the opportunity to listen to some of the doctors sing Indian classical music and dance Indian traditional pieces.  The monsoon rains began halfway through the night, so we quickly grabbed the food and went inside, where the furniture was whisked away and all 50 people sat cross-legged on the floor sharing food, conversation, and laughs.  We were absolutely stuffed at the end of the night, there was so much good food!  It was such a fun evening.

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Note: the night before, we were asked (or rather informed) to make pasta to serve the fifty people who would be attending the event... so we prepared a list of ingredients we needed to make the noodles and the tomato sauce and hoped we could actually pull it off.  Yesterday, we were told that they had found dried noodles, so picturing the boxed noodles we have at home and thinking of the amount of time we would save, we quickly agreed to use those instead.  When we arrived at their home to cook yesterday, we discovered that the dried noodles were actually the Indian equivalent of Ramen noodles.  We laughed to ourselves, began to prepare our tomato sauce and hoped for the best.  After putting an Indian twist on the seasoning, we finished our dish and brought it to the potluck.  It was by no means stellar, but we tried... hahaha everyone was a really good sport for trying to eat it!

Another Indian Wedding

Our group was fortunate enough to be invited by Sindhu, our SVYM Project Coordinator, to attend the wedding of her aunt's cousin in Mysore.  Of the three weddings I have now attended, this was the most lavish and the most beautiful.  When assessing the cost of South Indian weddings (or at least weddings in this region of Karnataka state), the more expensive the wedding, the more desserts that are served.  At minimum, 1 and at maximum, 5 desserts will be served - and there were served 4 at this wedding.

Along with hundreds of beautifully dressed guests, we filed into the air conditioned (this is a luxury in and of itself) wedding hall on Sunday morning, where we were served breakfast before the ceremony.  The families of both the bride and the groom were so welcoming - they sat us in the front row of the hall so that we could see all of the rituals that took place during a typical South Indian wedding.  The ceremony took hours, but it was fascinating to watch!  

Ashley, one of my students and my sorority sister, and I outside the wedding hall.  We felt so glamorous to be dressed up like Indian women!

Before the ceremony, the groom's family prepares the groom and performs a series of rites, rituals and puja (prayers) to bless the groom and his future family.

One of the last rituals of the wedding - when the groom places toe-rings on the second toe of each foot on his new wife.  They both looked so beautiful.  It was an arranged marriage, and they initially looked nervous and concerned, but after this ritual they looked at ease.

Rev. John, lecturer at Mt. Allison University in New Brunswick, and I blessing the newly wedded couple.

Beautiful Coffee Plantations, an Elephant Camp and the Golden Temple

Getting a behind-the-scenes tour at a coffee plantation in Coorg District.  Karnataka State produces 80% of India's coffee, of which 80% is produced in this district.  The plantation owner (the man standing in the picture) loaded us into the back of his truck and drove us through the plantation to see the coffee, herbs and spices, fruit and nasturtiums grown on the sprawling grounds.  The "jungle" was so dense and lush, it felt like something out of a Jurassic Park movie.  It was the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in India.

I GOT TO PET A BABY ELEPHANT!  Her skin was so soft, yet tough - and was covered in tiny wiry black hairs.  Their tails look just like paintbrushes - and rings that contain elephant hair are believed to be auspicious.  Elephants have been tamed by and worked alongside Indians for centuries, so it was very interesting to observe living history at the Dubare Elephant Camp.

The first temple in the Namdroling Nyingmapa Tibetan Monastery, home to the famous Golden Temple.  This temple boasts a large picture of the Dalai Lama.  The two small yellow buildings in front of this temple house large incense-burning stoves, which were lit when we left as prayer began.

Seated inside the Golden Temple.  When I was in India two years ago, I visited this site twice... the spirituality and magnificence is breathtaking.  It's definitely one of my favourite stops.  During my last visit, the floor was covered with prayer mats and we sat silently around the edge of the mammoth room as Buddhist monks prayed, gongs pounded and conch shells were blown.  It was awe-inspiring.  This time, the mats were rolled up and put away, so we were able to walk right up to the statues and sit on the floor - the level of detail not only in the statues, but also in the murals covering all of the walls, the textiles wrapping each pillar and the doors themselves is amazing.

Sravanabelagola & Belur

Standing at the base of Sravanabelagola, the largest monolithic structure in the world.  This incredible Jain holy site is set atop a mountain - we climbed barefoot up 614 ancient steps hewn into the side of the rock.  Remarkably, this project was completed in 981AD. 

Halfway there!  The views were spectacular.  My camera just can't do justice to sites like these.

We made it.  A series of temples and shrines have been built at the top of the mountain, but the piece de resistance is the monolithic statue (again, carved out of the mountain) of Gomateshvara, a Jain saint.

Our group received the "VIP Treatment" and was allowed to climb to the temple roof to get a better view of the towering monolith.  Gomateshvara is depicted naked as some devout Jains live that way.  Their tenants of non-violence are so strongly adhered to that they don't want to harm any animals, insects or organisms in the harvesting of materials to create textiles for clothing.

The doorway of the breathtaking temple in Belur (my apologies for my tour guide's unfortunate photobomb in the corner...).  The Chennakesava Temple at Belur is an iconic representation of South Indian architecture, which is distinctly different from North Indian architecture.  The temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu, was commissioned in 1100AD and is believed to have taken 100 years to complete.

Flashback!  On my last visit, I also took a picture with one of these lions, which are outside both temple entrances.  They are a symbol of the king of Hoysala, the kingdom that commissioned the temple.  The level of detail in every aspect of this temple is breathtaking - not a single original surface was left unadorned - even each towering each pillar inside the temple is carved with a different pattern.