Three years ago, I had the chance to spend two months in a village in India running a literacy camp for older girls, who had either never been to school or who had dropped out of school. Prior to the camp, I had never spent more than a couple of hours in a village. Learning to live in rural Rajasthan was one of the toughest challenges I’ve faced and also the most valuable. I was compelled to step out of my comfort zone, relinquishing the comforts of home for unclean surroundings and pit toilets. But I never thought of it that way. I am so passionate about empowering women that I just learned to deal with everything that was unfamiliar.
Together, all these experiences made it possible for me to receive a Fulbright fellowship to research the Rajasthani language and culture. My research project will enable me to understand the Rajasthani folktales I collect and translate. I also have experiences that truly help me understand the meaning of things that we frequently discuss but rarely actually practice, such as water conservation. For example, when I was at home in Los Angeles and turned on the faucet to wash my hands, I remembered how my friend in the village would pour a trickle of water onto my hands so it was just moist enough for me to lather the soap. Then she would dribble water, a little bit at a time, so I could wash off the soap. It made me realize that at home I waste water when I rinse my hands because more water gushes out of the tap than I need. Water is scarce in Rajasthan’s Thar desert. Most villagers in India cannot turn on a faucet to get water because most of them do not have plumbing or running water in their homes.
