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!

I nearly get lucky at Diwali and The Vengboys come to town

On the morning of Diwali I woke at 6am with the sounds of the jungle and a tap at my door.  I thought I’d got lucky and was just about to reach for The Barry White ablum when I saw a monkey's arm come round the door.  At least he’d knocked.  The monkies here are pests.  I’ve worked with monkies before and they can be fun but here they come in gangs breaking into huts and steal food, even going so far as to take the tiles of the roof and abseiling each other in like a scene from Mission Impossible.  Lucky for me I was in and my banana stock was saved for the day.  

Diwali is The Hindu Festival of light, celebrating the end of the harvest with a mission to banish evil by lighting lots of candles and offering of gifts and prayers to the goddess Lakshmi.  Although, quite religious, the most visible parts of the festival are decorating everything and I mean ‘everything’ in tinsel and throwing firecrackers at anything that moves.  Based on the amount I had thrown at me, I am pure evil!  We headed down to the local village (pop 150) to celebrate and after visiting several houses to make Pooja (gifts for Lakshmi, the most common one being a plate of cow manure - they love their cows here) we were blasted with the one big speaker in the village playing Western Dance music.  Gangnam Style cracked through the speaker and all the local mud faced children cracked a smile and jumped up and down doing the Gangnam.  The Koreans have A LOT to answer for!  As I haven’t danced in a while I felt obliged to jump in the middle of about 30 kids.  Here is the output.  It might not be pretty but it was hilarious and resulted in one of the local drunks challenging me to a dance off which means I’m now pretty much barred from the village.  I’ll see if we can dig out that video for next time!

So to explain my first project.  KSV is a school which provides education, accommodation, food and healthcare free of charge to +200 underprivileged children in rural southern India.  The project's being going strong for 10 years but with costs increasing and their income sources decreasing they need help.  I'm here to work with their fundraising team to setup a framework for them to work with local Corporates and be self sufficient for the next 3-5 years.  Not an easy task and not quite as boring as it sounds (although when I'm sat in an office at 8pm with a headtorch on I'm not no sure).  At the moment it's school holiday and the place is quiet, new volunteers turned up earlier this week so I'm no longer swo wonsome and don't have to survive with my Hinglish.  200 kids should turn up tomorrow and here's a few faces from the school before it gets crazy.  Right now it's just like camping in the jungle but as of tomorrow I've a feeling it will be more like a zoo :)

Here's just a few important people at the School - The Cook Camla.....as of tomorrow feeding 200 children 3 times/day!

Some of the local kids dropping by before school starts

I'm sure they'll be lots of cute kids here tomorrow but Suprita joined us for yoga this morning by the lake and deserved a photo

Some locals pulling a HAPPY face for Diwali 

I'll be travelling to Bangalore in a few weeks to start introducing the project to corporates and attend a musical concert being played by the school orchestra.  One of my meetings is at 7.15am and I have a 15 second pitch into 50 CXOs.  I looked in the mirror yesterday and as I resembled a cross between Stig of the Dump and Robinson Crusoe decided a trip to the barber was needed.  I remember an experience at a Barber in Peru when I didn't speak Spanish and my only point of reference was a New Kids on the Block poster.  I was hoping my first India experience would be better.  I was wrong.  Never ever get a shave at an Indian Barber when there is cricket on the TV.  To top it off my barber had hiccups and despite repeatedly asking him not to trim my tash (I wanted to grow it so I could wax it up into an Indian curly), he chopped right into it.  Lucky for me it wasn't too brutal.  I know another volunteer who went in looking like ZZ Top and came out looking like Freddie Mercury.  The Indians LOVE their tashes.  Here is a salute to Movember back home..........

Don’t tell my mum

So I’ve finally arrived at my first project.  Upon arrival here I saw a cobra, yesterday there was a report of a tiger killing a cow only a few kms away, and the kids at the school like to tease the local scorpions by lassoing their tails with string and parading them through the school.  This is a long way from Dundrum.

Welcome to my blog.  We could start at my little culture shock of being on such a remote project in Southern India but I’ve already been away for a month and travelled via the homes of both Jane Austin and Ping Pong shows so I’ll start from the beginning.

I spent the first week back in Sense and Sensibility County, my birthplace, Hampshire.  It was a simple fuel stop for food, wine and catching up with family and mates plus my mum ironing all my stuff before I packed it (vital when travelling in India).

