Memories of India 133 (1972-1974) by Joseph McFarlan

Hello Friends of India:

I am I-133. Our group started as 5 men, all recent geology graduates. One fellow returned to San Diego before the end of our training. Four of us- Joe McFarlan, Steve Pullman, Mike Galloway and Don Lundy, took the oath to become Volunteers. Our in-country training was late October 1971 until January 3 or 4, 1972. Served in Tamil Nadu from January 1972 to January 1974. I was a geologist who worked with Indian geologists both in Trichinopoly with the Public Health Department and in Karaikudi with the Water and Development Department. We traveled by van with a crew to remote and small villages to locate public land that would be most suitable for a community well. The Russian-made drill rig followed with Indian drillers and completed the well. Indian engineers designed and oversaw construction of a storage tank and distribution system. It was very satisfying to see drinking water that came out of the ground clean and was not contaminated by surface pollutants like the pond that was the usual source of water for all users.

My first 13 months were in Trichy. I became very close friends with a local criminal law attorney who 'adopted' me. He had 12 children- 6 boys and 6 girls. I was the 13^th kid. The mother always saw that I was fed and watered upon arrival just like my mother would do whenever a family member showed up. In 1995, I returned to Trichy after 21 years absence. I was given a room in the same house I had visited in 1972 and 1973. What had changed in 21 years. What struck me most was bottled water!!! and the attorney's son in the street in front of his house with a cell phone to his ear!! Television had just entered India when we were leaving in 1974. Now it was installed in the main house in Trichy in 1995 and was inside a cabinet under lock and key. The head of the house was concerned that grandchildren would become too accustomed to television and not get their home work done. Computer reservations at the main railway station were impressive. A wash machine for clothes in the home in Trichy, electric grinder for vegetables and ATM's for cash topped off my observations after a 21 year absence.

I have returned to South India and Tamil Nadu several times. In 2005 my wife Lauren and I returned to Chennai aka Madras(capitol of Tamil Nadu) for a Habitat for Humanity International(HFHI) build. It was interesting to see the faces of the people in the village who had did not quite understand this American couple who were in their village to do manual labor. We were from America and California and we were supposed to stay in California forever and go to Disneyland every year. Why would we want to come to their village to work? I have not really come up with a good answer. We have done three more HFHI builds and I still do not have a good answer. I consider HFHI builds a micro-Peace Corps experience. I would love to re-enlist in Peace Corps for a two year stint but my wife thinks otherwise. What we need is 6 or 12 month assignments.

South India and for that matter all of India we have visited over the past 20 years has greatly advanced. More pavement, elevated highways(ugly and efficient at the same time!), fewer animals on the roads, fewer bullock carts anywhere, too many cellphones. Lots of more stuff like we Americans. The countryside in the South is still the India I prefer to remember. Green, too warm, quieter than the cities. The dust and noise in every city is a detriment. I keep returning. I am trying to see more of north India. I spent my two years in the south and visited Sri Lanka twice by the ferry from Rameswaram to Talai Munar on the far northwest coast of Sri Lanka. It no longer runs from India to Sri Lanka. I think it stopped running before the troubles with the Tamil Tigers and the military of Sri Lanka. 

I have lost contact with Mike Galloway. Steve Pullman died end of March, 2009. Don Lundy was last heard from in Atlanta, Georgia. He is probably retired by now. 

I was in New Delhi in 2014. I was pleasantly pleased with how clean the capitol city was. Seemed to be less exhaust fumes from everything on the streets. I was emotionally struck by the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi at the last place he was living in summer 1948. The house of a wealthy Indian had been donated to the central government. The room and lap desk where Gandhi lived his last days was preserved as it was when he was assassinated. The footsteps on the lawn to where he was shot really heightened the atmosphere of respect. And last but not least, more ALCOHOL everywhere. Liquor stores quite available. I remember the horrible hot beer at the pharmacy in 1972. You had to tell the pharmacist the alcohol was prescribed by the doctor for your health!! That was the end of anything alcoholic until returning to the States in July, 1974. 

Joseph McFarlan, December 12, 2015