Hi everybody, sorry it's been a while, strauggled with getting somewhere with internet. Anywhoo, so I have had a meeting with save the children bosses and orgnised a month or so away to see India and get over the whole culture shock. Had a really rough second week with illness and the inevitable homesickness. On the plus I know that I am deffinatly on the mend when I felt my self getting grumpy due to hunger. As most of you will agree this is a sure sign of me being back to my normal self! I welcomed it.
Delhi still shocks me on daily basis, with its stark contrasts of poverty and wealth, but also as one of the greenest cities in the world. a realy parody, as I am surrounded with all forms of transpot (wheeled, foot and hooved), concrete everywhere, constructional dust, metro and open sewers. Not hard considering that most people treat just about everywhere as a public conveneince.Often see (sorry boys) men pissing everywhere, and if I am really unlucky a few bare bottoms squatting.Not nice.
There is so much to take in on dailt basis that I find it a real struggle to relay it yo coherantly! It is all jumbled up.
I have been cotton shopping so that I can get the local tailor to recreate some trousers and tops that I recently bought. They are traditional indian clothing and very comfortable Ideal for the climate. I look really funnt in billowing baggy trousers and patterned tunic tops, but what the hell, I am lot cooler and less red in the face so not all bad. The cotton cost me around £10 and the tailor will be roughly the same and I will get two new outfits and trousers for mother. Not bad really.
Our ironing is done on a daily basis for 30 rupees about 40 p) by a man who stands under a mango tree.
I had a go at doing my own henna on my feet the other day, Irfan the driver brought back two packets of henna. It was ok, but a little shaky.
There is more malnoutrition now that 50 years ago.
Something like 60% of all Indian electricity is stolen!
I have seen elephnats on the road side, but not had my camera!
I have been to the national museum, where i could get an english audio tape tour. See many stone carvings and paintings. saw funnt Indian nativity scenes; a miniture painting of a amn holding the mona lisa painting!
went to a mall and epereinced dr.Fish pedicure, fish that nibble you feet and eat the deadskin, I also saw a tibetal monk walk out of a reebok shop!
Went to The Imperial (5*) hotel and had the best cheese burger in my life with wine and G and T.
saw Indians newset purchase of a russian radar plane as it came into delhi airport! Just arriving.
Should be going to Sri Lanka in a few weeks with Paul and meetin Marjory there, really looking forward to this trip. The maybe go back to Kedars in te mountains where he runs a small NGO. They provide seperate sanitation for women, really important for their safety and dignity. Sand latrines. And bio gas from their livestock for cooking and some lighs. really simple but effective support for poor village people.
Really can't say if I like it here or not. Somethings are amazing, like sitting out of an evening and listening to the peacocks settle into the trees, watching the bats come out to hunt (first the small ones and the progressively bigger). sparrow hawks diving on the noisy pigeons, crickets thrumming in the background. Cats prowling. But all of this is driven away during the day when we stop at lights and a youn mother comes with a little baby in her arms and she scratches and taps at the window, mimicking eating movements. How should you react to the situation? There are displays of affection to pigeons who are fed by the Hindus because it pleases some God. But very little is given to that young mother and baby? why is this we ask? How can you feed stupid pigeons over a baby. Infact kill the effing pigeons and make pie I say. Feed the starving, if I was a god I would be far more impressed by that act of genersoity that helping a disease ridden species survive. Have we forgotten bird flu?!
Anyway, rant over. It is a shitty world in so many ways, but if you care to look there are rays of sunshine, and real beauty. will try and get some photos up that illustrateall of the above. The beautiful and the bloody ugly.
Love to you all, B.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Almost seen through my second week
It is Wednesday afternoon, and I have just recovered from a bout of classic Delhi Belly! Not very pleasant, but possibly not as bad as some people seem to get it!
