October 27 – 28, 2010

Wednesday was a “normal” day. Our placement went well then we took a walk after lunch. When we returned to the flat, we got the idea to put together a DVD presentation of our time at The Earth Saviours. So, we spent the evening selecting the best photos and putting them in our Pinnacle Studio software.


On Thursday, we started off with all our little guys playing “pin the tail on the donkey.” It was a success! There was also a “music” class where they brought all the students together and all the instruments the school owns (about six) and they played and we danced and sang. After lunch, we returned to our project of our DVD. Harold went through all his video and selected pieces for inclusion. We hope to show it to our students and the others on Monday.


At 4:30, three of us “girls” met in the main kitchen for a cooking lesson. First, let me describe the tiny kitchen where the two cooks turn out wonderful meals for about 25 people every day for lunch and dinner. There is a two burner countertop gas stove, a very small countertop oven and about three feet of counter space. We made three items: aloo ghobi (a potato, cauliflower, tomato, and onion dish), mushroom masala (fresh mushrooms in a spicy sauce) and chapatti (a flat bread that you cook in a pan like a crepe, then put directly over the open flame and it puffs up). This was served with rice and salad. Everyone said that dinner was delicious.

Next Friday is Diwali, the festival of lights. It is the most important Hindu holiday of the year and is celebrated for five days. In Hinduism, Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama to his kingdome after defeating the demon king, Ravana. Everyone puts up lights, buys presents, sends greeting cards, visits family, sets off fircrackers, etc. I think it's like combining Chrismas, Hanukah and the 4th of July. Already, our neighbors across the street have many long strands of white lights hanging from the roof.

The School Band

Diwali lghts on the flat across from ours.



Our students tackle Pin The Tail On the Donkey.



October 25 – 26, 2010

Monday was a fine day. The kids were engaged most of the time and there were two new “teachers” helping. We think maybe Pinkie (one of the “teachers” normally in our room) got sacked! After lunch, we walked to the Hauz Kaus market for an ice cream and to get money from the ATM. Then we printed and completed our absentee ballots and walked back to the market to mail them. We put both in a big envelope and it only cost about $1.20 (although it will take about 10 days to get there). (Hopefully, those of you who are politically like us will get out and vote.) We mostly hung around and read and did some planning for school until dinner.

We did a “project” with the kids today – colored a striped fish, cut it out, and pasted it on construction paper. It went fairly well. Unfortunately, we did not get any photos of the finished products before they disappeared into backpacks, etc.

For all the married ladies: today is Karva Chauth, the most important fast observed by the women of North India. A woman keeps this fast for the well being of her husband. Since being a widow here is such a hardship, it is in her best interest that her husband remains alive! So, on this day, the women buy bangles, apply henna to their hands and wear their fine outfits. Once the moon rises, they do a pooja for their husband’s safety and long life, and finally break their fast after first feeding their husbands. Now this all sounds very sexist; however, in talking to the ladies, we found out that their husbands give them gifts on this day and that’s really why they fast. At 4:00 PM today, the women living in the apartments gathered in each of the center squares for a ceremony where they passed around a plate with a lit oil lamp, some sweet and salty bread, etc while they chanted prayers to the goddess known as Gaur Mata. Then, everyone went inside – to wait for the moon to rise.

We left the festivities and went for a walk exiting on the opposite side of the apartment complex than is our usual route. Across the street is another large park. A little farther were some of the venues from the Commonwealth Games, but, as it was beginning to get dark, we left investigating them for another day.



Our project is a success.

The ladies praying and passing trays

Bangles. Check. Henna. Check. Fine outfit. Check. iPhone ????



Potpourri

Here are some random thoughts about life here:


Laundry: In Tanzania, we did our own laundry. But, in India, it is easier to have someone do it. If you take your bag of laundry to the main office in the morning, it is back clean and pressed the next day. A typical bag (3 pants, 3 shirts, 3 dresses) will cost less than $3.00. I don’t know where they do the washing, but we see many people here with their irons filled with wood and coal, pressing clothes outside right in the apartment complex. .

