Final Document

Second to last day

Old Delhi has the largest mosque in India, I was swindled out of 200 rupees at the door(tickets for a mosque?) but once inside I saw that it was well worth it. The red stone courtyard set on a hill and is bordered by columed walkways on 3 sides. The main building has vaulted ceilings and a large chandelier.
pictures:

Next the red fort.
A walk through Old Delhi was a few hours lost in alleyways and when I finally emerged on to a larger street with more than foot and bike traffic, I was done.
It was early afternoon so I headed to Cafe Turtle straight for the John Grisham, it was sitting right where I left it 2 days ago. I spent the next two hours sipping fruit juices and teas and reading. However half way through the book, I lost interest, my mind wandered and I was brought back to Delhi - I still have time for massage before dinner.
For Dinner at Defense Colony, I was drawn to the seafood place next to an Italian restaurant I had been to earlier. It was a quiet lounge with a variety of whiskies, Indian and international. I gorged myself on seafood salad(it was really big salad) and read Google with my whisky till dark.

Independence Day

Today is India's Independence Day, yesterday was Pakistan's.
Having the whole day unexpectedly free, I was a little at loss on what to do, which was compounded by the fact that nothing was open.
In the morning I headed to Counnaught to book a day trip to Agra. It was deserted, and the tour office closed. I resolved to spend the day doing nothing and remembered that John Grisham book sitting at the cafe from a few days ago. That could be a real vacation, a enjoyable waste of time.
At the GK1 N-block market, the bookstore/cafe was closed as well. Only one restaurant remained open on the entire block. I was hesitant, but eventually went inside. The doorway to the restaurant was small and very deceiving. On the ground floor was a small cafe, on the first floor two separate restaurants, one french one Italian, the third floor was Chinese and the fourth floor a massive Indian restaurant. I settle in a corner of the 4th floor and for a hour and a half had a very satisfying meal of cucumber salad, butter nann, fish curry, ice cream and tea.
After lunch I wandered around in search of a bookstore and found one in green park market attached to coffee day. There was no apparent order to the books as The Devil Wears Prada, The Fountainhead, East West and The Google Story sat next to each other. It is funny, but after browsing for a few minutes, I returned to these four and really debated between them. After reading the first pages of each, even Fountainhead whose first pages I had read many without ever getting past page 30, I finally chose the Google. It is a book that most likely would get me thinking about thesis again while still qualifying as enjoyable light reading.
With new book in hand, I settled into a corner couch at coffee day and the afternoon flew by.
On the walk home I saw a great pair of cows in the street, one napping with the other watching over it.

way to work

Sitting in the back of the auto-rickshaw on my way to work today, it occured to me to start drawing again. I had stopped drawing as a habit after the first 2 years of college and stopped all soon after that except the occasional sketch for work. Lately I have been wishing for drawing tools instead of a camera, but it may be a while longer until this overcomes my laziness.
The morning ride has become a good routine finally, on my last day at work. The street signs are hidden or melt into advertisements and posters covering the walls of every building. But I discovered I now know the way to work! too bad it is the last day.
But just in case:
First a left at the street with the concret picket fence dividers, a u-turn after the blue steel shack, left onto the street market right after the giant trash container, see women selling orange flowers on strings on street corner, past first electronics and wires, then fruits and vegetables, follow the curve of the road left then right. Straight until the second gated street, left past big houses with glass and concret door ways, one of them with the last name Singh, past one guard booth, past a grocery with no doors, then left on to the wider avenue, the office is the 3rd house on the left side of the block.
The way home is another story though, it somehow is completely different and cost more always and I do not know I am there until I see the familiar red and white sign for coffee.

brochure 2 side b

other dogs and cows and things

a building on my walk


at GK1 M

Back of Haymayun

It is so skinny

Concrete picket fence street dividers

it barked and terrorized tourist kids on my way out

Cows

After work, I was to meet Apu at GK1 N block, which is confusing because there is also GK2 and GK3 around and I pronounce N like M apparently. So There I was at M block, which unlike the alphabet, is not next to N block, W block is in between.
So I am walking around in rain and mud along a big road (which happened a lot this week), and I see 3 cows. One white, one brown, one black, and they are hanging out in the divider of the road with a dog. So I guess it was worth it.

At N block, I had cucumber juice at the Turtle cafe, a book, yoga and coffee store. When I sat down I noticed John Grisham's The Street Lawyer on a shelf immediatly to my right. So I picked it up, and it really took me back to middle school, The Firm and The Pelican Brief days. I regreted it as soon as I opened the book, I wanted to read on(there is a hostage situation in a law firm), but knew I better get home soon and get work done. The next time I looked up it is dark outside.
Oh no!

