Where will we live?


How do you decide where to live in a country of 3.3 million square kilometers?

I think we've known for some time, as early as when I began crafting a research proposal to submit for a Fulbright, that we would not actually live in Bhopal. Bhopal was the impetus for applying for a Fulbright. But our good friend, Maude Dorr, who had spent several months at a time in Bhopal over the last couple of years, made it abundantly clear we would not want to live in Bhopal with small children--at least not in the part of Bhopal where the former Union Carbide plant sits. It's hot in Bhopal, there's intense air pollution, and there probably would not be much there to keep Marion and the kids occupied for six months. The former two matters we will most likely deal with in any urban area in India, but we felt we could at least try to find a place more attractive to Marion, who, after all, will be caring for Claire and Luc without me for at least some of the time while I travel to various parts of India for the research.

The other factor pushing us away from Bhopal was the discovery that a Fulbright panel of reviewers in India, as well as the Government of India (GOI), would have to give final approval of my proposed research. The GOI handling of the tragedy has been called a second tragedy of sorts. As such, I was advised to mention Bhopal as little as possible in my proposal. Government officials would not look kindly on research that would highlight their failure to assist victims of the world's worst industrial disaster, even if these failures had already been documented in past research.

As I began formulating my research question more carefully, it became apparent that Bhopal itself--and in particular the social movement organizations that emerged in and descended upon Bhopal in late 1984 and early 1985--was not my focus. Rather, I am more interested in the legacy of Bhopal, and furthermore, how Bhopal's legacy has intersected with the recent evolution of transnational social movement networks. Given this interest, I decided that we could live almost anywhere in India, as long as there was a nearby case of industrial contamination causing health problems (like I said, we could live almost anywhere in India). For the purposes of the research proposal, I specified Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu), and Eloor (Kerala, near Kochi). Living near Kochi would give us better access to transportation throughout the country, so for quite a while we've been telling everyone we will live in Kochi.

One of the advantages of living in Kerala is its great beaches. For Marion to be able to take Claire and Luc to the beach on a regular basis would be pretty nice way to pass the time in India. But we began to discover that there is really just one nice beach near Kochi. The famous beaches, at least increasingly famous among Euro holiday makers, are further south, near Kerala's capital, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). Because of the tourism, Thiruvananthapuram has good air connections to the rest of the country. It also has a pretty active environmental group called Thanal that does research, advocacy, and education work. They are active throughout Kerala, for example on the endosulfan issue in the northern part of the state, and on the Coca Cola protest in Plachimada. I also have a great friend from grad school, Vic Getz, who lived in Thiruvananthapuram while doing dissertation research on the influence of women in Kerala's government, and hooked me up with a few of her contacts. A couple with whom Vic is still very close have a daughter who is a little older than Luc. I've communicated with them and they would love for us to live in Thiruvananthapuram (which says something about how much respect they have for our mutual friend, Vic).

So, to get to the point of this post, we're just about certain now that we will live in or near Thiruvananthapuram. We can get to the beaches in Kovalam easily. I can work with the good people at Thanal as part of my research, and I can get to other parts of the country with relative ease. Where, exactly, in Thiruvananthapuram we will live is a mystery. Perhaps Vic's friends, Chandrika and Sadu or Prema, will set us up with something. Perhaps we will go with a rental agent. Either way, we're not sure we want to commit to anything before we actually arrive, which means we may need to spend a week or so in a hotel. Not ideal with two small children, but winding up locked into an undesirable rental with a six month lease could be worse. It will all work out in the end. It's India we're talking about, after all.

Posted: Sat - October 1, 2005 at 11:27 AM          

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