Shopping: Right outside the gate of our apartment complex is Hauz Khas Market. You can find anything here – fine jewelry, toilets, groceries, toys, books, internet cafes, temples and the post office. A 20-30 minute walk away (depending on how long you stare at the sights around you) is Hauz Khas Village. This is an upscale shopping area with nice shops and restaurants. It has been compared to NY’s Soho district. And, of course, there are many many markets around Delhi

Traffic: We’ve been a lot of places and seen a lot of terrible traffic (Thailand, Korea, Rome), but it all pales when compared to Delhi traffic. It isn’t only the number of vehicles (which is many), but it is the (lack of) driving techniques employed by the drivers here. And by drivers, I mean drivers of autos, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, motorcycles, mopeds, busses and trucks. (Oh, and don't forget the animals roaming around on the roads.) The first rule is this: if there is an empty space anywhere on the road, fill it. The second rule is: the biggest vehicle wins. A corollary to the rules is: you must honk your horn constantly. Are they saying: let me through? I want to get ahead of you? hi, how are you? It is difficult to say but the noise makes your head hurt!

Food: We generally eat breakfast in the flat. They have bread, eggs, peanut butter, cookies, jams, honey, cereals, milk, juice, bananas and apples. (No cappuccino though!) At 1:00 or whenever we get back from our placement, a hot lunch is served. At 7:00 is dinner. Both lunch and dinner are good, wholesome Indian cuisine – rice, Indian breads (naan or roti), lentils, paneer (a wonderful cheese), soup, salad. Every Thursday is special with garlic naan, tandori chicken and tandori paneer. We’ve eaten out several times – always Indian so far. Some of the kids here have Pizza Hut deliver a pizza when they have the yen for American (?) food. Of course, we often augment our meals with an ice cream treat. Ice cream must be produced for Indian tastes. It just doesn’t have the oomph of Ben & Jerry you know, but any port in a storm...

Weather: So far, the weather has been beautiful. We had a thunderstorm last Friday evening; that’s the only rain we’ve seen in over three weeks. It has been hot (highs in the low/mid 90’s), but we’ve noticed that it is a little cooler in the mornings and evenings lately. Our flat has many ceiling fans but only the bedrooms have air conditioners. The only problem with our AC is that it has only one speed – freezing. So most nights, we cool the room down, turn off the AC and turn on the ceiling fan.

Newspapers: We get three newspapers delivered daily and it is interesting to read about the local news. For the first two weeks, 2/3 of the paper was devoted to the Commonwealth Games. Now, 1/2 of the paper is devoted to the aftermath/corruption of the preparations for the games. There are also many articles about the Bollywood stars and their lives. There is very little about the USA and mostly, it is somewhat negative. They certainly are not happy that the US gave Pakistan $2 billion which, India feels, will be used against them.

October 22 – 24, 2010

Since 10 of the 16 who arrived with us were leaving on Saturday, we had a going away dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the park on Friday night.

Whenever you read about India, you read that it is a country of contradictions, contrasts, and diversity. We have found this to be so true. While our last post was somewhat negative, today we saw the glories of India and Delhi. Our last post pointed out the many problems in India; however, today they are gearing up for President Obama’s visit which they see as a clear sign that India is a leader in the business world. China and India led the world economy’s recovery, and India is predicted to overtake China within years.

Our Saturday began with a subway ride to see the Akshardhum Temple. We’ve traveled a bit and seen many astounding buildings in the past years, but this temple is right there in the top couple. Built in 2005 by the Gujarat-based Shri Swaminarayan sect, the temple is a stunning piece of art and an eloquent reminder of the sect’s wealth. We spent 4.5 hours there, wandering through the gardens, the temple and surrounding buildings. There was a sound and light presentation with rather well-done robotic figures presented from the life of 11-year-old child yogi Bhagwan Swaminarayan (born in 1781) who began this religion. There was a movie on the giant screen with a cast of over 45,000 people and finally a boat ride through the 10,000 years of Indian culture. It was a little like Disney meets God, but done tastefully and enjoyably. There was also a food court where we had some delicious Indian delicacies. Disappointingly, no photos were allowed. From there, we went to Rajpath – a huge boulevard running across the middle of New Delhi flanked by gardens and fountains that are floodlit at night. At the eastern end of Rajpath is India Gate, a 42-meter high arch commemorating the ninety thousand Indians soldiers killed fighting for the British in WWI. At the western end of Rajpath is Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India. It is very large and grandiose. East of the residence are two Secretariat Buildings which house many Government ministries and just beyond them is the circular Parliament building. Tired, we grabbed a rickshaw back home which is always an adventure.

