A conference on water rights was held in Mehndiganj from March 28th to 30th, 2008. I was invited by Nandlal to attend, and I was thrilled to learn that Sandeep Pandey and Medha Patekar would also be speaking. Nandlal Master also mentioned that a girl from the U.S. wanted to attend the conference and interview local villagers about their issues with Coke. She needed a translator, which made me even more excited because it meant I had the chance to work with her! I arranged to meet her at Assi Ghat, where we had an extensive discussion about the Coke issue in Mehndiganj.
After our conversation, I invited her to my home, where I showed her various documents related to the Coke controversies in Mehndiganj, Plachimada, and Kaladera. Impressed by my knowledge and assistance, she offered me a job as her translator. She was a PhD student in history at a prominent university in the U.S., though she requested that I not mention the name of her institution. She was friendly, well-educated, and deeply interested in the history of Coca-Cola in India. She was staying at a BHU hostel arranged by her university, but she found it inconvenient due to the lack of internet access in her room.
She had to walk 10-15 minutes each time she needed to use the internet. When she saw that my guest house had internet in all the rooms and a biologist staying in the next room—whose expertise could be useful for her research on groundwater depletion—she decided to move to my place. During the conference in Mehndiganj, I assisted her with translation as we interviewed numerous people, including social workers from Kaladera. I’ve chosen not to mention her name in this post as she experienced sexual harassment during her work and preferred to remain anonymous. If you want to learn more about her experience, please refer to the linked post.