I want it!

É mesmo um álbum de fotografias do Fernando Pessoa! Eu sei que não posso ter um passaporte novo, mas isto eu quero!

I want it, I want it, I want it!

It was one of those things...

"As dorothy parker once said
To her boyfriend, fare thee well
As columbus announced
When he knew he was bounced,

It was swell, isabel, swell
As abelard said to eloise,
Dont forget to drop a line to me, please
As juliet cried, in her romeos ear,
Romeo, why not face the fact, my dear

It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy flings
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things

It was just one of those nights
Just one of those fabulous flights
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things

If wed thought a bit, of the end of it
When we started painting the town
Wed have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down
So good-bye, dear, and amen

Heres hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun
But it was just one of those things
If wed thought a bit, of the end of it

When we started painting the town
Wed have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down
So good-bye, dear, and amen

Heres hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun
But it was just one of those things
Just one of those things"

Missing you already

“India was such a strange experience, it almost feels like I never went there”. Delphine told me this two days ago. I have been home for exactly a week today and I couldn’t agree more. It was like I was never there.

Today, looking back at those two months, it all seems like a blur to me. Did it really happen? Did I really go to India, with rats in my toilet, with the horn ok please, with conferences and other events? Did I really do it all?

India is so surreal, so strange, so completely different to my little bubble that it is hard to believe in everything your eyes see and your senses are trying to tell you. And for the two months I was in India, I had the time of my life. Even if sometimes I did not want to go to work, and others I could not stand the noise in the street, I would get to witness something strange every day I was there , and that made this experience unbelievable.

I miss it all! I miss the people, the chaos, that strange reality, our apartment, and sometimes (only sometimes!) even the food... And I even have to admit that going from an international student/celebrity in India to just another law student in England is not easy!

I will probably not get the chance to go to India any time soon. It will probably be a long time until I can manage to get to India again, but I am sure that one day, I will go back. India puts a spell on you, once you go there, you don’t leave.

Pune Prison

This was a weird, but still amazing weekend in Pune! The Human Rights and Law Defenders proved to be hard work, but still...fun work! With the worry that we would not have time to experience “India”, Asim is trying to make us have the best time possible, not only by experiencing different areas of the law (by researching and looking at the work they are doing) but also by going to places and meeting people. “Doing social work is not only about researching, is about learning from the people”!
It is very complicated to get permission for foreigners to visit Indian prisons. Apparently it is an experience which the authorities do not want us to have. Even though this happens, Asim managed to get a visit for some American “students” who were coming to Pune. We, the interns, were more than happy to go with the group and get to know what an Indian Prison is all about. And we did... By 9 o’clock we were all in Asim´s office ready to leave. Of course, it wasn´t until around ten that we actually ended up leaving...Indian chaos, everyone gets used to it!
Once we got to the prison we had a surprise, which we are fairly used to at this point given that India is full of surprises: the American “students” were older than Asim himself! The so-called students were a bunch of teachers who later told us that they had come to India to study the application of Mahatma Ghandi´s principles to different parts of the everyday life. Fair enough...good thing I did not doll up thinking I would meet a hot American student!
The first prison we got to visit was the Men´s prison. It was impeccable. They took us to the “museum” that is now the place where Ghandi was held under arrest, they showed us the kitchen with all the hard working prisoners, they even showed us the library where all prisoners were allowed to go and read! Shocking how well rehearsed that visit had been! They did not allow us into the barracks where the prisoners sleep, given that 150 prisoners and 1 toilet should not be pretty! But, if Indian prisons were just what we saw, all the poor people in India would have wanted to get arrested! The women´s prison wasn´t much different: they showed us their working station, the place where they could all be together after 4, the place where the kids under 6 years old could stay with their mum´s, they hospital...well, everything that would make it seem as a very pleasant place! All the prisoners were seating against the wall just watching us pass...it was ridiculous, but still interesting!
For me, the “best part” of it was when we got to see the kids. Until they are 6 years old, children are allowed to stay with their mum´s, having to move out and live with either relatives or put in foster care once they turn 6 years old. However, there was a girl, very tall, and who instantly stood out because she was definitely not Indian! Because the police guard who took us for the little visit had been very communicative, I decided to ask her who she was. Turns out that she was 8 years old, and Finnish, her mum had been arrested because of some passport fraud and she was there awaiting her mum´s bail! It confused me how happy the children were, all playing and singing, and genuinely pleased to see people! It confused me how the finish girl, who I later found out, had been there for only a month, meddled perfectly amongst all the other Indian kids whose mothers had been convicted of some crime. The majority of the women were in because of “narcotics” we were told.
The visit was quick, especially given that all the men were not allowed to go in the women’s prison. Needless to say that the Finnish woman who was in prison for passport fraud was the main topic! It was still discussing the little girl and her mother that we went to visit the open prison. This open prison is a different concept of prison, a prison where there are no “walls”, or cells if you prefer it. The prisoners are allowed to be “free” within the piece of land that has been awarded to them. They cultivate the land during the day, have a chance to get some books from the library, some work at the kitchen and others have different types of functions all over the “community”. On our talk to the prisoners we learned that all of them were “prisoners for life” for having committed murder. Most of them argued that their crime was in the “spur of the moment” and they are now reformed! They all read Ghandi, and even sit the exam about the “Ghandian” Principles! Apparently Ghandi made them see the world in a whole new, softer, light!
Considering that they are in an open prison, we assumed that they were much happier, but has they said “we are still prisoners, it just looks better from the outside”. Having already been more than 10 years in prison, the open prison is a small change, but apparently not that great! To us, it seemed like a great difference, but once again, we couldn’t even see half of it!
After this little talk with the prisoners, we went to talk to the head of the prison of Pune. You looked at the man and instantly felt the power, even we felt intimidated! Unlike most Indian men we met, he was strong, chubby, and even taller than usual! A true prison officer. And as a true Indian Officer, when one of the American Students asked him something along the lines of “do you have many innocent people who end up in jail for many years”, laughing he answered “innocent? But if they have been found guilty by the supreme court how could they be innocent?” No comments Mr. Police Director!
Even though we were only allowed to see what they wanted us to see, it was interesting to get to know what a prison in India looks like, to get a feel for the place. It was a weird, and in a sense, a “fake” experience from which we gained almost no knowledge about prison life or the prisoners in general, but even though this is the case, it is not every day that you get to see what 1/10 of a prison in India looks like!

