The Last Few Weeks

I am acutely aware that I have failed to keep this blog up to date over the past few months. I will partly blame this on a lack of access to computers (both while on my 7 week tour of North India and at Devnar as I can't work the systems in the computer lab without a computer mouse- something that the kids can't use and, therefore, don't have). On top of this, as I've become so accustomed to festivals, programmes, visits, poojas etc, I have felt less of a need to write about them. While it once might have seemed important to ramble on about the weather (45 degrees or the monsoon, for example) and how I deal with it now feels like a comparatively mundane information; something that is simply part of day-to-day life.

Excuses aside, I can't not acknowledge that my time at Devnar is nearly over and I should, therefore, write something here.

Since coming back from our 7 weeks Summer Tour last month, life at Devnar has been lazy and hectic at the same time. Mornings passed chatting with Manjula in the library and helping with the new LKG class consisting of two of the most adorable little boys in Devnar. Our official work load has reduced considerably so afternoons are now spent taking the odd English lesson and busying myself with my Community Project- an assignment needed for me to complete my OCN Global Citizenship and Volunteering qualification. Evenings have become my favourite time of day and are characterised by the monsoon rains, frequent power cuts and hours of what Lottie and I refer to as "Office Hangs"- namely sitting in the school's office, chatting to each other, Padma, Warden Sir, students and whoever else also finds themselves waiting on the red sofa bench. I will often sit downstairs with my students until late into the night, long after the wardens have gone to bed and the offices have been locked up, chatting about England, India, the future, the school and so much more. While my official role here has been 'English Teacher', living at Devnar has meant that I feel less like I am a member of staff and more like I have gained 500 or so little brothers and sisters. As such, I have been enjoying these last few weeks with them as their sister meaning more games of tag, cuddles, sneaking them sweets from outside and even midnight water fights.

I feel like it's going to be near impossible to explain how close I've become everyone here and how at home I feel in a place that was, at first, fairly alien. People who started off strangers are now close friends and, not only that, but I have spent enough time here to feel like every friendship I've made is a meaningful, reciprocated one. I don't want to be too cliche, but I really am grateful that I got this Project; it's consumed my life completely and I am devastated that my life here will be coming to an end in just a few days. Irrespective of my upset, the 18th will inevitably roll around so I plan to make sure the next few days are filled with as many giggles, jokes and hugs as the past few weeks have been. "Full enjoy!" as they say here.

Half Way Review

It's coming up to being 6 months since I left England making it (approximately) the 'half way point' in my Indian adventure. To mark this I wanted to make a little post to go over some of my general thoughts and feelings so far and whether the hopes I had six months ago have been met, so here goes:

I wanted to start by looking back at the things I was most looking forward to just before my departure that were leveling out any nerves I had about leaving. In a blog post I wrote back in August I mentioned the following things: 

Singing songs with my classes- this I have loved and will, no doubt continue to love. LKG are always up for a rendition of the alphabet, ‘bits of paper’, ‘Brother John’, ‘Johnny Johnny’ and, my personal favorite due to their Christmas spirit regardless on the month, ‘Jingle Bells’. Knowing that there are a few songs, such as the ‘Are we quiet?’ song, that Lottie and I have taught them from scratch is wonderfully satisfying especially when the little ones will wander up and start singing them to us out of the blue. While I sing less with my older classes, one of my 5^th class groups have become ever so fond of a song about Sharks that we used to sing on school residential trips back in the earlier (and later) years of secondary school.  This song also has actions which, I am proud to say, the class all know and we have a great time at the end of our lessons, clapping with our arms extended in front of us, pretending to be sharks. 

My first first-hand experience of a Hindu festivals- Festivals here are fantastic. Not only does everyone in the school come together to celebrate regardless of their religion, but the whole street genuinely begins to buzz with excitement and the sound of drums can be heard late into the night. Joining in with celebrations, big and small, makes me feel like I really am part of the community, especially when the Aunties ask me to join in with the Rangoli, making Diwali candles or stringing flowers. Unfortunately, we have been on holiday for some of the big Hindu celebrations (like Pongol), however, this makes me even more excited to be able to spend ones like Holi at the school with the kids.  

Riding Elephants- this is a tricky one to review because, while we have had the chances to ride elephants, we have turned them down. Having seen the conditions some temple elephants are kept in, and reading about the means by which many elephants are trained to accommodate tourist rides, the idea of riding one myself is no longer as appealing as it was back in the UK. I do hope, however, that I might be able to see some more, hopefully in more natural setting, while on my summer travels. 

