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!   

LKG

I realise that all of my posts since coming to India have been about trips, functions and celebrations so I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a little about some of the work that we do here at Devnar. Living and working in the same place means the the lines between what feels like work and what feels like fun and games feels very blurred. The kids will be up and knocking on our door expecting a chat (and sweet treats) from 7.30 am onwards and, as conversation is central to the students' learning of English, this means that this is the informal start of the working day. 

The real school day starts at 9.45 with an assembly followed by seven 45 minute long lessons with breaks for snacks and lunch. Classes end at around 4pm but, as most of the students live in the school, this is only half way though the day for us. The rest of the day is spent chatting to the kids, playing games, singing songs which is great fun (draining but fun) and often doesn't feel like working at all. 

I thought that in this post I would try and explain how Lottie and I teach LKG; the Kindergarden class of around 14 students aged between 4 and 7 years old. We take this class everyday at 11.30 for a class called 'Activities'- this entails getting the kids to complete a number of practical activities to improve their sensory and problem solving skills. Sometimes we sing songs or give the kids some toys (which is met with delighted cried of 'Bombalu!' (Toys!') from the students), but most of the time we will give each student a basket containing a sensory task for them to complete. These include a basket with beads that need to be fed onto a shoe lace, towers of shapes that need to be placed onto a central spike in size order, plastic shapes that slot into each other to create a chain as well as a big basket full of plastic animals that are felt and then identified. 

While these tasks may sound very simple, for the young visually impaired students, they can be a real challenge especially when the majority of the class members have very limited sight- if any. The difficulties levels of these activities are significantly heightened by the language barrier. Children do an awful lot of their learning by watching what their peers do and copying them especially when they see some kind of action rewarded, however, our students can't see what each other are doing. To someone with perfect vision who has also been watching their classmates complete basket after basket, it might seem instinctive to thread the beads onto the lace without having to be directly told to by the teacher, however, we will often find that a student doesn't know how to proceed when they are handed these activities. 

This means that these students need us to sit with them individually, take their hands and place the lace and beads in either one and then try and guide them into completing the task a few times before allowing them to attempt it independently. Sometimes this is enough for the student to understand what they have to do to complete the task, but often it is not. The LKG students are still developing their ability to perceive distance and force meaning that, even if they know that the lace is meant to go through the bead, they will often sit there jabbing the end of the lace into thin air as they struggle to co-ordinate their actions without sight or, alternatively, they will locate the hole in the bead but not understand the need to push the lace through. 

We have similar problems with the wooden shapes that slot onto a central spike. While nearly all of the students can place the blocks into the spike within a minute or so, only half of them understand that, for the activity to be complete, they need to go in size order. In an attempt to overcome this problem we will place the blocks in the order they should be then take the students hand and make them feel the completed shape before asking them to replicate it from the beginning. This has had a few successes, but the children's short attention spans and the fact they are used to doing it in another way has meant that this is quite a challenging task. 

As I mentioned, with limited language skills on both sides, it is difficult for us and the students to over come these hurdles but slowly and surely they make improvements each week. When one of the children who struggles with the wooden shape task shouts 'MAM FINISH' and we see that the shapes are in order there is an immense sense of pride for both us and the student once they sense our reaction. It takes an awful long time and requires more patience then I ever thought I could dedicate to wooden triangles but it's so rewarding. 

LKG waiting between exams 

This week has been an odd one in that there have been exams for all grades before the holidays that start on Monday. It has meant that Lottie and I have been 'off timetable' and therefore searching for ways to make ourselves useful around the school. LKG has been where we have found ourselves most days this week, helping Anna Teacher conduct their exams. 

As far as exams go, LKG's are pretty relaxed. One at at time the students - who sit quietly on their little chairs- are called up to the desk and then asked a series of questions (the subject of which vary depending on the day.) On Monday, Lottie and I took them for their Activities exam. A few weeks ago we had been asked to draft an exam paper which was then checked by the teacher and principle to make sure it was suitable. We had thought we had been quite kind with the paper, however the children found it more of a challenge than we had expected. The questions included asking the children to 'put eight beads on the string', 'slot five plastic shapes together and count them' and 'Which one is the elephant?' (after being giving 4 toy animals to examine). While most students could thread the beads, slot the shapes and identify the animals, most didn't understand that we asked their to be a certain number of beads or shapes.

