Mangoes

With love for all the chupamangos* out there

I think mango is my favorite fruit. If I have the option I will almost always choose mango (even when it comes to shampoo or body wash). And before coming here everybody told me about the pure deliciousness of Indian mangoes: "nothing to do with American mangoes", and Mexican mangoes? "No, no comparison!, Mexican mangoes have so many strings that stick to your teeth, they're no good."

So I have set myself on a quest to evaluate the truth behind these statements, risking not being able to fit into my clothes ever again. I have so far tasted a fair sample of the many varieties available. I have also tasted them in many presentations: cut, lassi, milkshakes, juice, chutney, upside down cake, popsicles, ice cream, etc etc. And yes, Indian mangoes are excellent (especially Alphonsos!), no doubt about it. And yes, they do not have the "hairs" or strings Mexican ones have.

But I must say I like Mexican mangoes better. They're juicier or sweeter. I don't know. Maybe it's cheap nationalism. Maybe it's the happy memories associated with eating mangoes. Maybe they're just better. There. I've said it. I'll probably break my other foot now.

*Chupamangos: http://caleidoscopeando.blogspot.com/2009/06/chupamangos.html

Trash

One of the biggest problems in India, as in many other developing countries, is trash. It is everywhere you look: on sidewalks, parks, beaches, next to the roads, everywhere. There are no services that can deal with the amount of waste that is produced every day, especially since more and more things are disposable and made of plastic. This has serious welfare effects through many channels: health issues related to open air landfills, environmental issues having to do with trash-burning, water contamination through chemical seepage, aesthetic costs of seeing trash everywhere ruining the landscape, and many others.

In all the places I’ve seen so far I cannot help noticing the trash lying around, the plastic bags and bottles, tissues, food wrappings, all sorts of things. When I visited Marina Beach in Chennai I was taken aback by the amount of trash lying on the sand. And I won’t even go into water pollution due to sewage. The same in Mexico; I remember going to Acapulco once and walking on Revolcadero beach. It was filthy. I won’t even tell you the kind of things I saw floating on the water or lying on the sand. But in both cases everyone was so happy enjoying the ocean! I could not understand it. Did they not notice how dirty it was? Did they not care? And the immediate question was why do I notice? Why do I care? Is valuing a clean living space something that grows with income? With education? Do we have different preferences over trash/cleanliness? Or do we have the same preferences and face different constraints? Is the free rider problem so big no one will act to make things better even if they would prefer it that way?

I do not know the answer to these questions. What is true is that even if people want to put their trash in a bin, there are none (this is the constraints story). I have looked very hard and I do not find any (except for the funny animal ones). This used to be the case in Mexico City 10-15 years ago (lack of trash cans, not availability of animal ones), but at some point the city government started putting trash cans everywhere. It made a difference*. More anecdotal evidence supporting this idea is that many people’s reaction when they hear I study in the US is to ask what it’s like; “it must be very clean!”, which means they do see a difference.
The other side of the coin is that maybe there are no trash cans because people won’t use them (preferences story). They are not used to putting trash in a trash can (let alone separating it or recycling it). For example, the other day I needed to throw a tissue away and one of the train attendants saw me and took it from me, only to throw it out the window! I was appalled. I felt responsible. Whyyy?

Another issue has to do with sheer scale. Even if people put trash in designated places there is no capacity to process all of it. So most waste ends up in open air landfills (not necessarily outside villages) and after being scavenged by people and animals it will probably be burned. You see trash scavengers everywhere, with their dirty rags trying to find something of value in the heaps of waste.

Which brings me to another point I have to discuss in more detail later; in Mexico you do not see the landfills or the people who live from them if you don’t want to. In India you see them everywhere, you don’t have to go far to see slums, everything is mixed. I am presently staying in a guesthouse in a nice neighborhood in Hyderabad, Banjara Hills. Half a block from my house there is a vacant lot that has turned into a slum and a dump (where this morning they were burning some trash. Great). And it’s no problem, the neighbors don’t care about the stray dogs or the bandicoots (pig rats) roaming the place.

But regardless of Indian particularities, the big question is how to deal with waste in settings with low education, low government capacity, and where trash is definitely not a priority? Will rising incomes do the trick? How long will that take?

