Jai Jagannath, Viva Argentina

I am one of only two losers sitting in the cybercafe right now. Everyone else is off watching the Argentina vs. Germany World Cup game. While I do enjoy the international spirit of the World Cup and the exciting re-caps on ESPN, I find the actual games (gasp) a tad boring. I know, I know...I'm an Indian imposter.

Today I worked from home and managed to get quite a bit done despite the oppressive humidity. I took only intermittent breaks to dance around to some song that came up on my shuffle while seated at my desk. I noticed once or twice that the construction workers working on the building next door were staring at me through the open windows, utterly perplexed as I gyrated in the rolling office chair.

You may wonder why I haven't been talking much about my actual research. If you are, I am sorry to say that I can't really say much about it, even though I would love to share all the fascinating experiences and things I'm learning. I am in India to study the growing movement for sex workers' rights and since the territory that comes along with that is highly sensitive, I must keep most things confidential in order to protect the people I interact with. I will say that I am very impressed with the organization that I am working with. Their goals of fighting for sex workers' rights as workers, citizens, and human beings is nothing short of radical. I'm watching social change happen right before my eyes and it is tres exciting. I am also proud of myself for translating a brief survey from written Bengali (which has a totally crazy, curly Sanskritic script) into English. Yes, it took about an hour per page, but I did it almost completely by me onsie!

In other news, my aunt took me to a local mela in a nearby park celebrating the occasion of Rath Yatra and the Lord Jagannath (the Sanskrit word from which the English "juggernaut" comes). It was a large, multiple tent affair featuring statues of the smiley-face looking God, a bunch of shaved-head, orange-clad monks (several of them were white American dudes), and a whole lotta good ol' Indian pushing-and-shoving. It's times like these when I hyperventilate and keep thinking "dear God...I am in a country with over a billion other people in it...and they are all right here."

OK, Argentina just scored on Germany. Must run home to watch history being made.

Jai Jagannath and Viva Argentina!

TKP