Buying my first Sari- Not only did I massively enjoy buying my first Sari, but I have loved buying everyone I’ve bought since. Learning to tie them well enough for the Aunties not to demand that they redid it as soon as I came down for breakfast took a little while but, since being able to fix them myself they have become infinitely more comfortable while continuing to make me feel like a princess. I may have collected a few more than I need but each hold special memories for me depending on which festival or event I first wore them at. I still have my very first Sari tucked away safely in my rucksack through fear that I will somehow ruin it but I have become far less precious with the rest of them. I have also started to tailor them myself in an attempt to save money (tailoring the fall and hem as well as getting the blouse made can often cost as much as the Sari itself if the quality of the stitching is good) which means I can wear them far more often without fear that I am wasting money if they get a bit scruffy around the edges (which is inevitable with the amount I end up rolling around on the floor with the kids).

Indian puddings- Indian sweets and puddings have exceeded my expectations. I knew I had a sweet tooth but I didn’t think I would be able to eat  jalebi until my teeth ached- but I can. I get stupidly excited when a donor brings some kind of sweet; gulab jamun, ladoo, or some sort of kheer to the school for dinner and lassis have now become my drink of choice while traveling. I am also starting to get my head around kulfi, something I’d never tried in the UK and is great but ridiculously rich here.  

My first ride in a tuk tuk.- I did actually enjoy my first Auto ride immensely- and many more after it. They seem so convenient that I feel I will miss them when back in England! My parents would be horrified to hear that Auto races are definitely a thing when there are too many in our party to squeeze into one. This often means driving even faster and even more recklessly than usual and, occasionally, with the addition of Tollywood tracks blasting out of the in-built speakers of a particularly enthusiastic Auto driver.  However, in recent months, we have been trying to cut down on using them because they are simply too expensive- especially as many drivers see that we are not Indian and try and take advantage of us. Initially, many drivers would try and charge us over 150 rupees for a journey we knew should cost no more than 30 rupees and many of them don’t seem to be able to comprehend that we have now been here for some time and know how much our regular routes should cost. The assumption that we are rich also leads to many Auto divers being very persistent even when we have turned down the offer of a ride. On one occasion we were walking 200 of our students up Mayurimarg to get on a school bus that was parked on the main road when, ignoring the line of students we were holding hands with that snaked up the street, one driver was adamant that we should take an Auto and drove along side us for a good few minutes before giving up and heading off. They often don't seem to understand that we don't mind walking sometimes. We have now got our head around the buses for most of our trips though it does seem to be considerably easier to get a bus to wherever we want to go than it is to get one back. This is primarily because, often, buses don’t stop at bus stops, rather they just pause in a traffic jam near enough where you were planning to go so it’s best to just jump off when you can. This, however, means that I have no idea where to be catching the buses home from and is something I do need to work on…    

Being able to have a conversation with someone in Telugu.- I’m not going to lie- my Telugu is still not great. The problem with trying to learn Telugu here is that the school is English Medium meaning all of the classes are taught in English above a certain grade, this, by extension means that a lot of the students want to practice their English with us rather than dedicating too much time to helping us  with our Telugu. A few will even be confused when we ask for help and say “Why Mam? Telugu is useless to you when you go back to England…” but I still do like to spend the odd evening scribbling down useful translations into a notebook. Even being able to have a short, broken chat with the Aunties or younger students is brilliant, though, even if they often have to include a number of exaggerated actions and tones- they really appreciate the effort we put in even if it’s the conversation is just about whether or not I have eaten enough for dinner (the answer always being ‘yes, yes I have had more than enough’). 

And lastly I mentioned; ‘spending time with and getting to know my lovely partner’.- In the last 5/6 months, I have learnt that it’s very easy to get to know someone when you work and live with them every single day. At one point, during the run up to Christmas, Lottie and I calculated that we hadn’t spend any period longer than six hours apart since our arrival here which, when thinking about how much time I spend with even my family back in England, is maddening. This considered, it isn’t surprising that our ‘arranged marriage’ (as we sometimes describe it) can get on both of our nerves immensely at times especially when we are polar opposites in many respects. Despite this however, it has been great to have someone to share the last 6 months with; to laugh about stupid things, to dress up with, to motivate me and remind me to relax, to take photos with, collect quotes, and relax with. However much there are some habits of hers I will never understand, I do really appreciate having Lottie around.

