Goaings on...

Firstly I apologise for extremely cheesy title!

As you can guess I'm now in Goa,  my two weeks in Merces are up already and its literally flown by. I arrived in Merces on Sunday 5th after getting the sleeper train again (after three twelve hour train journeys in two weeks, the novelty has definitely worn off).

'Well here I am on the train to Goa, the train hasn't even started moving yet and already I've had a really positive experience'...I wrote this in my journal on the train as I was feeling really excited that all the things I'd been worrying about and trying to correct were finally falling into place. When I arrived at Mumbai Central, a British Indian lady came over and asked if I needed any help, I asked if she could point me in the direction of the Goa trains (I've never been much good with trains at home let alone anywhere else). Not only did she point me in the right direction, she also got a golf buggy type contraption to drive me and my bags (I'm still trying to figure out this whole travelling light thing) right to the door of the carriage I was in. Right through the station and straight past everyone heaving their bags (Indians also don't travel light). Maybe there is something to be said for being an English girl in India!

My good mood changed when I arrived however, it was chucking it down and I looked like a tortoise with my backpack, day pack (or a gay pack as its affectionately known to some) and the world's most awkward bag as an added bonus. There was a sea of taxis and I had no idea which one was mine. I rang the taxi driver who thankfully was already there. He asked me what I looked like and I said "The only white girl...with too many bags". That cheered me up a bit!

When I got to Suneethi and Celix's (the family I'm staying with, also including Hansi the maid, Yohan (5) and Kiara (1), I started to feel a bit homesick. I was hit with that feeling of starting afresh again with everything and everyone being totally unfamiliar. I also hadn't met Lauren yet, who I'd be sharing with so I was also nervous about that (but shes lovely so I needn't have worried). I decided to unpack straight away, something I never do and told myself coming here wasn't a total mistake and that it would all be fine in a few days...

Needless to say it is all fine and I definitely made the right decision in coming here! The food is much better (but don't worry theres still plenty of rice, dahl and chapatis) and the beds much comfier. I got stuck straight in at projects on Monday. The morning is at another daycare centre for the children of slum families and migrant workers who've coming looking for work in Goa. much like UCDC in Mumbai, called the Seva Trust (www.sevatrustgoa.org). There's only usually between seven and thirteen children at a time so I was a little underwhelmed when I first started as I'm used to around fifty. They're slightly older though so we're able to help them with their ABC and their personalities show through a little more (definitely not all angelic). Even though I'll only be working there for two weeks there are a few little personalities that will stick with me for a long time.

The afternoon project is still with Seva Trust but with their girl's orphanage. They're aged between a baby whos four months old and was left outside the orphanage at just fifteen days old and an eighteen year old whos been there for ten years and seems to have taken the caring role for baby Sara, but most of them are aged between nine and twelve. We help them with their homework and their English, both reading and writing as well as chat and play games with them (that mostly involve stealing our cameras and taking photos of anything and everything). Considering they have to get up at 5am every morning they're a very energetic bunch. I've definitely found it more of a challenge that I thought I would as they all constantly demand and fight over your attention and are not at all subtle. They seem so unaffected by what is a completely abnormal way to grow up for most of us that sometimes its difficult to remember that most of them will have been through things that you shouldn't have to go through for such a young age. I was just reading about a few of them on the website and its hard to place those happy girls with such awful situations. I can't imagine losing my parents ever, let alone at such a young age.

The little village of Merces is very different to the bustle of Bandra so its been more of a chilled out time here. However theres still been time for a few adventures along the way...

Lauren and I decided to write a list of things we want to do before she goes home on Sunday including, a river cruise, go to a market, see a Bollywood film, visit a temple, visit a quieter beach (to decrease the chance of being a tourist attraction) and see some elephants. Carrying out this list hasn't been as easy as we once thought.

Last Friday we took the afternoon off and went to Mapusa market. I was really glad to go again as its a really good market but I really wasn't in the mood when I came before with Sarah and Amanda after dragging round the bag from hell. We managed to get latched onto by a couple of Indian women who wanted to 'show us round the market' but really they just want to lure you to their shop and try and overcharge you for things you don't want. The first one was nice and was actually pretty helpful and we bought a few things off her. The second one was Sonya from Rajistan who latched onto us last time, we got some henna done on our hands from her (not before trying to be charged ridiculous amounts for it) but managed to dodge buying any over priced pashminas. Despite it being quite hard work to have a peaceful stroll round the market, it is a really good experience and I've got quite fond of haggling now.

