The non-itinerary

Hello all!  I have had a lot of people (mostly family) ask me some questions:

1. Where in India will you be going?
2. What sites will you see?
3. If you do not get to tour, what will you be doing?

Simple questions right?  The answers are actually not so simple.  Since Fulbright is a government organization, for security reasons we are not allowed to announce where and when we will be going places.  I can tell you after I have already arrived.  For example, I will not get to say, "tomorrow we will be going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal."  Instead I will have to wait until the end of the day and say, "today we got to go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal."  That can be frustrating to both you and me.  So, what I have done below is create a list of places we will be visiting in alphabetical order.  Since the list will mean nothing to most of you, I have also included a map that marks these places.

We will be visiting:

• Agra
• Chennai
• Chittur
• Fatehpur Sikri
• Hyderabad
• Kanchipuram
• Madurai
• Mammallapuram
• New Delhi
• Vellore
• Yelagiri Hills

One of the things I have learned about India recently is that spelling differs between people and sources.  So, the spellings I have used are the ones my program director uses.  You may know of these places by different spellings.  I have come to realize it is normal for India.  You have traditional names and spellings of places that families have been using for generations, you have the British names and spellings from their colonial rule, and you have the new "free" India names and spellings.  I just go with it; situation to situation.

Now, on to the next question:  What will you see?.  I will be able to do some touring while we are in India.  For example, in Agra we will see the Taj Mahal.  In Madurai we will see the Meenakshi Temple (very famous), and in both New Delhi and Hyderabad we will be visiting museums and forts.  However, we are not going to India to tour.  We are going to India to explore India's experiences with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  So, that brings up the last question:  If you do not get to tour, what will you be doing?  Well, most of the time we will be making site visits to different non-government organizations (NGOs) designed to meet the MDGs.  Again, I am not allowed to tell you specific details of this until after the fact, but what I have done is comprised a list, separated by MDG, of what we will be doing.  See below:

MDG 1:  Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

• Site visit on providing care, protection, and adoption of orphaned or abandoned children (tear)
• Lecture on impacting social issues through citizenship action
• School visit whose mission is to impact social injustice and economic poverty in urban India
• Site visit to an organization that works to eradicate poverty in vast areas of the country
• Site visit to an organization that raises funds to donate to schools to protect children from classroom hunger and address malnutrition
• Site visit to observe efforts to feed poor children (tear)

MDG 2:  Achieve Universal Primary Education 

• Visit an organization that works with children of women construction workers, listen to lecture on the program overview, education, health, and nutrition
• School visit whose mission is to provide quality education for children that will transform them into community leaders
• Site visit to an organization devoted to promotion of voluntary action research, training and documentation in the overall domain of child development
• Lecture on a program that works with homeless street children, providing them with shelter and primary education (tear)
• Site visit to a women's group that promotes development in primary education
• University lecture on children's educational programs
• School visit with objectives of increasing school enrollment, attendance, and improved socialization among children of different castes

MDG 3:  Promote gender equality and empower women

• Site visit and lecture on the development, promotion and dissemination of knowledge about women's roles in society and economic trends that effect women's lives and status
• Lecture on the Anti-Dowry scheme (although illegal since 1961, this practice is still prevalent and often has cruel consequences)
• Site visit to a women's group for empowerment of rural/tribal areas
• Lecture on tribal women and self-help groups
• Site visit to women's centers for industry
• University lecture on empowering women through academic excellence, employability, and leadership with social commitment.  Includes women's issues, culture, and development
• Site visit to an organization with social empowerment through provision of employment of women
• Site visit on women's entrepreneurship - overview on training women to create business ventures and meet with clients
• Lectures on historic and cultural roles on women in India and efforts to promote equality

MDG 7:  Environmental Sustainability

• Lectures on history, preservation, and conservation attempts of historic monuments (will have some touring involved and these will be done in several locations)
• Site visit to a center for environmental improvement and protection in India
• Site visit to an organization for sustainable agriculture
• Visit several World Heritage Sites (sites that the United Nations mandates preservation for their cultural or natural heritage that is considered to have outstanding universal value)
• Visit a bird sanctuary
• Site visit to a state department and lecture on projects undertaken to ensure environmental and ecological stability of the state
• Site visit to an organization for organic agriculture and sustainable living
• Site visit to a pollution control board - overview of water quality, emission standards, air pollution, and public awareness programs

MDG 8:  Develop a Global Partnership for Development

• United Nations lecture - success in achieving the MDGs
• Lecture in which Indian scholars speak on economic development
• Embassy lecture on activities in India and discussion of development
• Site visit to an organization promoting rural development
• Site visit to a center for an overview of initiatives undertaken to manage socioeconomic ventures that help local communities
• University lecture/discussion on Indian development in the past 50 years

Are you tired of reading yet?  It just took me over an hour to type all of that (of course I also had to flip though papers to find everything).  As you can see, our month in India will be jam packed and intense. We will have free time in a couple of the bigger cities like New Delhi and Chennai.  So, I will be bringing my trusty Frommer's guide to help me pick the additional places I want to see (note to my brother - the bookstore did not have a Rick Steves guide).