My first morning back in the jungle was indeed a happy one, it was great breathing in some country air (more kerosene
and burning rubbish than diesel and sewage!).
Not that I don’t like the luxury of being in a city for a while but I'd missed the uniqueness of waking up to the sound of the children
practising music at 530, and the high fives from the smiling children walking back from yoga by the lake. Bangalore still had some stories and here's a few:
I had made some other new animal friends whilst being away. About 1/3 of the floor in my hut was covered in Ants. They had kindly entered my metal food box and started to nibble on some perishables. I thought I was being sensible when I cleared out all the ants and food box. Only problem was I left some bananas on my bed. Monkies like bananas so ½ hour later they had lifted a few tiles off my roof and had a little party. They took enough food to feed an army and I’m just glad I arrived back when I did as they’d started to unwrap a packet of johnnies. As a friend suggested ‘sīmius interruptus'?
Despite constant room raids from the Monkies (4 and counting this week) I'm delighted to be back in the camp. After all the luxuries of the big city it was good to be back to raw India. It was funny to think that only a week ago I was in a restaurant which was so high profile our car got a bomb check in the car park and now I’m back on my 7 cent meals in the jungle. My first night back we sat drinking warm milk (they fixed the stove), listening to French jazz, eating cheese someone had brought down from Delhi under a perfect star lit sky. That beats any 5* in Bangalore.
Some of the smiling faces that welcomed me back from Bangalore:
I must be the only person in the world who enjoys the traffic in Bangalore; oddly I found the madness calming. Imagine the busiest junction you've ever seen on a day when the traffic lights aren't working and all the cars are driving as if they are playing Grand Theft Auto with extra points for driving on the opposite side of the road. Driving to meetings back at the school is a little different. Yesterday I rode pillion on a motorbike without a helmet (sorry mum, this is India) over pot holes at 50 kph and avoiding a dog running across a Highway only to see it smash against the front of a truck. We then ran out of petrol, I changed bike and a truck in front of us lost its load (bricks) and we hit a few and skidded (again, sorry mum!). It was at that point I regretted not wearing a helmet but we were fine. The meeting was the best we've had so far and it looks like a big sponsorship deal on the way so well worth the trip.
Some of our sponsorship is for sports equipment as basic a single cricket ball. The kids here are entertained by the simplest of things. If you would like to sponsor one of these amazing children (the perfect Christmas gift!) please click here
I have some German 'Dancin' mates that arrived at the school today so we'll be teaching the kids some Charleston tomorrow. I already had a few swingouts with a friend from the UK in Bangalore (much to the amusement of the locals) so I'm looking forward to 200 children's faces crackin up when they watch a white man dance!
I'm off on hols next week. Firstly to Hampi then to Goa for Christmas with friends and The Sunburn festival. I seriously cannot wait. I'll be back here for New Years. As a sign of the sort of celebrating we do here below is our the Christmas display the volunteers have made. I'm the horse bottom left (the one with the beard)
- Flack Does a Bollywood dance off at an illegal gay house party
- Pepper spray - when to use it and when to avoid it
- I attempt Rosemance - Indian style
- Hindi Lindy or Bolly Hop?
- I enter a wet t-shirt competition at a Literature festival
- I brick it on a bike
- The perfect last minute Christmas present
My last few days in Bangalore were fantastic. We met +150 companies during our stay (speed
networking baby!) and have started to see the rewards already. However, the bright lights of Bangalore still
provided a few laughs:
- On our last day my work colleague left the fridge open overnight and when I asked why he said “its’ still on – see the light is on”.
- During one networking meeting there was a powercut and all the lights went. Someone farted (in a room of CXOs) and NO-ONE laughed. I nearly fell over laughing but that’s india!
- I had a rosmantic night out with a city girl and as my mum brought me up 'proper' I attempted some quality dating etiquette. Picture this, me walking down the street with a stunning Indian girl and I’m trying to walk on the outside of the road (brownie points) avoiding cows, cow dung, live electric wires hanging down and bits of the pavement missing (plus a lovely odour of sewage). We actually ended up at her friend’s house party, a gay party. Bear in mind despite India claiming a modernised culture, homosexuality is still illlegal. It was, however, a hilarious night in which I did a Bollywood dance off. I was never gonna win that against a gay guy, even with my hips! The only downer of the party was a random trying chemical warfare by spraying pepper spray. Let’s just say it killed the Rosemance (temporarily ;) )
- On our last day in Bangalore the school orchestra completed the last of their four performances at the Bangalore Arts Festival. A splendid performance, apart from my own. The one day I chose to wear a white Khurta when I was going to be meeting some of India's high brow literature crew .....just after eating a curry. So, there I was over the sink wishing I'd packed a mini bar of vanish soap in my backpack to remove the curry from my shirt when one of the project supporters spots me and waves me over to introduce me to his friends all of whom were well known poets and authors. First impressions last. Yes Mr White See Through Shirt.
- Just after my shirt had dried and I'd regained my composure I bumped into Aileen, a friend from Ireland. I always meet people I know walking down Grafton Street but with odds of 1 in a billion here it seems the luck of the Iroish is rubbing off on me!