On Saturday we tried to go a river cruise...but despite the stall being open all the trips were closed for the season. Next on the list, we decided to go and visit a temple (concluding that it would be fine to use kags in bags as a cover up if need be)...we went to five different rickshaw drivers but none of the drivers knew where any of them were. So last but not least we decided to go to Ponda Wildlife Sanctuary and I finally got to tick seeing elephants off my list...we also got to see some wild monkeys on the drive and it was a really beautiful drive through the Goan countryside. All in all a good day until the Tuk Tuk broke down...for three hours...in the dark...in the middle of nowhere. So after the driver went from thinking he could fix it himself, assuring us that a mechanic would be there in 'half an hour' which turned into an hour and a half and then a very long and wet drive home in which the Tuk Tuk broke down again to him deciding that it was still appropriate to charge us full fair so the haggling skills had to come out again. Normally they give in and will lower the price but this guy wouldn't let up and said it wasn't his problem. So we helped ourselves to our own discount of 500 rupees less and walked away with him still protesting that it wasn't his problem. It was one of those days that you thought sucked at the time but actually makes a sore legged and soaked clothes memory that you'll never forget.

Venturing furthur down our list we went to see a Bollywood movie on Thursday which despite knowing very very limited Hindi and there being no sub-titles was really good. Everything was really cheesy, bright and colourful and the music and dancing was amazing. I'm going to download the soundtrack so I can have a cheesy dance round my room to it whenever I miss India.

What a fortnight its been! I can't believe I'm moving onto Calangute tomorrow to start the second half of my trip. Laurens leaving at half past midnight tonight so we went for a curry (what else) in a restaurant called Chili and Spice last night, which didn't fail to live up to its name and had a wander round Panaji this afternoon. So tonight will be packing/stuffing everything into my rucksack in preparation for the move tomorrow. I'm slightly nervous as there will be another new person to meet and the project is looking to be a bit more challenging than the previous ones. Its working in a school with children from abused backgrounds. The kids are about five/six years old in classes of forty and apparently the teacher doesn't always turn up...my co-coordinator Jenny seems to think that this is 'nothing to be nervous about'...we'll see!

Bring on Calangute!

Hope everyone is well, thinking of you all always!

Love, Rice and Dahl from

Holly

xxx

Slumming it...

"One minute India is beautiful- A-Ma-Zing, magical, tantalising, the next it's nasty, repulsive, vile and angry but, before you know it, it's back to being mystical, tender, wonderful and breathtaking again".

This quote is from a book I've just finished reading called 'You've gone too far this time sir" by Danny Bent. It's a personal account of his journey cycling from the UK to teach in a village in south India. I've been thinking about how to describe India to someone who's never been here and as soon as I read it, this passage just summed it up for me!

It was back to reality after Goa last week and I thought I was doomed to afternoons spent cutting card/making paper bags at Navjeet, whilst still feeling a bit down about being on my own now Sarah and Amanda had gone on their northern India adventure. However I was pleasantly surprised to be allowed to go to one of the slums with the social worker. Visiting the slums is something I've really wanted to do since before I arrived and I've been itching to go since I got here. However now the time had come I suddenly got really nervous as I was about to step into everything I'd seen on television. I had a lot of negative images in my head, mostly conjured up from 'Slumdog Millionaire' and documentaries. I was worried about going there, seeing the poverty and how I'd feel about it, what the people would be like and what they would think about me being there. I hate to say it but I was also worried about the smell...

However I was so surprised when I got there. All the negative thoughts I had in my head evaporated the further we walked. There were children laughing and playing in the sun, who all rushed up to say hello and ask my name and where I was from as soon as they saw us. As we walked along the narrow pathways everyone peeked put their doors and smiled or said hello as we passed so I stopped worrying about being there.

We went into one of the houses where the social worker discussed with a family about lending them some money from the charity (Navjeet) so they could start up a business. This is where I really wish I understood Hindi so I could hear all the ins and outs but I settled for trying to grab the gist from facial expressions and hand gestures. Funnily enough I've found it much easier to pick up bits of Hindi from the kids I work with rather than the adults. Children tend to repeat themselves a lot and point at what they want so it's easier to learn from them. Adults tend to talk quickly and over each other (definitely a woman thing) so it's almost impossible to pick it up.

As I've said previously I've had my issues with Navjeet as I don't feel the work I'm doing reflects what I was told I'd be doing by i-to-i and seeing the day to day running I was a bit sceptical as to what they actually do. So I was pleased to get see what the centre provides for people and where the money goes, even if I don't feel like I'm contributing in the way I'd hoped I'd be.

The next day I got to sit in on a women's health meeting in another of the underprivileged communities (the house the meeting was held in was two thirds of the size of my bedroom at home and housed six people). This was in Hindi as well so I'm unfortunately none the wiser health wise but the aim is to inform communities who don't have ready access to health and cleanliness facilities what they can do to minimise health risks. Afterwards everyone was interested in asking me questions and the social worker asked them all to guess how old I was. Although I still get I.Ded in pubs at home, everyone here is placing me at quite a lot older than I am. When they learnt that I'm 24 one of the women asked "whether my husband minded me coming to India", when I said that I had no husband to mind it took a minute for the social worker to translate before I was sat in front of a lot of shocked faces. I was then asked if my mum and dad gave me permission to come here and was again greeted with shocked faces when I said that in the UK we don't really need 'permission' as such over the age of 18 to do what we liked. When we left I asked the social worker why they thought it was odd that I was 24 and unmarried. She said that most Indian girls are married by the age of 18 and normally have one or two children by my age. I said that that was a strange concept to me...cultural differences!

