My Love/Hate relationship with Delhi.

10 Things I love about living in Delhi:

1. There is always something to do. Whether it's a trip to a local monument or going for chai by the side of the road and people watching, you'll be bound to find something to do to wind down in your free time. 
2. Autos. As I've mentioned previously, I love autos. They're fast, cheap (if you're haggling is up to scratch) and usually pretty reliable. Autos are also a really good way of seeing the city as their open sides allow great views of the area you're travelling through. 
3. Food. Another thing I've mentioned before is that the food here is (typically) really good. There's a huge variety of foods from street food snacks to the richest banquets of food put on by families. There is always more than enough food which can be a little uncomfortable when you're expected to have three large meals per day but at least I have no desire to snack anymore! 
4. Shopping. In Delhi you can buy almost anything you want if you know where to look. Walk down almost any residential street and you'll find carts of fresh fruit and vegetables or if you need something more specific, head into your nearest market and you'll be surprised at what you can find. 
5. Practicality. In the UK, if your shoes start falling apart you'd take it as a sign to throw them out and buy new ones. Not here. Most residential areas have a cobbler at the side of the road somewhere. Give him your broken shoes, go about your errands, pop back later and they'll be good as new for the very reasonable cost of Rs5 (around £0.05) 
6. Tailoring. Can't find the perfect style of dress? Like a top but not the material? There's no need to worry. Here you can pick out the perfect fabric, design a top/blouse that you like and have it had made to fit perfectly for as little as Rs250 (around £2.50) 
7. Formal .v. casual. Going to an event and having to dress formally can often cause me to panic slightly; What should I wear? How formal is too formal? How much effort do I have to make with my appearance? Thankfully, here I can throw on some leggings, a Kurta (traditional dress/shirt), a nice shawl and some eyeliner and I'm ready to go. Perfect. 
8. Style. Due to the style of clothing here, you often can't tell the difference between pyjamas and
   trousers. This means I can easily walk around my local area in my PJs without anyone even noticing or
   
   caring.
9. Public holidays. In the UK we have 8 bank holidays per year (correct me if I'm wrong), here there are over 50 official and unofficial holidays therefore plenty of excuses for a celebration! 
10. Can't seem to kick that headache pounding inside your skull? How about some prescription strength pain killers? No need for an actual prescription, just call up you nearest pharmacy and they will deliver almost any medicine you can think of to your front door. Sorted.

  10 things I dislike about Delhi:

1. Water. I don't know why but it really irritates me that I can't drink tap water here.
2. Health. It would be nice to not have to worry about my health all the time, I have been advised to take some supplements (which I am doing) but I still remain unconvinced as to weather this is necessary or, to quote the great Sheldon Cooper, it is just "the ingredients for very expensive urine".
3. Rudeness. In public here, a lot of people don't seem to be aware of the concept of common courtesy. The worst culprits seem to be the older women. I'm all for giving my seat up to elderly people but I somehow feel a lot less willing when they demand that I give them my seat on the metro. I've also never been pushed around by so many old ladies before, they may look weak and frail but if you're in the way of what they want, you'd better brace yourself.
4. Lack of subtlety. This point should probably be grouped with the point above but It bugs me more than enough to qualify for a rant of it's own. Now, I understand that being a 5 foot 7 white girl in Delhi makes me stand out quite a bit, but does this mean that people have to stare quite so much? Maybe I sound like I'm being dramatic but this is the most un-subtle staring I've ever seen. Cars go past and every head (including the drivers) turns to stare as they drive by, People on motorbikes turn round to stare, rather than watching the road ahead, Jaws literally hang open. Surely I can't be that interesting!
5. Style. Three words: socks and flip-flops. Need I say more?
6. Buying clothes. When shopping for clothes here I have to put up with the extremely un-flattering calls of "don't worry, I have big sizes for you" and people trying to sell me huge items of clothing, then arguing with me that the correct size will be too small for me. Thanks but I think I'm capable of deciding what will fit me. I tend to finish shopping feeling pretty self concious to say the least.
7. Food options. I recently discovered that I have developed an intolerance to gluten, meaning that my options for food here have become pretty limited. I have never eaten so much rice in my life. My nightmares are haunted by the stuff!
8. Vegetarianism. I can't remember the last time I ate meat. I want a roast dinner.
9. Drinking culture. There is a very different drinking culture here than in the UK, unfortunately this means I can't just nip to the pub after work to chill out with my friends. In fact, I can't remember the last time I drank alcohol which feels pretty strange seeing as my friends in the UK are drinking themselves silly at uni.
10. Age. So, I recently turned 20, meaning I'm officially no longer a teenager. This, plus the fact that I've managed to move 5000 miles away from home by myself, gave me the impression that I should be treated as an adult. Clearly I was mistaken. For the first time in my life, I have a curfew. Yes, a curfew! 9.30pm! Also people often seem to assume that I can't do things for myself too. I decide to cook, people get shocked. I walk home in the dark, people worry. I offer to help, people look more than a bit perplexed at the idea. 