We had dinner and said good-bye to our two flat-mates. The numbers of us left will dwindle until next weekend when another large group (16?) will descend on CCS. We then went out for an ice cream sundae and picked up some cookies and a pint of Baskin Robbins for good measure.

Sunday morning, we were up early and on the road in a rickshaw to Humayun’s Tomb. This was Delhi’s first Mughal mausoleum, constructed to house the remains of the second Mughal emperor, Humayun, He lost Delhi and most of his father’s empire to the Afghan warlord, Sher Shah Suri, but then regained it back from Sher Shah’s son in 1555. But Sher Shah had his revenge when, a year later, Humayun died falling down the stairs of Sher Shah’s mandal (observatory). The main tomb (there are many buildings on the site) is the same architecture as the Taj Mahal. Across from the Tomb, we visited the self-contained Muslim mahalla (village) of Nizamuddin. It is a tangle of narrow alleyways lined with shops and market stalls where you can find goats and chickens wandering among the throngs of Sunday shoppers. A short rickshaw ride brought us to Lodi Gardens. The park is an immense area of manicured gardens where several 15th and 16th century domed national monuments stand. The park is a quiet haven and we took a needed rest in view of a lake with swans and ducks. Another rickshaw ride brought us home where we are finishing up paperwork, our blog, and getting ready for our little ones tomorrow.


Akshardham Temple (not our photo)

Harold in front of India Gate

Boulevards lead to India Gate

Our richshaw ride





Muslim women catch the richshaw in Nizamuddin.

A monument at Lodi Gardens



October 20 – 21, 2010

After lunch on Wednesday, seven of us went to the Mahatma Gandhi Museum. What an inspirational person he was and what a difference he made in India’s history with his philosophy of non-violence. We returned two hours before our 7 PM dinner was served, so we went out to the local market where there is a very nice coffee/dessert place and had a chocolate brownie sundae. Then we had dinner! After lunch on Thursday, we walked about 30 minutes to Hauz Khas Village where there are lots of shops, cafes, etc. (On the way we found another ice cream store and bought a double dip.) We returned for the 5:30 lecture on India’s economics. We’ve had three lectures: history, religion and economics. All three speakers were excellent and did not sugarcoat India’s problems.  The main themes in each lecture were: overpopulation, adherence to the caste system, government corruption, poor education and poverty. They cited that 78% of the people here live on less than $2/day and 45% of children under five are malnourished.  Less than 50% of children go beyond eighth grade. As more and more jobs require education, there will be fewer jobs for the under-educated. Although India’s economy is booming at 9% growth rate, these problems will continue to plague India’s progress for many decades.

From the Gandhi Museum

On our way to Hauz Khas, we witnessed someone getting a shave and haircut on the street.

October 18 - 19, 2010

Before dinner on Monday, we had a guest speaker, Dr. Jafa, who told us about the Hindu religion. Our session lasted over two hours, but we all wished that it lasted longer. On Tuesday, after placement and lunch, we went to two temples. The first was a lovely Hindu temple called Lakshmi Narayan Temple (where we had to take off our shoes and could not take photos) and the second was a Sikh temple called Bangla Sahib Gurudwara (where we had to take off our shoes, cover our heads and could take photos outdoors). Several of the CCS staff took us and explained about the religions and what we were seeing. We found both religions to be fascinating.

Tuesday at our placement.



Outside the sikh temple



October 15-18, 2010

The beginning and end of the weekend were terrible but the middle, the overwhelming majority of the time, was fantastic! Kathy, Kerri, Carol and Harold left the home base after dinner to take the subway to the main bus terminal. It was Friday night rush hour and the subway was so crowded you couldn’t move. When we exited the station, Harold reached for his wallet and found that someone had taken it somewhere along the way. The wallet contained some of our money, two credit cards, a debit card and his MD license. He was so very upset! We decided to find the bus in a very crowded bus terminal and see that Kathy and Kerri got situated on the correct bus. Meanwhile, we found a phone and cancelled the credit cards and debit card. Carol had the same two credit cards, but, luckily, had her own debit card and that’s what we’ll be using until we can get another MasterCard. At that point, with literally seconds to spare, we decided that there wasn’t much use in not going on our weekend trip, so, we boarded the bus for a twelve hour ride (departure 8 PM, arrival 8 AM). We were on our way to Dharamsala, a city in northern India and the home of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan Government.