On Saturday I decided to do the official slum tour in Dharavi (partly where Slumdog Millionaire was filmed). I knew that it would be good as its recommended in the Lonely Planet and the girls had also said it was well worth doing, but it really was out of this world. The difference between Dharavi and other slums is it's productivity. It generates $665 million a year from it's industries such as recycling, leather goods, food production, metal component making and clothing. All of which we got to have a glimpse of.

Again everyone was so friendly as we were walking around and wanted to shake your hand/say hello/ask your name. In both the slums I visited theres such a sense of community and everyone seems so happy and content that it's very easy to forget that you are standing in one of the most impoverished places in the world. All religions and their communities live in harmony side by side and unlike the world around them nothing is wasted. I watched my first cricket match being played at the top of a pile of rubbish (which also doubled as a toilet).

I saw a lot of things that day that will definitely never leave me...I spoke about smell before and that is definitely something that will never leave me. You'd think that the worst smell to contend with would be the constant stream of open sewers, but that was nothing compared with the smell of raw leather. Whilst we were looking round the industries we were allowed to go inside some of them including the place where the leather is brought to, pretty much from the slaughterhouse. I didn't think it was the place for a veggie so I initially wasn't going to go in, but then again I've always believed that it's good to know where things come from so I decided to give it a go. The guide warned that the smell wasn't great and that it was considered highly offensive to hold your nose. He wasn't wrong, it literally was the worst smell I've ever smelt. So bad that I can't even describe it but I can smell it as I'm typing. Even worse that where you'd naturally cover your face you couldn't, so it was a case of doing a very unchic breathing through your mouth technique.

That aside it definitely was I think, my best experience of Mumbai. If you ever happen to find yourself in this crazy city, definitely look up Reality Tours & Travel . Our tour guide AK was amazing and was so knowledgeable and passionate about the place, even though its his part time job whilst at college. Its also an NGO (non government organisation) and 80% of it's revenue goes back into the community and into it's community centre, which gives free English and I.T classes. An unforgettable experience!

So my time in Mumbai is almost up and I'm enjoying my last day here in Mocha, which has become a second home and taking some photos of the local area. I can't say I'll be sorry to see to back of Navjeet (this week has mostly involved gluing together paper bags with porridge...don't ask) but I'm definitely going to miss all the kids at UCDC. As I've said before I've been pretty vocal about not being the biggest fan of children, which is why I signed up to a project where is wasn't exclusively working with them. I did however want to try and shake that feeling a little and I think I have. Previously I only really saw the negative side to children, the screaming, the stubbornness and being pooed on. But since being here I've seen the positive sides like the way they put their trust in you the second they meet you, how fun the simple things are (like trying to run away with my glasses), running up to you with a smile and a hug...and it is pretty cute watching them all dance to MTV India.

The older kids all went back to school this week so on Monday I went to watch their end of summer camp dance show. Normally you'd expect a few at the back with two left feet but they were all really good and everyone was so enthusiastic. The old British reserve really does exist, people here are far more able to let themselves go and not be embarrassed about what other people are thinking. It was particularly great to see boys enjoying dancing, possibly more than the girls. Male Bollywood dancers have the same idol status here as football and cricket players.

I'm also going to miss the little things about Mumbai, like passing the banana man and the flower stall on the way to work, coming to Mocha for an earl grey, the phone top up man always recognising me, Birdys Bakery that sells amazing cakes, Cafe Andora's cheese croissants for when I've had enough of curry and even the man that shouts 'Mangos' in Hindi at the top of his voice at stupid o' clock in the morning.

As I was typing this on Thursday night, the first rain of the monsoon season started. The sky darkened like it does in Britain, the temperature dropped to the first reasonable heat since I've been here, the heavens literally opened and I've never seen rain like it. When it started everyone came out onto their balconies and just stood and watched the rain fall in front of a beautiful orange glow that had come across the sky and then a few people shouted "Welcome, welcome". Another 'first' experience that's definitely going to stay with me, I'm hoping that when it's a grey and rainy day at home it'll take me back to that moment.

So it's goodbye Mumbai and hello Goa. I'll definitely miss Mumbai, just as you start to get the hang of it all it's time to move on. But I know I've made the right decision.

The next time I post I'll be in Goa so until next time...

Hope all is well back in the UK, missing you all as always!

Love Holly

xxx

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Location:Krishna Chandra Rd,,India