My room mates say I complain too much, which I blame on being British (it's what we do) so I thought I'd prove that though I can find plenty of things to complain about, there are so many things that I love about living in Delhi too. It's just as well really, I can't afford a flight back to the UK...

Big changes for all the family.

So, I am now officially part of a family of nomads. On 21^st September my parents took the final step towards being free from the shackles of responsibility by flying out to their new home in The Gambia. This plan is one that had been brewing since before I can remember, and even then I wasn't really aware of it until fairly recently. I've always realised, though not always consciously, that they haven’t been completely happy living ‘ordinary’ lives with jobs, responsibilities and a mortgage etc. So when their biggest (though obviously most delightful) responsibility, me, decided to move to India, they saw their opportunity to get out. After countless Skype meetings and plans ‘a’ through ‘q’ being conjured up and tossed aside, my parents finally had everything set into place. They booked their flights roughly a month after mine which, for me, meant that I managed to avoid almost all of the hassle of boxing up our belongings and selling the house! To find out more about how they’re coping in The Gambia and the work that they’re doing, visit their blog at http://dunlopmarshallwyce.wordpress.com/

Back to school

So, I've been living in Delhi for over a month now and I'm happy to say it feels completely normal. After taking a couple of days to get back into the swing of things, I haven’t really thought twice about the fact that my 19-year-old self decided to uproot, and move 5000 miles away from the only home I remember living in. My parents definitely played a big part in my decision as, without them, there’s no way I would have the confidence to be here right now. They have always been very supportive of whatever I have chosen to do in my life and they were very keen for me to come out here and have the best opportunities I can. “Fuck it, just go. Why the hell not” I believe were my father’s words on the matter. So here I am. Surrounded by great friends, with a really interesting job, in a country that never stops amazing and surprising me. What more could a girl ask for?

One thing I’d been really looking forward to ever since I started planning my return to Delhi, was visiting the school I worked at last time I was here. I couldn't shift the strange feeling in the back of my mind that the kids would have forgotten all about me by now. I needn't have worried. Not only did they remember me (I stepped in the gates and was swarmed with kids screaming “Jess didi! Jess didi!”), but they also managed to remember all the little things they used to wind me up about; mainly my very poor Hindi. I had organised to visit at the same time as the Teach for India fellow who led my volunteer project last time I was here, and who has taught me so much and played a massive role in my decision to come back to India (he is somewhat of a mentor but I'm yet to find a way of explaining this without sounding unbelievably lame!). By the time we had both arrived, the kids were well and truly bouncing off the walls and deep down I was too, though I had to pretend to be a grown up (until break time at least). After both observing and helping out in the lessons, I felt right back at home and it didn't half tug on my heartstrings when the kids asked if I would be coming back the following day. It was really great to visit the school and to see all the kids again and though it is no longer ‘my school’, it will always hold a place in my heart and feel a little bit like home.

Back where I belong

So 4 months on and I'm back in Delhi! 

After the usual cramped-up sleepless flight I arrived at Delhi airport to meet the taxi driver that my friend had booked for me to take me back to our accommodation. After struggling in the heat after a 5 minute walk to the car park with all my belongings strapped to my back, I swiftly drifted off to sleep to the familiar sounds of horns and shouting.

 After settling in to my accommodation (sharing a room with 2 other girls, one of whom I met on my last trip), my friend and I set off to surprise all of my other friends here in Delhi. For the last month or so I have had to lie to my friends about coming back to India, which was not easy, considering that at least once a day someone would ask me "when are you coming back to Delhi' to which my response was always "I'm not sure, probably mid September". Now, how I managed to keep this up for so long I don't know but it certainly paid off! Each time I jumped out of some obscure hiding place to surprise one of my friends, their faces froze in disbelief. To say the least, I found this hilarious!

 After finally surprising each of my friends we sat down for food and I instantly felt like everything was back to how it should be; In the country I love, with people I love and the food that I've missed. I have been in India for 2 days now and it still hasn't really sunk in yet. I'm sat in my room with our cooking lady sat on the floor gazing at me in bemusement and I really feel that this is where I'm meant to be (maybe without the eyes following me though!) Happy Independence day!

Life after India

So here I am, 1 month later, sat in my house in the great British countryside, with clean clothes, a working shower, drinking water straight from the tap, sat on a comfy sofa, with a glass of red wine in hand. This is everything I missed while I was away so why doesn’t it feel as great as I imagined? I find myself missing so much I never thought I would while I was there; the hustle and bustle of the streets and trying to avoid getting run over. Buying freshly squeezed orange juice at the side of the road on a hot day. The jolly old man who owned our local corner shop who must have thought we had the worst diets ever! Feeling like the coolest, most attractive person ever while walking down the street even when in reality you actually look dreadful. Having people in my apartment keeping me awake at night playing the world’s loudest game of snakes and ladders. Having to shower under a waist-high tap. Being able to walk to the shops in my pyjamas with my face covered in paint without anyone looking twice. Forcing 5 people into a 3-seater auto and getting dead legs. The noise (it’s so quiet here!). Having a large group of friends nearby, always up for doing something and willing to act as tour guides. Countless invites to family dinners. Walking into school and being mobbed by a group of kids who look up to me even though I don’t really know what I’m talking about most of the time. Finding surprise videos of the kids misbehaving on my camera. Just generally being adored, though I am probably just misinterpreting fascination and good hospitality.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is I BLOODY MISS INDIA!