First International Conference on Domestic Violence in Pune

Há uma semana, o Asim disse-nos que tinhamos de preparar uma apresentação sobre violência doméstica. Foi totalmente inesperado. Ficamos tão irritados, que só conseguiamos insultar o Asim e as ideias dele! Olhando para trás, é preciso dizer que nem toda a nossa indignação foi exagero, tendo em conta que o Asim acha que por estudarmos em Inglaterra temos de saber tudo, desde o que estudamos até como se plantam batatas! Enfim...
Foi no meio de todos estes lamentos, e reclamações que nos decidimos a começar a pesquisa sobre violência doméstica. Para nosso sincero espanto, não é que até foi interessante? Não é que nós até gostamos de estudar aquela coisa? Passamos uma semana a ler artigos, e à procura de casos sobre violência doméstica para pudermos incluír na nossa apresentação.
Quando chegamos ao “escritório” e tentamos mostrar ao Asim o nosso trabalho, despaxado como sempre, ele disse-nos que não precisava de ler o nosso trabalho, que a única preocupação que nós precisavamos de ter é que o trabalho não fosse muito teórico, já que a nossa audiência ia ter problemas em perceber o nosso inglês, e nós não os queriamos própriamente a dormir! Mais uma vez, ficamos meio encavacados, porque, como já era de esperar, o nosso trabalho era bastante teórico! Tinhamos andado entretidos a perceber a lei, e como é que a declaração europeia sobre os direitos humanos podia influenciar, e a polícia, e isto, e aquilo...e de repente não era nada daquilo que tinhamos de falar!
Lá voltamos nós outra vez à pesquisa para tentar encontrar casos para puder expor na nossa apresentação. É preciso confessar que esta tarefa não se mostrou nada fácil! Mas lá conseguimos um caso ou outro, e rápidamente chegamos a conclusão que podiamos sempre manipular um bocadinho os factos! Quer dizer, afinal de contas estamos na Índia!
Na véspera da tal dita “conferência”, lá fizemos uma apresentação em powerpoint, mas sem grandes preocupações dado que nós estavamos convencidos que iamos ter uma pequena discussão com umas 10 ou 15 pessoas! Mal nós sonhavamos o sucesso que o nosso pequeno, e muito rústico, powerpoint iria ter!
Eram 10:30 da manhã quando entramos no escritório. Toda a gente parecia muito atarefada, e o Asim não tinha muito tempo para nos aturar. Ficamos a conversa com as nossas colegas indianas para ver se o tempo passava. Estavamos nós na amena cavaqueira quando o Asim declara “têm 10 minutos para escrever uma nota rápida para dar a imprensa”. Nota? Imprensa? Quantas!? “Sim, é que eles podem não ‘apanhar’ toda a informação que vocês estão a apresentar”. Havia alguma coisa que começava a não bater muito certo...

