A Rajasthani adventure

After spending 7 months away from friends and family in the UK, my best friend and partner in crime Hollie decided to come and visit me here in Delhi. This also coincided with my roommate Mallika’s holiday from college so we decided to plan a trip to Udaipur. We originally planned to go with a larger group of friends but in the end it was just me, Hollie, Mallika and her friend Vikrant that decided to go.  We planned and booked everything ourselves and I was excited to finally be able to explore more of India.

On 5^th March, after a very rushed start due to getting our train times mixed up, we got an Auto to Nizamuddin railway station, jumped on our train and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. We were travelling in 3^rd AC class which holds 3 tiers of fold-out bunks/benches and was reasonably clean and comfortable. To pass the time, we played various games and ate plenty of food. After a while, we clambered oh so elegantly

Photo: Hollie Thomas

(ha!) into our bunks and attempted to sleep. We drifted off to a typical train’s lullaby of creaking bunks and snoring uncles. We woke at 4.30 feeling not entirely refreshed and tried to get all our stuff together without falling on people (though Hollie did manage to stand on someone whilst climbing down from her bunk!) I even managed to use the toilet on the train without falling in as I feared; it really was just a hole in the floor!

We arrived at Chittorgarh train station just after 5am, had terrible chai in the station and took obligatory photos under the station’s yellow sign (every station has one). Thanks to Mallika’s grandfather’s connections, we had organised to leave our bags at a military school in Chittorgarh, so once daylight appeared, we took an auto to the school. Very generously, they had provided us with a room in the guesthouse so we washed up and all piled into the bed for a desperate attempt at some sleep. I woke up at around 9am and got myself organised for the day ahead (organisation is clearly more important to me than sleep...). Slowly, very slowly, the others started to wake up. We all got washed and changed, and after a grumpy start we headed to breakfast which had very generously been laid out for us. An hour and a half later than planned, we eventually set out for the day.

Photo: Mallika Sobti

We took an auto to Chittorgarh fort and spent most of the day exploring the ruins and taking photographs. The ruins were really beautiful and had some great views too! After lots of walking and hopping between

patches of shade for our resident ginger Hollie, we decided to get an auto to a nearby market that had been recommended to us. Unfortunately the market was pretty disappointing, so we bought some grapes for the evening and caught an auto to a place called Hotel Meera for dinner. After devouring our butter chicken, we headed back to the school to pick up our bags. On our way out, we thanked the man who had organised for us to stay there and very generously refused to let us pay. At the train station our only option was to take the 2 hour journey to Udaipur in general class but it turned out to be a very quiet and pretty clean train so all was well. Once we reached the hotel, it wasn’t long before we were sleeping like babies!

Our hotel in Udaipur was located in the heart of the tourist market, making it easily accessible from most places. Over breakfast at a German bakery called cafe Edelweiss we planned out our day and soaked up some mid morning sun. After breakfast we walked to the City Palace, stopping off at several shops along the way, which would soon become a recurring theme throughout our trip! After

downloading the city palace tour guide app (genius idea), we made our way into the palace to look around. Initially we planned to spend just a couple of hours in the palace but there were so many beautiful things to see that we stayed for at least 4 hours! Exhausted, we started a desperate hunt for some thali for lunch. For those of you that don’t know, thali is like a taster dish, you basically get a bit of everything, including things like daal, rice, raita, various curries, breads, sweets etc. We ended up in a restaurant called Bawarchi and ate until we could eat no more. Next we headed to a cable car to take us up to Machla Hills. Unfortunately, we just missed sunset but the views were still beautiful. We decided to explore beyond the viewpoint and ended up at a little outdoor temple right at the very edge of a precipice overlooking the city. Night had just taken over the sky and looking over the edge was like looking into an abyss, it was all very dramatic, especially as there were no fixed handrails! Due to the location of the temple, there was almost a 360° view which was absolutely stunning.