*I remember going downtown when I was 15 to visit Palacio Nacional and in my then naïve idealism being very upset by the fact that there were no trash bins (I thought it was such an easy thing to do, and the fact that not even that was achieved spoke of the incapacity of the government). But things have changed. After Slim and Fundacion del Centro Historico saw a business opportunity and took over there are trash cans every 20 meters, which in addition to city sweepers (an unemployment and political affiliation policy of PRD) makes the area be clean.

Traffic II: On Road Rage or the Absence Thereof

I realized something today: in India traffic is bad, lots of honking, lots of smoke, lots of motorized vehicles, BUT no road rage!! People do not get angry (or seldomly) when someone closes in on them or when someone stops them at a green traffic light because they’re doing a forbidden u-turn. They just take it as it comes. Calmly. The most I’ve seen is giving the other driver a mean look.

I use many bad words when I drive (yes, road rage) and now, even as a passenger, I find myself many times swearing in Spanish to the surprise of the driver (who can obviously make no sense of my words), who calmly looks on and brakes or swerves around the wrongdoer, while I fear for my life and wish bad things on others. So I’m not sure what is more stressful: the driving or my inner upheaval.

So I had a moment of seeing things as they are and realized: Maybe Indian traffic is not so bad after all. This comes as a revelation to someone from a city where people have been known to kill each other because one blocked the other, where you drive in fear. Driving in India is an exercise in sublimation of the self. Deep stuff. Will continue to ponder.

Many happy returns of the day

Today is my very auspicious* birthday! Actually, I don't know if it is truly auspicious, but I believe it is since I turn 29 on June 29, 2009 and there won't be another nice numerical rhyme like this ever again in my life. Also, I am very happy about the moment where I am in my life and I believe this year will be excellent. I have a wonderful summer ahead of me, MPA/ID2, big decisions on what I'll do and where I'll go next, friends to visit and places to see (Oh! The places you'll see!). Also it is the last year before the big 3-0. I will be done with my twenties. Ufffff.

In India on birthdays the common expression is "Many happy returns of the day", which I find very poetical. One interpretation is that hopefully this day (year) bears much happy fruit; another is that may the sun return many times to its position today, that is, that you live a long life;. I like them both. I hope I'll be around for a while and I hope this 29th year of my life brings many good things. I'm sure it will.

So far it's brought a lot of cake, many friends, and multiple plans to celebrate: now and when I'm able to dance and jump around. I would definitely call this auspicious (and guess what? I just checked and indeed June 29, 2009 is on the auspicious list!)

*Auspicious: promising success; propitious; opportune; favorable.

Accidents do happen

I arrived in Hyderabad on a Thursday and on Friday night took a bus to go to Hampi. I was very excited because Hampi is a fantastic place and the group I went with are all people who are also working here for the summer in very interesting projects.

After a ten hour bus drive during which I froze (always, always, always carry a blanket if you're traveling by bus. This time I did not heed Paulina's advice and suffered for it), we arrived in Hospet and took an auto (a rickshaw) to Hampi, 15 km away. The landscape is beautiful, very green and lush, with palm trees and some incredible boulders strewn around.

There is a small river that goes through Hampi. We were staying on the other side so we crossed by "ferry" (a small motorboat). After getting settled in the hotel and eating a very good -and very slow- breakfast, we were ready to explore. We crossed the river again and rented bicycles to go see the ruins. My bicycle even had a basket! Yeiiii

We stopped at the first group of ruins, which were not that exciting, and going down a couple of steps I misplaced my foot and twisted my ankle really badly. It cracked. In seconds it had swollen to the size of a tennis ball. Not good.

Someone went to get a rickshaw to take me to the local clinic (which is in Hospet, 15 km away) and another girl went to get ice. There was no ice to be found so we used a plastic bag full of mango popsicles instead. I got on the rickshaw with Elizabeth, a girl from the UK who is studying medicine, who was great and accompanied me all the time.

As i have mentioned before Indian roads are a bit chaotic. I thought it was an urban thing. It's not. Rural roads get even trickier because now, in addition to the cars, rickshaws, bicycles, scooters and pedestrians, you also get cows, carts, and tractors. So the auto is swerving left and right to avoid these obstacles while I'm trying to keep my leg elevated and still. Riiight. Then the auto breaks down. The conductor takes out a little key and opens a box underneath his seat. He takes out a small wire and starts fiddling with the engine. 10 minutes go by. I start thinking about what our options are (not many). Finally the auto starts again and we reach the private clinic in Hospet (we decided against the government clinic because it would probably be understaffed and would take forever. I don't think there was that much of a difference...).

