From Platinum Potter to the Slumdog Slums

So Seina's home has been a full house recently. Recently her cousin, aunt and uncle have also occupied the house because there are in Delhi for a wedding.

On a side note, so this is wedding season in India, and weddings here are huge. Much of the year in India it is too hot to do anything, let alone dance and be merry, or raining. This is really the few months of the year when it is cool and pleasant, hence a lot of weddings that are coordinated carefully with busy astrologers to figure out the most "auspicious of days." My friend Katherine's wedding will have over 350 people attending and I have heard of weddings with as much as 1000, and I am sure some even excede that. That being said, it makes sense that a lot of people go to weddings, but seriously with the number of weddings I alone know that is going one, it is hard for me to believe there is anyone left in India who isn't married, or who has any money left for that manner. I will be attending two weddings, Seina is attending like 3 and I just saw an invitation for another this morning, my homestay family has gone to 2 since I have been here and there is another invitation I saw today! Weddings here are intense affairs as well, usually lasting until 2 am, so everyone has been kinda sleepy.

Ok so the spare bedroom in Seina's parents house was taken by the uncle and aunt and we set up a cot in Siena's apartment for her cousin. The next night another family friend came and Seina offered him our bed in the apartment, so us "kids" relocated to cots and couches spread across the houses.

After I booked my tickets to come abroad, I quickly realized I was going to miss the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have not been one to see all the films on opening night, but I did read almost all the books within a week of the books being released deeply enjoyed all the them. Therefore faithfully see all the films. However it has been a long time since the books came out, and having not read any of them since they were released, seeing the films has been a nice almost brand new experience. Luckily much of India speaks English and Harry Potter is super popular here too. Seina's cousin also wanted to go see it, so on opening day Seina got us tickets to the "Platinum Lounge" to see Harry Potter. Situated like a balcony

above the regular theater were Lay-z boy chairs and little cushions. They brought us popcorn, took our orders for drinks, and even took our orders for dinner. Dinner was served on china with real metal forks and knives. There was even a little bell button to call an attendant, like they have in airplanes. After the intermission (even if the movies don't come with intermissions they are injected into films here), refills on drinks and popcorn were served as well as desert. I must say, it was the most posh film going experience I have ever had.

The next day I did some errands. Seina was nice enough to lend me a beautiful rust Sari for the wedding so I don't have to buy a new one. It is like a dark orange with undertones of deep almost black purple. However I still need to have a blouse made. So I set off to my old neighborhood of Lajpat Nagar to find the right fabric. After going to a few stores I found a specialized "blouse" store called Varuns. Floor to ceiling fabrics stacked and color coded like a glittering and shimmering rainbow wall jammed packed with women looking at splashes of color on the counter. I joined the throng, handing a man the Sari I need the blouse to match. Within a minute of him climbing up shelves he found what looked like the exact same material as what the bulk of the blouse was made of. I bought a yard for my blouse and then felt inspired to shop a little more. I only brought 3 kurtas (long shirts) with me, and my laundry cycle has been pretty short. I ended up getting three more kurtas and some black leggings, giving me a

full week of clothes now. I couldn't help myself to five pair of earrings which were just my style and all together cost about $1, and then I topped the shopping extravaganza with some hair clips to help manage my new shorter hair.

Today I met up with Jaya (part of my Homestay family) again.

Jaya just started a NGO called Ektara (which means "one star") to educate and in general elevate the quality of living of the people living in the slums of Delhi. After Jaya saw some of my pictures last time she asked if I could come and take some pictures for her.

I said sure. We arrived at a "Raen Basera" which means a homeless shelter. Jaya, Mama and Jaya's partner covered their noses from the smell when we got out of the car. I felt a little strange already. All of us were

well dressed with designer bags, some with designer sunglasses and make up. We were brought up to a "clean" room where they starte to discuss th

ings. I asked if I should start taking pictures and did. It was clear that the people here had absolutely no idea why we were there.

I felt kinda strange snapping away at them. I later found out that Ektara was donating a bunch of food, to last the 350 people there about a month. I felt especially strange when I started to get directed as to what kind of pictures to take. "What about that woman on the ground" or "that man with all the flies." I know we were there to help and that I don't understand Hindi or even the full explanation of what was going on, but something about it felt just so impersonal. I felt concerned I was tokenizing these people as poor people from the slums and I was worried we weren't actually helping them. Jaya pointed out to me a key thing they were trying to change is education, about hygiene and health. I could see this would be key. I have full faith that Ektara will do good work. They are determined to personally attend to their projects and not just give money and walk away. Currently they are searching for projects to invest in.

I started to try to talk to some of them, asking what their names were. Especially when the two girls whom I posted their pictures, started to pose for me, I told them in my broken Hindi how beautiful they were. It didn't take long for me to start to draw a crowd. The people loved to see what their pictures looked like. I started to get requests for portraits, groups and individuals, posed and candid. People were laughing and smiling. I know I wasn't really doing anything but somehow this felt better, to just interact with them instead of just objectifying them. However I was soon pulled away by my homestay family when the crowds started to touch me. I didn't mind but I could tell that Jaya and Mama were concerned.When we got home I helped Jaya spruce up her webpage which you can see at www.facebook.com/pages//Ek-Tara-Foundation/164259216920708.

It is always fascinating and often disturbing to see how far things can divide people who live right next to each other. I often have a hard time with the poverty in India. I have been told by all that it is a bad idea to give the beggers in the street money because they give it all to their slumlords, and when I try to give them food, on more than one occasion I have had the food given or thrown back at me. I know Jaya is working hard to do good, but this experience pointed out to me how hard it is to do good sometimes. It is often not just about money, but a lot of work in figuring out how exactly to utilize that money most effectively.