You felt like you could see the whole of the city lit up below you. Standing at the edge made me feel both powerful and incredibly vulnerable. It was very surreal. After a few moments to myself soaking in such an intense view, I joined the others and we travelled back down the cable car. By this time we’d done so much slow walking that my ‘old lady knees’ were causing me quite a bit of trouble but I soldiered on. We ended up in a place called Pushkar’s for a light dinner and drinks. The brit in me jumped at the chance of a gin and tonic or two. We spent the evening lounging on cushions, drinking, playing cards and listening to reggae. It was the perfect ending to a very long day.

The next morning we went for breakfast in a dhaba next to the local temple and had my favourite breakfast of poha and chai. After breakfast we got an auto to Shilpgram tribal village which was a very surreal, model

tribal village. After exploring for a while, we decided to head out after a quick break for kulfi. Refusing to pay extortionate prices for an auto, we set off walking. After walking for what felt like miles in direct sunlight, we decided to try hitching a lift to the nearest town to get an auto. After a few tries, we ended up cramming into a small car filled with huge boxes of snacks and spices. Eventually we found and auto and soon realised we had been walking in completely the wrong direction. Oops! Next we visited Saheliyon ki badi gardens, had a look around and travelled on to the Vintage car museum for another thali lunch.

After going back to the hotel to pick up our bags, we took an auto to the bus stand to catch our 7pm bus back to Delhi. At the travel office, we were told that our bus had been cancelled. So, there we were, in a seedy (even by my standards) part of town, looking like obvious tourists and with no way of getting home. After trekking to the train station and back we decided that our best option was to take another bus from Udaipur to Jaipur and the Jaipur to Delhi. This meant waiting until 11pm so we got the hell out of there and went back to the bar we’d spent the previous night in. We chilled out, trying to block out the sound of obnoxious travellers bragging about their gap year revelations and then headed back to the bus station again. Between the four of us we had two double bunks on the bus, which was actually pretty plush and comfortable (there were even tv screens in the bunks). I drifted off to sleep with that falling feeling jolting me awake every time we went around a corner. At 7.30am we arrived in Jaipur, made our way to the bus stand and found a bus that was leaving for Delhi in 5 minutes. We rushed to the bus, loaded our bags and hopped on. This is where the never-ending journey from hell began. This bus was nothing like the previous, comfortable clean bus.  There were standard coach seats down the length of the bus with small bunks above. We sat on the seats at first, trying to sit tactically away from the creepy stares of strangers but as the bus filled up, we had to sit up in our bunks. I use the term ‘bunks’ loosely. Coffins may be a more suitable word. With slightly tinted sliding glass doors, the bunks were both sweaty and not very private. Once again I shared a bunk with Hollie which was unfortunately in perfect line of sight for the creepiest guy who stared at us for almost the entire journey, and I’m not exaggerating! Not only was the bunk hot and sweaty, it was also incredibly dirty; there was an old dusty mat to sit on that itched even through our clothes. After 7 hours of awkward sleeping, mind numbing boredom and filth, we finally arrived in Delhi! After a 15 minute metro journey and hauling our bags up endless stairs, we were eventually home.

Despite the not so fun journey home, it was really nice to take some time off from work and see a bit more of India. Even better that I could do so with good company and on a budget too!

A very Delhi Christmas

2013 definitely held host to the most surreal Christmas I've ever had. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened but when you break lifelong traditions for the first time it feels pretty strange. I am a huge fan of Christmas, I love everything about it (ok, so maybe not the tv adverts) but the main things for me at Christmas are good food and spending time with my family. We did manage to organise a nice enough Christmas dinner but it was easy to see that we were all missing our families.

I spent Christmas with my two British friends out here and I think we managed to make the most of a tough situation; one of the things we've definitely learnt out here is to make the most of what we've got! We did manage to keep to one Christmas tradition though; we spent the majority of our time eating and drinking much more than usual. We all got chance to Skype our families too, which put me in such a great mood, I'm really glad that talking to my family back home makes me giddy rather than upset as I'm terrible with emotional stuff.