I limp inside and the nurse says the doctor will be back in 20 min and that we should wait outside (in the hot hot hot sun*). Obviously I did not move from the chair I was on. After a long wait they take me upstairs (there is no elevator, so I jump up the flight of stairs) and take an x-ray of my foot on a machine that was probably donated by Pierre Curie. The doctor looks at it and in very bad English says the dreaded words: "broken". I can't believe it. I can't really see anything from the x-ray (not that I'd be able to, anyways), but neither can Elizabeth and she should know.

The doctor (a general practitioner) then calls the orthopedist who arrives 2 hours later. He looks at the x-ray, says broken, and tells me he'll put on a soft cast to allow the swelling to subside and that in Hyderbad I should go to the doctor again after 4 days to get a hard cast. Between this and the actual cast half an hour goes by. I really need to use the bathroom by this time. Problem is it is a squat toilet. Using this type of toilet using only one leg is a feat worthy of any circus. And I managed it! I was soooo proud of myself.

The new doctor put on the soft cast and decided that the bandages had to be wet even if they are not plaster bandages. They leave and then we realize a very important thing: we need to get back to Hampi before 6 in order to get in the last boat to go to our hotel. It is then 5:10 pm.
Elizabeth started pressuring the nurses to get the doctor so we can pay and go, wet cast and everything. But always the answer was: In 15 minutes, in 10 minutes. It wasn't until we threatened to leave without paying that the doctor showed up.

When the doctor finally came he wrote down the bill on a quasi-scrap of paper. It amounted to 44oo Rp (about 80 USD). We didn't have enough money to pay! The doctor suggested we leave our passport and pay the following day. We don't have passport either. In the end Elizabeth hopped on a scooter with the doctor to find an ATM to be able to pay!! lucky us.

We returned to Hampi as the sun set. This is a big problem because if it gets dark it will be impossible for me to go down the steps of the ghat next to the river. So we're rushing and avoiding more cows, more tractors, more rickshaws, very intense. We make it to the boat to cross over. Success. From there, the rest of the group members had arranged for an auto to pick me up to go to the hostel. Perfect.

I still wanted to see some of the ruins, so on Sunday I went on a rickshaw with Mike to see some of them. I hobbled around on my new crutches, in other parts on a wheelchair and in other parts piggy-backed. They're fantastic and very much worth the visit (I'll write a separate post).

On Wednesday I went to the doctor in Hyderabad, to a very nice hospital. I learned 2 important things: my foot is not broken, it's just a very bad sprain and I have to be on crutches and a cast until July 9; and second thing: the doctor in Hospet completely scammed me! He charged me almost 4 times more than what they did at the hospital. I hope he gets some bad karma.

*For Emily

Hyderabad Limited

In Mexico, very sadly, there are no trains to speak of (except Chepe on the Sierra Tarahumara, but it's different, it's a tourist thing), so other than the one at the zoo I don't remember taking many trains before I lived in Switzerland for a year (almost ten years ago!). During my time there I traveled a lot by train and since then I find it very exciting. There is something romantic to it, and it is very comfortable. You don't have to worry about traffic, or other cars, you can just sit back and enjoy the scenery. And I especially like overnight trains, so I was very happy when I heard I was going to Hyderabad, where I'll be living until mid-August, by train. My first train ride in India! Chennai-Hyderabad, 17 hours, III AC.

Trains in India were developed by the British starting in the 19th century. The Governor General at that time, after analyzing proposals for a rail system, came to the conclusion that the East India Company should assist private capitalists who sought to setup a rail system in India, regardless of the commercial viability of their project (solving the coordination problem!). The British government encouraged the setting up of railways by private investors under a scheme that would guarantee an annual return of 5% during the initial years of operation. Once completed, the company would be passed under government ownership, but would be operated by the company that built them.