Soppy farewells

It’s time to turn on the waterworks... again. After school had finished I had more time to hang out with the other volunteers and friends who I met during my trip. Because of this, saying goodbye was all the more difficult because of the strength of these friendships. I consider some of the friends I made on this trip better friends than many that I have had back in the UK. Now, I don’t consider myself to be much of a crier, though other people may disagree, but my goodbyes in India were major exceptions. This is the end of the most incredible life changing experience, how could I not cry?

After saying goodbye to our Indian friends and volunteers, we headed to the airport, had our last beedi (Indian cigarette) in the hot Indian sun and went to check in to our flight. Upon checking in, me and 2 of my friends were upgraded to premium economy, this definitely lifted our spirits! We were met on the flight with offers of champagne and an even nicer surprise when I looked up and saw Hugh Laurie coming out of the toilet. “Hey guys! Hugh Laurie just came out of the bog!”

After landing we had to do yet more goodbyes which was once again very difficult. I had to say goodbye to the people I had lived with for the last 3 months, they had been my support system and my family and now I was leaving them. So, here I am back in dull old England, freezing my arse off and crying on the train back to York. What a sight I must be!

My last 2 weeks at school

In the last weeks of school most of our work consisted of tying up loose ends and creating display boards presenting the work we had done throughout our project. Stepping back and looking at the work we’ve done gave me a real sense of achievement and I’m so proud of all that we’ve accomplished! It is one thing to design and create a garden and library within a school but it is something else entirely to see the kids faces when they’re climbing on the monkey bars or reading a book in clear English from the library. Most rewarding of all is hearing “thank you didi. I love our new garden” and lots more positive feedback from the children, that’s the real reason I was so passionate about this project, it’s all about doing things for the children that will hopefully be sustained after we leave.

My last day at school was an emotional one to say the least. The children showered me with homemade cards stating how beautiful and amazing I am! I also received a wonderful reference from the Teach For India fellows that managed to start off my waterworks. There is something very surreal about standing in front of a class of 40 children in India sobbing and trying to explain how I’m feeling in broken English so the kids will understand me. I have decided that the worst thing to hear when you’re crying is “Why you cry didi? When you cry, it makes us want to cry”.

I’ve had an incredible experience in this school, I have learnt so much about the world and myself and I consider this the most rewarding experience of my life and I’ll never forget it. (Right, that’s enough cheese for one day!)

Happy Holi!

We have been lucky enough to celebrate one of the biggest Indian festivals in the heart of India, happy Holi!

The day before Holi there is a sort of mini Holi called Choti Holi. This is like the equivalent of Christmas Eve. Choti Holi was supposed to be a working day for us but very little work got done. After about an hour working in the office we decided to call it a day and start playing. The whole basis of Holi is to throw powdered paint and water at each other and...well, that’s about it. After lots of mess and screaming like kids, we decided to head home only to find that our water had run out. Great. We decided to spend the evening in our apartment, having a few drinks and generally getting in the ‘festive’ spirit.

The next day we slept in and missed Holi. Holi is traditionally celebrated in the morning and by the time we got up at midday it was pretty much over. Covered in yesterdays paint and sporting foggy heads, we braved the streets to get to the office. During Holi the streets are a dangerous place unless you like being attacked with water bombs everywhere you go. We got to the office, meeting a few of the staff members who were all more than a little intoxicated, even the shy little man Prakida who made everyone tea and dinner every day. It was in fact a little disturbing but he was clearly having a great time. After a half hearted day of Holi on the office roof we headed home to find that we still had no water. There was nothing to do but sleep. It was an eventful couple of days to say the least!

My 6th, 7th and 8th weeks at school

These last few weeks at school have been very eventful. We have been doing lots of painting, mainly the cartoon murals on the 'Thankfulness wall'. We have had contractors in who have built play apparatus and benches out of bamboo, which we painted. They also helped make benches out of scrap metal, which we painted. They also made a bamboo compost pit, which we painted. As well as all of this painting, we had to cut, order and staple endless amounts of books for our new library. All in all it has been an exhausting but overall rewarding few weeks!

Being a woman in Delhi

Before we set off for India the Delhi rape case was hitting the headlines and everyone had the same reaction when I told them I was going to India for 3 months; “Oh...!”

