India mark 2

So, I arrived on Friday morning and have spent the weekend settling in!

Think I may get over the jetlag tonight - it has been surprisingly harsh as we have to get up at 10am india time then can't go to sleep until bedtime in the UK which is about 3am here... But am not sleeping all night, keep waking up. sooooooo tired! The journey was a-ok though, DB and I did not even quarrel much and seeing my bestest friends for the Beanie BBQ on Weds was brilliant. I am definitely up the stick - they could see my bump and I was with my friends and sober and not smoking for the first time since we met... (and bonded over booze and fags at uni - how else?!). Beanie has taken to Indian life and food and after my first mega spicy meal let me know of its presence with a wee tap hello! Since we have been here, each day I have had taps and rolls hello which is divine - I am completely chilled about Beanie's welfare which means I can concentrate on my work much easier and settle into being in India without feeling too guilty for bringing bean.

We have good accommodation - we tried without AC but it is insanely hot here so have an AC room but in a normal guesthouse rather than a posh hotel so all good. I am in the middle of town so can walk everywhere and have been the the beach and done some 'observation' (had some coffees in beachside restaurants!) and this morning did an impromptu interview with a guy who we met walking back from the ATM... he was pleased we were English and when he found out we were here finding out about charity he went off on one about the corruption... so I asked him about the tsunami and got lots of info - some quite exaggerated I felt and very one sided (I don't think he likes fisher people who are my main case study population) BUT did have some great nuggets and also coroborated info from a couple of other interviews which is fab. He is a guide so will take us to see tsunami houses and other aid areas for a day which is great - anyone who can show me anything and speaks English is *great*! No time for immersion and that malarky so just need info and fast. Am waiting to see when my RA can meet up with me to talk about the research - i shall know so much more how this trip will go once I have spoken with him. I came to the internet expecting to email a few contacts but then realised I am not sure who is who and what to say now. Need to read my old fieldwork diaries and refresh my memory.

Getting to talk to someone though, even if it was impromptu and not remotely as a consequence of my own diligence in finding interviewees, has really perked me up and made me feel confident and like I am starting to get moving. This encounter shows two things 1) that research is about trying to make the most of each encounter or person you speak with and 2) it is also luck and completely organic. Tomorrow I may not see a soul to speak with me about the tsunami - if people don't want to talk to me I can't make them. Or I may speak to a whole village if I 'randomly' meet someone who invites me to speak to their relatives... WHO KNOWS?! Not I, and that drives me mental (but is sooo pleasing whenh something happens)!!!

I am too hot and feel quite sick. It is pretty late here, 3.30pm, so shall leave interviews and emails for today. I would like to go for a swim (cool down! No sunbathing though - is no sun and is tooooo hot! Would just bake) and then eat something (beanie food!! ie chocolate cake if I can find it) and then sit down and work out who to contact and why and what to say to them as I aim t try and get some email/phone interviews while I am in India. I also need a list of organisations I know of to a) contact and b) get reports from to help back up my 'Indian voice' side of the research.

Tomorrow I hope to have heard from my RA about when we can meet and I shall send the emails I organised. I also need to go for a stroll along the beach some way and find some villages and tsunami houses as the tide comes in high and fast about lunchtime! Need to get there early which I hope to do having shaken off my jetlag (I hope!) Hopefully I may be accosted by fishing people or hawkers etc so I can talk to them and understand more what they do and how the tsunami may have affected them (or what their 'line' is to tourists, if they have one).

Aid is such a funny business. Does everyone just want to profit from it?

x J