The system grew until the Great Depression and WWII (almost 85% of the railways today were laid before independence). By 1947 the network was in very bad state. Almost half of the railways passed through Pakistan and had to be rerouted. The system was consolidated in 1951 as Indian Railways and is an important source of revenue for the government. It is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting over 18 million passengers and more than 2 million tonnes of freight daily, has more than 1.4 million employees, services 6,909 stations and covers more than 63,327 km (equivalent to going round the equator 1.6 times). It is very impressive that even with the many low costs airlines that fly all over the country the trains are still so used and prosperous.

The train I traveled on, the Kacheguda Express, was very comfortable. I was in 3rd class AC and paid 16 USD. Many families were in the car. The train left in the afternoon, so we had many hours to see the scenery and enjoy the ride. At different stops people come on the train selling water and sodas, candy, and you can order dinner that will come on the train at a designated stop (I didn't know this, so I had only crackers for dinner :( ) I got to see some very beautiful stretches of rural areas that I tried to photograph with litttle success. The car attendant found it very curious and told me on numerous ocassions to be careful or I would fall off, which was very funny since I was 2 feet away from the door. I slept very well (I was well prepared with ear plugs and eye mask) and woke up with enough time to enjoy the morning air before reaching HYD. It ran a bit late, but nothing too serious. At the station, Bala, the office boy (who deserves a post of his own) was there to meet me. I had arrived. My internship project awaited.

Seeing is believing

Saint Thomas was one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus. He is known as Doubting Thomas because after the Resurrection Jesus appears to his disciples but Thomas was not there; and when they tell him they have seen him, he does not believe them and says "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." The following week Jesus appears to his disciples again and this time Thomas is with them. Jesus tells him "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:24-29)

After this he goes East to preach the gospel, reaching Persia and India.
According to local tradition he arrived in the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 52 AD. After building seven churches on this coast, under the patronage of the Hindu Kings of the time, Thomas crossed to the East. It is believed that he died in 72 AD pierced by lances on Saint Thomas Mount in Chennai because the local monarch was enraged because Thomas converted his wife and a relative to Christianism. He is buried on the site of Santomé Cathedral.

In the whole world, there are only three churches built over the tomb of an Apostle : the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela built over the tomb of St.James in Spain and the Basilica of the National Shrine of St.Thomas in Chennai, India.

Who would have thought?

India 49-O

I was talking to a couple of girls from my internship about all the discussion about null-voting in the upcoming Mexican elections. They told me that in India there is a rule, Rule 49-O, that formally establishes the possibility of annulling the vote to express discontent with all options in the system. The rule has been in place since 1969 and states:

49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.

If the proportion of null votes is larger than the proportion of votes obtained by the winning candidate, there is a new election and the candidates who participated in the first one are not allowed to run again. As 49-O is written today it only registers voter's deliberate intention to cancel their vote because they do not like any of the running candidates.

The only downturn is that in order to discourage lightly using this option the officer at the ballot must register the voter as under 49-O, which violates the secrecy of the vote. Hmmm...

I won't be in Mexico to vote, but I wonder if there will be a large enough number of null votes to have an effect. I also wonder if people from a certain part of the political spectrum are more prone to annul their vote and if this will give undue advantage to other parties, thus bringing about a worse scenario (for them) than if they had voted.

Regardless, it would be good to have a Mexican 49-O, don't you think?

Nataraja

The Government Museum in Chennai is an interesting complex of natural history, children's museum, painting, technology (very strange assortment of objects) and ancient South Indian sculpture. The bronze collection is outstanding (they're also kept in an AC room, which was very welcomed).

One of the most common subjects in Indian bronze sculpture is Nataraja, a depiction of Shiva's destruction dance. This dance sets the stage for Brahma to start the process of creation.

In the sculpture Shiva dances in the middle of a circle of flames, lifting his left leg while balancing over a demon-dwarf (apasmara) that symbolizes ignorance.

He has four arms; a cobra uncoils from his lower right arm, and that hand shows the abhaya mudra (a mudra is a posture or symbolic gesture usually done with the hands that has symbolic meaning in hindu and buddhist iconography) which represents fearlessness and bestows protection from evil and ignorance to those who follow the righteousness of dharma (virtuous path that leads to correct understanding of reality).
The upper right hand holds a small drum (damaru) which symbolizes the sound of creation, a sort of heartbeat if you may. In opposition, the upper left hand carries fire, symbol of destruction. The lower left hand points towards the raised foot which signifies upliftment and liberation.