Undeterred, I did my research and realised that being a woman was going to be pretty different even without the news headlines. So with my ‘appropriate’ clothing packed I was on my way. On arrival we were briefed about etiquette and appropriate behaviour e.g. if you meet a friend of the opposite sex in the street, you have to shake hands rather than hug. We were told that in many areas even married couples can’t hold hands in public.

Though women here are generally ‘repressed’ compared to women in the UK, I have met a few feminists out here. I do find it a little bit difficult to see the way these women think as, in the UK I have every bit of freedom I could want and it would seem bizarre for me to be controlled by a man. My reason for finding the Indian feminists views odd are that though these women claim to believe in empowerment and equality, they still insist on men escorting them places as they believe it is unsafe otherwise. This frustrates me somewhat as in my views, if a woman claims to need a man to help her then men will continue to believe that she is helpless. But then again, who am I to judge other people’s views? I obviously don’t know everything about life here and maybe it is safer to travel with a man, I don’t know, but for now it will remain a mystery to me.

My 4th and 5th weeks at school

These past couple of weeks I have realised how unorganised it can be here. When the Headmistress is away for the day, most of the government teachers don’t seem to care what the kids get up to. This includes not making them come to the English and Gardening sessions we hold for them. This can be frustrating at times but we’ve learnt to adapt and find other work to do instead. One thing we are never short of is work.

The school has 5 key values to uphold: Thankfulness, Independence, Growth, Excellence and Respect, or TIGER for short. We have designated 5 areas to represent these values around the school. This week we started on ‘the Thankfulness wall’, some volunteers came in to help whitewash the walls, which was pretty tricky given our tools (large brushes made from straw). Very messy.

This week also included the biggest day yet in terms of progress in the garden. Thursday 21st February was grass laying day! 5 volunteers came to school and in 1 day we laid 700 square feet of grass throughout the garden. It was not easy either! It was a hot day with no shade to protect us but we powered on nevertheless and there was a real sense of achievement when we finished.

The rest of these 2 weeks were spent planting more plants including the cacti in the front of the school and the book cupboards arrived so we had a lot more painting to do.

Night life

From what we have experienced, there doesn't seem to be a huge drinking culture in India; there are no casual bars down the street to have a few casual beers after work (not that we saw anyway). We were told that it would be difficult for us to get alcohol but some of our more laid back Indian volunteers offered to take us out drinking. We all crammed into autos and headed off to a place called Hauz Khas village. This was basically the equivalent of the local strip and was pretty westernised. Most of the music is western and it’s one of those places where you feel like you could be anywhere in the world. Most of the places seem to close around 1am, when the police shut them down. Delhi is definitely the city that always sleeps. Don’t expect to buy anything after 11pm, you might have to travel for ages to find anywhere still open at that time.

Food, glorious food!

My favourite Indian foods are:

·         Kadai chicken

·         Afghani chicken

·         Egg curry

·         Butter naan

·         Aloo paratha (paratha stuffed with potato and chilli)

·         Aloo tikki (street food. Fried potato cakes)

·         Pani puri (street food. ‘water balls’)

·         Chole bhature (street food. Chickpea curry and fried bread)

·         Curd (similar to natural yogurt. Eaten sweetened or with salt and pepper)

·         Kheer (Indian rice pudding)

·         Jalebi (street food. Sweet fried batter)  

We don’t really get many opportunities to eat western food so our western ‘treats’ include:

·         Cheese slices (the plastic stuff you put on burgers)

·         Sour cream and onion crisps

·         5 rupee lollies (Ice lollies...for 5 rupees)

·         Biscuits

·         Toast

Our local corner shop owner must really love us!

Being tourists in our spare time

When we aren’t working or napping, there is nothing we like more to do than to take some time out to be tourists. Some of the places we visited are:

·         Markets: Jampath, Chandi Chowk, Sarojini Nagar etc. Markets are a great place to spend the day even if you’re not looking to buy anything; they are lively, there’s always something going on and the smells will make your mouth water. You may not intend to spend money but you will, you’ll be hungry and sparkly things will catch your eyes, plus  the stall owners will make everything seem so much more tempting by calling out advertisements “For you I give best price” “HEY ladies, buy necklace! So pretty” or just using downright flattery “You are very nice, very lovely. Please buy”

·         Lotus temple: a very strange place. As far as places of worship go it has a very strange atmosphere, it’s cold, empty and everything echoes. To make it even stranger, we were given a leaflet explaining the beliefs and views of the creators of the temple. I’ll leave you to do your own research here though.

·         Dilli Haat: Our favourite hangout. A craft market with great food stalls and often live events including music and we even went to Indian Comic Con there!

·         India Gate and the presidential gardens: The first area of un-littered grass we’d seen and of course we made the most of it and like to spend many a free afternoon sleeping on this grass.

·         Humayans tomb

·         Akshardham temple: a great place until we found out that a colony had been displaced to build it.

·         Lodi gardens: one of my favourite places to nap in the sun and de-stress.

·         Gurudwara Bangla Sahib: Beautiful temple with a huge pool with fish in the courtyard. A nice taste of culture.