On arrival, we had a wonderful breakfast, and then found the hotel where our rooms were booked – The 8 Auspicious Him View Hotel. Each room had a balcony with spectacular views of the Himalaya Mountains. It was much cooler and less polluted than Delhi and we enjoyed this as much as anything. The woman at the hotel was extremely helpful in arranging for us to see the highlights of the area. We first walked to the Tsuglagkhang Complex which comprises the residence of the Dalai Lama, as well as an excellent small museum which described the Chinese takeover of Tibet. There was also a temple which is the most important Buddhist monument in Dharamsala. We walked back to the hotel (doing lots of shopping on the way) and a taxi took us first to the Gyutoe Monastery. Although the Dalai Lama was there only as a cardboard fixture that day, we were able to witness a very moving ceremony while the Buddhist monks chanted. We also witnessed a group of monks making sand mandalas. Our next stop was the Norbulinka Institute. Set amid Japanese-style gardens, Norbulinka was established to teach and preserve traditional Tibetan art, such as woodcarving, thangka painting, goldsmithing and embroidery. After a Tibetan dinner at the hotel, we went out to the streets, where shops and vendors abounded. Carol and Harold even found a Baskin Robbins and had a double scoop of chocolate chip ice cream. Sunday morning, we returned to the area where the Dalai Lama lives; there is a path which loops around the residence and temple. The path is flanked by colorful mani stones and prayer flags and a series of prayer wheels. The woman from the hotel then took us by taxi to a tea plantation, where we were able to tour the factory and see how tea is produced. We made our way back to the bus terminal and began our 11 hour ride back home (8 PM – 7 AM). The journey started along the windy, hilly terrain and it wasn’t long before Kathy and Harold were sick. Those two had a terrible ending to the weekend, but still felt it was worth the pain. We took a taxi home (no more subways for us!), got hurriedly showered and dressed and went to our placements

exhausted, but happy .



View from our room



The monks chanting at Gyutoe Monastery

Painting at Norbulinka Institute

 

Tea Production



Carol spins the prayer wheel

October 14 – 15, 2010

Because of the Games, we did not go to our placement today – Delhi declared a holiday. We left our flat at 9:00 AM and wandered out our gate and across the busy street (which was much less busy today because of the holiday). Although we have walked in this area several times, we could never find the Hauz Khas Village where we ate lunch when we first arrived. But, today we found it and also stumbled upon the most impressive ruins of a fourteenth century reservoir. Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji had the reservoir built in 1304 to supply water to his citadel. Half a century later, it was expanded by Firoz Shah who added a madrasa (seminary) and a mosque. From there, we wandered around the beautiful, huge park with miles of walking paths, and an area with deer, monkeys and peacocks. The most amazing part was how uncrowded it was. With over 1.3 billion people, we had acres of park and national historic sites to ourselves. We came back for lunch (of course!), and then we wandered around the nearby market for a while. At 5:30, we all met for a dance demonstration by a beautiful woman who is a top ranking professional Odissa dancer. Odissa is a classical dance form of India which places particular importance on the independent movement of head, chest and pelvis and on the basic square stance. The dancer’s facial expressions were magnificent as she told her story in dance. After dinner, a group of us watched the movie “Water” directed by Deepa Mehta. It is a moving account of the life of a widow in India in the days before independence (1930’s). Some improvements have been made in the big cities; however, we’ve heard that life is still difficult for widows in rural areas.

In addition to the disruption of the Games (the closing ceremony was last night!), the Hindus in India are celebrating Navratra, which is a nine night holiday ending last night. So, many of our students’ families went to their villages to celebrate. Only about one-third of our students were in school on Friday. Cloe has begun to join us on Mondays and Fridays and today was her 19th birthday. The staff at our placement got her a cake and gave her presents (and this is only the second time they’ve met her.) So far today, we had breakfast at the flat (granola), our breakfast at the school (bread and an unusual spread), birthday cake and sour cream & onion potato chips, tea and cookies, and then we came back to a full (delicious) lunch which included another birthday cake. So, if no one recognizes Carol, she’ll be the fat one getting off the plane in November. Poor Harold has been having some stomach issues and isn’t eating much at all. He’ll be the skinny one. We are packing now and getting ready for our weekend trip. We will go to an early dinner (!!!!) and catch the subway to the bus station. We’ll leave the details of the weekend until Monday.