The pose is extremely graceful and almost peaceful. But Shiva cannot stand midair like that forever. And the moment he moves everything will be destroyed to be created once more.

Hand in Hand

Today we visited three rural villages near Chennai to see the work of Hand-in-Hand, a local NGO created in 1998 to end child labor in Kancheepuram District in Tamil Nadu. Their activities expanded to offer an integrated poverty reduction scheme aimed at building self-reliance of disadvantaged groups by alleviating poverty through sustained income generating programs. Their strategy is based on five pillars:

1. Child labor
2. SHG and microfinance
3. Governance - Citizen's Centers
4. Health
5. Environment

Given all the activities they promote and the nature of their microfinance activities (self-help groups) they require donations to maintain their operations, which make them completely different from the highly profitable microfinance-as-business type of MFIs. I believe both schemes have a place in the development arena and the discussion on how bad or good one is compared to the other doesn't make much sense (to me at least). I'd be happy to know what you think.


We visited a small community (900 people) where they offer microfinance products for income-generating activities. Most of the people in the village embroider and sell the fabric to an intermediary in the city who sews the fabric and sells the sarees or salwar kameezes. Needless to say the embroiderers get a very small fraction of the selling price of the final product. HiH helps them by giving them loans for working capital and is trying to help link them to the final seller so they will get a higher price for their work. They also offer an education loan at the beginning of the year to buy supplies and a sanitation loan so households can build an outhouse with a septic tank.

Then we visited some businesses run by self-help groups: a bicycle shop, a flower shop and a candy store. HiH helped them get very good storefronts next to the road provided by the government and gives them loans for working capital. I'm not clear if they are better off than before, but they seem happy with their businesses.

We had lunch at their headquarters and learned about their environmental activities. They promote solid waste management through compost development and community trash collection as well as trying to reduce plastic usage (BIG problem in India). In the villages where they operate these programs they have been very succesful since communities get very involved and take ownership of the programs HiH runs.

Afterwards we visited a training center where they teach women to cut patterns and sew. They offer the intensive 2-week course for free and they have partnered with a local enterprise that provides the materials. The women who take the course can later on start their own business or work in a factory. Since now it is the summer many young women were there and they were very excited about taking this training. At other times of the year it is mainly married women who take the course.


To finish the day we presenced a self-help-group meeting. First a financial literacy training and then their group meeting to sort out loans and payments. This was the best part of the day for me. In the training they commented on how before being in the group they would have not gotten together to discuss their issues, let alone talk to us about them. The women form their own groups (10-15 people) and decide on how often they will meet. HiH only acts as a facilitator for the group and as the link between them and a formal bank.

The group we visited (I obviously don't know if HiH took us to visit them expressly) was fantastic. The women had a very lively discussion on their loans and repayments, especially because one of the members has not repaid (and was not present). But they were very clear they did not want anyone meddling in the affair, least of all mothers-in-law and that they should have another meeting to see what this person has to say for herself. They later explained that the whole discussion was because they have been saving for a while to go visit a nearby temple as their group activity and were only missing that payment to have all the money they needed. They had already spoken to their husbands and mothers in law and they were going no matter what. It was so exciting to see how being in the group has brought them together and has created another feminine space* where they can express themselves and where an identity that goes beyond their husbands and their families can filter through.


This was a stark contrast to the SMILE groups we saw on Friday, where the groups discussed making repayments and little else. If you have a chance and are interested visit their homepage:
http://www.hihseed.org

*For more on this idea -in Spanish- http://caleidoscopeando.blogspot.com/2008/06/el-mundo-de-las-mujeres.html

Surprise, surprise

We went out on Friday and leaving the place we got party favors:
Could this be a sign? after all it's the auspicious year and everything...

SMILE

On Friday we visited SMILE (Semam Microfinance Investment Literacy and Empowerment Ltd), the largest JLG-model MFI in Southern India. It was established in 1999 as Mahasemam Trust to target poor women offering microfinance services including savings, loans, and insurance to promote poverty alleviation and sustainable development in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It currently has over 175 thousand active borrowers and a total loan portfolio of USD 16.4 million with total assets of USD 20 million, making it a very profitable MFI.

My impression was that the expansion of their MF arm has overridden their other operations, which makes their objectives as an NGO and as an MFI not necessarily aligned. When talking to the loan officers and the office managers they were not very well informed on the larger workings of the organization; and could only tell us very precise things about the JLG groups.