Wedding crashers

One of our national volunteers invited us to her cousin's wedding; of course we agreed, Indian weddings are said to be incredible!

Humour me for a second and imagine this: you’re a celebrity. Every step you take seems to trigger a series of camera flashes. Teenagers are filming your every move on their phones and mothers hand you their babies to hold. EVERYONE is staring at you in awe. This is what it felt like walking into the wedding and no, I’m not exaggerating!

Trying not to notice the crowd of people following us, we settled down for some food. The food was incredible, rich spicy curries, mountains of rice and so many kinds of Indian bread, it was a world away from our plain vegetable curries and chapattis every night. After eating we all decided to have a look at the bride and groom, sat looking very bored on their throne-like sofa on stage for all to see. I did feel a little guilty that we were attracting more attention than them mind. We then had to circle round the bride and groom to be photographed (I’m sure they’ll look back at their wedding photos and think...who the hell are those foreigners again?)

After this I went to get a drink. I had been gone no more than 5 minutes but when I returned I found that the dance floor had been cleared, the Indian music had stopped and been replaced with ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent and my fellow British volunteers had been made to dance for everyone. I had two options; go and join my friends on the dance floor or linger amongst the Indian guests gawping at them. Of course I chose the latter. The people around me didn’t seem to understand why I was laughing so much but they seemed to be enjoying themselves just as much so all was well. I felt a firm grip on my forearm as one of the national volunteers guided me through the crowds, rounded up the other volunteers and escorted us out of the building. After about half an hour of trying to leave but being held back by people insisting on photographs with us, we were finally on our way home. I won’t lie, fame isn’t all it’s made out to be...

My 2nd and 3rd weeks at school

One of the issues with having a garden project is that when it rains, no work can be done. During these past couple of weeks, there has been heavy rain and flooding so progress in the garden has been pretty minimal. Despite the rain we managed to start the heavy work in the garden. Our first task was to uproot some ‘lal kaner’ plants from one area of the garden (planted by previous volunteers) and replanting them in a corner of the garden imaginatively named the kaner area. We had a small group of kids helping us, openly displaying a genuine eagerness to help which was really nice. These kids also just seemed fascinated by me and my ungraceful demeanour “Jessdi you are strong like man”. At home I would probably take being likened to a man as an insult but I decided to take it as a compliment this time.
Once the rain cleared up, our gardening sessions started to get back on track. Though we work with the Teach For India fellows, we work with both the TFI and the non TFI classes. This highlighted the contrast between the two different groups of kids. The children in our sessions were naughty little buggers but great fun too. I don’t know what it is but I always get on better with the cheeky kids.

We are now regulars at the local nursery and the staff there are not so fussed about me anymore, I still have no idea what’s going on there mind. My current most used phrase is “can you translate please”. On the plus side we now have new plants and some of our other volunteers came to school to help us plants them. Progress has started!

Another world...just around the corner

It’s more than 2 weeks into our trip now and a few of us decided to go out and explore our neighbourhood a little bit more, to get to know the area better. We were walking around, surrounded by the usual sights; small stalls selling fruit, waste everywhere and countless stray dogs sleeping on the roofs of abandoned cars. We turned a corner and the skyline was taken over by ‘Select Citywalk’ mall. It had been mentioned to us in passing that there was a mall nearby but this was not at all what we expected. This huge complex looked like it should be in the centre of a large city in America, not surrounded by wasteland in Delhi. As soon as we stepped inside we instantly realised how dirty and scruffy we were. It genuinely felt like a different world! Compared to where we were living this felt like pure luxury, for a moment we forgot where we were living and that we were visiting on a development programme. It was very surreal to say the least.
“I feel like I could eat my dinner off this floor, it’s probably cleaner than our plates back home”
We stepped outside and were back to ‘normality’, surrounded by street kids trying to put their hands in our pockets and clambering over piles of waste to get back to our apartments. To many, this is considered a symbol of ‘the real India’; the closeness of the ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ areas, they are literally on each other’s doorstep.

“Oh god I think I’ve got Delhi belly”

As the title suggests, I’m not well so I’ll keep this post short.
I have travelled a fair bit in the past but have never really been ill on my travels...that is until now. So far I have spent a lot of my time feeling under the weather, in the first few days I came down with the cold of all colds and I hadn’t even left the hotel yet. Since then I have been down with ‘Delhi belly’ quite a lot. I have now had 2 visits to the doctor, including 2 surprise injections (the surprise being that the injections were to go in my bum cheeks!) and have now been diagnosed with having a bacterial infection in my gut. I’m not entirely sure what this means but my medication seems to be working so I can’t complain. On the plus side people keep telling me I look good i.e. I’ve lost weight...

My top 10 Indian ‘customs’

These are not necessarily actual Indian customs, just ones that I have experienced whilst in India.