I got a cab to Coffee day in green park and got my usual "cold sparkle" to go before heading back to the hotel.

music for Delhi

What music goes with delhi( or my unrefined 10 hour long playlist):
faye wong - always at the top of list
beck
justice
the fiery furnaces
magnetic fields
selena - well?
noir desir
wilco
beastie boys
blond redhead
buddy guy
cibo matto
josef zima
lou reed
the kinks
matisyahu
isobel campbell and mark lanegan
johnny cash - i don't know why
lost in translation soundtrack
bjork - walking in gardens and tombs
and ok, avril lavigne
I should get some Indian music
so just about anything goes, another list:
What goes with the office but not Delhi:
cat power -because you can't hear it at all outside
adam green - i don't know why

Chuidars

Chuidars are pants, they are drawstring pants and also skinny pants, and they are also about 1 foot longer than normal pants so they can be scrunched up at the ankle - hence the name which means bangles I think.

One week in Delhi

I arrived in Delhi a week ago, on Tuesday night. It really seems longer. Apu is off for a long weekend tomorrow so I will be on my own in my never-ending battle with cab drivers. Maybe I'll just hideout at Kahn market. It is now my favorite refuge with its cafes and bookstores.
I again tried to pack in the sights yesterday after work.
First Pujat Minar




pictures:
Then Hymayun's Tomb
pictures:



I saw these amazing dogs:


I had been dying to go to this 24th floor revolving restaurant where you can get a good view of Delhi. Yes, I got this from a guide book. So we went, it wasn't dark, but already very grey outside by the time we got to the restaurant.
It was horribly depressing. The only occupied table was a group of 20 boyscoutes from Australia(i think) who were going around the table talking about what they learned from their trip. The group was actually adorable, and made me think of all my similar experiences with trips like theirs.
But of course, we left after 2 minutes. The height we were at really flattened out the city to just a splattering of lights but added nothing. Even on a sunny day it would have been a bad idea - Delhi is more of a city you see at eye level.
So our other option was a lounge near Connaught, also in the guidebook. We arrived only to find it was replaced by the All Sports Bar. Ok, its always good to watch olympics at a bar - we thought.
This bar turned out to be horrible, except for the tvs at every booth. Thanks for nothing guidebook.
After that, we decided to go to Apu's house for some actual food and drink. The cab driver decided to stop in the middle of our trip to get gas, which would have been fine except for the line of 20 cabs before him all waiting to get gas. While I took pictures of the line of cabs, some negotiation and yelling took place between Apu and the drivers and then we were on our way again.
Apu's house is in a large gated area of quiet tree-lined streets. They are renovating, so the first floor is mostly hollowed out, but the rest looks amazing. I ate a lot of pickled mangos and chillies and looked at Apu's engagement ceremony photos. They are really quiet amazing, she looks different from any times I have seen her. I'll have to convince her to put them online somewhere, it will really shock, really really shock risd people.

issues brochure

transparency brochure

a second draft

The first draft really helped my personal understanding of budget work, the role of transparency and advocacy and the need for it. It also gave me basic groundwork to furthur crystalize things into both 1. a smaller, simpler document, 2. a more comprehensive standalone document.

smaller document needs to make 3 basic points:
1. show the role of budget work
- why
2. show India's status
- an understanding of India's shortcomings
3. show issues within the budget that needs improvement
- a example of what issues are brought to the forefront through government budget accountability: example: education funding decreases, descrepency between India and similar countries in terms of economics. The idea being to make a point that there is so much to be done!

The more comprehensive statement should have the same 3 sections, but really analyze these:
1. simple definitions:
- budget work
-CBGA
-Open budget index
-publiclly avaialable information
2. India stage by stage
-maybe no resources shown would be better and people can refer to the web if needed
3. issues
- highlight the advocacy of CBGA throught main issues: education, health, poverty. have example of budget spending for each, analyze each by stating goals, demands, and show comparisons.

a layout for each will come soon.

Monday

After a late night drawing charts and preparing the document, I almost forgot about India, except this is where I am.
I feel like I am having a strange camping experience in my hotel. Since purchasing my own clean sheets, I have been making the bed with them at night and then packing them up in the morning in order not to offend the hotel's people. The suitcase I pack and zip up as well in case of ants of other bugs. Because I saw a cockroach the other day, I have been keeping all foods triple layered in plastic bags, and bring out the trash very often. It must be just like camping, which means camping is pretty miserable because I would be in Maine instead of Delhi.
I have become a little weary of how much trouble it is to get around and walk down the street here, but it probably won't stop me from going anywhere.

List of Materials to include in document

bold = still need to include

1. Primer on budget analysis
2. Primer on civil society budget work
3. lets talk about budget

4. Budget track magazines
5. People's charter for Union Budget - demands, etc.
6. Response to Budget

7. Open Budget Initiative Questionnaire
- response and clarifications
8. Comparative Study
- India Summary
- Questionaire development/methodology
- Key Findings - international
- Open Budget Index Cards - international rankings
- How Open is our Budget - narrative on India
- International Summary - section IV


9. CBGA brochure - some
10. Union Budget literature -

Document draft 1

revised goals

1. To provide understanding of budget process, makeup, analysis of ranking, strength and weaknesses to people with little background(like me) in a short document combining existing primers and questionnairs.
2. To develope a simple visual language that will serve the analysis of the open budget index.
3. To present a set of simple tools for reproducing such a document quickly and cost-effectively.

