One Big Holi-Day.

Namaste! It is now coming to the end of my stay in India, although it may not seem that I have been here for 10 weeks judging by the number of updates I have made, but it was somewhat taken out of my hands. Blame the developing country for being so damned unreliable.
Today's topic will not be about the end, however. Instead it shall concern an event that took place almost two weeks ago, the celebration of Holi.

Basically, Holi festival is just an excuse to chuck colours at each other for a day and it is a lot of fun. By the end of the day you are lucky if you are not unrecognisable. Unless you are a girl, in which case you are lucky if you don't get molested by about 50 drunk indian men at once. That was the one bad thing about the festival and I had a pretty wicked time. Although some of the water fights got quite brutal. The festival would not work well in the UK, it's not difficult to foresee many injuries occuring.
Other than that, there is not really much to say about it. We arrived quite late as Indian people tend to do everything really early. This is probably because they take so long to do everything, trains have arrived 5 hours late for us before. By the time we had been there for a couple of hours, it had all died down and we were just left exhausted and covered in paint and powder. 'Luckily' for us, on our return, the staff at camp decided to chuck us all in a little well outside. I still had a pink face and hair until a few days ago though, something the children enjoyed at school.

And that is my summary of holi. I don't know why they do it, something about a daughter being set on fire I think, but you are best to look it up yourself.

Phir milenge marachodas.

A blog of two cities.

For my blog today (hello by the way) I have decided to describe to you the cities of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur as I have recently returned from the latter so this would be an opportune time for me to divulge such information.

First, let us begin with Jaisalmer. It is nicknamed the Golden City as it is made almost entirely from sandstone and is surrounded by desert. We are based just 15km from the fort which is the focus of the city.

The Fort itself is listed as a heritage concern as it is built with sandstone and it is only the fact that it rains very little in the desert that it has managed stay moderately intact. However, a few years ago, 9 people died whilst exploring the fort as a part collapsed. This I discovered only after spending a weekend in a hotel there a few weeks ago. 

The city seems to be quite an obscure one as it has not adopted many western features at all. However, it is a popular tourist destination and when you spend time wandering the streets you can see that most of the vendors on the main paths cater to tourists. On the weekends in which we are allowed full days and nights to explore the city, it is never uncommon to see an abundance of western travellers. Now that we have been here a while, it is clear to see how the shop owners operate in terms of price, hiking up many prices as soon as they see someone they believe not to know an object's worth. As we are volunteers and teachers they have become less aggressive with us and so far, in Jaisalmer, I have never ended up paying more than I find acceptable due to developing a few effective haggling techniques whilst in Jaipur. As I have mentioned in previous entries, there are cows everywhere that just wander the streets without being bothered by the residents and it is always advisable to steer clear of them lest you end up on the wrong side of them (which could be either end, as some of my fellow volunteers have discovered). There are a large number of beggars along the streets of Jaisalmer and, if staying in one place for an extended period of time, they will refuse to leave you alone even after having to resort to harsh words (both English and Hindi) and even sometimes after giving them Rupees. As a lot of them are children, it can be quite difficult to ignore them and feel okay about it. Unfortunately, a lot of the begging is run by gangs and most child beggars, it is said, are being controlled by an adult who uses them as a business paying them only small commission. What is quite unusual though, is that, unlike sometimes in England, you will never hear any verbal abuse from any of them and when they do leave you, it is, more often than not, with a smile and wave. 

Last weekend I visited Jodhpur, the capitol of Rajasthan (thank you to Pramod for that little fact), which is also called the blue city. 

It gets this name because, for some reason I do not know, the residents have opted to paint the walls of their houses blue. From the top of the fort, the highest point in the city, the effect is quite staggering and even on a clear day the blue expanse seems almost endless. Jodhpur seemed to be about 6 times the size of Jaisalmer and far too much to explore over one weekend. Like Jaipur, it had embraced certain elements of the west, most notably McDonalds (however the side effects of that experience has taught me that I need to slowly move back onto meat at a later date rather than take advantage of similar chances). There seemed to be a considerably smaller proportion of the population around that could speak English than in Jaisalmer which I found surprising as well as the fact that I saw fewer tourists in the actual city as well. Nevertheless, thanks to getting lost for an extended period, I discovered that the people there were incredibly friendly, helpful and generous which is useful as otherwise I could still be stuck in Jodhpur right now. Unfortunately,.the one person we found to be disagreeable was our hostel owner who threatened to kill Ed and Joe just before we managed to escape. Not recommending the Cozy Guest House as a result. 