After visiting the branch office for Chennai we went to see a sector meeting (a sector is made up of about 8 groups of 5 women each) in a slum in the outskirts of the city. The houses give out to a small alley where community life takes place, so there were children playing, clothes drying, hens walking around, dogs, people coming and going by bicycle and sometimes scooter, and a lot of trash and flies.

This is the space where the meeting takes place since there is no other space where 40 women can get together. They all stand in rows with their group, some have a group saree (the most organized ones -also one of their entreprenurial activities is making sarees) and they are all different ages, from very young (maybe 20) to very old. They looked very serious during the whole meeting, it was only at the end that we were talking to them that they loosened up and were laughing and smiling and very excited to tell us stuff about their lives. I always find it moving how we will all take up any chance to have an interested listener. I guess we are all lonesome deep down. More so people who are marginalised for some reason, in this case because of poverty and lack of education. It is likely that no one has ever been interested in their personal story, so it is strange and touching for them.

The meeting starts with the women lined up and the loan officer playing SMILE's anthem on his cell-phone and a pair of portable speakers (I wish I had a picture, very surreal). The women listen intently (or at least pretend to do so). The reason for this is that in many cases the women identify with their loan officer but not with the MFI. That is, when asked who gives them the loan they will say Mr. such-and-such, not SMILE. After the anthem they make a pledge saluting with their right arm over their chest saying they will be responsible and pay on time and be cooperative to their group.

Watching this I couldn't help thinking about one of the lectures we had in the course (What is wrong with microfinance? by Amy Mowl, an ex-MPA/ID) where she made the point of reminding us that JLG models in microfinance are a way of solving the numerous market imperfections in offering credit to poor households, but that it is a second best solution none of us would take if given the option. The women have to go to these weekly meetings and spend their time on them and be subject to extremely harch social sanctions if they are not abel to repay. Watching them take this oath and listen to the anthem seemed a bit demeaning. Also the fact that all employees of SMILE are men, and given cultural practices in India, particularly in rural and low income areas, this creates or perpetuates power relations between the MFI and the borrowers that go beyond financial transactions.

After this they sit down and they take attendance. Each group hands their weekly repayment to the section leader, who counts it and gives it to the loan officer. If any one member of the group is unable to repay that week someone in the group pays for them, but none of that is discussed in the meeting. So in fact there are lenders and borrowers within each group, that sort their issues internally without SMILE knowing. They only see their 98.7% repayment rate.

When talking to women they told us that most of them make sarees, others prepare batter for dosas, others make flower garlands. All of them sell their products within their small slum community. When asked why they don't scale up they said that they do not have a place to increase production, since they all rent their houses and apparently the landlord does not allow them to use it for business purposes.

On a larger scale I also think growing their business and selling to other communities would imply a big change in their lifestyle and the way they deal with their daily activities which goes beyond having the fixed or working capital to do so. These type of issues are supposed to be addressed through financial literacy and training programs offered by the NGO, but many of the women did not receive the training previous to taking the loan.

So it seems they are using their loan to smooth consumption and not really for income-generating activities. Which is not a bad thing, but it will definitely not get them or their families out of poverty. They also did not seem to have a plan on a time to stop borrowing, they would stay in the group "as long as they would have them".

It had been such a long time since I had gone to the field and interacted with people in the beginning I was overwhelmed, but I really enjoyed it; talking to them and seeing them interact with each other, as well as the children who want to shake your hand and be in the picture. But mostly starting to understand how MFIs work and what joint liability groups look like.

And the H stands for...

The Theosophical Society was founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in New York in 1875 with the purpose of investigating, studying and explaining mediumistic phenomena, which was very popular at that time. After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai). There, they also became interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society's agenda. In addition to the stated objectives, as early as 1889 Blavatsky told a group of students that the real purpose of establishing the Society was to prepare humanity for the reception of the World Teacher when he appeared again on earth (!) in approximately a hundred years' time. Among other groups the Theosophical Society is linked to the Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross.

Madame Blavatsky was born in Russia and was married at 17 to a 40 year old man. She ran away back to her grandfather's house, but missed her ship, so she started traveling the world. She is said to have visited Egypt, France, Canada, England, South America, Germany, Mexico, India, Greece, and Tibet where she studied for two years with the men she called Brothers and was initiated.

