Well the monsoon is well and truly here. You may have seen on CNN etc that there's floods in Mumbai (which we got caught up in) and it doesn't seem much better else where. Work has started to slow down, as we can't get out of our guest house room. The rain is just making anything impossible. It's frustrating as it means our days off are getting eaten up, sitting in rooms looking out at the rain. We have to do a certain things in each area, and so when it's not raining we do that. Then the rain comes and we do nothing :( Hopefully things will get better, but the monsoon is supposed to last until September. Seems like a long way away at the moment!
Hope you're all well xxx
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Monday 13 July 2009
The journey to Mumbai!
The orientation finished in Pondicherry a few days ago, so the hectic journey to Mumbai started. We got a bus from Pondicherry and after 4 hours of sweating, watching a Tollywood film (the souths version of Bollywood), and trying to avoid people sleeping on us, we arrived in Chennai. We headed straight to the train station to stock up on food supplies for the mamouth 30 hr journey to Mumbai. At 22:30 we got on the train and fougth with our bags until we were happy they were securly padlocked to the bottom bunks. After that we pretty much went straight to sleep with inqusitive India eyes peering at us from all directions of the carriage.
In the morning we were woke by Tamil words and a scattering of english, such as "Omlette! Chai! sweets!" I ignored the food sellers pacing up and down the carrage as long as I could. Then at 9:00 I gave in and decided to wak up.
The day sped by, possible because there was nothing to measure time by. It all kind of merged into one. We decided that it was like having a day in bed, but people brought food to you, rather than having to go downstairs for it. We sat and read, chatted, listened to music, etc. We didn't get hastled much either, which was good.
As for the food, we concluded that if someone ate and drank everytime a seller walked down the isle, you would burst after an hour. There was barely 2 minutes between one seller and the next shouting what they had to offer. It kind of dissapeared into the general background noise after an hour or two. The things on offer ranged from a whiskey bottle full of honey, vegetable biriyani, flowers or and a lassi. You couldn't ask for anything else!
So after the full day, we then slept again until 04:00 the next morning. We were rudley awaken by the guards and 'guided' off the train. We had arrived in Mumbai.
In the morning we were woke by Tamil words and a scattering of english, such as "Omlette! Chai! sweets!" I ignored the food sellers pacing up and down the carrage as long as I could. Then at 9:00 I gave in and decided to wak up.
The day sped by, possible because there was nothing to measure time by. It all kind of merged into one. We decided that it was like having a day in bed, but people brought food to you, rather than having to go downstairs for it. We sat and read, chatted, listened to music, etc. We didn't get hastled much either, which was good.
As for the food, we concluded that if someone ate and drank everytime a seller walked down the isle, you would burst after an hour. There was barely 2 minutes between one seller and the next shouting what they had to offer. It kind of dissapeared into the general background noise after an hour or two. The things on offer ranged from a whiskey bottle full of honey, vegetable biriyani, flowers or and a lassi. You couldn't ask for anything else!
So after the full day, we then slept again until 04:00 the next morning. We were rudley awaken by the guards and 'guided' off the train. We had arrived in Mumbai.
Tuesday 7 July 2009
So what are you actually doing in India?
I've realised I've not provided much info on what I'm going to be doing here. So If you're interested, read on. If you're not, you have my complete support to keep on surfing the web :)
I'm working for a volunteering not for profit organisation which send volunteers to India. The main aim is to increase global citizenship within young people from the UK. The idea is that the amount of help you can actually provide in a few months in India is limited. However the young person can make a much bigger and longer term impact by the choices they make when they return to the UK. As a young person with first hand experience of living in India, they can make informed decisions for the rest of their life.
So my role consists of supporting the volunteers. In practical terms this means providing in country training, and visiting them at their place of work. The volunteers will be working all over India, and so my colleague and I will be going to various places. Once we have visited them twice, we'll head back to Pondicherry ready to receive some new volunteers in September, and start the whole thing again. Brilliant! Well, I hope so :)
I'm working for a volunteering not for profit organisation which send volunteers to India. The main aim is to increase global citizenship within young people from the UK. The idea is that the amount of help you can actually provide in a few months in India is limited. However the young person can make a much bigger and longer term impact by the choices they make when they return to the UK. As a young person with first hand experience of living in India, they can make informed decisions for the rest of their life.
So my role consists of supporting the volunteers. In practical terms this means providing in country training, and visiting them at their place of work. The volunteers will be working all over India, and so my colleague and I will be going to various places. Once we have visited them twice, we'll head back to Pondicherry ready to receive some new volunteers in September, and start the whole thing again. Brilliant! Well, I hope so :)
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