The reservoir

The ruins - tomb and seminary

The Odissa dancer

Chloe fixing the hair of a lady living at The Earth Saviours Home.

We all gathered to celebrate Chloe's birthday.

October 12 – 13, 2010

Tuesday lessons went very well. Carol put out three stations and let the children chose. Harold kept the more advanced students quite busy with numbers and letters. We don’t have a feel for how the two women in our classroom feel about us, but we know that the founder of “Earth Saviours” and the head teacher of the school (she teaches the older students) approve of what we are doing.

This afternoon we had the most amazing speaker talk to us about women’s issues in India. She talked for over 2.5 hours and we were still peppering her with questions when she was leaving. We will write up a summary of her talk in a future blog. One fact that everyone here agrees on is this: the Delhi/India that we’ve seen in the last week is not the real Delhi/India. It is the sugar-coated country that India wants to project to the world during the Commonwealth Games. They’ve chased out the beggars and cows, stowed away the old busses and hidden the trash. While it has made our adjustment easier, we feel cheated about experiencing India’s reality. We’ve been assured that everything will get back to normal quite soon.

Wednesday morning started bright and early with a SKPE visit with Michelle and Ray. Then, Harold, Carol and a handful of others went to the park for our yoga practice. School today was fine – mostly a repeat of yesterday (which is a good thing). We did have two special events at placement today. Chloe, another CCS volunteer, joined us and worked with the elderly. She shampooed some hair and is planning a spa day for them on Friday (including nail polish and lipstick!). At the end of our time there, we got everyone (kids and elderly) outside to watch Avi swing poi. Poi  is a performance art in which a ball or balls suspended from a length of flexible material, usually a plaited cord, are held in the hand and swung in circular patterns. Real artists then use fire to enhance the spectacle. But, even without the fire, everyone had a great time.

Because of the closing games ceremony tomorrow, most everything is closed. They’ve declared it a holiday. We aren’t sure yet what we’ll do but we won’t be going to our school.

Lunch time - serving beans

The children enjoy their lunch.

Playing with legos for the first time.

An elderly man stopped by to work on our puzzle.

Avi performs for the children and elderly.

October 10 – 11, 2010

 On Sunday, we found a Catholic Church within a 30 minute walk from our flat and arrived for the 8:30 English Mass. Everyone, including the priest, was very friendly and thanked us for coming. On the way back home, we stopped at a restaurant where we ordered a decadent chocolate pastry and two mango/guava smoothies. (The total bill was $3. We mention the prices because we continue to be astonished at how inexpensive it is here.) They did look at us somewhat strangely for ordering this for breakfast. After observing what others were eating, we were sorry to not have ordered something more traditional; it all looked delicious. We took it easy during the afternoon, resting, reading and preparing for our lessons for tomorrow. We are going to split our class into two parts; Harold will take the more advanced and Carol will take the others. Carol hopes to divide her group into three and have three stations for activities. To succeed, she must have the help of the two women who work in this classroom. We’ll see how it goes!

Today is Monday and five of us volunteers and a yoga instructor started the day doing yoga, outside on the grass at 6:30 AM. We will be doing this every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. It was really a neat experience - very calming. The division of the groups at school was partially successful. I bought little red, green and blue bracelets to identify the groups (10 of each color). The idea was to collect them at the end of the day and re-issue them tomorrow. Well, we now have at most eight bracelets collected. We assume that because these children were beggars, whatever they get into their hands, they want to keep. We spent much of the day trying to keep the milling masses from running off with puzzle pieces, crayons and pieces to a game we brought. Last week, we lost two jump ropes. Keeping track of our equipment is a full time job. When we inspected book bags, we found some of the loot. The children are all very sweet and taking the items isn’t malicious; it is just the way their lives have been. The language barrier is also a problem. Talking to young children is difficult enough, but, having them not understanding the language makes it all more difficult. Oh, well. We’ll just keep on doing our best and trying to make some headway.

St. Thomas Catholic Church

The little ones work on a puzzle together.

Carol reads a story to some of the older students.