I am in a strange place of starting to get into the Delhi rhythm, but also desperately missing home comforts; like welsh rain and winds! I knew I would miss the cooling wind, and consistent rain (didn't actually) but I have surprised myself again by longing for it! I spoke to Marjorie (Paul's wife) who is currently resisding in Wales with her father not far from my house, and she regaled me with stories of Welsh weather and i was left pining for it. There I was sitting in an overly warm house, with no repiste offered by going outdoors! A very strange concept to those of us used to cooler climes. Though I will say the heat is more bearable due it's 'dry' nature; if it was humid it would make me so sluggish.
I can't wait to get out of Delhi, I am getting warped I think. It is not a true refelction of 'India' by al accounts. The prices are similar to home (well London actually) on some fronts, and on other things it can be very cheap. When people say that India is a country of contrasts they don't exaggerate. It is incredible the inequalities that I witness every day, and participate in.
I assumed for one that as a very hot country things would start later, and end earlier. Wrong, they day really starts up around 9:30 to 10:30, though there are street vendors out 24/7. As i drive (I should say get driven) to work the roads are full of bikes (usually with an entire family aboard, with it only compulsory for the driver to wear a helmet), push bikes (with a passanger on the back), pedestrians and the ever present beggers.
There are so called 'professional beggers' here. A crazy concept to us, but it is a way of life, of making a business. There are real Fagans here, only much more brutal. It is common to see adults and children with missing limbs, this they have done by doctors for pitiful amounts of money so that they may be more succesful in begging. The sympathy ploy. How can it fail to work, especially on us westerners that are unaccustomed to seeing this. If a group of begger children spot me in a car they will stop idling by the road and make a bee line for me, a white woman is presumably soft. I count my self among them. It breaks my heart everytime, but there is no point giving money. Instead there is a ready store of very nutritous biscuits that we hand out instead, hoping that then at least they will get the benefit of our giving, as apposed to Fagan's pocket. The hardest thing to digest its when we escape the heat in modern American style malls (just like home) where there is AC. As you sit and have luch you look down on Delhi below and you will see that at the boundaries of the concrete complex, grand gates stand with security guard that carry out a very minimal check on your vehicle, and just beyond the dirt paements with tarpaulin homes erected everywhere, people (men, women and children) asleep on the floor with no bedding, no belongings in most cases, just surviving. Some stare blankly off into the distance, what they think about I don't know. Just basic things probably, like will I eat today? And there I am struggling to eat my tiger prawns because the heat suppresses my appetite. Never really belive that that is possible until you are there, you live it.
Not that it is all dismal. There is no point letting it drag you down, it doesn't help anyone in the slightest.
So on the weekend I spent Saturday at a pool side, cooling off whikst splasshing arounhd throwing a ball for a friends dog, Jenny. The dog owners are Elizabeth and Jergen. The sat night we all glammed up and attended a European celebration day. All the embassy people were there, charities, and many more. It ended in true style with a bit of a fight with the my host and others. Won't go into detail, but a party isn't a party without a fight, right?
So then sunday I spent wandering around aforementioned Mall, buying some food stuffs and generally looking around. And then back to the pool once again. By this point I started to feel stomache cramps, and be unconfortable. My detail into Delhi Belly will end there. Your imagination can unfortunatly fill in the gaps.So Monday and Tuesday were spent in bed, on the loo, infront of the TV and reading. Generally moping about and feeling very sorry for myself. And missing Sion. Had a little cry, and thought of home.
I am reassessing my stay here, 6 months seems like too long in this heat. And the internship is not what I had hoped for. Will probably spend my time doing as I please and accompanying Paul on his Missions.
Namiste for now.x
I am in a strange place of starting to get into the Delhi rhythm, but also desperately missing home comforts; like welsh rain and winds! I knew I would miss the cooling wind, and consistent rain (didn't actually) but I have surprised myself again by longing for it! I spoke to Marjorie (Paul's wife) who is currently resisding in Wales with her father not far from my house, and she regaled me with stories of Welsh weather and i was left pining for it. There I was sitting in an overly warm house, with no repiste offered by going outdoors! A very strange concept to those of us used to cooler climes. Though I will say the heat is more bearable due it's 'dry' nature; if it was humid it would make me so sluggish.
