"John's World"

I’ll give you one guess as far as who came up with the title.  

The title I would have preferred was Jugaad.  When Rishi came to visit us this past week he taught me this word.  Basically jugaad is another word for “jerry-rigging” or life hacks (or growing up Pennsylvania Dutch).  In essence it’s all about finding quick and clever solutions to problems where you lack resources to “do the job right”.  Growing up on a farm, you jugaad everything.  So much so that you barely know what is original and you are probably the only person who can use the item you jerry-rigged.  That has been my first nearly 30 days in India…Jugaad.

My days are packed.  I am essentially doing the same things I do in the United States, just in India.  That’s the tricky part.  Many of the things we have at the place work part of the time.  I probably have to come up with some alternative plan for getting things done on a daily basis.  Some solutions are simple.  No hot water function for clothes washer-boil some water and add to the drum.  Others more complex.  How do I make pizza for the kids when western ingredients are scarce?  Successfully-that’s how!  How to put up a clothesline.  Get the shower working.  Set up an altar. Make sure we have clean water. Fix this, fix that.  Use what you’ve got.  Jugaad.     

You may be thinking, he must be miserable.  You’re wrong.  I am having the time of my life.  In fact, I couldn’t be happier. Life here is the perfect challenge mentally and physically.  All day long I am engaged in mostly physical labor.  Up and down three flights of stairs with laundry or whatever.  Walking to markets to get food.  Making dinner. All leave me at the end of the day exhausted.  Mentally I am challenged by the breakdown of this and that.  Many times the breakdowns can really set me back time-wise.  But the challenge is invigorating.  

The rest of the family functions (Brinda and her Fulbright experience and the boys and school) are doing well, in part, through my support at home.  Food, clean clothes, some house cleaning, a listening ear.  I am proud of my days.  Our functional home, their happiness and lack of feeling homesick gives me more satisfaction now than years in my career.  Every night I go to bed I feel it.

This is the only thing I wanted to accomplish here.  I didn’t want to write something great.  Or do research.  I just wanted to support the journey of others that I love and care about.  Besides, those of you who know me, know I have simple expectations.  A place to meditate every day.  A little bit of beer hunting on the weekends.  A strong cup of coffee to start each day.  That’s JOHN’s WORLD.

I could eat this everyday.  And do.

 Has a cubicle next to me...

Feel free to ask me questions in the comments section.  I will answer them.