Visualizing India: Karimgunj and Villages

From November 8 to November 11, I stayed in Karimgunj, an Indian village in the Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh. Although the experience was probably as close to "roughing it" as I've ever gotten, it was also one of the most enjoyable, educational, and inspiring of my entire India experience thus far. Uttar Pradesh is one of the poorest Indian states, but I found Karimgunj to be a pretty accurate replica of other villages we've visited. Hopefully these pictures will give you an impression of what average living conditions are like for most Indians.

This is a typical street in Karimgunj, and pretty typical of a lot of other villiages we've visited. Note the free-roaming animals, the ramshackle houses, and the copious dung piles; all are 100% authentic. Quite a bit different from small-town America.

Piles of cow dung patties. These are actually a staple of Indian life, as they make good fuel for cooking. Mm-hm. Dinner cooked via cow dung patty—it's enough to kick those saliva glands into overtime, huh?

Hey, someone's gotta make 'em. I don't know about you, but it makes me feel a lot better about all the bad job experiences I've had in my history.

A woman making bidis. She does this in her spare time, and gets a measly 20 rupees for every thousand she makes. Because of all of her household obligations, she can't even make a thousand bidis in a day. Indians need at least 40 rupees per day to make poverty line, so you can imagine how finances tend to go in villages.

Richa, my shadow and my favorite little girl in the village. She tried to teach me Hindi, but I'm afraid I forgot most of it. This is pretty much what she'd do to me all day: just stare up at me with that big smile on her face. So adorable.

Safari Rummy, which was played in marathon amounts. From left: Roslyn, Chaundeny, Shonu, Ashley, Unket, and I forget the other little boy's name. This is in the main room of where we stayed with the Brahmin family.

One great thing about villages: they have baby goats!

Oh, how I wanted to run away with it. The only thing that stopped me was that there was photographic evidence that I was the last to be seen with it.

One of Dean Wadley research assistants made us come back to his home to meet and take pictures of his family. Indians don't generally smile for photographs, so that's why they all look so depressed. What they're sitting on (and what's in the background) is a string cot, which is what the villagers sleep on.

A pig sleeping in what I'm pretty sure is an oven/stove. Not exactly smart.