For a teaching update, it is getting easier as we learn the kids names and the problem child seems to have stopped coming into school for some reason. We have also been painting the day care centre to make it more attractive and should be doing the same thing to the school once their exams start. 

I have to apologise now for the following information. The prospect for Indian gifts for people is not looking good at all as I have now run out of money after getting lost in Jodhpur. As a result I am currently living off six pounds a week. Sorry, but hopefully all the tales I return with will be presents enough.

Goodbye. 

A Camel Safari and Other Minor Misadventures.

Good morning/afternoon/evening, or more generally, day to you! With this entry I present to you the promised account of my camel safari and with it, other tales that I can remember while I am writing.

It was the second weekend since our arrival in India, and one week after we had arrived at the volunteer camp near Jaisalmer. On this very weekend there happened to fall the birthday of one of the volunteers, a young man who goes by the name of Rob. For his birthday, it was elected that the majority of us would undertake a camel safari at the less than princely sum of 700 Rupees. To put it into terms you westerners might understand better, the experience, including sleeping equipment, a camel, some water and two meals cost each one of us just under ten english pounds. It is exactly the sort of bargain we are witnessing with every passing day in this incredibly cheap country. Unfortunately we were not permitted to retain the camel after the safari, a fact I was most sore over after bonding superbly with Bala, my faithful steed.

The day started out with a jeep ride across some roads, and then a little desert where we were presented with a 30+ strong herd of camels resting in the sun. This site in itself was incredible and was the perfect precursor to what turned out to be a rather painful but enjoyable journey. That's right I did say painful, for I cannot be completely full of praise over the experience. No one had warned me that whilst on a camel, certain regions between your legs get slowly, and agonisingly eroded away and any possibility of repositioning yourself during the trip is veto'd by an overwhelming terror that you will end up underneath the camel and on the sand, and camel's are very high above the ground. In fact, this fear was fully justified as I was in a perfect position to watch one of my companions being flung underneath her somewhat startled camel which proceeded to then stamp on her back. Luckly, though, she did escaped relatively, and surprisingly, unscathed although I trust your sympathies will be with her nonetheless. My only hint of trouble was when a deranged camel being ridden by one of the guides decided it would begin terrorising other camels and attempt to bite those riding them. Thanks to Bala, I was able to avoid any major mishap as he handled the situation expertly. By the end of the trip I had mastered my camel, using clicks and calls to adjust speeds and the reigns to adjust direction. I can safely say I was certainly the best at this.

Currently I am in the midst of a project to improve the volunteer camp with irrigation. What this means is, I have been digging. Personally, it is not what I would choose to do while the schools are closed as this does not seem to be for the benefit for anyone but us and it would be considerably more fulfilling if we could be doing this in our project communities. Also, everyone seems to be picking up injuries everyday and I have suceeded in disabling the big toe on my other foot. On a better note I, practically single-handedly, built a badminton court on the sand here. Now I just have to learn how to play badminton.

For my weather update it has to be said that the heat is nearing unbearable levels each day as the run up to summer begins. I wouldn't be adverse to some of the snow that those of you in England have enjoyed in my absence. Flies are becoming more of a nuisance than you could possibly imagine and I wonder why no one thought to warn me about walking through Indian streets with my mouth open.

I feel that this entry has begun to run on a bit and in the interests of my fingers and attention span I will leave it here. Hope you have enjoyed the read and I expect to see you soon.

Farewell.

Teaching Rears its Ugly Head.

Welcome loyal followers and apologies all round. I promised that this would come a lot sooner and events are moving along much faster than I can get them on here. This is due to my laziness, patchy (at best) Internet access and the fact that I would undoubtedly lose readers if my blog entries were longer than the train ride I had to endure in order to get here. And it really was one long train ride as it totalled 17 hours. Unfortunately I must also profess that the length of the journey was not the only problem that was encountered. Some careless fool had crushed my already injured toe before departure and it was bleeding profusely, also my designated bed was occupied by a sleeping Indian family for the entirity of the journey and it took a fair amount of time before I was able to find an available one. The upside of all of this was that I witnessed the sun rising over the desert in the early hours and it was spectacular. Trains in India are not at all like they are depicted by The Darjeeling Limited, which is a crying shame. They are, for one, almost entirely blue inside and out, as well as being cramped and smelly. The less said about the toilets, the better.