Things had changed when I came back to the school. We finally had solar power in the office which
meant we no longer had the constant phrase of ‘no battery’ and emails failing to download as the generator coughed up it’s last kerosene It also meant I no longer had a good excuse
to go for a walk in the jungle with the dogs at 4 everyday (when my laptop
battery used to run out). The dogs are
about as far from pedigree as you can get. Incest, Rape and Public Porn seem to
be the general pastimes of dogs in developing countries and the dogs here are
pros. Every day they'd form a
tough gang walking along until they'd all slow down at edge of the first farm where the one eyed dog
lives. If there was ever an advert for
Rabies he’d be it. The only dog who
stays around is 'Muscular' as he is made of steel; if One Eye comes towards him
he just stares him out. Muscular doesn't even
bark, he’s the Vinnie Jones of dogs and lucky for me he’s on my side.
Muscular trying to mess with the local cows and realising he's not that big:
Since coming back from Bangalore the dogs are on heat so to prevent warfare (and as there is no pepper spray in the jungle) I just take the lads out. I’ve even been running a few times through the jungle with the lads, very cool terrain to run; especially when you see how freaked out Captain Rabies is when he sees a sweaty tall white guy moving fast surrounded by 4 dogs.
Here's the four lads. Great companions on a run!
'Mumma Love' - The lady dog (she ain't no biatch) who is confined to the school at the moment as we've run out of Pepper Spray:
The solar power means I now have my phone charged all the time (so please call me!). However, unfortunately it doesn't charge the lights so it still means writing this blog is an effort as I have to sit here in the dark with a head torch on acting as a Mosquito Magnet.
One of the workers chilling out after a hard day of fitting solar panels:
Gargamel and Papa Smurf hanging out:
Muscular trying to mess with the local cows and realising he's not that big:
Since coming back from Bangalore the dogs are on heat so to prevent warfare (and as there is no pepper spray in the jungle) I just take the lads out. I’ve even been running a few times through the jungle with the lads, very cool terrain to run; especially when you see how freaked out Captain Rabies is when he sees a sweaty tall white guy moving fast surrounded by 4 dogs.
Here's the four lads. Great companions on a run!
'Mumma Love' - The lady dog (she ain't no biatch) who is confined to the school at the moment as we've run out of Pepper Spray:
The solar power means I now have my phone charged all the time (so please call me!). However, unfortunately it doesn't charge the lights so it still means writing this blog is an effort as I have to sit here in the dark with a head torch on acting as a Mosquito Magnet.
One of the workers chilling out after a hard day of fitting solar panels:
Gargamel and Papa Smurf hanging out:
I had made some other new animal friends whilst being away. About 1/3 of the floor in my hut was covered in Ants. They had kindly entered my metal food box and started to nibble on some perishables. I thought I was being sensible when I cleared out all the ants and food box. Only problem was I left some bananas on my bed. Monkies like bananas so ½ hour later they had lifted a few tiles off my roof and had a little party. They took enough food to feed an army and I’m just glad I arrived back when I did as they’d started to unwrap a packet of johnnies. As a friend suggested ‘sīmius interruptus'?
Despite constant room raids from the Monkies (4 and counting this week) I'm delighted to be back in the camp. After all the luxuries of the big city it was good to be back to raw India. It was funny to think that only a week ago I was in a restaurant which was so high profile our car got a bomb check in the car park and now I’m back on my 7 cent meals in the jungle. My first night back we sat drinking warm milk (they fixed the stove), listening to French jazz, eating cheese someone had brought down from Delhi under a perfect star lit sky. That beats any 5* in Bangalore.
Some of the smiling faces that welcomed me back from Bangalore:
I must be the only person in the world who enjoys the traffic in Bangalore; oddly I found the madness calming. Imagine the busiest junction you've ever seen on a day when the traffic lights aren't working and all the cars are driving as if they are playing Grand Theft Auto with extra points for driving on the opposite side of the road. Driving to meetings back at the school is a little different. Yesterday I rode pillion on a motorbike without a helmet (sorry mum, this is India) over pot holes at 50 kph and avoiding a dog running across a Highway only to see it smash against the front of a truck. We then ran out of petrol, I changed bike and a truck in front of us lost its load (bricks) and we hit a few and skidded (again, sorry mum!). It was at that point I regretted not wearing a helmet but we were fine. The meeting was the best we've had so far and it looks like a big sponsorship deal on the way so well worth the trip.
Some of our sponsorship is for sports equipment as basic a single cricket ball. The kids here are entertained by the simplest of things. If you would like to sponsor one of these amazing children (the perfect Christmas gift!) please click here
I have some German 'Dancin' mates that arrived at the school today so we'll be teaching the kids some Charleston tomorrow. I already had a few swingouts with a friend from the UK in Bangalore (much to the amusement of the locals) so I'm looking forward to 200 children's faces crackin up when they watch a white man dance!
I'm off on hols next week. Firstly to Hampi then to Goa for Christmas with friends and The Sunburn festival. I seriously cannot wait. I'll be back here for New Years. As a sign of the sort of celebrating we do here below is our the Christmas display the volunteers have made. I'm the horse bottom left (the one with the beard)
HAPPY CHRISTMAS LADIES AND GENTS!
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