Lottie conducting Sri Lehka's Activities Exam 

A problem we often encounter with LKG is that they learn primarily by repetition. This means that they only understand questions if they are posed in the exact same way they have been before and that, if you haven't been asking them to thread specific numbers of beads for the last month, they will just go ahead and thread them all like normal. This had been a complete oversight of ours which became more and more apparent as we attended the other LKG exams throughout the week. Each subject, be it Maths, English, or listing things had chanting and repetition as it's sound foundation. The children would come up one by one and shout the numbers 1-20, numbers 1-10 backwards, counting up in 10s, spelling numbers, the 1 times table and 2 times tables with such ease that, in some cases, we weren't even giving time to ask the students for the next question- they just answered automatically because that's the order they had been taught to chant in. 

One the one hand this is great because it shows a great ability to remember- the kids really can count to 100 if they have to, and spell the numbers and say them backwards- as well as a good grasp of basic numbers, but on the other hand it means that the students are rarely able to answer questions they aren't prepared for. 

Despite this and considering the age of the students, it is clear that these children are remarkable young people. Their ability to work out that questions can be asked in numerous ways will come with time as they progress through the school, as will their problem solving abilities. Their exam results were brilliant and I am sure that these students are as bright as any other LKG student who happened to have perfect vision. What I am also sure of is that these students are wonderfully happy and hilarious kids who will not let pesky beads, laces and wooden blocks get in the way of them having giggles and just being normal, fun-loving kids. 

Birthdays, Walks and Saree Celebrations

This past weekend, like every weekend I have had since arriving at Devnar, was a busy one. Three functions in one day is a record for me so I thought it was worth while noting down what we got up to. 

Saturday was the Birthday of Bharavi's (our country host) grandson who was turning one. This meant a large function was held at a swanky hotel in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. A car came to pick us up from the end of Mayurimarg and we set off to LVP to pick up two other Project Trust volunteers (Anna and Jos) who work at the Eye Institute teaching the nurses there English. Having not been to many babies birthday parties in England, I wasn't completely sure what to expect from the function; I guessed family, balloons, food and possibly some form of entertainment. I was right with all of these predictions, however, their scale was not quite what I imaged. There were balloons, but rather than there being a few of them dotted around the room they covered the ceiling, pillars of the function room and were arched around the entrance. There were also very large cardboard cut-outs of the adorable baby Vivaan stood on balloon covered pillars around the room- some of him alone and others of him being held by his parents. There was also a stage complete with Winne the Pooh backdrop and sound system ready for the ventriloquist who to form the basis of the event's entertainment. Much to our delight there was also a full buffet with a pasta salad starter (Lottie nearly cried with happiness at this).  The room soon filled up with more members of Bharavi's family than I could ever hope to remember the names of. It was lovely to see so many people come together from all over the city, country and world just to be together as a family to celebrate. Kindness seems to fun in their family and everyone we were introduced were eager to make sure we had settled in the city, make sure our health was okay and had many words of wisdom and advice ready to share. Along with it being lovely to meet all these new people, we were also so happy to see Anna and Jos. We haven't seen any of the other volunteers since our stay at the guest house exactly a month ago so, naturally, we had a lot of catching up to do about the past four weeks. 

The Hyderabuddies

Just a few members of Bharavi's family

Having stuff our stomachs with naan breads, butter chicken curry, pasta salad and an embarrassing amount of ice cream it was time for the car to take us all home. This proved to be a very comical trip through the city as Anna and Jos had decided to take a pillar of the blue and white balloons to use as decoration in their hostel room. Lottie, having a fear of balloons that she had been battling all day, took a seat in the boot of the car while the remaining three of us sat across the back seats covered in a sea of blue and white plastic. It is not uncommon for people to try and sell us things while we are stopped in traffic but, for some unknown reason, on this day the only item that people tried to sell us were large Winne the Pooh balloons which made for some very confused looks from the balloon sellers- many of whom didn't seem to know whether or not to approach us or, if to, how to go about it when we were already had more than enough in the way of party decorations. 