October 8 - 9, 2010

We were up very early for a wonderful SKYPE session with Michelle and Ray. Although we don’t have WIFI in our flat, the CCS flat nearby does have it. So, if we sit in the far corner of the living room, we can connect to the internet (sometimes – not always).

The children were in rare form on Friday – lots of them came and they weren’t eager to sit still and learn. Luckily, we brought balls, bubbles and jump ropes with us so we let them burn off some energy.

After lunch, we had a short meeting discussing our placements and other CCS issues. Everyone seems pleased with their volunteer work, the flats, the food, etc. We are with a very good group; everyone gets along just fine. Most everyone left after the meeting for trips outside of Delhi (mainly to Agra and Jaipur). Since we are going on our extended trip after CCS and will visit these cities, we decided to stay home and putter around Delhi.

We left the flat before 9 AM on Saturday morning and took the subway to Connaught Place (CP), the commercial hub of Delhi. It is crammed with restaurants, bars, shops, cinemas, banks and airline offices. CP consists of three concentric circles with streets radiating from the center circle. We wanted to find the Government information bureau and a nice man passing by told us the main office was closed for the Games (the cycling, walking and marathon use Connaught Place for their events so many businesses were closed). But, he told us that there was another close by and he even talked to the rickshaw driver and told him where to take us. Well, the driver took us to a tour agency (not what we wanted) so, after talking to the agent, the driver took us back to where we started (rickshaw driver now 80 cents richer). Then another man came along and the whole process repeated. This time the rickshaw driver drove completely around the circle twice (with his meter running) and deposited us at another tour agency (directly across from where we started ) and then tried to convince us it was the Government office (hey, we weren’t born yesterday!). So the driver drove us a little farther and we decided we’d had enough (this driver now only 20 cents richer). For the rest of the day we stuck with the subway. Some of our rides today were on extremely crowded cars; but the people were always very polite. I was given a seat twice and Harold once. (They respect the elderly!)

Most of the day was spent in Old Delhi. Now there are parts of New Delhi which are older than Old Delhi, but let’s just skip over that fact. Old Delhi’s main street is Chandni Chowk – a wide avenue thronged by crowds, hawkers and rickshaws. Tiny bazaar-crammed lanes snake off the broadway like clogged arteries. After doing some shopping (Carol bought two more leggings ($3 each) for her kameezes and another dupatta (80 cents)), we visited the 17th century mosque called Fatehpuri Masjid. We then walked to the main attraction in Old Delhi – the Red Fort. This massive fort dates back to the peak of the Mughal’s power. Shah Jahan constructed it between 1638 and 1648. The walls extend for 2 km and vary in height from 18 m to 33 m. We thoroughly enjoyed walking around the beautiful grounds, seeing many buildings in wonderful condition and visiting the museum. We also had lunch at a restaurant on the grounds of the fort – a rice and chicken dish (murgi biryani) served with yogurt and a delicious mixed vegetable dish – all that plus two giant bottles of water was $5. After leaving the fort, we fought our way back to the subway (I wonder if we’ll ever get used to crossing streets. There are no pedestrian crosswalks – you just wend your way through the seven moving lanes of traffic and hope you live to see the other side of the street!) We went to a place to buy bus tickets for our excursion for next weekend. I’ll leave the details of this trip until later. We had dinner and are now ready to just collapse back in our flat. We must be getting old – we are exhausted!



Our CCS volunteer group



Where we live – there about 8 rectangles of apartments in the
development with a park inside each rectangle



Harold getting into rickshaw

 

Selling fabric in Old Delhi



Side Street in Old Delhi



We are standing in front of the Red Fort







October 6 – 7, 2010

We woke up very early (3 AM) this morning; we are still waiting to get acclimated to this new time zone. Three of us had an hour yoga practice, and then we went to our placement. We were anxious to see how all our planning for the day would pan out. We were pleased – most of the students were engaged for most of the time (I think this is the best we can hope for when we have 40 children ages 1-5). In the middle of the lesson, someone came into our classroom with three cups of tea and three eggs sandwiches for our breakfast. So, Avi, the other CCS volunteer, Harold and I sat in the front of the room (with all the kids watching) and sat there eating. I really didn’t want the sandwich, so I nibbled a little, then switched plates with Avi when he finished his food. Ah, a growing 19 year-old will eat anything. Then, when we finished, it was back to the lesson. A while later the children had lunch then there was a break and they all went out to play. Avi was teaching the older kids tae kwon do. Our little ones joined right in. They also got me on the trampoline and I showed them my headstand.