We arrive in Jaisalmer to find no fanfare and celebrations, rather a large number of soldiers whose sole purpose seemed only to be to provide an instant reminder that we are situated perilously close to the Pakistan border. It is clear on arrival at the camp that the sheer amount of bland or spicy curries will get to everyone by the end of the trip and the cold, tasteless example we were presented with does little to inspire confidence in the resident cook.
Jaisalmer was explored the following day and one of the oddest things about India is fully exposed, the cows. They are absolutely everywhere and treated with more respect than most people. It is quite a shock to watch five or six cows being herded out of what appears to be one of the bigger restaurants in town. One more animal experienced that day was my first and currently only scorpion that was quickly dispatched with the base of a mug. On a slightly animal related note, I have been able to reel off both the purple wombat (twice) and the newly acquired onion story, to mixed reviews.
I have been placed in a school with a delightful bunch of fellow volunteers where we are expected to teach English and Maths (and, as it turns out, anything else thatt we deem appropriate) to 7-8 year olds in the morning and I.T. to teenagers in the afternoons. So far, I am unsure whether we have actually taught anything to anyone as the language barrier and lack of a translator or real teacher 90% of the time has made it difficult to gauge how much the kids are taking in in the morning and we have been unable to use the computers as power has been as inconsistent as my blog entries might suggest. Also, we have only had one full week of teaching as 'extreme' cold weather prevented children attending one day (I, on the other hand, ended up horribly sunburnt on that day) and public holidays which seem to be rather arbitrary have prevented us from working. All in all, teaching is hard, especially with one chubby bastard in the class whose one aim seems to be to sabotage my lessons at any cost. However, I am sure once it all settles down it will be easier and I will hopefully start to see progress being made.

Thats all from me for now, I hope that it has been satisfactory. Next time, look forward to a camel safari and my immodium overdose.

Valediction.

Planes, trains, elephants, tuc-tucs, and automobiles.

Welcome followers!
Here is my my first blog from the arid desert of India. I have been here for about 2 weeks now. This I am not too sure about, my perception of time has wavered significantly after enduring a 5 and a half hour time difference and days of real activity, something I have not encountered for many years. Due to the massive amount of events that have been thrown at me by this wondrous country I will either keep each one brief, or whack out another entry in the next few days. Either way, prepare to be enthralled by my illustrious travels.

First, the journey to Jaipur... I arrived at the airport of Heathrow at 4 O' Clock and was treated to a delectable meal at one of its fine restaurants. At five minutes to seven (the Platform2 meeting time) I suffered my first real jitters but these were soon quelled by a fine collection of fellow volunteers and a hurried check in. The plane journey was one of quiet contemplation and a disasterous game of chess. Landed with a bump in Delhi and embarked onto a land with a sky grey with pollution and a hot, humid sun. By the exit from the airport we met Rajeev, who was to become a gigantic character, and remains one. Placed in group B (for best) to allow for the easy distribution of activities. Within this group I was to discover, after about 3 years of searching, someone who was truly amazed at my J.K. Rowling connections. Finally this piece of dreadful literature has come up trumps. Next was the bus, which took us on a rather uneventful but cramp 7 hour journey. Notable incidents include the loud and ridiculously hectic roads and a humongous statue in Delhi which seemed to be taunting me with its Lost-reminding properties. Eventually, after my sleep deprivation began to resemble torture, we arrived at our host families and I was placed with a Mr. J.R. Andrews, a God among men who has the best anecdotes you could ever hope to hear. I immediately slept.

Now we have that out of the way I need a little breather.............................................. Right, now I can continue. Lots of talks on the following day and now I can speak Hindi fluently. I must say, however, Namaste doesn't quite compare to Yoga-Noi but I can just about make do as it comes with a fantabulous hand motion which kicks the handshakes of Uganda's collective arses. The next day brought with it the best bright blue indian clothes in which I look magnificent. This you will all witness, whether it be in the comfort of my home or out on the razz in our favourite haunts. I also learnt that the favourite way of describing me to those volunteers who do not yet know my name is "Ginger Beard" which I am more than happy with, given its pirate and beverage connotations. A grave issue arose in another round of presentations as we learnt of the Indian practise of burning brides. It is here that I realise it will not all be fun, games and shopping and I am going to have to bring my best game to the development work we will be doing here.
Amber Fort! This is where the elephants make their first appearance and yes, before you ask, they bore me splendidly upon their magnificent shoulders and took me to the most glorious of palaces where I continued my frantic buying with the purchase of a turban and a fiddle which I have had little success on. Tragedy struck that day also, as my bag fell on my toe and now my toenail is not in the best condition. Luckily, this has its upside as the many people wishing to grab a gander have brought sympathy with them.

Here I have now decided to call it quits as the mad scramble for internet use has begun once again. I implore you to visit again soon as more tales will be told that will blow your socks off. I'll keep mine on though, lest sand infects my foot and I require an amputation.

Farewell loyal disciples!