This being an all day event, Lottie and I spent the evening relaxing in the courtyard preparing for Sunday.

Sunday was World Sight Day and, to mark this, Grishma (Dr Goud's daughter) had spent months preparing a walk to raise awareness about how 80% of cases of blindness can be prevented and to show Hyderabad about the amazing work Devnar does for it's students as well as how inspiring they are. 

This event meant a 4.30am wake up for Lottie and I meaning we were hauling ourselves out of bed at the clock struck midnight back home in England. While the students walked up Mayurimarg to get onto a couple of coaches that were waiting for them, Lottie and I were bundled into the mini bus along with a few of the students, Padma, and a drum kit. When we arrived the venue did seem slightly empty and sleepy (as you might imagine Necklace road to look at 6.30) but as the buses of children rolled up people started to turn up in great numbers. Grishma had arranged for a special guest to attend the event. His name is Ram Charan and is apparently a very famous Tollywood actor. His arrival was met with a swarm of photographers meaning we didn't get to see him until they had been asked to part to let him say a few words to the audience. This was then followed by a few song by some of the students and the older boys dancing (they had learnt the dances from Ram Charan's latest movie only the day before and were excellent- as always). Some of the students have also been spending the last few evenings creating some art work for the actor. One evening Lottie and I had helped trace the outlines of some pictures of the actors which were then marked with Braille dots so the children could paint between the lines to make these amazing high-contrast-effect paintings.

Dr Goud and Ram Charan saying a few words 

Selfies 

The boys meeting one of their heroes 

Following this we were all handed blindfolds and invited to walk up and down Necklace Road for one kilometre with the children. I am proud to say that I did not peek but I do have to admit that it wasn't a pleasant experience in the sense that I felt completely lots when not holding on to Lottie even though there were loads of students around and a number of volunteers who were making sure we didn't veer off into the road. It had the desired effect of making us more aware of how the students at Devnar, as well as blind people everywhere, live their day to day lives as well as highlighting how fantastic the achievements of these kids are. 

After a number of photo shoots for the event's photographers, newspapers as well as people who just wanted photos with me and Lottie for the novelty of it (including the Hyderabad Police), we were bundled back into the school bus to go back to the school. 

As we jumped out of the bus we were approached by one of the teachers who asked if we were coming to the function that afternoon. Confused, Lottie and I said we didn't know about the function but did want to come so quickly asked Padma for permission (we took the distracted head wobble as a yes despite how disconcertingly similar it looks to someone shaking their head) and soon found ourselves in a very crammed Auto. We managed to fit 6 full grown women and one child into the back of the Auto designed for three passengers. I drew the short straw and spent the 40 minute journey sat in the baggage rack with the child, hugging my knees. Within 5 minutes my legs were completely asleep and I couldn't move them at all. The roads here are a little scary wherever you go and whatever you are in but I hadn't feared for my safety at any point before this one. There was clearly more weight on the right side of the Auto meaning I was holding my breath involuntarily every time we took a sharp right turn or hit a bump in the road as I was convinced it would topple and I would be done for.    

Me. Terrified. 

Luckily we made it to Radika's rooftop apparently to rest for a while before attending the function. It was the most beautiful location for the house with amazing views of the city from all sides. I was very envious.
We took rest in the living room, drinking tea, mango juice and eating dry chocolate filled cereal while Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire played on the TV. After the teachers had made quick outfit changes and lent me a dress because my Sari was starting to fall down having been curled up like a baby in the back of the Auto, we set off down the road to Gaini (another teacher)'s house. This was another lovely little house; like Radika's it had only a few rooms but was brightly coloured and very homey.