We returned back to our flats, had lunch and a Hindi lesson. I discovered that I am too warm in a kameez with long sleeves. So we found a tailor right near our flat who shortened the sleeve and length of two tops and charged $3. At 4:15, ten of us rode the subway to an outdoor market. We were amazed at how efficient and inexpensive the subway was. Although we only went a short distance, the cost was 16 cents. The cost increases a bit for longer distances, but it is still a bargain and you don’t have to contend with traffic. The Dilli Haat Market is open-air and is full of stalls selling crafts from across the country and food from almost every Indian state. I bought two more kameezes and a pair of tights (changed to door #1). We returned home for a scrumptious dinner which included chicken tandori, paneer tandori and naan (all cooked in a tandori oven) and an apple and pomegranate in cream dessert. If it sounds like we talk about food a lot, it is because we are eating a lot. And loving every minute!

Today at our placement, we decided that we are going to shake things up. We said before that we had children ages 1 – 5, but actually some are older than five. And some are quite bright. So we are going to separate the group. Harold will take the older/more advanced students and Carol will work with the younger ones. We haven’t quite worked out the logistics but hope to have this in place by next week. Stay tuned. Before we left for the day, they rounded up everyone – kids, workers and the elderly living there for a group shot. See photo. After our placement and lunch, we headed to the National Museum, containing a good overview of Indian culture and history. On arrival at the museum, we were treated to a performance of the Dhol Kunitha group. There are many performances daily throughout the city in honor of the Games. When we returned, we ventured out to see the neighborhood. What an incredible experience – crossing a major road of about five lanes of traffic during rush hour. Harold managed to get some video with the sound effects of a million horns honking. We returned for a dinner of homemade vegetable pizza, chicken pizza, chips and cola. We are about ready to turn in.

The children and seniors at The Earth Saviours home and school

Dhol Kunitha group

Traffic at rush hour

October 3 – 5, 2010

We ate dinner Sunday night gathered around the TV to watch the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. India is hosting the games in which 72 Commonwealth countries are participating. India was widely criticized as not being ready, but the morning papers in Australia, Great Britain and others applauded the opening ceremony as “spectacular.” Three of the 11 venues are close to our flats. There is an incredible amount of security surrounding us (paramilitary guys with rifles), so we are safe.

We were up early on Monday morning, ate breakfast, and then met everyone for our group photo and a meeting with the Program Director, Mrs. Bela Singh. Bela started this Delhi program in 1995. She saw visitors coming to India, spending a few days taking photos of the Taj Mahal and leaving without understanding anything about the Indian culture. She decided that there should be a better way for tourists to come and understand the complexities of her country – thus the birth of Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS). Bela then gave us insights into social values, etiquette and expectations from the staff and our placements. This discussion was followed by a fascinating and informative talk by Professor A.K. Ray, a former head of the political history department at Jawaharlal Nehru University; he gave us a cursory, but candid, overview of India’s 5000 year history and the importance of knowing this history in light of current social structure.

After the talks, they surprised us by taking us to a wonderful restaurant for lunch. We were served many Indian vegetarian foods; we were delighted that every dish was one we learned about in our Hindi class. After lunch, we went on a shopping trip for the women (although all the guys tagged along). We went to a shop selling the traditional clothes that we must wear at our placement – the kameez (long top with split sides), salwar (there are two types of pants: tight and incredibly baggy – I chose door #2), and dupatta (long scarf that I’m sure will strangle me or get caught in every door). See photo!! I only bought two tops, one pair of pants and one scarf to start. I plan on shopping some more. Harold bought a traditional white shirt, too. We then took a walk around the outside of the apartment complex and experienced Indian rush hour traffic – horrific! We are going to record the sights and sounds one evening. We had dinner, chatted with some of the other volunteers and got ready for our first day at placement!