There are some other changes I have noticed over the last 6 months; perhaps most significantly that I no longer feel like I live in a school. Now, I feel like my home is Devnar and, secondarily to that, it just happens to hold lessons during the day time. The kids are my students but they are also my little brothers and sisters who can be complete pains but I love to bits. I miss them when they go back to their villages for a week or two or when we go traveling and I can gossip and giggle with them just as I would with friends back home.

The surroundings feel more comfortable and natural than I ever imagined they could do when I first got here. Back then, the second floor was just the floor our little room was located along with the computer room, LKG classroom, printing room, library and hall, but now it it’s a playground for me and the kids, and where I am at ease roaming around late at night when I can’t sleep. Our little room becomes more and more homely every day as we add photos, pictures drawn by the kids, and souvenirs to the walls on a daily basis and we keep the door open more and more often to welcome little visitors who want to come in and play to distract us from our work. We even have a bag of Duplo Lego (thanks Mum and Dad for sending that) for Sai Sethwick and Nikhil to play with on their post breakfast visits. I don’t know whether it good that I am, but I have got to a point where I can wander around the school in my hideous Indian nighty and not mind who I bump into. It might sound stupid, but that is a level of familiarity with the school and all the people in it that I wasn’t sure was going to happen when I first pulled up into the gates, yet, here we are!

While reaching this half way point does feel like an achievement of sorts, it's also really scary. The days seem to be passing at a ridiculously fast pace and, at the moment, I don't feel like I will ever be completely ready to leave Devnar- especially not in 6 months...

But, to conclude, I still don’t think I could have asked for a better country or project to be spending a year at and, to be horribly cliché, am still having the time of my life- here’s hoping the second half of my year is equally fantastic! 

A Devnar Christmas

Life at Devnar always seems to be a little mad but the Christmas period has been more hectic than ever. This is a really quick run-down of how 'Indian Christmas' went...

21st December
Festivities kicked off on Monday with the long awaited Christmas Show. Preparation for this had been going on throughout December and rehearsals of the Nativity took up most of the school days in the two week build up. Along with this, each evening Lottie and I had been teaching the kids dances. Due to the sheer number of children who wanted to be involved, we were forced to hold auditions for those who wanted to be in the show itself doing a dance to Frozen's Let it Go. On top of this, so as not to disappoint those kids who weren't picked, we also decided to teach a dance to Pharrel Williams' Happy. This meant that, between 5 and 6 each night of December, the second floor hall was complete and utter chaos with our students jumping all over the place with enjoyment and Lottie and I constantly trying to invent new ways to be heard. The day of the play itself was also manic, though luckily it evolved considerably less shouting. The only major hiccups were a complete reshuffle of the partners in the Let it Go dance during the morning practice leaving us with one too few yellow shirts and therefore, a quest to find some sort of white or yellow polo shirt that wouldn't make Mahesh look too out of place during he performance. Eventually, after many trips running up and down from the second floor with my sari held up inappropriately high so as not to trip, a white shirt was found just in time for me to be greeted by Nikhil, one of my LKG students who, at this point, was wearing no trousers and was attracting a lot of attention from the official guests. We had to hurry him into the office and put his trousers only to find that the button had gone missing. This left me no choice but to wrap him up in sticky tape before sending him on his way and and taking up my position as photographer for the event. While I attempted to discreetly make my way around the stage and audience taking photos of everyone, Lottie took her place as DJ blasting out obscure covers of great Christmas classics such as 'We Three Kings' and 'Silent Night'. At one point during the performance a drain located directly above some of the kids in the audience decided it was the right time to recreate a very localised monsoon over their heads so they had to be moved and, during our Let it Go dance, Lottie had to jump up from her post in order to make sure the kids didn't fall of the stage as the circle they were dancing in had grown a little bit too large for the space provided but other than that the rest of the show, songs, and Bible readings went wonderfully smoothly and I couldn't be more proud of our dancers or the rest of the kids.