The short trip between this house and the function venue was one of the best I've experienced since coming to India. Gaini took me and Lottie on the back of her Scooter and it was brilliantly surreal to be sat between the teacher and my partner, clinging on for dear life once again and weaving through the small streets of Hyderabad- all in very fancy Indian attire. 

The function was a Saree Celebration for one of the students; Geyani. A Saree Celebration is basically a 'coming of age' event for girls to signify their entry to womanhood. This is done with the gathering of friends and family, the exchange of presents and then a dramatic outfit change into a new beautiful Sari. There was also another buffet full of great curries and roti that was sent from heaven.
This was a very strange event for myself and Lottie as we couldn't really compare it to anything we'd been to in England. While it was lovely to see Geyani and her family so happy, there was a part of me that was a little confused as to why someone would want to invite their teachers to an event when your new 'womanhood' was being celebrated, but, I guess, India is not a place where the chance to celebrate is allowed to pass by so it does make sense. I wish Geyani all of the best!

As the teachers we had come with lived so close to the function itself, Lottie and I made our way back to Begumpet on the bus with another teacher; Param Eshwar. Not only did he help us navigate the bus systems but he also invited us back to his home in Chikoti Hills to see his wife and have some tea. His house was very different to the houses of the other teachers. Having spent 25 years working for Emirates Airline, teaching is now something he does for the passion of it rather than for a living a such. Both he and his wife were very proud of their beautifully designed apartment that had been decorated by their daughter- a very talented interior designer and artist. We were treated to a full tour was well as a look through all of the photos and spent a pleasant afternoon chatting about India, ourselves, our plans, Param's family and life.

It was evening by the time we returned to the school, but it felt much later due to the early start. For this reason, Lottie and I basically collapsed into bed and had a well earned good night of resting.  

A Day Trip to Alampur Medical Camp

While I am sure plenty of organisation goes into the planning of life at Devnar, I can't help but feel that so much is spontaneous and decided on a spur-of-the-moment basis. This is probably as Lottie and I often don't seem to understand what is going on until after it happens let alone any time before.

On Saturday afternoon we were called into the main office by the Founder Chairman of the school, Dr Goud, who wanted to know if we were interested in joining him on a trip the next day. Of course we jumped at the idea but, information-wise, we were a little clueless about what we were actually going to be doing. He had mentioned a medical camp, some town we hadn't heard of and a boat trip. We were told to be ready in the courtyard for 6am the following morning. 

So, after our 5am wakeup on Sunday morning we bounded downstairs, still with no real understanding of what our outing had in store. Padma handed us a tub with 4 boiled eggs, a jar of jam and half a pack of milk bread which we added to our only little picnic (which consisted of mango juice and Nutella). We were walked to the main road by one of the Uncles and were then greeted by Dr Goud who told us to get into a rather large Toyota parked a few cars before him. This car would have felt luxurious to me had we been in England but, having spend the last 3 weeks either crammed into Autos or Mini Buses at double capacity, this car was heavenly. The cars picked up a few more people from around Hyderabad before we headed south and out of the city. This was the first time we'd left Hyderabad since our arrival and, as a result of this, I spent most of the next few hours sat in awe as I watched the Indian countryside roll past the window. I love a good long journey, but this is will go down as one of my favourites; sat in the very back seats of the 7-seater, eating our hard boiled eggs and Nutella sandwiches while Telugu music boomed out of the radio. It was all very surreal. 

3 hours later we pulled up at a grand house in what felt like the middle of nowhere. There were a number of large cars already parked outside, their drivers standing around chatting, and a number of middle aged men (mostly dressed in white trousers and shirts) had congregated ready to greet Dr Goud.  Here, in this house that was probably owned by a local doctor of some kind, we were treated to another, more traditional breakfast of idly, chutneys, and samba before heading back onto the road again. 

It was another hour and a half before we reached Alampur which is where the medical camp was being held. There seemed to be some kind of school or training facility in which drop in clinics for those with eye problems had been made, however, do to the language barriers and the business of the doctors we never fully understood what the place was. 

