Social Work and Indian Cooking

Learning how to make Puri

The food we made on the first day

Making the carrot halwa

Eating waffles with fro-yo and fruit at Kiwi Kiss- yummm

Social Work and Indian cooking- I swear the two go together. Social work here in India seems to be a random assortment of Non Governmental Agencies, religious organizations and concerned citizens all coming together in one pot to provide services for those in need. Indian cooking is a random assortment of spices and ingredients without a recipe and without rhyme or reason, just as I found one of the agencies we visited.

Chemical Addiction Information and Monitoring (CAIM) center

This week we visited a sort of outpatient substance abuse rehabilitation center here in Bangalore. Our teacher, Dr. V, interned at a rehab run by Mr. Shah, the same man that runs it now, when she received her MSW here in India. Since the the rehab has evolved and went through numerous changes. What struck me the most was the lack of government involvement in the substance rehabilitation process, there is no funding or support provided by the government and drug related crimes are not a priority for the 20,000 cops serving a city of 5 million. Substance abuse is seen as a personal and familial problem and is to be dealt with accordingly. CAIM started out as the first rehab facility in India and since then in Bangalore alone there are now 60 rehabs. The philosophy of CAIM is inspired by AA but has Indian influences of yoga and pranayama. CAIM in its form now is more of a drop in center than a structured rehab and only had a couple of clients, some of which had only been coming for less than a week. I was disappointed in the lack of structure since it meant there were no meetings for us to observe and I could never imagine working in a place without a schedule. It was interesting to hear the different philosophy of rehab in India and even the terminology that they use is different. In America we always refer to addicts as "recovering" but in India they actually achieve the title of "recovered."
It was also interesting to learn that there are no programs for drug use prevention in schools and this is something else that Mr. Shah is trying to implement and has enlisted the help of me and a few of the other International Social Work students to start with the development of a plan that could be implemented. He told us that a selling point would be that the programs have been used in America and schools would be more likely to oblige to their use. This is different than the indigenization approach that we have been discussing in class and I had mixed feelings about this as the approach to substance use is different in India than in America.

Indian Cuisine Class

This week we also had our two Indian Cuisine classes and I learned how to make lots of yummy food. In the first class we made a red chicken curry with a tomato and onion base that was really good and I will definitely be making again! We also learned how to make ginger masala tea which is so good. I will probably be bringing back a huge bag of tea dust to make Indian tea at home. Indian cooking follows no recipe and is all done by taste but we tried to write down the recipe as well as we could guess. We also made two types of bread- chapathi (which reminds me of a whole wheat tortilla and is super yummy) and puri which is deep fried puffed up bread that is delicious! We also made carrot halwa which had so much butter it could probably clog your arteries just by smelling it. In the next class we made an egg curry with a tomato, onion and yogurt base that was soo good! We also made a French Green Bean Salad done Indian style, and more chapthis. This class we made stuffed chapathis which had cauliflower and potato filling. Our teacher laughed at me when I asked if I could make the plain chapathis without oil. Everything in India has lots of oil or butter so I will have to tweak some recipes when I get home. I also learned how to make a lassi which I am super excited about. Everything turned out super yummy and I am so excited to try them out when I get home, I will have a whole Indian menu to make! Who wants to come over for dinner?

Association for People with Disabilities (APD)

This week we also went to a more formal and structured center called APD. It was interesting to see the contrast between the two organizations. CAIM had about 3 employees one of which was the owner and there was no structure or government support. APD had over 200 employees and receives along with other funding, government grants. It speaks a lot to how disability is viewed differently from substance abuse and how people are not only willing to accept it but be involved in an organization. APD was an impressive organization with different departments including vocational training and an integrated school. It was also interesting that the director was adamant that importing Western ways of doing work would not be sufficient for what they are trying to achieve. This struck me when we toured the area where they made prosthetic limbs and they told us that although they used to make legs with attached shoes they make them separate now so that people who wear the prosthetic legs are able to go into temples where it is required that shoes be removed. This isn't something that would even cross our minds in America but it is an important aspect of their culture that needs to be addressed.


Today we went to Kiwi Kiss for the infamous (among American students) waffles with frozen yogurt and fruit which definitely lived up to the hype, yum! Then we went to see a movie, just an American movie as that was all that was playing but it seemed such a familiar and yet completely different experience all at the same time. First of all, for the ticket (non-matinee) a large popcorn and a large bottle of water it was less than $8 USD! You wouldn't even be able to get the popcorn and water for that amount at home! As soon as you present your ticket it starts to become unfamiliar, going through a metal detector and a bag search and ending with assigned seats that start from the back of the theater it was all a bit strange! We are planning to go and see a Bollywood movie soon and I am excited even if I won't be able to understand the Hindi!

Tomorrow we are going to the village for a short one night trip which I am excited about. Seventy-five percent of Indians live in villages so it will be interesting to see what the real India is like.