What was really tough for me was actually jealousy. My parents had flown back to the UK from The Gambia to spend the festive season with friends and family but I know that if I’d done the same I probably wouldn't be able to leave again. I do sometimes have moments were I find myself thinking "What the hell am I doing here? Why am I not in the UK with my friends, family and the security that comes with them?" It is tough sometimes but I know that this is an incredible opportunity for me and I’d kick myself in years to come if I didn't make the most of it!

Getting out of the city

So, after 3 months living in one of the most polluted cities in the world, I finally got the chance to breathe fresh air again! Being a country bumpkin at heart, I was excited to hear that we would be doing some work in the Indian countryside, working with kids from villages surrounding Pench national park in Madhya Pradesh.

Though I've been in India for quite a while now, I'm ashamed to say I had never travelled by train here, so I was pretty excited about our journey. It turned out that there was no need for excitement. After 13 hours of trying to sleep in a coffin-like bunk and restricting water intake to avoid the horror of the toilets, My boss and I arrived, sporting splitting headaches and with the sound of pig-like snoring ringing in our ears.

Next up was...yet more travelling! I assumed the 3 hour car journey to Pench would be a good chance to catch up on some sleep. Of course I was wrong. After about 20 minutes of smooth tarmac, the potholes began. Though I'm not sure potholes is an extreme enough term for these roads. Our little generic taxi seemed to fly over each lump and bump in the road and crash back down, only to be flung back into the air by yet another bump. Amazingly we managed to sleep a little due to extreme exhaustion but ended up with bruised faces and drastic hair (not that we cared by this point).

We were then transferred into a Jeep to be taken through the national park to our rest house in a place called Karmajhiri. The Jeep's suspension felt heavenly! After a beautiful drive through the park, we arrived at the rest house, dropped off our bags and walked the short distance to our classroom for the next 2 days.

Shortly after setting up, children from one of the local village schools turned up and the lesson began. Our topic for the day was renewable energy which consisted of activities using solar panels and making potato batteries. After a timid start, the kids started getting into the swing of things and seemed to really enjoy taking light measurements and competing to build batteries out of root vegetables.
After lunch and a quick sunbathe we were back to class for our second lesson of the day. We ran the same lesson again for another group of kids from a different school nearby. By the time we had finished the lesson, we were truly knackered!

As my boss went to find the ever elusive phone signal hotspot, I could think of nothing better than a nice long nap! I headed back to our room where the most horrifying (yet strangely amusing) thing happened to me. Our room had an Indian toilet, which was no problem for me as I spent 3 months using one last time I was here, but this time it played host to the scene of nightmares (OK, maybe I'm being slightly dramatic). So, without going into too much detail, when using an Indian toilet you have to look down to be sure that you're ‘aiming’ right. This time, as I looked down, I saw a spider just smaller than my hand, crawling up out of the toilet. This caused me to freeze out of fear and panic. The strangely amusing part was that I was still 'going' and I couldn't seem to stop. Basically, I pissed on a massive spider. How many people can say they've done that? Actually, how many people would want to say they've done that?! 

On the third day, we rose at 6.30 for a bird walk with Subash, a guide who takes time out to help us with our classes. It was so beautiful being in the jungle first thing in the morning; the only sounds were leaves rustling in the wind and the sweet cheep of birdsong. We saw Forest owls, a Flameback woodpecker, canary fly catchers, bobtails and more, though I was more interested in the general scenery, which I saw mainly through the viewfinder of my 35mm camera, though the photos are yet to be developed.
After the mornings class with yet another group of kids, we moved to a lodge just outside the national park gates called Mahuavann, had a proper shower and headed out to visit the school we work with in a village called Telia. After a quick tour of the school, meeting some of the children and a discussion with the head teacher about our plans, we had to head back to pack for our flight home.

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.