Fort Cochin Kerela

My time in the state of Kerela was a whirlwind trip and despite the horrendously muggy weather I was surprised to realize that I really enjoyed my stay in Fort Cochin. As this was the part of my journey where I would be travelling alone I was a little apprehensive, but that fear was ill founded and everyone I met was very helpful. My trip started out in the typical Indian fashion; my train from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Fort Cochin, Kerela had been cancelled which forced Padma and Mani to find me another means of transport, luckily we found a bus that was leaving an hour and a half later and they made sure that no less than 5 different people knew who I was, where I was going, when I was leaving Cochin (as well as when I would be flying back to Delhi then the US!), and where I was to get off when I arrived in Kerela.

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu has easily risen to the top of my list as one of my most favorite places I've visited in India! South India is radically different from the North in many different ways. Geographically TN has more forests with fields and fields of coconut trees and sugar cane, which makes the landscape much more lush and green as compared to Delhi which was very dry and red. The climate is much more humid (but not as bad as Kerela!) even though the temperature is not as hot as Delhi. At this point I would rather have dry heat then the wet humid stickiness of Kerela. In TN I stayed in the small city of Coimbatore with the family of a close friend, and the time spent with the Kavasseri family is what made my time in TN so special :-) If you ever get a chance to visit India and someone offers you to stay with their family then do it! Staying with an Indian family will show you the real India.

Travel Update

Just as an FYI, today was my last day with the CCS program (I'm hoping to get a final post up tonight or tomorrow) I had a great experience and I am sad to say goodbye to some good friends. However, I leave Delhi tomorrow and wanted to post my schedule. I don't know how much time I'll have to write posts but I'll do my best!

4/17-4/21 I will be staying with a friend's family in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. I'll be going to a popular hill station: Ooty (away from the 110+ heat!) for a day or two and enjoying some family time.

4/21-4/24 I will be taking a bus from Coimbatore, TN to Fort Cochin (aka Kochi) in Kerela also in the south India and hope to do a all day houseboating tour (aka the backwaters), possibly visit an elephant sanctuary, and if I play my cards right a nice day at the spa!!

4/24-4/27 I will return to the CCS flat in Delhi for 3 days getting in some last minute shopping, sightseeing, and visiting one of my preschoolers grandparents before I ship off for the US on the 28th. I arrive back in the US early on the 29th and hopefully a nice long weekend before I start work 5/3.

Traffic In India

To better understand this post please take a few minutes to youtube a video on Delhi traffic as a visual aid

Whenever I look back on my trip to India I will always fondly remember the traffic. When I arrived in Delhi 3 weeks ago I had my first experience with Indian traffic, as I was driving through it that first night from the airport I almost thought I was watching a movie, and that's when it really hit me that I had finally made it to India. Google or youtube any video on traffic in Delhi or India and what you see on your small computer screen is what I travel though everyday.

school update

Its been 2 weeks since I've started working with the Hope Foundation and things are going pretty well. I've finally figured out the routine and things get a bit easier day by day. My morning starts off with breakfast at the main office, Pavan makes us eggs or if I ask for traditional breakfasts like idli upma, poha etc :-) and no morning is complete without our beloved chai! Then we jump in one of the CCS vans and Sunil takes us to our placement sites. The morning ride is my favorite part of the day. I love to sit up front because I get a kick out of sitting on the (US) driver side but not driving. Dehli traffic is a complex and crazy system but after a few days I figured out the rules, so far I would have to say that if someone asked me to sum of Delhi in one word it would be traffic! But I'll write a separate post on that :-)

to dhaba or not to dhaba? that is the question

For those of you who don't know a dhaba (pronounced dah-ba) is a roadside stand that sells food, chai (tea), tabacco, small trinkets, or snacks. Some of them are huge and quite modern, but most are little more than a small lean to with chairs, stools, or benches. Many say that dhabas are an experience unto themselves since we don't have them in the US. Before leaving for India many people offered their opinion about eating at a dhaba, some said that it was the best food they'd ever had, other related stories telling of horrible illnesses or terrible tasting food. Everyone seemed to have an opinion and I was very much on the fence about the subject.

Instant Celebrity

If you live in an area where you are the majority, going to another area where you are the minority can be quite an eye opener. If you are a westerner especially if you are white and you want to know what its like to be a minority? go to India! Everywhere I go people stare, even when I'm wearing Indian clothes. As I have mentioned before its not a rude stare but a curious stare, still I find it a bit unnerving because people are always watching!

