I walked three hours for this

The same person (me!) who in Ireland prefers Café Sol to Starbucks Coffee is now happy to walk three hours for a cup of instant coffee and a Dosa (Indian Pancake).  Well worth the walk, it was bloody lovely!

I have to admit I didn't think my trip would be like this.  I've done my fair share of hard travelling in Africa and S. America and for some reason thought that a project 100km from Goa would at least provide the respite of bright lights and mojitos at the weekends.  How wrong I was, it takes 3 hours to walk to the nearest town, 7 hours to Goa on the bus.  However, walking through the forest this afternoon nearly cracking my teeth on some freshly pulled sugarcane with the only sound above the jungle nature being the children playing in the school, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Headlines this week:                                                                 

• I get more uninvited guests in my room and get a Popeye arm as a result
• 545am wake up bell, morning yoga by the lake with a poetic soundtrack
• I cold call India – the tables are reversed
• How hard can sitting really be?

I remember only a year ago reading a bedtime story to my cute little godson Charlie.  At the time I considered ‘Ring Around the Rose’ was a bit risqué as it was about the Black Plague, ‘Humpty Dumpty’ a bit scary as at the end he’s DEAD but thinking that ‘Goodnight sleeptight’ was a safe bet.  No.  This week I woke up with bed bugs.  I’m really glad I took my beach photos in Thailand as being the vain eejit I am my body is now black and blue with mosquito and bed bug rashes.  I also had a few encounters with the lovely scorpion ant here resulting in a mini Popeye arm reaction to one bite and no hearing for a day from another bite inside my ear.  I’m guessing it’s karma from me spending most of my childhood trying to kill ants in my parent’s garden.

Apart from that there have been few new stories with the creepies.  Baptiste, a French volunteer recalled how the last time he was here a snake entered the shower and he bolted out naked through the school.  Last night Baptiste got shocked down to the ground when he was charging his phone (humans are used to ‘earth’ the electricity here!) so I’ll be keeping an eye on him as he seems to attract the best stories.

It is great having the kids here.  I’ve worked on quite a few projects with disadvantaged children before and it’s truly special to see children from such harsh backgrounds feeling so much joy and happiness from the simplest of things such a wholesome meal and playing ball with their friends.  It soon wakes you up to what’s important in life.  With this project, I’m however, in the office and this week the fundraising team started kicking into action.  I’ve been mentoring the two fundraisers here on how to work with corporates and this week we had our first day of cold calling.  Felt odd calling Indians when they have always been the ones calling me but it worked well.  From our first 6 calls into large corporates in Bangalore we booked 5 meetings with decision makers, and then my battery went.  I remember coming up with some cracking excuses before for not making my targets but never lack of power.  Lucky for us we’d already broken our target and now have 10 days full of meetings to tell people with large purse strings in Bangalore all about this inspiring project.

Now that the kids are back the wake up bell is 545am.  Not quite as bad as it might sound, although tis a little chilly in the morning (yes people of Europe I’m having to cope with temperatures below 10 degrees at night ;) ).  The day starts with the kids practicing their Hindustani classical music.  We have an orchestra here so if you can imagine this on a smaller scale: 

It ain’t half bad.  I then give a yoga class at 630 by the lake.  Sounds almost like a dream when I read that back.  However, we have to put up with mosquito invasions and the occasional villager walking back from the fields and fulfilling their toilet requirements at the lake (then having a wash…..Wateraid India is my next project!).  Shavasana with the peace of the jungle and hum of orchestra in the distance is pretty special but was topped off this week by Swedish volunteer Adina getting a rude awakening by a line of termites eating her mat.  We also sometimes have the poetic Asian sound of Phlegm removal from the locals…….and breathe out…….OM ;)

The day then starts with Nashta (breakfast) and so the days chores start as all the children queue up to wash their hands in order that they can pass their hygiene test and get a plate.  Plates are then cleaned with ash from the kitchen, demonstrating the cleaning power of carbon; something that a European doctor travelling through a few weeks ago thought might be funny to experiment with when prepping for operations in front of his patients!  The meals here are basic but quite special.  We worked out the other day that with the 200 children the average cost of each meal is around 7 cents.  Do you know of any ingredient you can buy for 7 cents? It’s pretty impressive.  