My first stop out of Europe was Singapore, which is what I’d describe as ‘fancy pants’.  As an example, my friend’s apartment I was staying in had a 800m running track on the outside of the 50 storey three apartment block (Google ‘The Pinnacle’ in Singapore).  I indulged in more good food and saw the exceptional sights from bars high above in my trekking pants and Havianas (much to many a doorman’s dismay).   

 

My friend Sidonie and I then headed to Thailand.  I hadn’t been since my early 20s and knew ticked all the boxes for easy travel, sun, amazing food and the occasional ping pong.  We checked in to a stunning isolated resort on Ko Phi Phi, an island which had completely destroyed by the Tsunami nearly a decade ago and despite huge loss the place is  once again a buzzing resort with some hidden pockets around the rest of the island where you can find some great Pina Colada, sink into the sand and reeelax :)

After a brief stop back in Singapore and my last dose of luxury for a while, I boarded the plane to Mumbai.  My first few days were spent in an Ashram meeting the Wateraid team to discuss my role starting in March 2013.  I also managed to squeeze in day city tour opting to go with the locals for the price of RUP200 (about €2.50, the same price I’d paid for a Magnum in Singapore!).  It was my first real India experience, I didn’t understand a word of the tour guide and we went to big sites like ‘A shopping centre’ (Nutgrove…….all is forgiven) and ‘A cinema’ but I spent the whole day talking to Indians and I felt like I’d arrived.  The guide is below.  Please note that I didn't 'love' any children.

After 4 days in Mumbai I took the overnight sleeper to Dharwar.  Despite me having to adjust my sleeping pattern to the seller’s constant shouts of ‘Chai, chai, chai’ and my 6”1 body sticking out into the aisle I loved it.  I woke up by hanging out the side of the train tasting my first bit of Rural India and then having a ginger coconut curry for breakfast.  That beats my usual porridge and coffee routine ;)

So here I am on my first project, I’ll go into more detail as to what I’m doing in another blog but this one is basically raising funds for a rural based school.  And rural indeed it is.  We are 1 hour from the nearest town Dharwar and we've little electricity.   I’m living in a mud hut, sharing with lizards and spiders who kindly keep the mosquito quota low.  I’ve also had some new roomies in with the last rain of the monsoon, whenever it rains aswell as my little hut leaking I am joined by a swarm of dwarf frogs. I'm the only volunteer here right now so looking forward to the new group arriving next week.

WARNING: IF EATING STOP NOW

Despite the food being simply amazing in India I have had one 24hours of my stomach ‘acclimatising’.  No matter how hard you try to sanitise your hands every minute it’s difficult to avoid the generosity of the locals offering food.  It was the one day I had to travel for 2 hours from the school (to use the internet!) and having spent the night hovering over a hole with my headtorch on I ended up spending the day with a fever retching out the side of the bus whenever we stopped.  Lucky for me it was just 24 hours.   However, I also learnt a vital lesson I’m a ciotóg and ate with my left hand the first day I arrived here.  I’ve since changed. 

So what are my first impressions of this nation of +1 billion people where 1/3 of the world’s poorest people live with an economy taking the world stage by storm?  I wake up at 6am to the sound of children practicing their classical Indian music and the noise of the older lads rallying around to start a quick cricket match before they start work.  Work practice here is 6 days a week and the cities prove from the overpowering stench of kerosene and sirens of horns that this nation is industrious. 'West is Best' might be gripping the country but the heritage and warmth of the people still remains strong and I love it.

To make communication easier for me here (internet is 1 hour/day – which might sound a good thing but not when you have money to raise!) I’ve a phone and I’d love to hear from you. As we only have electricity for a few hours/day I limit switching my phone on at night to 6-8pm (1.30-3pm GMT) – call or sms me - I 'm on +91 97 417 22 362.

If you’d like to come visit you can come to the school, or you could meet me in Goa for Christmas.  It’s Asia’s biggest dance festival (Sunburn - http://sunburn.in/?festival=sunburn-goa-2012) plus Goa state has the lowest alcohol tax (Barcardi Black around €10 a bottle) and I remember seeing prices for package holidays to Goa for around €300 from Ireland..... so what are you waiting for?

Thanks to everyone who’s been emailing, liking my photos on facebook! Chat soon

Mister Kris