India - Week One (and a bit)

Yes! I'm finally here. After months of prepping for it, I'm at last on Indian soil.

The 22 Indian Volunteers flew out from Heathrow and spent 24 hours travelling to finally reach Hyderabad. The flight was better than I expected, even had tasty plane food (a miracle). I was lucky enough to have a window seat on the way to Hyderabad and got to see India from above. 

Mumbai Coast

 India is... Unbelievable. Every documentary i'd ever seen on the nation come to life, and then some!All the right things are there; the cows meandering across busy roads, bright yellow auto-ricksaw, beautiful saris, tons of people... the list could go on forever. It's so exciting and interesting. I love it. 

We had a two day orientation from our in-country Representatives - Bharavi and his son Abhilash. They told us everything we needed to know and more. It was a nice welcome to their country. They seem very capable and wise. 

Then finally we were off to Devnar! 

Our first view of the School    

It was not as I had imagined. For one it was huge,  four storeys with a central courtyard. It was Sunday and kids were free. They were running around yelling and having fun. I was surprised by the independence of the students. We met some staff and were brought to our room by a gaggle of excited kids. 

Our room! 

The room is basic but comfortable with two beds a desk and an en suite bog. The bog''s not very cheery but it does the job. We have since moved the beds and desk and put mozzie nets up. We have an extra luxury... a Fridge! This is for a valid reason, to store Diabetes meds for my partner Anna. But doubles as a water cooler (amongst other things). My only complaint would be the NOISE! It's constant, birds chirping, children shouting and singing from all over the building, the sharp screech of a table being dragged around at top speed by hyperactive children and numerous surprise bangs. For me it's a huge change from sleepy Crieff! 

We are frequently visited by nosy kids who bang on the door or appear suddenly at the screen with a cry of "2456 Anna/ Sidra!!" (my name is hard to pronounce). Worse is when they lock us in! But they're so cute it's hard to get too annoyed. 

My PT partner Anna and some girl students

We spent this week settling in, trying to figure out how everything works and meeting the staff. There are 40 staff including teachers, wardens, kitchen staff and admin. Each person has a reason for being there besides a salary. Many have a child who is a pupil. They all clearly care about the school and the children there. I'm inspired by their perseverance and positivity. Despite a  distinct language barrier they are very friendly and welcoming. They've taught us so much about Indian life already. I'm sure we'll become close. 

The language spoken most at the school is Telegu. Anna and I hadn't expected that, we were told it was majority English. The children all speak Telegu and most of the Kitchen Staff don't speak any English. This has lead to many communication problems, but We're slowly learning the language. "Namaskarum" is hello, "Bannunara?" "Bannunomo." How are you? I am fine. "Annam" Rice (very important word). We are also learning Braille as the children are very proficient. 

Adjusting to Indian life hasn't been smooth but it's definitely been interesting! Everyday we've eaten meals in the school canteen. Curry and rice mostly. We eat with our Right (never our left!!) hand, mixing the curry into the rice then attempting to shove it in our cake holes! Not pretty!  There's some kind of curry at every meal. It's normally on the spicy side! We've also had Upma (hard to describe other than stodgy and sweet), Waddu (deep fried rice flour doughnuts packed with green chlli),  various types of sweets and much more. Branded food is also readily available at the many local shops so I won't go hungry. 

We've also learned a lot about customs and culture. For example, I learned after buying a lovely gold and black necklace for 80p, that I couldn't wear it. Why? Because Indian women signify their marriage by wearing black beads on gold chains instead of gold rings. So much you can learn without expecting it! We've also been given a total Indian makeover! 

Ta Dah! Indian Girls.

We were taken Sari shopping and got the blouses made at the local tailors.Putting them on required expert advice so Padma (our "Indian Mum") dressed us. It's super complicated but looks very elegant (even on me). WE wore our hair in the traditional way with a hairclip and fresh flower garland, wor Bindia on our foreheads, our hands had been Mehindi's (henna) by our friend Kavitha and we borrowed Padma's Indian bling. The staff were all very complimentary. 

One culture shock was the attitude to waste. I'd been warned about this but never expected to participate. The surprise came when we had to empty our room bin over the wall. I knew there is a river behind there which is an important habitat. For me it was particularly troubling as I'm going to Study Sustainable Development and so on. I felt very guilty. But it's not too far removed from throwing waste away at landfill, just more direct and more involved. It's more honest in a way. I'm now looking for ways of reducing what I throw out and reusing stuff. It's good for me to experience this. 

Anna doing the deed- she says "Sorry nature" 

We've also been taught how to wash clothes the Indian way. It involves three buckets and a lot of heavy scrubbing! Washing machines are so useful!!

Looking normal washing our clothes in the loo

Leaving out to dry in the hallway - standard practice

We have had a few chances to take classes. Some were thrust upon us. Which to be honest was very stressful as we had no clue what to teach. We now have a timetable, I teach classes 1B, Lower Kindergarden, 4 and once a week 5A. each class is so different. They aren't as well behaved as I expected and the way they've been taught is so different to what I expected too. Many can't understand a direct question, just repeat. But I'l getting better at improvising and problem solving. Riot control... that's a different matter. 

Teacher's day was celebrated at the school on the 5th of September. It's a very special day for the  school. The children take great pride in honoring their teachers. Gift were given and speeches were made. It really showed me the importance of education to the children. Sadly, I fell ill with "Delhi Belly" and missed most of the proceedings. I'm assured it was a good day. 

Pupils and Teachers watching the gift giving 

Overall I'm glad to  be here. There's so much to see, do and learn. I'm so grateful to everyone who got me her and too those taking care of me now.