Food time @KSV

The children all sing their grace in harmony then sit content feeding themselves apart from the occasional one who hasn't seen the ginger bearded tall pasty chap before and asks repeated “Wat is your nome”.  Eating in India is where the pace of the country starts.  I’m an adrenaline monkey with little patience but starting with yoga then eating hot Nashta with my hands soon slows things down.   I have to admit, I’m beginning to slow down and cannot wait to see the results of me being here for 6 months.  All meals are taken sitting on the floor, as are classes and my meetings.  That’s a whole lot of sitting plus if you show the sole of your feet it’s an insult.  Indian’s are truly great at this art.  I’m not, however, the pain of sitting on a stone floor during meetings is an excellent distraction from my caffeine withdrawal symptoms. 

Meetings here are unique.  Granted I’m on a rural project and my corp meetings will be different in Bangalore but imagine a big mud hut full of the staff here sitting on the floor (which is, I note, dried cow dung).  What then proceeds is a mix of mobile phones going off, people eating Paan (mouth freshener), the poetic phlegm removal sounds, constant talking over each other and somehow stuff gets done. There is also a classic mix of Khiglish  (Hindi/Kannada/English) with my favourite sentences of the week being:

“He is my cousin’s brother”

 and “What sort of company is it?” ……….”It is a firm sir”

Oddly The Irish Language is one of my reasons for choosing this project.  I remember 10 years ago when I first moved to Ireland how everyone's focus was on getting the newest car in their road and how many apartments they were renting out in D4.  The soul of Ireland, the community based living was fading with the get rich quick Celtic tiger and the language was dying.  Luckily people copped on and just before it was too late and the Irish Language was lost it went through a revival now forming part of any cool kids summer holiday plans.  Hindustani music is in a similar situation here.  It is a massive part of the heritage but 'west is best' is taking over and it's slowly being lost among all the Starbucks and Bollywood movies.  Can we hold on to this special part of Indian history? Is Feidir Linn!




Back to my walk to Dharwar as I took some pretty pics along the way and it really felt like quite a treat of a day.  When you only get 1 day off a week you really appreciate your time off, especially if you have the additional bonus of instant coffee and better internet.  This week the internet wasn’t so good.  In 20 minutes, I read one email whilst all the local children watched my every move from behind (something people also seem to love to do when you are entering your Chip and PIN in shops here).  Then there was a powercut, and that, is the last I saw of my online banking ;).   

Some of the locals on the way to Dharwad........

The gate to no-where.  Just a gate in the middle of a field

Dharwar also has a decent fruit market.  As a foodie, markets are one of my favourite places when I’m travelling, and India has some of the best.  Indian towns and cities are infused with madness; there is very little respite from the odours of Kerosene, Diesel, Incense, Sewage, Burning Rubbish, Sweets, more kerosene.  The markets, however, seem to provide some respite by filling the air full of sweet fruits and flowers.  However  you never escape the car horns and feeling that you are being pushed along in the world’s largest conveyer belt of humans all saying “Wat is your nom”, “Hey man”, “Where are you fram?” and the occasional beggar spotting white skin and putting their arm out.  The one thing that India has on that conveyer belt that no other country has in such abundance is Cows.  You get used to seeing cows everywhere.  From sticking their heads through the window in the morning to walking across the busiest junctions in the cities and the traffic coming to a standstill:  Cows rule this joint.

Some of the kids in the local village

Last night was the first night I’ve really chilled out since arriving in India.  I did plenty of lounging around in Thailand but here things have been manic (in a good way).  However, it was a volunteer’s birthday last night which meant the rare consumption of alcohol on the project (in contradiction to most other volunteer projects I’ve worked on!).  We made a fire up by the volunteers hut and ze French legends Baptiste and Chloe gave us dough to cook over the fire then dip in their homemade papaya jam and tomato sauce.  A clear sky full of stars was then made even better with some local rum punch and tings round the fire.  Two guitars and a harmonica appeared and the night turned into a camp fire to remember. Good Night India.

Night Night, Sleep Tight and Mind the Bed Bugs don’t Bite!