Paagal hei? (Are you crazy? The most useful Hindi phrase I’ve learnt this week.)

Wow, a lot happens in India in a week. Almost every day is full of new experiences and things I just have to write in my journal to remind me to blog about them. There have also been the more mundane parts of our life in Delhi- the unstructured Hindi lessons which don’t seem to have much effect; the endless waiting for workshops which are late or don’t happen; reading and eating oranges to fill the time. Just one and a half more weeks to go then the real work begins in Lapoeria! It will be sad to leave the friends I’ve made here, but we’ve all come here to be of some use, so...

This week’s experiences that stand out:

1. Remembering that India rewards people that go with the flow, we followed a maze of alleyways filled with stalls selling religious offerings, and ended up in a small but one of the most visited Hindu temples in Delhi, dedicated to Kali, the goddess of time and change. Hindus held back by security guards jostled each other for a glimpse through the window to the figures inside. With the help of these guards we were pulled through the crowds to have a peek and see devotees laying their offerings. How apt, I thought, as we go through this period of change, to be led there inadvertently
2. There are a lot of stray dogs in India, mostly quite thin, dirty and covered in fleas with mangey patches of skin. Being a dog lover I often take pity on these little creatures lying in the street so when a little puppy begged for some food as we went through our nightly ritual of eating veg momos, I caved. I bought a couple of them, cut them up with my fingers and, making sure they were cool enough offered them to the dirty puppy. He looked at them and chose to nibble on a piece of rubber instead. He obviously can’t be that hungry I thought and it made me feel a bit better and that people were looking out for these dogs. Just to provide a balanced view, there are also lots of well cared for dogs in Delhi, European breeds, slightly overweight with collars and leads inevitably owned by the middle classes.
3. With four big sponsors, including the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and a large bank, the free Music in Nehru Park was a lavish affair surrounded by flowers and greenery with white leather sofas for the VIPs, and white floor cushions for the rest of us. Ustad Shahid Parvez is from seven generations of sitar players and I understand he’s pretty famous. It took a while to get into the style of music and take in the contrasting rhythms of the sitar and tabla, and for us to realise he had finished tuning up and doing his soundcheck and was actually performing his piece. All in all a pleasant evening and it reminded me of listening to the free music in Queen Square back home in Bristol.
4. Last Sunday had been earmarked for a Gandhi Day, organised by Debs. First it was off to the Indira Gandhi museum in her former home and the place where she was assassinated in 1984 by two of her own Sikh bodyguards. It contains some of her personal belongings, press cuttings and photographs, plus the sari so was shot in, including blood stains. As security guards aggressively ushered visitors through the rooms, Indian families and groups of school children pushed past each other to catch a glimpse of the said sari and see more everyday items like the pot of pencils which used to stand on her desk. Our final Gandhi stop was to the house where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of this life, before he too was shot in 1948. There seems to be an obsession with how both these important characters in Indian history died, with half of the Gandhi museum dedicated to his death rather than what he achieved whilst alive.
5. Although it may seem trivial, I have to mention Iced Coffees. Delhi has been going through a heat wave. On Monday it hit 39 degrees Celsius, around 8 degrees hotter than it usually is in March. By the afternoon our rooms are filled with hot dusty air and Iced Coffees in the air conditioned Western havens of Cafe Turtle or Cafe Coffee Day seem our only respite.
6. We are all in India for the next year, living and breathing Indian culture and trying to understand the complexities of society here, so books about India have been on almost everyone’s reading list. It was a real treat to hear some of the most well-known authors read from their Delhi themed books, including the Scottish Delhite William Dalrymple at an intimate Penguin Books event on Sunday night.
7. And finally, after hearing our workshop yesterday was postponed, we decided to visit Sarojini market, infamous in Delhi for its cheap Western clothes sold as surplus or faulty goods. As we perused the stalls and bargained hard using our limited Hindi, twice all the clothes started dancing to the rhythms of something dodgy. As rumours of police circulated, entire rails, rows and bags full of Gap, Topshop and H&M branded tops were taken away. What was once a bustling side street, floor to the clouds of clothes, seconds later was empty bar a few unbranded goods.

2 weeks done, 50 to go!

On the anniversary of my first two weeks in India, I thought it was about time I wrote my first blog post. Although I’ve spent time in India before, there’s still been a lot to take in these past 14 days and it feels like I’ve been in Delhi much longer. As well as getting used to the cultural differences, Indian food (eating rice, roti and spicy vegetable curries twice a day), and the Indian pace of life, I’ve also had to come to terms with the fact that I will be living here for 12 months. Back home, so much of my time was spent preparing physically to come out to Delhi- doing paperwork, moving house and saying goodbye to people; I didn’t spend too much time thinking what my life would be life once I got here. The first couple of days were hard. I was jetlagged, home sick and often on the verge of tears, but after a few internal pep talks I’m feeling on good form and ready to start my placement on 1st April. The bottom line is that I know I don’t want to go home, which means I have to make this work and stay. In fact, yesterday I found quite an inspiring quote by Arnie of all people. It’s cheesy, but sometimes cheese is good. That wasn’t the quote in case you were wondering where the cheese thoughts came from. Here it is: “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggle develops your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

So, you’re probably wondering what I’ve been doing in India these last couple of weeks. Well here are some of the highlights:

• Learning Bollywood dancing at the VSO Office

• Having a tour of Old Delhi by some of the current VSO Delhi volunteers, which included visiting the biggest wholesale spice market in Asia (hold your nose, more chillies than you can imagine), going to a Jain Temple, having a banana parantha and eating at the famous Karim’s. We also went to see a charity which looks after street children in a sort of no man’s land between Red Fort (Mughal relic) and Jama Masjid (biggest mosque in India). Quite a contrast between the tourist sites and these kids as young as 5 who have to survive on their own.

• Buying Indian kurtas (tunics), pyjamis (skinny trousers) and dupattas (scarfs) at Sabhyata in Lajpat Nagar market.

• Visiting Puri in Orissa for a three day VSO conference. We got to meet the 60 other VSO India volunteers, learn more about the different VSO programmes, go to the beach and visit the spectacular sun temple in Kornack. The downside was we had to endure two long train journeys (one was 36 hours) and almost everyone in our group got sick during the trip- I was sick in Puri train station and slept for almost the entire train journey home thanks to my Indian sleeping pills.

• Going to the Habitat Centre to hear a lecture by an American guy- Professor Robert Thurman entitled ‘Why Tibet matters?’Apparently he’s the leading expert on Tibetan Buddhism outside of Tibet. One point he made that’s stuck with me is that Tibet has the last glacier outside of the north and south poles, and feeds most of the major rivers in Asia. I’m going to make a real effort to visit Tibet after my placement I think.

• Beginning our yoga classes. No more lie-ins, now we wake up at 5am for an hour of yoga in the beautiful Lodi Gardens, surrounded by bird song. We even did laughing yoga, where you force yourself to laugh but end up laughing for real at everyone else chuckling. Quite amusing.