22nd December
It is no uncommon for people and companies to want to 'give back' to the children and provide them with some sort of service. This can means days of fun lessons at the school, brilliant donated meals and, often, trips where the children can enjoy themselves and be fussed over while also partaking in lots of activities and performances. With this in mind, it came as no surprise that, each year, the older children are invited to spend the day at a five-star resort just outside the city for a Christmas party. Our older students, along with children from local orphanages and kids from the host's grandchild's class were invited to perform for each other. This meant bringing out some of the kids classic dances (ones that Lottie and I now know well) such as the Annual Day remix the boys from 9th and 10th class do but with new twists such as having one of the boys dress up in drag to be the love interest in the song.
As well as these performances, we were all also treated to an amazing lunch: Chicken Biryani, Veg and Non-Veg Manchurian, Noodles, curd and, for pudding, chocolate doughnuts with butterscotch ice cream and soft drinks. Once fed, we all returned to our seats for a magic show. From what I saw, the magician did seem impressive, however, we ended up staying in our seats at the back of the audience with someof the kids who couldn't see the performance and didn't want to hover by the stage to be picked as volunteers. This meant the afternoon passed with a good few hours chatting to our students as well as the resort staff which was lovely and relaxing- just as a Christmas Party at a luxury retreat should be! By the time this was over, and our lunch had gone down, Lottie and I were far more willing to get up on stage and join in with the group dances-both traditional Dandiya Rass dancing as well as to more modern Bollywood and Tollywood tracks. While we were boiling, sweaty and gross by the time the music stopped, dancing and laughing with the kids meant that that didn't matter one bit- we were proud of our pink faces rather than embarrassed. When the day came to an end the children were all given individually wrapped gifts by the staff; colouring crayons, pencil cases, tubs and other stationary, before we headed back home on the buses.Working at Devnar seems to involve chaperoning a fair few of these events but, due to the non-veg Manchurian and how happy our students were at the end of the programme, this one is up there with the best.

23rd December
This was the day of the Staff Party at Devnar school. This meant that all the staff had each prepared some sort of dish; rices, curries, chapati, curds or 'sweet' (as any pudding or sugary treat is referred to here), to create one big feast for all the staff. The variety of food as amazing. As we eat what the children eat there is not a lot of variety in the bulk curries we get at the school, which is fine because the curries we do have a superb, but treats like Double ka Meeta and battered onions are very very rare in Devnar's kitchen. Jothi Mam even brought a huge pot of fruit salad; apples, banana, custard, strawberry jelly, cream and ice cream, which Lottie and I made valiant attempts to eat with our hand until someone took pity on our incompetence and found some spoons.
Later that day we were paid a visit by several other volunteers as they made their way through the city to Christmas at one of the Projects in Ongole. We showed Callum, Alex, Katie and Sophie around the school before all heading off for Ice Cream at the local Cream Stones as a treat. Taking two Autos caused a bit of trouble when it turned out that only one knew where to go and the other lost sight of it however, with the help of a number of passers by (both wanted and unwanted) we eventually made it to the shop few a good old catch up over Chocolate Fudge Volcano Ice Creams before the others headed to the bus station and Lottie and I walked home.

24th December
This was the day for all the children who hadn't made it into the Let it Go dance, as, in the evening among lots of excitement, Grishma (the daughter of the school's Founder Chairman) came to the school with her friend in order to film the kids dancing and getting into the Christmas spirit. This coincided with a donation of Christmas cakes which the kids all lined up for under the 'Devnar School for the Blind' sign while dancing, jumping and clapping. We also had two of the boys dressed up in Santa costumes stuffed with bedding handing out the cake. It was a really lovely evening with music playing throughout- it started with Christmas songs and Happy but soon turned to Tollywood favorites so all the kids could join in.
After this, the L V Prasad volunteers, Anna and Jos came and the four of us took our first trip to Paradise- a restaurant that claims 'The World's Favourite Biryani'. Hyderabad is famous for Biryani so it is often the 'special meal' and the school when an important donor has a Birthday but so far, Parasise does, in my eyes, have the edge on the Biryani front. After our meal and banter with the waiters (we had got there late and were the last to leave the restaurant) we headed back to the school to wish our last 'Merry Christmas-eves' to the kids who were still up and then all get into mine and Lottie's hard metal single beds for the night (we didn't quite fit and I ended up sleeping on the floor).

25th December
Christmas Day went by very fast. There was the early morning exchanged stockings and little gifts we had made each other then we headed down for a breakfast of Umpa and left over Christmas Cake with the kids, were very excitable in the courtyard with them and took lots of photos. Following that, we headed up to the room to open some gifts from our families that had been sent out and then I attempted to tie everyone's Saris. While I am slowly getting better at this, we ended up going down to the dorms and the Auntie's re-did every single inch of my hard work. Maybe by my Birthday I will have it mastered. At lunch we handed out chocolates to all the kids and then, when it had finished, Jos and I stayed downstairs to watch the boys play cricket. At one point I even attempted to join in however, as I am not the best when in tunics, the Sari made it slightly impossible.
As there is no internet at the school, we made our way to LVP to use the wifi so Lottie and Anna could skype their families and I could call my parents. Unfortunately for me I couldn't hear my parents due to bad signal and ended up roaming the Eye Hospital so as not to disturb my friends. The view from the roof top of LVP is brilliant so I based myself there, reading the Lord of the Rings and wondering how long it would before I had another Christmas quite like this one. After some time we had to go back to the School to pick up all of Anna and Jos' bags as they had a bus to Kerala (or was it Goa?) to catch. This was a cause of some minor stress but we eventually sent them on their way. At this point my family were able to call my and I skipped dinner to talk to my lovely Parents, brother and Nana. It was weird not to be with them but if I had to pick anywhere else in the world to be it would have been Devnar so I wasn't homesick like I thought I would be- maybe I was too tired to think about it too much as I had only managed 3 hours sleep on the stone floor. Lottie and I ended the evening with me eating a watermelon to make up for the lack of dinner, her opening the last of her gifts (mainly chocolate) and my falling asleep while we watched the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