1. If it is your birthday you must feed everyone cake and in return they will smear cake all over your face.
2. You must not touch books or paper with your feet.
3. Some people refuse to eat meat on Tuesdays.
4. If a song starts playing you must stop what you are doing and sing along whilst performing the entire dance routine (you must know full dance routines to all songs)
5.  If food is offered to you, you must take it and eat it, no matter how full you are.
6. You are not complete without an Indian name, mine being Jaswinder Kumar Singh.
7. You must touch the feet of your elders to show respect (a difficult one to understand for those of us with foot phobias...).
8. As a woman, it is not safe to travel without a man with you (compromises had to be made between the Indians and the 7 strong minded British female volunteers).
9. If you meet a friend of the opposite sex in the street, you must refrain from hugging (no matter how pleased you are to see each other) and shake hands.
10. If you forget anyone’s name there are 4 names you can fall back on: Bhaiya=man/boy older than yourself, Didi=woman/girl older than yourself, Uncle=older man, Auntie=older woman and Chotu=Children.

Getting around

Without a doubt, the most iconic form of transport in Delhi is the auto rickshaw, or auto for short. Autos also happen to be my favourite way of getting around. After finding an auto that is willing to take you where you want to go and haggling (though it often feels more like arguing) from the ridiculous tourist prices you’re sorted. Autos are fast due to their ability to fit through alarmingly small gaps in traffic and for some reason traffic lights don’t seem to apply to them. Another advantage, as explained by a rather enthusiastic auto driver, was the ‘natural air conditioning’ due to the open sides which is great on a hot day but not so fun in winter.

Another great way to get around in Delhi is the metro. Now, I don’t mean to sound over the top but the Delhi metro is by far the best underground system I have ever used. It’s spotlessly clean, smooth, fast and seemingly always on time. Very impressive.

One of the stranger ways of getting around is by cycle rickshaw. Sounds fun right? If you like watching people suffer then I’m sure you’d love watching a skinny little man panting while trying desperately to pedal a rickshaw with 3 not-so-skinny Brits in the back. Obviously there was a small element of fun but overall I found myself just feeling guilty and paying the drivers ‘too much’ to make up for it.

My 1st week at school

Monday 28^th January: my first day at school. After an early start (school starts at 8am) I met the three Teach for India fellows: Tarun, Vatsala and Preetika who I would be working with for the next three months and then got straight to work on my project. I am a firm believer that being thrown in at the deep end ‘forces’ you to adapt quickly to your environment and, for me, it is the best way to work. Luckily, that is exactly how my time at school began; in our first gardening session 100 kids turned up in the school courtyard, I assumed there had been some sort of mix-up but I was assured this was perfectly normal. Between myself, my counterpart and one of the TFI fellows we handed out the tools, including pickaxes (yes, pickaxes!) and got straight to work.

 Though I spoke no Hindi and the kids spoke very little English, I somehow managed not only to keep my groups under control but also formed strange little friendships with these kids, especially the cheeky ones (I wonder why...). I quickly learnt that controlling a group of rebellious kids isn’t all about shouting, though it often involves a little bit, it’s about allowing the kids to be themselves and in return they will respect you and your authority. Well, that’s the theory anyway. Before long I was no longer just Jess, I had transformed into ‘Jess didi’ or ‘Jassydi’ for short. This may sound a little dramatic but I suddenly had this popularity I’d never seen before, everywhere I went, kids wanted to shake my hand or play with my hair and I had this magic pasty skin that turns red if you press it (this would keep the kids entertained for hours on end if they had their way and it didn’t hurt so much), everyone knew my name and wanted to talk to me, I really did feel like a completely different person.

As well as gardening sessions, we also helped out with English lessons where I took the opportunity to learn a little Hindi. In my first week I learnt: Big=Baṛā, Small=Chōtā, Boy=Laṛakā and Girl=Laṛaki (Sorry about any possible spelling mistakes). During our first week at school we also visited the local nursery to get some ideas of which plants we wanted to buy for the garden. This was an interesting experience to say the least; I was stared at rather a lot, nobody spoke English and they all seemed very confused as to why this white girl had come to their nursery. I get the feeling that these are looks I’m going to have to get used to during my trip but I can’t wait for my school project to really get under way!

First impressions...

