Anand

I left Tuesday morning at 530, I think it was, from Ahmedabad by train, and arrived in Anand at about 8am. I made my way to the Anand Agricultural University and it was pretty dead. I was feeling sick and wandered around a bit looking for a bathroom. All the buildings were locked up. I went into the guest house feeling fairly desperate. I asked a boy that was sitting there for the bathroom and he went and got another boy who went and got a third boy. He said, Madam, this is a guest house. And I said, yes I know. Could I please use the bathroom. Thankfully, after several minutes of deliberation, they then opened a room for me.

I called a woman I had been planning to meet with for lunch. I had only met her once for two seconds at a workshop, and at first she said that she would wait to come and get me until about noon, but then once I realized that the entire place was closed for a Muslim holiday, she took pity on me and told me she would leave sooner. It was a beautiful day and I was glad to not have to come up with questions and find people to talk to. I just sat in a garden near the organic farming center and continued reading my book (Sophie’s Choice). Since there weren’t many people around I didn’t draw all that much attention, and I was able to relax and enjoy the lovely morning weather. Purvi called to say that I could start walking towards the gate, and a girl approached to talk to me, which is really quite a rare occurrence. Usually I have to smile and nod and ask some simple question in order to get someone to enter into conversation with me. But before long my lunch date was there.

We went into town and sat in a coffee shop and then went to a nice chain south Indian restaurant. We chatted and chatted. It turns out that she was a research assistant for Bina Agarwal (a famous Indian feminist economist). She had lots of information and tips and I think she is going to become a friend. She invited me to her farm and told me that I could stay as long as I want as long as I am willing to cook for her and work on the farm some. I told her that I would be delighted. The very next day I got a text message from her saying that there were three villages near Matar in which there were about 100 farmers growing Bt cotton, and would I like to talk to them? I responded by saying that she is awesome, and she said 'tell me something I don’t know' – so I have clearly made a new friend.