My Christmas View

Overall, Christmas was wonderfully different and I am so happy that we got to spend it all with the kids!

Making Friends

Now, this might seem like a really weird thing to write about but it's not something that I thought about before coming to India and it's only really started to dawn on me now that I making friends is something that I am doing here. Having been living at Devnar for over three months now I am friends with the teachers, Aunties, Uncles and especially the children but I guess, when I imagined my year I thought my friendships would be almost exclusively connected to life at the school- especially as I live here. It seems silly to me now that I thought this because I do properly live here now (I have Indian residency) and, with the number of people in Hyderabad, it's not like there is a shortage of people to get to know.

The other week Lottie and I were sat in the food court of a local Mall when a lady came up to us and asked if she could sit at our table as there were no other spaces. Of course we said 'yes' and we ended up talking for far longer than we intended to stay in the food court. Padmini told us all about her family and passion for Yoga as well as her involvement with helping the elderly and in return we told her all about Devnar and the kids. What I mean to say is, we hit it off which was a wonderfully pleasant surprise in and of itself, but then Padmini invited us for a free Yoga session the next morning before she headed back to her home in Delhi. We hadn't gone out with anyone outside of our project while in the city so while saying yes might not seem like a big deal it was a little bit of an adventure for us.

The next morning we borrowed some mats from the school and headed to a lovely park that we had seen from afar in a school trip with the children once and Padmini taught us all about her passion for Shivananda Ashram Yoga. While we did attract some attention, ignoring people and enjoying first ever Yoga session was easier than expected. After that we went for a rather swanky lunch followed by ice creams which was very surreal in the sense that 'hanging out' was both familiar and very new to be doing out here. While Padmini left to go back up North to her home, it is nice to know that we now have a friend that will look out for us on our travels through Delhi next summer and it's mad to think that that came about simply because there was a spare seat out our table in GVK1!

We are also starting to make friends within Hyderabad itself. Two months ago, at the Sight Walk awareness event we met Divya who is a medical student in the city and we got on really well. It wasn't until the beginning of December that we actually got our act together and planned to meet up. Lottie had wanted her nose pierced for some time and I (not being brave enough to go for the nose) wanted some more earring so this became an excuse to get Divya and her local knowledge to take us to the best jewelers. Divya's boyfriend, Dr. Santosh Kiran, ever so kindly picked us up and took us to a big jewelers next to Hyderabad Central where we got our piercings for the equivalent of 2 pounds 50! Divya then took us to her favorite Chaat place to educate us on the best Indian street food. We had Samosa Ragada, Dahi Papdi (I really liked this one because of the yoghurt), Bhel Puri, Pani puri and then we took home a parcel of Pav Bhaji which we ate sat on our little bed while obsessing over how good it was. This little food trip has sparked a love affair with Pav Bhaji and it's now our go-to street food lunch when we go out for the day. We also took an evening stroll around KBR park before Divya kindly invited us back to her home to meet her Mum and be reunited with her sister, Shreya, who we had also met at the Sight Walk event. 

Overall, these were both really good days- neither of which I imagined happening when I was picturing my year here but I am ever so glad that they happened. I hope there are many more like them!



(I will put some more photos up when I can!)

Trips and Trips and Trips

At Devnar, School Trips are a very common occurrence with there often being one (or even more) per week. Last week alone Lottie and I attended three functions with our students and I thought it would be worth noting down what these trips will often entail...