I can't wait to get out of Delhi, I am getting warped I think. It is not a true refelction of 'India' by al accounts. The prices are similar to home (well London actually) on some fronts, and on other things it can be very cheap. When people say that India is a country of contrasts they don't exaggerate. It is incredible the inequalities that I witness every day, and participate in.
I assumed for one that as a very hot country things would start later, and end earlier. Wrong, they day really starts up around 9:30 to 10:30, though there are street vendors out 24/7. As i drive (I should say get driven) to work the roads are full of bikes (usually with an entire family aboard, with it only compulsory for the driver to wear a helmet), push bikes (with a passanger on the back), pedestrians and the ever present beggers.
There are so called 'professional beggers' here. A crazy concept to us, but it is a way of life, of making a business. There are real Fagans here, only much more brutal. It is common to see adults and children with missing limbs, this they have done by doctors for pitiful amounts of money so that they may be more succesful in begging. The sympathy ploy. How can it fail to work, especially on us westerners that are unaccustomed to seeing this. If a group of begger children spot me in a car they will stop idling by the road and make a bee line for me, a white woman is presumably soft. I count my self among them. It breaks my heart everytime, but there is no point giving money. Instead there is a ready store of very nutritous biscuits that we hand out instead, hoping that then at least they will get the benefit of our giving, as apposed to Fagan's pocket. The hardest thing to digest its when we escape the heat in modern American style malls (just like home) where there is AC. As you sit and have luch you look down on Delhi below and you will see that at the boundaries of the concrete complex, grand gates stand with security guard that carry out a very minimal check on your vehicle, and just beyond the dirt paements with tarpaulin homes erected everywhere, people (men, women and children) asleep on the floor with no bedding, no belongings in most cases, just surviving. Some stare blankly off into the distance, what they think about I don't know. Just basic things probably, like will I eat today? And there I am struggling to eat my tiger prawns because the heat suppresses my appetite. Never really belive that that is possible until you are there, you live it.
Not that it is all dismal. There is no point letting it drag you down, it doesn't help anyone in the slightest.
So on the weekend I spent Saturday at a pool side, cooling off whikst splasshing arounhd throwing a ball for a friends dog, Jenny. The dog owners are Elizabeth and Jergen. The sat night we all glammed up and attended a European celebration day. All the embassy people were there, charities, and many more. It ended in true style with a bit of a fight with the my host and others. Won't go into detail, but a party isn't a party without a fight, right?
So then sunday I spent wandering around aforementioned Mall, buying some food stuffs and generally looking around. And then back to the pool once again. By this point I started to feel stomache cramps, and be unconfortable. My detail into Delhi Belly will end there. Your imagination can unfortunatly fill in the gaps.So Monday and Tuesday were spent in bed, on the loo, infront of the TV and reading. Generally moping about and feeling very sorry for myself. And missing Sion. Had a little cry, and thought of home.
I am reassessing my stay here, 6 months seems like too long in this heat. And the internship is not what I had hoped for. Will probably spend my time doing as I please and accompanying Paul on his Missions.
Namiste for now.x
Monday, 4 May 2009
First weekend in Dehli
I arrived safe and well on thurs evening at around 11:30 local time. I went trhough customs, where there was a very cursory check for swine flu, literally a form to fill. Very efficient as you can see! I then waited in line for the passport check, where a nice young man struck up conversation with me which was a nice welcome to India. I was one of the last to have the passport check, and the man was very austere, and once finished stamping and looking he looked me straight in the eye and slammed the passport on the counter top!