When we first arrived in our office in Malviya Nagar (our local community for the next 11 weeks) we were given our counterpart pairings and told which projects we would be working on. I was paired up with a national volunteer called Eshaan. We were then informed that we would be managing a project by ourselves which was more than a little bit daunting, considering that we were only 18 and 19 and had no previous experience managing such a large project (or any project in my case). Even more daunting was the fact that of the 3 groups, we were the only group with just 2 members; there's a team called Pagdandi (meaning a small alternative pathway which is difficult to cross but you can still reach your goal), a children's team running sessions outside of school in subjects like English, maths, drama etc. The Pagdandi team consists of 10 volunteers, the other team, Influence, consists of 8 volunteers. The Influence team works on a campaign on responsible consumerism within the local area.
Our team, imaginatively named 'the school team', was to manage a project in a local MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) school to create a garden space and a library for the children of the school. MCD schools are extremely basic and have little, if any, resources to aid the children's learning. Many teachers choose to spend their days sitting in the sun drinking chai rather than teaching their classes (obviously there are always exceptions but I found this attitude pretty difficult to deal with at first). We were told that our job was to make the school a comfortable environment that would encourage the children to learn independently. In our school we were to work with 3 Teach For India fellows who have made it their mission to create this safe and enjoyable environment for the children.
On our first trip to the school I realised that the stories I had heard about MCD schools were not exaggerations as I had expected but in fact an unfortunate truth. Though I was shocked by the bare rooms and bleak building, I was informed that as far as MCD schools go, this was a nice exception due to the work put in by the Teach For India fellows and previous volunteers.
The previous cycle of ICS volunteers had started the project and had begun to create the creative environment that would grow to become our vision. Though this work had been started, the garden area was still very basic and within moments of seeing it we became excited by the potential we saw in the project and could already imagine the beautiful space for the children to enjoy. Seeing the school was a stark realisation of the mammoth task given to such young and inexperienced volunteers but we were so grateful to be trusted with such responsibility.
Our basic brief was to create a beautiful garden space with the children responsible for its upkeep, a waste management system including compost and recycling to be sustained by the children and also to create an open library for the children to use as they were not allowed to use the current 'limited access' library. We had a lot of work ahead of us!

Our first experience of the real India.

The majority of the next 4 days in India were spent in a conference room during our ICO (in-country orientation) apart from one morning spent on a tour of old Delhi, which was our first experience of real life in Delhi. We gathered early and headed to the nearest metro station where I first realised that being a female here is very different than in the UK, as the girls were split up from our male teammates and had to queue separately to get through to the platforms. I was also surprised by the level of security as we passed through a metal detector, scanned by security staff and had to put our bags through an X-ray machine. Going through security barely added any time to our journey so I find myself wondering why the underground in London doesn't have such levels of security. Comparing the metro to the London underground was rather surprising. The metro is cleaner, cooler and much more spacious than the underground, plus it's a lot less confusing for a rookie to get from A to B.
In old Delhi we were taken on a tour of the history and architecture of the area. We visited Jama Masjid mosque, one of the largest mosques in India which was stunning, yet pretty hilarious, as the inappropriately dressed western tourists were forced to wear floor length hospital-type gowns with garish childlike patterns printed on them in bright blues, pinks and yellows. They were utterly hideous. It just goes to show that being respectful pays off in many ways and we all felt more than a bit smug with our shawls and full length trousers.
Next was something I'd been looking forward to since I found out that I was going to India. We tried our first street food. We crowded round tables of curry and some fried breads -Poori Aloo. This food was full of flavour and spice and was so much lighter and fiery than our hotel food. We were surprised to hear that the national volunteers found the food very spicy whereas the majority of the international volunteers, myself included, found it amazing! We then headed back to the hotel for the rest of our training.



                         

An urban lullaby in the heart of Delhi

My first experience of life in Delhi, was stepping out of the airport and being greeted with the sight of several police officers with rather large guns. This was more than a little bit unsettling but we had all arrived with open minds so carried on with little fuss. Our next test of nerve came in the form of a bus journey to our training venue. Though one of the most common things said to me about India before I set off was to watch out for the driving, I still wasn't quite prepared for this journey. To sum up Indian driving I'd have to say that the most important part of the vehicle is not the brakes, nor the mirrors, but the horn. The constant sound of honking horns is one that I soon get used in to but is more than a little irritating. As a driver in the UK I would consider the horn as a warning to other drivers if they pull out in front of you or start snoozing as the traffic lights turn green. Here, the horn means everything and nothing all at once. Instead of indicating, people use the horn. Instead of fixing their brake lights, people use the horn. Instead of checking their mirrors, they use the horn. Often honking your horn just means "I'm here" or "you're driving too slow for my liking" or quite often "look at that white person!". Experiencing Indian roads for the first time was definitely an experience. Looking out the back widow of the bus we saw people hanging off the side of buses, people on motorbikes, scooters and bicycles squeezing themselves through the narrowest gaps between vehicles. Lanes were painted onto the road but seen as decoration rather than guidelines and one of the scariest things was seeing that people just don't stop at junctions, they keep on driving and assume everyone else will slow down to let them through. After about 10 minutes of such excitement we all fell asleep to the lullaby of screeching breaks and beeping horns.
After a quick nap and tense game of Harry Potter top trumps, we arrived at our training venue: a rather fancy 4 star hotel. We were quickly informed that this venue was chosen solely on the size, as we were a group of 60 volunteers, and not to get used to the luxury. We were given our room keys and warned that there might already be someone in our room as we were all sharing with national volunteers. Like zombies we all stumbled to our rooms, hoping to find them empty so we could nap and shower before introducing ourselves. On entering my room, I did not find my roommate so treated myself to a nice hot shower. Note to self - make the most of having a nice shower for the next 4 days, it's bucket baths for the rest of the trip! Feeling almost human again, I headed out to meet the other volunteers over lunch and find that, thankfully, they're all pretty normal. After a few slightly awkward introductions, we all start to get on and feel pretty comfortable around each other. We even get taught a basic Punjabi dance move: hold your hands at shoulder height, point your index finder to the sky and shrug your shoulders. Surprisingly this actually comes in useful later as a wedding procession passes our hotel with a huge band and the groom on some sort of regal carriage. It was extremely extravagant, highlighting the feeling that we weren't in the India we expected.