Wednesday was National Pollution Prevention Day and to mark this occasion some of our students had been working on a science presentation ready to present at the Pollution Prevention offices in Hyderabad. This required us filing into the mini bus (as always it was at over double capacity) before we headed across town to a rather fancy office building complete with a number of conference rooms and central exotic garden. There were a few other schools attending, all of whom had won prizes for their science projects. It was a little hard to understand what some of the projects had as their focus as most of the presentations were in Telugu. This left Lottie and I a little confused but that is nothing out of the ordinary since we are still working on the language barrier. After these, the boys dance troop performed their much loved Annual Day Remix dance, and the girls performed their more traditional Indian dance. There were also a few songs to lighten to the mood before the conference delved into what seemed to be some pretty serious talks about the environment. After this many prizes were handed out and photos taken with the attending politicians before we all bundled ourselves back into the bus in time for a very special donor dinner complete with pots of ice cream! 

Thursday started with our first visit to Sai Junior College. This is where most of the Devnar students go to continue their studies doing First and Second year Intermediates after they graduate 10th class here. It was surreal to see a place that was so much like Devnar (the same uniforms, colour schemes, even some of the staff work at both institutes) yet completely different. Here there were no tiny children to tug at my trousers and ask for chocolate, no one jumped on me and the place was oddly quiet but pleasantly peaceful. We were there because we had been invited to accompany the Junior college students on a trip to the airport (though at first we didn't know what this would entail). The hour long journey to the airport was made by two buses- one for the male students, the other for the females ones- and this time nearly everyone had their own seat which was nice. 

Every year, during December, the Five Star Novotel next to Hyderabad Airport will invite the students for a to the hotel for an afternoon of speeches, performances and eating really nice food.  The students were invited to performs songs and dances inside one of the hotel's restaurant rooms, before the staff (some reluctantly) did the same. It was great to see the number of students who were willing to stand up and sing and dance in front of all of their peers and strangers, especially the solo performances. Their confidence put Lottie and I to shame as we almost had to be dragged onto the stage before we agreed to perform the Pharell Williams 'Happy' dance we are currently teaching the younger students at Devnar each evening.  

Following this, we were served one of the nicest Chicken Biryanis I've tasted since coming here along with exotic new peach and date puddings that are were far more luxurious than most of the food we get at the school. The students, naturally, had a really nice time and seemed to have a really nice time joking around with the hotel staff about who their favorite Hero was and what their plans for the future were (most want to be accountants, it seems.) 

The school bus dropped Lottie and I back to Devnar only to be welcomed by another set of hotel staff from Hi-Tech City who had come along to mark International Day of Peoples with Disability. They had divided the children into small groups and had seated them out in the courtyard where they were given crayons and a big sheet of paper. 'Village life' was the theme for this particular drawing competition and the entries were really impressive with their bright green grass, blue skies, clouds and houses of every colour in the pot that hadn't already been used. Prizes such as rucksacks and water bottles were given to the winning students which they seemed more than delighted with.

On Friday we accompanied another trip to The Hyderabad Special School for Children in Need of Special Care. A talent competition was being held here meaning both Devnar's dancing groups were in attendance, as were a number of solo and group singing acts. 

While the shows were lovely, the most interesting part of this day was meeting other children from schools around the city. There were a few schools for the deaf such as the Sweekaar Special School for the Deaf in Bowenpally. It was really interesting to see the different ways in which these children overcame their different disabilities- for example, rather than clapping after an act, the students from the deaf schools would raise and shake their hands instead. Seeing these schools made me feel very sentimental as I could picture my Dad's students from The Holy Land Institute of the Deaf in Jordan (his own Project Trust Gap Year Placement) being very similar to these students. Furthermore the similarities between those students and my own made me realise how similar the experiences my father and I will have had by the time I finish this year. Living at Devnar I have become somewhat desensatised  to the children's visual impairments but this event allowed me to rerecognise how brilliant these children's communication skills are. Before coming here I wouldn't have considered the possibility that visually impaired students could properly befriend the deaf students yet this day proved my ignorance as I saw my students signing 'thank you' and 'sorry' to the deaf students who had given up their chairs for them. What was equally lovely to see was the Special School for Children In Need of Special Care itself. Everything was beautifully brightly coloured and the courtyard was filled with flower beds and plants to encourage the children to engage their senses. There was also a sensory garden complete with stepping stone paths, climbing frames, fountains, wooden shakey bridges, sand pits, models of zebras, parrots and elephants and even a modest but beautiful Hindu temple. 

This was one of the most enjoyable programmes I have attended since coming out here. The pride I felt for not only my students but all the students who performed was more significant than I could ever have imagined it to be and, on top of this, every single person we met was a delight to be around. It wasn't really important whether the students couldn't see, hear or walk, they were all simply wonderfully happy, funny and enthusiastic children and that was what made them Special. 

