Meet the Team (half way through the trip)

I’ve promised team member descriptions, so I am fulfilling my promise. Physically speaking we look like a United Colors of Benetton ad when we walk down the street. No we did not pair up on purpose to create an image of US multicultural cohesiveness (nor did USC pair us up for this reason) but you can’t help but wonder if we are the real-life dolls from Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World After All” ride. Our personalities are as different as our faces but our similarities standout just as strongly. As Nabila said, “we are a bunch of 10-year-olds with (or presently pursuing) graduate degrees.” This is a good thing when you understand that our tasks consist of puppet shows, arts and craft set design and making movies with youth while being culturally respectful and engaged. We tend to all work as a group, never completely pairing off—all contributing to the task at hand—whether its trying to make the children comfortable by playing “head, shoulders, knees and toes” or papier-maching giant storm clouds. We also have individual strengths and trust one another enough to work on our own specific tasks.

For example, this is a typical morning at Agastya: Krishnan is typing up the newest version of our puppet shows story drafts, Pip is assembling and figuring out the new PA system Agastya has bought (!!!!) for the project, Nabila is taking notes for the curriculum (while breaking into song and dance when she sees fit), Alex is going over the budget and I am painting papier-mache mangos and bananas. We ended this day with an assembling line sock puppet project and a solid meeting with Suresh and Humsa.

So the team (in alphabetical order):


Alex: Otherwise known as the little brother I have never had. He is the youngest in the group (about to embark on his first year of grad school). He has become a huge fan of Indian cookies and I have to be careful because before I can even take my second bite out of the cookie he will sneak behind me and bite it out of my hand. He also enjoys hiding behind dark corners or under beds and scaring us when we enter a room. But his childlike nature does not stop him from taking on serious tasks—like the budget (and yes he plans on being a doctor when he grows up). He is in charge of the budget, subject matter for the curriculum, booming and mixing the sound for films (something new he picked up in a few days) and playing games with children. I know, lots of very disparate tasks! But he has a handle on them.





Jennifer: I have pretty much transformed into my mom upon arrival in India. Digging up the arts and crafts lesson plans from my childhood, I have taught the instructors how to paper mache, make sock puppets, plaster masks and other arts and crafts that will be showcased in our show. In other words, I am heading up the art department for the project (I can only imagine the snickers among my family members at reading this). Unconsciously aware that this might happen, I was smart enough to bring my left-handed scissors (left handedness is taboo here) and an apron. Our need for local materials has transformed me into an expert Hubli shopper (much less surprising for my family members) rummaging through the market and mini shops to bargain and buy the necessary materials for our project. I am also filming the auditions and shows—a much more technical craft than cutting up strips of newspaper and dipping them in a flour mixture but nonetheless—another art and craft.




Krishnan: His family is from Kerala, also in Southern India, but a very different place from Hubli (Hubli is to the Valley like Kerala is to San Francisco). Nonetheless, he has spent a sufficient amount of time in India and knows enough Hindi to get by. Although the people here are suspect as to whether Krishan really is Indian. Accused of being both German and Middle Eastern, my favorite story was when he walked up to buy a coconut on the street corner and a young boy asked “Are you from India?” Krishnan answered, “Yes.” And the boy immediately responded “LIAR!” and turned away. But the minute Krishnan introduces himself most people immediately warm up to his charm (plus his name is a dead give away for his Indian ethnicity). He is fabulous about introducing us to new food and helping us acclimate to our new cultural environment. His creative talents are evident through both his dance choreography and story ideas. These creative talents are matched by his undying energy (dancing for 5 hours straight) and patience with the children.



Nabila: It’s fitting that the teachers refer to her as Nebula (because they have a huge solar system map up in the Center and her name sounds so similar). Her presence is just as bright and warm. A teacher may drop a glass science experiment from across the room and the minute Nabila hears the crash she stops what she is doing and runs (barefoot) to the aid of the teacher. Her sincerity makes her easy to work with, as does her precision and attention to detail (beautiful flower puppets!). A true performer, she can sing and dance anywhere for any reason, making tea breaks or a 30 minute walk quite entertaining. Though she is focused on performance, she is just as devout to the educational aspects of the project and is heading up the teacher manual that corresponds with the shows.




Pip: Our last member of the team to land in Hubli and my last teammate to introduce in alphabetical order— Pip. He had no problem adjusting to the quirky group upon arrival, bringing his diligent work ethic, floppy blue hat, quick sense of humor and creative talents into the mix. As Krishnan has pointed out, he is a master problem solver whether in resolving a story dilemma or finding a way to keep the paper mache props safe from rats (though, this is still being worked out). He could also be coined a sheepherder of the Agastya instructors and ourselves (though we are far from a flock of sheep—more like a flock of black sheep interspersed with goats) because of his attention to the timeline deadlines and logistics. His knowledge of the technical equipment and procedures when creating, displaying and filming our shows also make him a valuable and necessary asset to our team.

So that’s the team. We promise to try to write more regularly but power outages, 10 hour work days, 7 days a week, good food and long walks to and from work makes blogging challenging: ie., I wrote this two days ago and still haven’t been able to post it until now.