After a while watching the patients have a diagnosis and prescription written onto their pink card after a swift consultation, Lottie and I decided to go outside to try and make ourselves useful. We attempted to ask a number of the helpers (who seemed to be students at the institute) what we could do to help but, because of the language barrier, each interaction ended up with them rushing about trying to get something for us meaning we were being more of a pain than a help. Abandoning our plan we turned our attention to the hundreds of people staring at us. Realising that we were going to be there for a while, many of them came up to us and asked for 'one photo, Mam' and would stand next to us like we were the next big thing in Bollywood as their friends took photos on a number of phones. Other people told their children to go and stand beside us or handed us their babies and lots of school aged children took the opportunity to test out some of their English. 

As we sat in the courtyard we were often confused as doctors and people kept bringing us their pink cards and prescriptions to sign off which was a little embarrassing but most people seemed to understand that we weren't doctors, especially when the girls we were sat talking to repeated 'English Teacher! No Doctor!' to those who had been confused. There was one man, however, who did not want to accept that I was not the right person to fill out forms. I don't know anything about anything about eye sight nor can I read a single word of Telugu. He ended up approaching me twice and, when he refused to remain calm despite my polite attempts to tell him I couldn't help him we entered a shouting match (it was more of a raised voice match on my side- I didn't want to create an even bigger scene). The people around us laughed at him which, unfortunately, only made him more angry. I could only respond to his shouting with 'I'm an English teacher not a doctor- go over that way' so many time so ended up telling him all sorts about how my GCSE Biology really wasn't enough to be giving him medicines I didn't know the names of. He only stopped when I eventually grabbed the pink card he was waving in my face and stared at him blankly in silence. This seemed to confuse him enough to cause a lull in his anger so someone else could step in and lead him to someone who was more helpful than me. I did feel very bad about the situation- it must have been confusing for us being there when we had no reason to be other than to observe how life works out here. After this uncomfortable situation, some of the people we were talking to noticed our slight discomfort due to the heat and the angry shouting match so went to buy us small pots of ice cream which we were very grateful for. 

At 2 the clinic started to close and, again, we were bundled into a large car and driven to another house on the outskirts of the town. This time it belonged to someone in a local government but, as the women ate in a separate room to the men (because the men were drinking) we were never able to find out exactly where we were. Lunch was a delicious selection of curries with roti, my favourite being an amazing fish dish. After having as much food as our bodies could handle, we waited in the room with the few female doctors that had come to the clinic while the men took another hour or so to eat their food. 

Our lunch venue 

The view from Lunch 

After lunch we were informed that the day would not be ending there and that we were headed for the boat trip on the Tungabhadra River that had been mentioned the day before. On arrival we realised that the boat trip was not quite what we expected. I guess having spent time in very fancy houses and in nice cars we expected something a little less basic than a coracle boat that was to be pulled across the river by a man stood in it's centre but that is what we got! I was a little apprehensive. It felt like there were a lot of us getting into such a small boat and I didn't quite manage to sit comfortably at any point- I was worried for my camera mainly- but it was actually really enjoyable. At points, it was nice and peaceful and at other points the group of mostly retired, serious doctors thought it would be a laugh to spin the boat around which was funny but did make me nervous. 

Our numbers being put to shame

Along the river bank there were a number of temples that we then visited. The first was a temple dedicated to one of the forms of Pavati and here we were blessed by a holy man after listening to his prayers (in Telugu). Rice was thrown at us, the smoke of burning incense was wafted in our faces and over our hair and then we were offered a mixture of herbs and water which was poured into our hands for us to drink. 

A similar blessing took place in the next temple, Jogulamba, which is a one of the 18 Shakti Peethas as legend says it is the location where a tooth of devi fell. 

 By this time it was 5.40 and, considering the trip home would inevitably involve a stop for chai, it was time to head back to the city. As I mentioned before, I really love long drives and the evening trip was as great as the morning one had been. We spent the trip listening to music and watching the beautifully lit little towns and stalls it was truly bliss. Thank you, Dr Goud, for inviting us!