Holiday Updates

It has been embarrassingly long since I last blog post so I apologise if this one becomes a little lengthy- I am only trying to make up for my absence. This time last month Lottie and I were about to set out on our first Indian holiday- two weeks in sunny Kerala with a couple of days in Bangalore on the way- and that made me nervous. For some reason the idea of moving from the Cotswolds to Hyderabad wasn't anywhere near as daunting on embarking on a little tour around the South of India with my partner. I was more than slightly worried that we would miss every train we were meant to be on or, if we did find the right train, I was worried that our tickets wouldn't be valid for some reason. I am happy to say that everything went pretty smoothly- though this can probably be attributed to the kindness of strangers as much as our planning skills.

India is vast. To people here a 16 hour train journey isn't that long at all so the best way to travel over long distances in India seems to be sleeper trains; something neither Lottie or I had ever experienced before. Our host had helped us book 2nd Class AC tickets for the first leg of our journey which turned out to be a far more pleasant than I had expected. Not only were the beds fairly comfy on this train but the company was nice was as well and I had several lengthy chats with various business men and families in the carriage. This friendliness was, however, coupled with some degree of awkwardness regarding what time to pull the upper bunks down to go to bed and, as a poor sleeper, I found myself lying awake in the darkness for an awful long time not quite knowing how to get to sleep at 10pm- especially when the train kept pulling into stations and there was a squeaking noise coming from the hinges on the bunk below. Nevertheless, any lack of sleep was made up for by the provision of idly and chutney for breakfast which I adored and the trip didn't feel nearly as long as I had anticipated it would. 

Our first stop was Bangalore where the lovely Marianne de Nazareth let us invade her house for a few days while we explored the city. With Hyderabad being the only other major city we've spent time in, I couldn't help but compare the two. While I have grown immensely fond of Hyderabad in the two months I've been living here, I will be the one of the first to admit that the roads and traffic here are awful. Begumpet seems to be made purely of concrete and dust with the half constructed overpasses reducing the light considerably and the road at the end of Mayurimarg feels less like a main road and more like a river with a constant flow beeping horns. The roads in Banglore seemed to have a little more order in their chaos which, in India, counts for a lot. There were also trees along side most of the roads which sounds like a mad thing to be shocked at but I was having become accustomed to the sandy grayness here. 

My Great Grandfather, Arthur Henry Martin, lived in Secunderbad and then Banglore for a period of around 10 years one hundred years ago. My Grandfather, having an interest in family history, managed to find the address his late father had lived and worked at in Bangalore and (through the magic of the internet) had got in contact with the present day owners of the property- the de Nazareths. Despite not knowing either of us, and only having conversed with my Grandfather and Father via email, Marianne and her family put us up in their lovely apartment in Richmond Town for a couple of nights which I cannot thank them enough for. One of the first things we did upon arriving was to walk to the see the house on Castle Street that linked our two families (though it is now being converted into a restaurant of some kind). While this was probably a bit odd for Lottie (i.e. standing on the side of a very busy road in the middle of an Indian city taking pictures of a small house that was clearly in the middle of being renovated) it meant a lot to me to be able to imagine that same street one century ago with a relative of mine wandering up and down that street just as I was. This slightly novel family connection was a re-accruing theme throughout out short stay in Banglore as a number of Mariannes old Journalism students came to interview me for various little articles. 

When we weren't sat in a cafe talking about my relatives, Lottie and I visited a number of Parks (including Cabbon Park and the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens) in an attempt to embrace the greener side of the city. We did also spend a fair amount of time traipsing up and down Commercial Street and fell in love with every other shop we saw- simply standing in a overstocked Indian shop seems to cause a temporary lapse in rationality where I suddenly feel that it is necessary to buy as much as I possibly can despite needing nothing.

 After a couple of days, Lottie and I found ourselves once again trying to work out  which platform and which train we needed for the next leg of our trip to Alleppey. On this second sleeper we were had 3rd Class AC places booked. The differences between this and the last train were fairly minimal with the biggest being that the bunks on this one had 3 layers rather then two meaning it was more crowded and basic. For a number of reasons this train ride was not nearly as pleasant as the last and, without more than a few hours sleep between us, Lottie and I were not our usual cheery selves when we got off it at 6am the next morning. The only thing making this early start bearable following such a grim night was watching the sunrise turn the sky a deep shade of purple behind the silhouettes of palm trees.