It took very little time to find my way out and to a warm greeting form my host for the next 6 month Paul. Despite everyone having warned me that the temperature here gets very hot, nothing had prepared me for when I stepped out of the nicely air conditioned arioprt to the dust bowl of Dehli. There is a perpertual haze of dust generated form the work being carried out building a metro, which should help road congestion. The traffic has been extremely kind to me thus far, with very little hold ups, and if there were again I am in an AC cooled vehicle with driver that can cope with the chaos that is Indian driving. There are regular breakdowns, oncoming traffic on your side of the road, bikers with an entire family perched on atop another, not to mention the stray dogs, pigs and cattle that wander hither and thither. This morning on my way to my first day with Save the Children the traffic was a little worse, but stood out to me were the two chaps having a deep converation on what resembled a junction onto a motorway, the only concession here being that Indian drivers tend to keep a slow pace, otherwise it would be carnage. Of course, if you are out on the roads at the early hours then you have to watch out for drunken drivers winding their way across the roads.
The house that I am staying in is a veritable palace, as we drove into Sanik Farms you are in a series of small cul de sacs with housing ranging in size and condition, but genmerally of a higher standard. We paused momentaraly as the gates were opened to reveal a fair sized white builing with balconys as on two levels. I ione again had to set food outdoors into a overly balmy night and made my way to a fantastic dorrway that opened into the most amazing marble, high celinged hallway. To say I was pleasantly suprised doens't quite express my first impression. And it only got better when I had a tour of the house that has been decorated in the Indian style with immense taste. The entire building has marble floors, huge fans, AC, and my bedroom has a huge double bed, walk in wardrobe and en suite. What else could I want, I feel that i have more than landed on my feet.
That first night I sat outdoors with a fan overhead and a beautufully mixed G and T, how very Brit of me.
I have never felt in such an exotic place before, the night air was filled with the sounds of chattering bats of varuous sizes, little birdies and the occassional call of wild peacocks that roost 20 foot in the air not far from the house. Subsequent evenings have been spent in a similar fashion, with ever more sighting of exotic birds such drongos (a very deep call similar to a monkey), and a flock of ibis.
Have to go as I have some work to do! Eeeek!
It took very little time to find my way out and to a warm greeting form my host for the next 6 month Paul. Despite everyone having warned me that the temperature here gets very hot, nothing had prepared me for when I stepped out of the nicely air conditioned arioprt to the dust bowl of Dehli. There is a perpertual haze of dust generated form the work being carried out building a metro, which should help road congestion. The traffic has been extremely kind to me thus far, with very little hold ups, and if there were again I am in an AC cooled vehicle with driver that can cope with the chaos that is Indian driving. There are regular breakdowns, oncoming traffic on your side of the road, bikers with an entire family perched on atop another, not to mention the stray dogs, pigs and cattle that wander hither and thither. This morning on my way to my first day with Save the Children the traffic was a little worse, but stood out to me were the two chaps having a deep converation on what resembled a junction onto a motorway, the only concession here being that Indian drivers tend to keep a slow pace, otherwise it would be carnage. Of course, if you are out on the roads at the early hours then you have to watch out for drunken drivers winding their way across the roads.
The house that I am staying in is a veritable palace, as we drove into Sanik Farms you are in a series of small cul de sacs with housing ranging in size and condition, but genmerally of a higher standard. We paused momentaraly as the gates were opened to reveal a fair sized white builing with balconys as on two levels. I ione again had to set food outdoors into a overly balmy night and made my way to a fantastic dorrway that opened into the most amazing marble, high celinged hallway. To say I was pleasantly suprised doens't quite express my first impression. And it only got better when I had a tour of the house that has been decorated in the Indian style with immense taste. The entire building has marble floors, huge fans, AC, and my bedroom has a huge double bed, walk in wardrobe and en suite. What else could I want, I feel that i have more than landed on my feet.
That first night I sat outdoors with a fan overhead and a beautufully mixed G and T, how very Brit of me.
I have never felt in such an exotic place before, the night air was filled with the sounds of chattering bats of varuous sizes, little birdies and the occassional call of wild peacocks that roost 20 foot in the air not far from the house. Subsequent evenings have been spent in a similar fashion, with ever more sighting of exotic birds such drongos (a very deep call similar to a monkey), and a flock of ibis.
Have to go as I have some work to do! Eeeek!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
