Oliver celebrated his first birthday on March 1st with lots of chocolate (we helped out too). He's grown considerably in the last few weeks; every couple of days he looks taller and feels heavier. He likes to say "no no no no no no no" and "ma ma ma ma mom." We (Oliver, myself and my mom) recently returned from a trip to the Ellora and Ajanta caves near Aurangabad. The caves date between about 1300 and 2000+ years old and are carved out of solid rock cliffs. Before going there, I held my first focus group discussions in two of the ICRISAT villages near Sholapur. We traveled on local buses, which was bumpier and longer than the train but a good, cheap last minute option. Mom left last night, having been here with us for seven weeks, and Sinclair returned the night before Oliver's birthday. Research is speeding ahead and going well, and I'm starting to feel the time crunch as I'm coming home on April 21 and still have four more villages to visit, more numbers to crunch, a final presentation to prepare and a report to write. Tomorrow, Oliver and I are headed to Goa (tropical paradise, here we come!) for the South Asia Fulbright Conference. All-expenses paid:) We're going two days early so that we can relax on a beach by ourselves for a good day and a half before the conference starts.
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| I bought Oliver an ethnic outfit and my mom bought a sari in preparation to go to an Indian wedding, but we decided not to go because it was during violent protests in Hyderabad and was located near the epicenter...so we took pictures anyway. |
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| Oliver on his first birthday, with a tree just his size. |
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| Inside one of the Ellora Caves |
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| Buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha call... |
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| Temple at Ellora Caves, carved from the top down. |
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| After the first focus group discussion in the village of Shirapur |
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