Outline of document draft 1

CONTENTS LIST
Introduction to India’s Budget Process
Overview of Government Structure involved in Budget-making
Over view of India’s Buget Structure
Introduction to the OPEN BUDGET INDEX
Overview of India’s Performance in OBI
Document by document analysis of India in OBI
Document 1:
Document 2: Executive’s Budget Proposal
Document 3:
Document 4:
Document 5:
Document 6:
Document 7:
International analysis of India in OBI
India in the World
India in the Developing World
India in Asia
Conclusion

color research

It seems that people working on bw conversion printing hold patents and complicated processes are involved:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5701401.html
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5898819.html

So what about a simple set of bw safe colors customized for organizations in need of cost effective printing. or a directory of web safe colors that are also bw print safe.

need to do more research

Pictures from last few days

Sunday

After oversleeping again, I was determined to get some sightseeing done today. First stop Safdarjung's Tomb, where I was the only visitor except for a family lounging on benches in the park. It was quietly majestic and the carved vaulted ceilings inside looked like so many places, but was like nothing I had ever seen.
Here I really take too many pictures.

From the tomb I walked in to a quiet neighborhood of large houses called Jor Bagh. Amongst the houses atop a small hill was a simple temple of 5 rooms. Flowers and mirrors fills each room. The statues were small and colorful. A family was just getting together with bags of wreathes and I left to give them privacy.


Next is the Laxmi Narayan Virla Mandir, a temple of white and red stone.

Walking barefoot with a few hundred others, I followed the flow of people through all the rooms. I was suprised by all the mirrors in the temple. In the back is a small five sided room with mirrored walls and a foot tall statue in the center. In the room you can see yourself from every angle, which was very shocking to me. Unfortunately my camera had to be left at the door, but it wouldn't have meant much to look at pictures anyway.
I have taken very few pictures on the trip, Delhi happens so fast that by the time I understand what I am looking at, it is gone. Monkeys, and cows and babies on the backs of motorcyles appear over and over again but only for split seconds.
Next to the temple was a high school with hundreds of motorcycles parked in front. I crossed the street to have a snack of cucumber, chilie powder and lime juice. Its taste reminds me of the mangos on streets in Brooklyn. Past the high school is another quieter, older temple of pink stones.
It was just before noon when I took a cab to Counnaught Place for lunch. The crowded stores from yesterday were all closed on Sunday, so I wandered around looking for a cool place to sit down. McDonald's was very open and packed. I had decided to stop drinking soft drinks but a fountain coke sounded good. I felt guilty buying it, but only after a sip street children appeared from nowhere and pointed and grabed at it till I handed it over. I look as they run away then notice for the first time that there are whole groups of kids sitting in front of McDonald's waiting for people to come out. It is sad. I wish I had gotten good food for them instead, but nothing else seemed open.
While searching for a resturante, I was accosted by a man claiming to be the brother of the receptionist at my hotel. I shook his hand and then immediatly realized that this must be a scam, but too late, he followed me around and around till I got in a cab and insisted he not get in.
After stopping for coffee, I headed to the iconic Lotus temple. By iconic I guess I mean it looks exactly like the icon of it on the map. It is a temple for all religions and people, and all kinds of people lined up to walk along a winding path up to the temple. The Lotus sits in a vast rolling green lawn. The paths were heated by the sun and burned the bottom of my foot, but it felt great.


A short list of guidlines are read before you enter, there is no talking inside. At the door young women with their heads covered and badges usher groups in silently. The people who work inside speak with signs. I witness a great conversation between two guards about who should take lunch break first. Inside is a constant murmur of bare feet and the occasional baby's laugh which is quickly stopped. Chairs have wood frames and marble seats, and are set up in rows. I sat to the side in order to watch people. Whole families, one very serious guy praying, a group of teenagers, a women with 3 babies, couples and a Japanese tour group. Most people seem content sitting silently and after a while I stopped looking and just sat. I forgot where I was.



Coming back down the path, I was suprised to find that I was inside for two hours and have missed the Old Delhi tour I planned on. On the path, a visiting family asked to take a picture with me. This happened to Lynn many times in Beijing and Shanghai, and I am still baffled by it. I felt like a giant standing with the family, and also very sweaty, none of them even seemed hot.
The noise outside the gates was shocking, and I got angry for the first time here when the cab repeatedly tried to take me to different shops. I was told that if I spent ten minutes inside a shop, the driver would get free gas coupons. So After walking around a horrible store of over priced glitter, I came out to face the angry driver who said I was only inside for five minutes and he refused to take me further.
I ended up walking along a construction site on the highway and finally managed to find a cab. Now covered in layers of sweat and dust, I decided to go back to the hotel.
On my list of places, only the sites of Old Delhi and Qutab Minar remain. If time permits, the Jhandewala Deviji Temple would be good as well.
I am suprised that my flight is at 1am on monday, it is a day less I would have in Delhi. This throws out my plan of visiting the Taj Mahal as well as taking a religous tour. I would only have time for one, but which one?