After this trip she went to the US and based her career on her psychic abilities and mediumship. Throughout her career she claimed to have demonstrated physical and mental psychic feats which included levitation, clairvoyance, out-of-body projection, and telepathy. Her most famous book is Isis Unveiled, where she states that humanity descends from a series of non-human "root races" that evolution over time, until the 7th one. The fourth one, where we come from, originally came from Atlantis.

After her death in 1891, the Society split. The original organisation led by Olcott and Annie Besant* remains today based in India and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar. The other group further split into a faction led by Katherine Tingley, and another associated with Ernest Temple Hargrove. While Hargrove's faction no longer survives, the faction led by Tingley is today known simply as the Theosophical Society, but often with the clarifying statement, "international headquarters, Pasadena, California".

And the old banyan tree that I visited grows in the garden of the original society next to Madame Blavatsky's bungalow.

And yes, the H in H.P. Blavatsky stands for Helena... (freaky freaky)



*As an aside, Francisco I. Madero, Mexico's first president and one of the starters of the Mexican Revolution is said to have been very much into occult phenomena, specifically spiritism. He was deeply influenced by the theosophical ideas of Annie Besant, Madame Blavatskys succesor as leader of the Society. In his diaries he tells of a spirit "José" who told him he would embark on a democratic crusade for the bettering of Mexico. This is why he wrote La sucesión presidencial en 1910 (The Presidential Succession of 1910) that would lead to the Mexican Revolution. (For more on this: http://www.letraslibres.com/index.php?art=5664)

(NOTE: This whole story made me think of Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, a very entertaining book if you haven't read it...)

Banyan Tree

This morning, before going on our field visit to SMILE, a local MFI where we would see an urban JLG (joint liability group) meet, we decided to try our luck and go see the famous Banyan Tree.

I guess you might be wondering why I wanted to see a tree in some weird garden in Chennai. So, for one thing, I really like trees, especially old ones, and this one is supposed to be the oldest banyan tree on the planet (450 years old! Imagine, since 1660's it's been growing in the same place. Makes you think). Second, I had heard a lot about banyan trees but never seen one. And third, there's just not that much to do in Chennai... So, why not? It should be worth a 45 min rickshaw drive in traffic and car fumes, no?

For those who have never heard of a banyan tree before, here are some facts: It grows to a height of more than 21 meters and lives for many years. Its branches spread out and send trunk like roots to the ground in order to support itself. These type of trees are very typical in Southeast Asia and have an important place in eastern religions and mythology. In hinduism the banyan tree is considered sacred, Shiva in one of his incarnations is nearly always depicted sitting in silence under the banyan with rishis at His feet. It is thought of as perfectly symbolizing eternal life due to its seemingly unending expansion. It is also it thought to be a wish-giving tree. In contemporary India, the banyan is the national tree. Its interlinked roots and branches are often used as a symbol to describe the country's unity within its diversity.The word banyan comes from 'banyans' or 'banians', hindu traders seen resting or carrying out their business under the tree by portuguese sailors; the term spread and came to signify the tree itself.

The banyan tree is also famous from Robinson Crusoe, who built his house on one; from the series Lost (apparently the characters take shelter in a banyan tree when the monster is chasing them? -not a big fan of the show, sorry); and from other things like the Australian "Banyan Rig", casual (and often traditionally tasteless) clothes worn for BBQs on deserted beaches (!); or The Economist's weekly column on Asian affairs.

We got to the place after various detours to find it closed (again), but this time we convinced the guard to let us in (a smile and teary eye can take you very far). The tree is in the garden of the Teosophical Society (which deserves a complete post), a very large estate that has many prayer halls (among them parsi, liberal catholic and others) amidst plants and birds. It is a very serene place; you could actually think it is uninhabited if not for the casual person every now and then.


After following the signs "To the big banyan tree", we found it in the middle of a small field. The way the branches have grown and the roots have developed it looks as if there were many trees in a circle, but in reality it is only one. Underneath it lie dried leaves where the light that filters from above forms shapes that constantly change. You cannot hear anything except the cicadas and the cries of birds. It is a beautiful place.

