Off Again!

Here are photos from my Lawyer's Trainng in National Law School India University, Bangalore.
So yesterday my boss asked me to come to another training Bangalore for my last week, so I leave Madurai today for good! its kinda crazy... my health is all better and my spirits improved a lot mid-week once I was feeling better.... when I was complaining i was bored... my roomate busted out with a keyboard and we sang Hindi songs (she is an excellent singer) then she taught us Assamese folk songs and dances. My friend Pandian took me to a terribe Tamil movie all about the mafia in the south but it was fun times. Then a friend of mine, who has been a victim of human rights violations came and spent the night with me and cooked up a feast and I made her try on all my clothes and take them. There are also interns who are former victims or children of vicitms of torture and i have been encouraging one placed in my office to speak English and went over to his place to play badmitton. So things definitely ended on a good note. In my half-conscious fevers I forgot how good I am at making the best of each situation and enjoying wherever I am.

As for the work side, I worked on a report criticizing the National Human Rights Commission for a Forum Asia meeting which will discuss National Human Rights Institutions in Fiji - wish I could have been sent to Fiji! Now i am working on a 10 year proposal for UNDP to help improve the justice system in India. I also conveniently have forgotten what little i knew about international human rights mechanisms and indian law before I came and now I know so much about NGO interaction with international legal institutions to implement change. My experience will add a lot more depth to my course when I sit for a class like international human rights law.

Whenever I say something to someone here and refer to my country or my culture, they will simply reply but Reena India is your country, it is your culture. Of course I am American but I am also Indian. Gaining that level of acceptance and comfort is hugely important to me. And I think my trip this year has firmly implanted my roots in this country and vested interest for the future.

Not much more to say, hopefully Bangalore will be fun and educational, I'll get to meet up with some of my friends from previous trainings, and then off to Kerala to enjoy the backwaters and the beach and being a tourist before heading off to Scotland to see my friend Rhiannon in a play at a theatre festival!

lots of love,
Reena