Tiger Time

To get a full account of my weekend read the post about Rajasthan as well!

Ranthambore National Park located in the state of Rajasthan hosts a population of ~40 tigers, amongst many other animals. The park is around 1,400 sq km and also contains ruins of a royal fort. Our guide: Yad, told us that the area used to belong to a princely family who would come and hunt in the forests. We saw the ruins of many hunting lodges and walls the scenery was amazing. Tiger hunting has been banned and 16 villages had to be relocated out of the area in order to create the tiger reserve. Some of the villagers help maintain the park and work in some of the hotels and other services, there is one government approved store that sells handicrafts made by these displaced women. The women sit outside and hand stich pillow covers, wall hangings, and other embroidered creations, the attention to detail is amazing. Sadly, there are other stores down the street that advertise similar products, but in reality they are imported from China. It was nice to support sustainable business and still be able to haggle :-P The town is very small and even though a train runs through the middle of the town bringing in tourists, the tiger reserve seems to be the only attraction. We arrived on Friday night after a 9 hr drive through rural Rajasthan. We tried to get tickets for an early morning safari but our hotel was not taking anymore reservations. Due to environmental concerns 2 safaris are allowed each day; one at 630am and the other at 3pm in16 seater trucks 4 seater jeeps. Since there are limited amounts of seats the hotel could only promise to try to get tickets but offered no guarantee. They advised us to walk to the ticket counter at 5am and get into line. We were up at 430am and at the ticket counter at 5:15am and naturally it was a chaotic Indian mess. No one really spoke English and even the Indians standing in line didn't know what to do. Our group split up and sat in both lines for over an hour. I was ready to throw in the towel when Chuck, the man of the hour waltzed up and told us we somehow had gotten tickets. To this day I still have no idea how he was able to acquire tickets when so many others couldn't, but we had the biggest smiles on our faces as we climbed into the back of the jeep! Our guide, Yad spoke very good English and told us about the history of the area and the fort. As we entered the park we stopped, and Yad told us that there were two entrances to the park. One was a Banyan tree that created a natural canopy over the road and directly behind it was the man-made fort entrance. I'm having some issues with the pictures but I took a fantastic photo and I hope I can post it soon. The safari lasted 3 hours and we covered numerous trails and drove around 2 man-made lakes and 1 natural lake. We saw tons of beautiful peacocks whose bright colors, like the Rajasthani women stand out in sharp contrast to the red dirt. We also saw crocodiles, spotted deer, Indian Sambars, (deer that are almost as large as horses), monkeys but alas no tigers. There were two close calls but she had already slipped out of sight. At one point we had stopped the jeep and sat quietly at the top of an embankment hoping that the tiger would come up the hill. While we sat there motionless I realized that the only thing I could hear was the wind. It is the first time in weeks that I sat in silence (or was in any place that was completely silent) - the scenery was breathtaking, the air was cool and fresh, and at that point I didn't matter if we spotted a tiger or not. After our tour was done we grabbed a quick breakfast (parathas, eggs, curd and pickle!) and went up to our room to relax. We all agreed that the 3pm safari was out of the question due to the heat and we doubted that we would be lucky enough to score tickets again and I don't think we could bear standing in line for solong a second time. While the others took a nap I walked around the area-since the town has a train and access to a main road it caters mostly to truck drivers and I quickly discovered there wasn't much to see within walking distance. On this quiet Saturday I was the main attraction I'm sure everyone was wondering why the crazy white girl was walking down the side of the road in the heat of the day. As I passed people would say "hello, how are you?" I would respond "fine, thank you" and then they would ask "where are you going?" and I would say "for a walk" and they would say "ok" and that would be it! no other questions :-) I found that to be especially funny because I had 3 identical conversations with 3 different people throughout my walk. The villagers were very friendly and happy to stop and talk with me, one man even showed me pictures of his garden from his mobile! When I got back I took a nice nap and did a little souvenir shopping. I was very pleased with the purchases I made and I know the recipients will be as well!! :-) That night the hotel hired traditional Rajasthani dancers to preform at dinner and of course yours truly was pulled up to dance. All I could do was smile as these 2 little boys no older than 8 years old danced circles around me. Their dance is very fluid and swan-like with a lot of hand gestures and twirling. The performance ended with one of the young men spitting fire wow!! We left early the next morning, as we were driving to the main road I turned around to say goodbye to the colorful women with bundles of hay balanced on their heads and the camel carts slowly ambling down the road behind us.

