This is for the Ji's

Our teachers and program directors are all incredibly sweet and have made us all feel more comfortable and at home than I imagined they could. They’ve become like our collective parents, especially the two women. In Hindi, a respectful way of addressing people is by adding the suffix “Ji” on the end of their name, so our instructors are Azim Ji, Abid Ji, Archne Ji, Goutam Ji, and Bhavne Ji.

Azim Ji: He is our Academic Director and speaks the best English out of all of them (they all speak fluent and eloquent English, but Azim Ji is probably the easiest to understand). He says he’s an academic by training, and I know he has his PhD, but I’m not entirely sure what is background is. He’s fairly petite and is the spitting image of an Indian Steve Carrell. He has been conducting the majority of our orientation and likes to talk a lot, which is tedious at times but has also been good because we are oriented to every possible do and don’t. We know how to interact with our homestay families, what to do if there’s a terrorist attack, how to avoid culture shock, how to treat Delhi Belly, what clothes to wear, who to talk to for what, and on and on and on. He's co-teaching our Health and Human Rights Seminar, and so far we've had a few lectures about the history, polity, economics, culture, and social issues of India. He comes from Uttar Pradesh (near the Nepalaese border), which is a largely rural Indian state with the highest poverty rates in the country. His family sounds quite successful — in UP (as the they Uttar Pradesh), his extended family owns farms and orchards, and he also owns some kind of media production company. He is definitely the head of everything, but still jokes around with us and cares about the little pieces of our experience here. He keeps telling us he cares about use more than his four-year-old daughter, which is nice but a little concerning for his daughter I would imagine.

Abid Ji: He speaks the fastest out of all of them, so sometimes I only catch every fifth word or so, but I usually just nod along until I figure out what he's saying. He's also very nice and tonight we met his wife and 11-month-old son at dinner (so unbelievably cute). He has some kind of public health background — tonight at dinner he was explaining all about the sleep patterns of infants as they develop and how breast feeding works. He's really funny but probably the most reserved of our main teachers (perhaps because he's male and most of the students are female).

Archna Ji: Archna Ji is quiet and very motherly. Tonight I asked her what the Hindi word for "mother" is and we joked that I was going to start calling her Mommy Ji instead of Archna. She's slightly plump and always seems concerned about us. She's quick to laugh or offer a little passing shoulder rub, which I really appreciate because it reminds me of home. She is one of our Hindi teachers and has been married for 10 years to Goutam Ji, another one of our Hindi teachers.

Bhavna Ji: Bhavna Ji is beautiful and wears lovely, flowing clothes every day. She is another of our Hindi teachers and she and Archna Ji (they're neighbors too!) are constantly giggling together (like when we visited a doctor who essentially told us to avoid eating, touching, breathing, or interacting with anything in Delhi or else we would get sick). She has an 18-year-old son but isn't married, and I think her husband may have died. Traffic in Delhi is awful, and I asked her if she'd ever been in an accident, and she thought about it and then talked about how she and her husband had been on a motorbike that had skidded and she had been able to jump off but her husband had a bad head injury. I dropped the subject, but she didn't seem too bothered that I'd asked. She's also hilarious and keeps asking me why I'm so nervous when I ask a lot of questions.

Goutam Ji: He's definitely the biggest jokester of the group. He has a long ponytail and lots of rings that have something to do with his horoscope. He and Archne Ji don't really interact at the academic center, and we aren't sure if it's because they aren't a very close husband-wife pair or because of gender norms (I think it more has to do with gender norms). He comes from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, which is a major place where people go to die and put bodies and ashes in the Ganges because it's considered sacred. Goutam Ji answers all of our silly Hindi questions and is very much like a good uncle — funny when he needs to be, but also very concern with our well-being and safety.

So that's a general overview of my teachers! I can honestly say I like them all immensely, which is not necessarily something I was expecting. I'm sure I will write more about them later on, but ta-ta for now!