I arrived safely last night, India time of course, after travelling for twenty-two hours straight plus a ten and a half hour time difference. There are many occasions where I’ve travelled before and found it hard to reconcile where I actually am based on sight alone. There is no question I’m in India right now. It’s an entirely different world here, and I haven’t even left the modern, sophisticated city of Delhi yet. Currently, I’m at my accomodations, the Ahuja Guest House located in the Defense Colony. I have already brushed my teeth using a bottle of water, a first, due to advisories about the poor quality, and took a very short shower, heeding to a sign on the mirror reminding me that water is life and I need to conserve the precious resource. There are tropical birds flying around outside, a man just came by to deliver fresh bananas, and the weather is gorgeous. Yet there is another side of the city that I started to see when I arrived. The air quality is terrible. You can see the pollution in the air, and it’s quite apparent when breathing. On the ride here, I saw busses crammed with people, hundreds more along the streets, and roads packed with Autorickshaws, cars and motorcycles. It’s also curious to start to question to what extent this city is still influenced by British colonization. Old Delhi was, of course, the center of imperial rule in India. Certainly English is pervasive in the signs, even if most of the people I have encountered have a barely conversational grasp of the language (which is more than I can say about Hindi, of course). It’s odd to see people laying around the streets, living in shacks and then ads for Pepsi and Vodaphone.

We will head to a flea market after breakfast and then fly to Jodhpur where the real work will begin. The next ten days or so of my trip will be spent at and around the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation’s Water Resource Center located in a converted fortress outside of Jodhpur. The next chance I have to write, I will post about the problem, in depth. I really want to convey, based on my knowledge from the literature, how dire the situation is, how bad it will get due to climate change, and how this impacts the lives of individuals, specifically women and children throughout the region. I am also looking forward to giving the story of the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation and the amazing work it is doing. Quite fascinating.