A glimpse into rural India

I spent this weekend in the state of Rajasthan visiting the Rathambore National Park with two of my flatmates Kathy and Chuck. I was excited to use this long weekend to see some of the country. Chuck had his heart set on doing a tiger safari and Rathambore is the closest one to Delhi google maps told us 7.5 hrs. We hired a driver and left Friday morning, I should have known that google maps predicts destination time when you keep a consistent speed...but this is India and that is not how they roll! All and all the drive took 9 hours.
Our trip into Rajasthan gave me my first look into rural India. During orientation one of our speakers told us that many Western powers colonized the outside rim of India-meaning the coastal areas and today it is apparent most of the major cities (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata etc) are very well developed but the inner land of India didn't hold as much value to them and is still developmentally lagging. The speaker called this part of India the cow belt since most of the land is used for agriculture. The cities are smaller, there are more villages, and less access to basic services and education. As I sat in the car for 9 wonderful hours I was able to see the many differences between city and rural life.

Creche Sarthi - my school in the slums

It has now been a week since I started my placement site. I am helping teach 2-4 yr olds at a school called the creche Sarthi in the Janta Jeevan Rajeev Camp about 30 min away from Hauz Khas. Every morning Sunil drops off my flatmate Leia and I to school and we teach for a half day. There is one group of children in the mornings and another group that comes in the afternoon. I use the term "school" to describe the eventual goal the director wants to reach. What I go to is literally a shed. Every morning Leia and I cross the main street into the camp. Our school is situated right at the entrance of the camp so its not far, but unfortunately it is right next to the public toilets. An open sewer cuts across the path right in front of the door, if we're lucky the wind is blowing the other way. As you step through the door you see 1 light bulb, 1 ceiling fan, and 4 very small ventilation holes with one desk in the corner that...is...it. The walls were painted years ago and are chipping horribly. Artwork has been put up, but its limited to just a few drawings the older children have made. There is also a peg board that has pictures of when the school was opened a few months ago. I think there might be a blackboard but it hasn't been put on the wall. Above the photo board near the top left hand corner of the ceiling is a small shrine set up to Sawarasti the goddess of knowledge and learning who watches over the class. On the back wall are a few cabinets that hold the meager school supplies and a CD player. The class role has 26 children to one teacher- Sushma, who speaks limited English. That's 3 times the amount of children Virginia State allows for a teacher. Their ages and abilities vary in range but most physically look like 3 yr olds. Malnutrition and hygiene are major concerns here. The director speaks very good English and comes to the creche 2 times a week. Every morning the children start with a group prayer where they fold their hands together and chant "OM," which according to Eastern religions creates balance and harmony in the children as well as the surrounding area, sometimes I feel that is all the good I can do. After prayer Leia and I help Sushma or "Teacher Madam" with journals. They're beginning to practice making lines and drawling shapes. The older ones start practicing the English and Hindi alphabet. These journals are done one on one and the kids who are waiting are often bored. Indian schools focus a lot of rote learning-repetition, repetition, repetition! So Leia and I are there to help Sushma learn English songs and games. I have been running a very basic circle time with them singing simple songs that have expressive hand gestures with them. We sing "5 Little Monkeys," "Mr. Golden Sun," "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," "Clap You Hands," etc. I'm glad Sushma is picking up a few of the songs after a few days. I will repeat these ones and maybe add one more song, I've done a few activities with them like reading a very simple book (they repeat the words and identify pictures), and making necklaces. I'll be using flash cards, buttons and other things to help them with counting and letter recognition. Then the children who bring lunch eat and the teachers have chai. We then turn on the CD player and dance to children's songs. I'm not sure how big the school is but definitely too crowded for the kids and there is no where for them to play outside so it can be a bit chaotic at times. Then older siblings or mother's pick up their kids and Sushma and the older children's teacher have a short break until the next class arrives. Sunil then picks us up and we go home for our own lunch. Even though I'm only working a fraction of my normal work day all the volunteers are emotionally and physically exhausted, a heavy lunch usually tempts most of us to a nap. I'm not tired, even though I'm still jet lagged. I am lucky because even though my work is hard the children are always happy and its hard to be sad when I see their smiles.