Lá fomos pelo trânsito infernal, até que finalmente conseguimos chegar à “Universidade de Direito”, onde fomos logo a correr até à sala (julgava eu) em que iamos informalmente expor as nossas modestas ideias. Não foi até chegarmos à porta da “sala” e sermos recebidos pela directora da Universidade que nos apercebemos da gravidade da situação! “Mas nós não sabemos nada....mas....mas....” Mas nada! Era tarde demais para nervosismos, tivemos de respirar fundo e entrar na sala...
Mal entramos na sala, os alunos (112, sim, eu contei!) começaram todos a bater palmas. Foi no mínimo confuso. E, como se as palmas não bastassem, ainda recebemos flores e uns relógios (muito foleiros) como prenda de agradecimento por lá irmos falar. Foi aí que eu começei a ficar mesmo confusa! Então agora agradecem-me por ir falar com alunos de direito sobre um assunto que eu pesquisei uma semana? Alunos que, ao contrário de mim, já estudam direito à mais de quatro anos?
Porque na Índia as surpresas nunca podem ficar por aqui, antes de eu começar a dar a minha apresentação o Asim disse-me: “ah! Se não te importas dá uma pequena introdução acerca da situação em termos de violência doméstica em Portugal”. Pronto, foi a gota de água! Então eu que mal vivi em Portugal, nunca estudei direito português, tinha de ir falar sobre a situação em Portugal? Já faltou mais para a plantação de batatas...
Fui controlando o meu nervosismo enquanto o Graham, que foi o primeiro a apresentar a parte dele, falava dos procedimentos da polícia. Espantosamente a minha apresentação não correu mal, tive a sorte de o meu anjo da guarda me ter ligado na noite anterior, e de a conversa ter resultado em ela me dar umas estatísticas malucas de violência doméstica em Portugal, que eu utilizei na minha apresentação! Numa mistura de prática e teoria, a apresentação lá correu bem... Aliás, as nossas quatro apresentações correram tão bem que no final até tivemos direito a ser levados a almoçãr num restaurante todo pi-pi, pela directora da Universidade e os seus subordinados!

Por sorte, só no fim deste dia complicado é que olhei para trás e reparei que no cartaz exposto na parede se podia ler: “Key Speakers: Asim Sarode, Martha Almeida, Graham Hargreaves”. “Thank you very much for coming from the UK to talk to us about this”, e, mesmo tendo em conta que as razões que me levaram a vir à Índia estavam longe de uma confêrencia sobre violência domestica, “it was our pleasure, thank you for what turned out to be an amazing experience”.

E foi assim que, pela primeira vez fui uma “guest speaker”, e não foi num evento qualquer (!), eu fui um dos convidados of the first international conference on domestic violence! Cheers!

HRLD

HRLD, this is the name of the NGO me and Graham were placed at. Asim is the head of this NGO, or at least we assume so, since he was the one who first introduced us to the organisation, and who told us what it was expected of us. An inspirational, and charismatic person, Asim first started by telling us that he used to have 6 lawyers working for him, but now only has one along with some other social workers. This statement begs the question: “what happened to the other lawyers?” Apparently they wanted different things: “I believe that the courts are designed for there to be justice, not for lawyers to make money”. According to him, the lawyers who were working with him were quite happy to ask for money from the poor people who were seeking some kind of help in HRLD.

When someone introduces himself in such a strong way, you can’t but have a strong admiration for that person from day one. His phone does not stop ringing during our conversation, and from what we could get (since none of us speaks Marathi), he kept saying he would call them back. This organisation works will various issues within Human Rights Law, giving the impression that they work “for the poor people”, meeting the demands of the general public.

We don’t know yet how useful we will be to such an organisation. I have only just finished my second year in English Law, and Graham has recently graduated from International Relations. None of us knows a lot from the Indian Reality (apart from the constant information, and reality slaps that we have been getting for the past two weeks), and we are still unsure as to how we can actually help.

Feeling pretty ignorant and useless, Asim told us that we might be useful in helping him do some research, as he intends to draft a bill in Victim and Witness Protection. This is our project: to research the Victim and Witness protection schemes in the UK and US, and then see how they could eventually adapt to the Indian Reality. Seems like a lot of work, let’s hope it all works out...
First impressions are confusing: we like the place, we like the people, but it is hard living and working in a world where no one understands you, and vice-versa. Marathi is far too complicated to be learned within a month, and smiles and gestures aren’t getting us very far! As Sarah would say, this is “a true Indian experience”!

...and without us noticing, 2 months have now gone by...