I feel like I could write a book about our day today, Tuesday. We rose early and met our driver for the ride to our placement. After a 25 minute ride, the road that led to the placement passed some very nice houses then turned to gravel and was adorned with a dead cow. Welcome to Hindu dominated India. Mr. Ravi Kalra is a dynamic social activist who gave up his corporate job and all his money about 2.5 years ago to start an organization called “The Earth Saviours Foundation.” His organization addresses many humanitarian concerns: fighting noise pollution through an anti-honking campaign; running a charitable old age home for needy senior citizens; organizing blood donation camps; campaigns for the care of stray cows; efforts to control the use of wood for cremation; efforts to improve the quality of drinking water; and, finally, our placement, running a charitable day school for underprivileged children. Many of these children come from the homes of migrant workers. They don’t have a permanent home so the children cannot go to school. Mr. Kalra goes out in his car and rounds them up – most are begging in the streets. He is providing an education for them from 9 AM – 2 PM, Monday through Saturday. He also provides a nutritious breakfast and lunch. He would like to expand this to a boarding school someday. The school and old age home are located on a farm which someone has rented to him. There are caged goats, mice and birds which the children care for. There is a big center field surrounded by temporary buildings where the classes are taught. The buildings are only cut poles lashed together and roofed with corrugated plastic sheets. The children are divided into two groups: the little ones (ranging from about one year to five years old) and the older group (ranging up to about 12 years old). Harold and I are working together with the little ones and the other volunteer with us is with the older ones. We sang, colored and played games today. When we left we were told to cover teaching the numbers 1-20 and the letters A-D for tomorrow. We spent about 1.5 hours preparing our lesson plans. We got back to CCS tired, sweaty and hungry. A great first day!

After lunch, we had a Hindi lesson, then a kind of scavenger hunt. Each group of three was given a task: buy some groceries at a market, find out about the phone system in India, visit a travel agent and get prices for a weekend trip, buy the bread, cheese, tomatoes to make 10 sandwiches and give them out (this was my task and I was amazed that everyone to whom we offered a sandwich smiled and said yes – try that in the U.S. – a foreigner walks up to you and offers you food), find out about an upcoming festival (Harold’s task – a woman explained the entire ritual and invited them all to attend with her next week). We then had another delicious dinner and we are getting ready for another day.

Carol in her Salwaar, Kameez and Dupatta

October 1 - 3, 2010

A kind neighbor took us to BWI before 11:00 AM on Friday morning. We checked our bags, went through security, had lunch, and then went to the gate for our 1:15 flight to Newark. We quickly learned that the flight would be delayed until 2:55 then until 4:00. They finally said that anyone with a connecting international flight should take Amtrack to Newark. So we retrieved our suitcases, caught the shuttle and boarded the train which was actually quite nice. Our flight to India was only slightly late but the 777 was mostly comfortable with over 200 movies to keep us amused. When we arrived at Gandhi International Airport (which is a very modern building probably spruced up for the Commonwealth Games), we met up with two CCS members from our flight and four from the flight from Chicago. Our drivers met us outside and we had about a 45 minute drive. The roads were wide, well lit and well paved. The drivers were typical of many places we’ve been – lane markings are a suggestion, but if one honks enough, one can make a three lane road have at least four or five lanes. Disappointingly, we saw no cows in the road. Mostly there are small cars, cycle rickshaws, bicycles, motorbikes, trucks and busses.


We are staying in Hauz Khas which is a middle class gated community. CCS has four flats (apartments) in a huge apartment/condo complex. The flats are just a few minutes’ walk apart. One flat is the main office and place for meals. Three flats are for the CCS volunteers. Ours is probably the least updated but still okay. There is a small kitchen, living room, dining room, one bedroom (ours) and a small bathroom on one floor, and then upstairs, there are two bedrooms, a bath and two balconies which overlook a small park.

We didn’t sleep well either night but we were up early, dressed and ready to go this morning. The whole group (16 of us) met for breakfast and some paperwork. Then we got into four taxis for a day of sightseeing in Delhi, visiting three famous sights. First was the Lotus Temple, the seventh Baha’i temple in the world (there’s one in the US in Chicago). The shape is stunning – like a lotus flower which represents the manifestation of God and is a symbol of purity and tenderness. Our second stop was a popular Hindu temple called Chattarpur Temple. It has many altars to the various goddesses and it was a great place for families to enjoy the day. Our final stop was Qutub Minar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an exquisite stone tower and several tombs and temples all built between 1199 and 1235 AD. We returned home hungry and thirsty and experienced our first Indian lunch. Excellent!



Carol and Harold at Qutub Minar