My last week as a Delhi Wallah

It's 9am and I'm writing this aboard the Jammu Express train from Delhi to Jaipur, which I've been on since 4.35am. In an hour I will be meeting a representative from GVNML, my placement organisation, who will take me to Laporiya. Emotions have been running high the last day or so. I've been saying goodbye to new friends and anticipating the journey to come. I realised I have actually bought a fair amount of new things in Delhi so fitting them all into 3 bags has been a struggle. I'm certainly not travelling light so I'm hoping I'll have some help getting them out of the train.

The last week or so in Delhi has been eventful. Here are the stand out moments:

Although not a positive, I have to say I spent a few days with dysentery on a high dose of antibiotics. I don't know where I got it from, but I'm glad it came in Delhi with my nice Western toilet rather than the Indian toilet I'm expecting in Laporiya. The first day I felt really better, last Saturday, I met up with Kev, the boyfriend of Fleur, a good friend of mine from home. He was in Delhi after 2 weeks trekking in Leh so I took him on some sightseeing of Old Delhi. As we were browsing the narrow bazaars around Chandi Chowk, motorbikes, bicycle rickshaws carrying tourists, and pedestrians were all trying to find their way through the streets. A rickshaw caught my hip with a piece of metal sticking out from his carriage as he pushed past. My salwars (trousers) ripped and I had a 8 cm long scratch/cut on my hip which developed into an impressive purple and black bruise. The driver didn't stop. I don't think he even realised what he had done. After putting on a brave face I rushed back home to bandage myself up with the First Aid Kit VSO had given us a few days before.
We spent a morning cooking lunch for 25 at the VSO office, under the watchful guidance of Anil and the other VSO cook. After buying the vegetables ourself and spending 2 hours chopping and preparing them, we finally got round to cooking. It was such a fun morning and everyone got to try cooking the various dishes. I even made rotis! See previous post for all the recipes we used. After a sumptuous lunch we were taken to see a Hindi film full of slapstick comedy in the comfiest cinema I've ever been to, with reclining seats and headrests, and were treated to big bags of popcorn and Pepsi.

An NGO called AAA held a workshop with us explaining their work with homeless people in Delhi, followed by a visit to one of their permanent shelters in Old Delhi. Each permanent shelter is owned by the government, but the maintenance is funded by Action Aid India, and each can house 450 people. Homeless men and women pay 6 rupees for 12 hours of shelter, children and the elderly get theirs for free. AAA was set up after research found 150,000 people were living in Delhi without shelter, this has almost doubled with the increase in migrant workers coming to the city. We spent some time drawing, colouring and talking with our limited Hindi to the children at AAA, most of which were orphans. They were so well behaved, reading and doing their homework. It was heartbreaking to think how alone they were. In an ironic twist, VSO took us out for a smart meal at an Italian restaurant afterwards, where a bowl of Penne Cabornara cost 280 rupees.
Indian tradition decrees that when it's your birthday you must bring a cake to work. After a quick Happy Birthday, cake is then smeared on the face of the birthday girl or boy. This week it was Sangita's birthday, a volunteer in South India who was visiting the VSO office in Delhi for meetings. Hence we enjoyed the whole spectacle. I'm looking forward to my birthday!