Alleppey is a small fishing and tourist town right on the Kerala coast, and while there aren't many landmarks it did have the most beautiful beaches (if you looked past the heaps of rubbish here and there) that we were able to walk to from our quaint little hostel. Highlights of the week we spent here, however, were not formed on the beaches but rather on the backwaters. Early in the week we decided to splash out on a House Boat for the 24 hours allowing us to laze and read as we went gliding through vast fishing communities and rows of brightly coloured houses. This was thoroughly relaxing and I did enjoy the chats we had with local kids when we pulled up for meals but it didn't compare to experiencing the backwaters on an early morning 4 hour kayak tour. Watching the sun finishing to rise again, but this time from the back of a little yellow kayak sitting on the backwaters themselves felt more than slightly surreal. Samson, our tour guide, took us down the equivalent of little mazes of back roads meaning we got to see far more of the local lifestyle and a lot more close up. The sights made the exercise more than enjoyable and, even if the locals laughed as us when we crashed into piles of weeds or the occasional bridge, I would do it again in a heartbeat.  On our last day we arranged to have an Auto driver take us on an informal tour of the town to see anything we had missed. He took us to various little rug makers, coconut oil factories, uninhabited islands in the backwaters and weavers' workshops which were really interesting but we had to piece together what went on at each of these locations due to language barriers and the fact that many of these places were empty. This day was topped off by the the Auto driver letting us sit in the boot of the Auto which was far more exciting than it sounds. We probably looked like idiots but it made us happy to chuckle along with the drivers of all the motorbikes and cars overtaking us as we waved and wore stupid grins.  

The View from the Hotel Balcony 

Our next stop was Cochin (or Kochi) which, I have to admit, was more my cup of tea. Staying in the old part of the town, Fort Cochin, meant that we were within walking distance of a odd mix and match of landmarks. Due to strong Portuguese, Dutch and English influences on  the city as well as a maintenance of  Indian tradition we could be walking down one road feeling like we were back in Alleppey and then turn a corner and find ourselves in some Portuguese shopping street , 'Jew Town' or staring at a line of massive Chinese Fishing nets.  Lottie and I visited some of the landmarks (Spice Markets, Museums, Dutch Palaces, Cemeteries,  and Synagogues) on hired bicycles on one day and then filled in the gaps with a lovely Auto driver the following day who took us to see some sights that were unmarked on the tourist maps. For example, he took us to a rather un-interesting looking house that stood opposite a Hindi Temple and was clearly undergoing some major construction work, guided us around to the back garden (over a few piles of lumber and a small river of cement) and there, stood before us, was a full grown elephant attached by the back foot to a stump in the ground. One the one hand it was amazing to see an elephant so close that we could almost touch it. It felt a bit surreal and very 'how I imaged India' but it was also horrible at the same time. These conditions were clearly not ideal for keeping any animal let alone one as beautiful and large as that Temple Elephant and it felt wrong to think of it being dressed up so flamboyantly for festivals but then having to live in such a degrading manner. 

Prince's Street

Drying field next to the communal washing hall 

The cherry on the top to this trip was seeing some of the other Project Trust volunteers who are working in Ongole having not seen them since we left the Guest House in Hyderabad 6 weeks before. Much to my parent's horror we rented 4 scooters between the six of us and spent two days driving around the town (completely lost half of the time but loving it) taking photos and negotiating the traffic. I was the worst driver by a long way with no one wanting to ride on the back of mine, however, I would like to think that, by the time we gave them back on the second day, Molly wasn't completely fearing for her life as I drove her and a large parcel to the post office and I am proud of that. By the time the trip was up my confidence had definitely grown. I didn't feel completely clueless working out Cochin airport with Lottie and we did both get back to Devnar in one piece so I think we can count this holiday as a success overall.

Having been away for two weeks I think we thought we would be welcomed back to the school by hundreds of students running up to us and shouting our names. This, however, wasn't quite the case. We did have enthusiastic greeting from those who were at the school but only a few students were there making the school feel hollow and kind of spooky. To make up for this, we did have a greeting we weren't expecting.
In our absence a family of rats had made themselves at home in our room and the LKG classroom opposite ours. This meant that the week following our return seemed to be a never-ending battle between myself and the rats who liked to hide in the grate behind our broken fridge and under my pillow while Lottie uttered words of encouragement from the bed or corner. Now we have managed to restrict their invasions to only the bathroom- the door to which we now always lock- and I can live with that while we wait for new mesh to be put over the window. Chatting about rats is probably not the best way to end what was meant to be a nice (but late) update about my traveling but that seems to be the path this post has taken so for that I apologise... I hope my next post is a little less rushed and more punctual!