PS All of what you see in the picture is the banyan tree, it is a mini-forest

Microfinance or on Why I'm in India So Far Away in The Heat for Such a Long Time

The reason I'm in India is, as I've mentioned before, to work in a micro health insurance project with the Center for Microfinance (CMF). Before starting my work on this project I'm attending a 10 day intensive course on microfinance in Chennai, where CMF is based. CMF is a non-profit organization focused on improving accessibility and quality of financial services for the poor through rigorous research, knowledge dissemination and evidence-based policy for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs).

For those of you unacquainted with microfinance, the basic setup is as follows: Credit markets by definition have information problems. The lender faces two types of information asymmetries: adverse selection, that is, not knowing the type of the borrower, if he will repay or not, and moral hazard, if once he gets the money he will not use it adequately to be able to repay.

Collateral solves these problems since the lender can tell the type from collateral and no matter what the borrower does he will at least get that. Poor households do not have collateral in the form of assets that can be valuable to a formal lender (a bank, for example), so credit markets are either non-existent or very costly. The high cost comes from the fact that the local moneylender has to invest in gathering information and monitoring his clients to know their type and their actions. Also the opportunity cost of those resources is high for the moneylender, so interest rates are very high.

Microfinance solves the collateral problem through joint liability. Borrowers form a group and are screened for a period of time, either by requiring them to save some amount before they get a loan or by lending them increasing amounts and seeing their repayment rate. Once the group members get loans they are all responsible for the payment of the total amount, so they bear the full risk of one member defaulting. The joint liability setup is further reinforced by the presence of social sanctions among group members. By making group members be women (and married women most of the time) the risk of migration/fleeing decreases, so the market can exist or theoretically be less costly than moneylenders.

Most microfinance schemes in India operate as self-help groups (SHG), that is, the group of women is pursuing some other development goal than just getting loans and are usually sponsored by an NGO. In this type of scheme the NGO only acts as an organizer and supporter of the group and as the link between the group and a formal bank. But in the past years there has been a tremendous increase in MFIs that use a JLG model, since it can be scaled up very quickly and is sustainable (moreover, highly profitable).

This past week we have been discussing many of these issues and listening to very good speakers on the subject. To round off things today we went on a field visit to SMILE to actually see an MFI in operation. Tomorrow we will visit a local NGO, Hand-in-Hand to see their work. I'm excited.

P.S. I dedicate this title to C.Schubert

Too good to last

So yesterday I finally got sick. I was feeling quite proud of myself that my stomach was holding up so well. Believe me, ten days of new food without a problem is a record. Even though as a Mexican I should be more resistant, I'm not. Since I was little any new thing would be costly. But today I'm feeling fine, so I guess the first step of the initiation rite is complete.

Monsoon birthday

On Monday I got my first impression of the monsoon, the summer rains that last from June to September. We decided to go out to dinner to celebrate Caroline's birthday (one of the interns). We started walking and were just commenting on how the weather was so nice, when the first heavy raindrops began to fall. In five minutes it was raining very hard and we were absolutely soaked. We were also lost and did not know how to get back to the house. But, maybe because it was the first time, it didn't really matter. After all the heat of the previous days the rain comes to cool everything down and is very enjoyable. Not so much the puddles and the state of the roads afterwards. Oh well.

Sunday at the beach or Indian Asnières

After trying to see the sights in Chennai with little success we went to Marina Beach to see the sunset. It was full of people. If there are 80 lakh* people in Chennai, at least 10 lakh were there, enjoying a Sunday afternoon.

It was so nice to see families, children, friends, couples walking around, buying sweets and food, getting their fortunes read (either by a parrot or by stones), riding the merry-go-round, getting their pictures taken next to cardboard images of their favorite Bollywood actors, buying jasmine garlands for their hair, shooting darts at balloons, getting their feet wet in the surf, or just strolling the length of the beach.

No matter where in the world you are I think all popular Sunday afternoons have the same feeling. It is a moment in time where all is well, the work week is starting in a few hours, but it is still far away and there is time to enjoy that little free time with no obligations. The beach or the plaza become the central public space that re-enforces social ties, that allows people to come in contact with each other once again in ways that the city does not allow. People become a little less alienated from each other and laugh and are something else than just their weekly activities.
Then Monday comes and work starts again.


*a lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system: 1 lakh=10,000; 1 crore=100 lakh=10,000,000