A little info about my trip

You probably already know that I will be travelling to India on January 18^th for 3 months as a volunteer, but as my departure date draws closer I thought I’d give a little more information about what I will be doing when I'm out there.

I will fly to Delhi from Heathrow airport with the other volunteers, making up 3 different teams working in India. When we arrive we will receive some in-country training and a little time to settle in to the ways of life in the area. The three teams will then split up to live in their respective areas.  I will be living with 9 other UK volunteers and 10 national counterparts (local volunteers) in a shared house near to the SWECHHA offices; the partner organisation we will be working with alongside VSO.

“We are a youth-run, youth-focused NGO operating from Delhi, India, engaged in environmental and social development issues. We work with and through young people from all walks of life in order to raise awareness and bring about change. For us, 'change' means a transformation in the attitude of the masses, in their perceptions, and simultaneously in the environment - both social and human. We provide support, guidance and a platform for people to ‘be the change’ themselves. “ – SWECHHA
To find out more about SWECHHA and the work they do, visit http://www.swechha.in/

I  will be working in Jagdamba camp, a slum located in Sheikh Sarai ph-1, Malviya nagar, South Delhi.

The camp has been built around an open drain. It is spread over an estimated area of one square kilometre, which is roughly 248 acres of land. According to the 2001 census, the total population of the camp is 2783 approx., and has 594 registered households. Presently, there are 4000-6000 households within the camp space. Each family has 5 children on average, resulting in 30,000 plus people living in Jagdamba camp. The inhabitants of the community belong to two religions, Hindu and Muslims. The entrance of the community is dominated by Muslims and interiors of the community belong to Hindus. The occupational structure of the camp includes people who own small businesses within the slum such as barbers, painters, grocery shop and cosmetic shop owners. There are also people within the camp working in government bodies.

The literacy level of the community is very low, with the maximum being the higher secondary level. Most of the women are illiterate. The community has a considerable number of school drop outs between the ages of 6-18 years. The literacy ratio is primarily unfavourable to the girl children. Almost all the children go to primary school till the 5th grade. There is a high rate of unemployment amongst the youth of the slum. Some of the issues faced by the community include problems related to water, electricity, sanitation and congestion. 

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 Top-line aims and objectives:

·         To increase participation of children, youth and older community members in projects designed for them

·         To increase awareness level of the community with regards to their rights and responsibilities

·         To increase the overall outreach of the organisation

·         To develop new content for existing school programmes

·         To be able to devise and implement new ideas for future projects

·         To build capacity of youth and children associated with Swechha to become environmental and social leaders for future

“VSO has been working in India since 1958. In 1994, after a 20 year break, we re‐launched our India programme and established an office in Delhi. Since then, we have partnered with over 100 NGOs and placed approximately 200 international volunteers with these partners – volunteers who build capacity to support grassroots participation and good governance, especially in areas of disability and HIV and AIDS.

Over the last few years, our work has evolved to meet the changes and demands of a rapidly developing economy and, capitalising on the skills, experiences and passions in-country, VSO is increasingly utilising Indian volunteers.

Since 2008, VSO India have placed 4,780 Indian volunteers and mobilised over 11,000 active citizens who have played an important role in creating awareness through educating approximately 320,000 poor and marginalised people on their rights. VSO India aims to address the power imbalance and inequality in the distribution of wealth, as well as discrimination on the basis of income, gender and marginalisation from the development dialogue.”

I feel completely honoured to be working on such important issues in such a different culture and will be keeping my blog up to date with information about what I’m doing whenever possible and hopefully a few pictures if I can. 

The end of my fast!

Though I'm a bit late in writing this post, I can happily say my fast is now over! After 3 weeks of eating just basic soups and salads, I surprisingly didn't feel weak or hungry at all, in fact I felt pretty much the same as always. The only times I felt I might cave, were when people had baked little treats for everyone and left them in the staffroom at work, and let’s be honest I'm only human, who wouldn't be tempted by mini chocolate brownie cupcakes! Nevertheless with the help of lots of coffee, I managed to suppress these temptations and succeeded in liquid fasting for 21 days! 

 In total, my fast raised around £120 which will be added to my overall fundraising total, making it £640 (only £160 off my target!). Thanks so much to everyone who donated, especially the girls at Monsoon York and Lindsay Mitchell who donated the majority of the fasting money! Also, just in case any of you were wondering how I celebrated the end of my fast; I went out for a big Chinese of course!