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! 

Ganesha Chaturthi - Our First Festival

Ganesh Chaturthi is a nine day celebration during which Ganesh visits in the form of a beautiful clay statue that is worshipped morning and night. As well festivities inside the school, there were trips, performances and the celebrations of everyone in the area seemed to spill together to create streets full of colour, music, drumming, dancing and laughing on a number of evenings.

Some of the boys listening to the music being played next to Ganesha

Festivities started on Thursday the 17th. As I had been ill during the previous few days I got very little sleep the night before meaning I was up to witness the building of Ganesha's shrine though the little glassless pane in our window. A number of male staff and a few older boys worked through the night to assemble poles and sheets, decorate them with religious symbols, place the covered 3 feet tall clay Ganesha statue inside, and cover it's base with a number of beautiful flowers, fruits and gold cups of burning scented oils. 

For Lottie and I, Thursday was our first opportunity to wear our lovely new Saris which we were very excited about. Once it was put on properly by one of the Aunties (following my failed attempts) I did feel truly elegant and I enjoyed it far more than I had expected I would. Sadly, some time in early afternoon, as Lottie and I sat in our favourite spot looking out into the courtyard waiting for the celebrations to begin (we had been told there would be an 11am start but we have since learnt that timings in India are never anything more than a vague estimation of when something may or may not happen) I became very ill again and retired to my room to 'take rest'- as they often tell me here. 

Naturally, I was sad to have missed the opening prayers of Ganesh Chaturthi but I was unable to leave my room for a few hours. I could hear prayers through my window and the occasional cheering of the crowd. Lottie later told me that festivities had only got under way once a guest speaker came in to read prayers for a few hours. As these where in Telugu Lottie and I didn't really understand a word but they were oddly comforting to listen to from my bed on the second floor. What I didn't see was that the whole school was gathered around the shrine with the mass of students extending down the steps that led up to it. As the prayers were being read they each had took it in turns to walk up to the statue, say a private prayer, have red powder placed on their forehead and had two lines of turmeric paste on their jaw lines. As well as this, dried rice was thrown to Ganesha as well as placed on the children's heads. To be completely honest, there was a lot of this festival that we didn't understand; our Telugu is still pretty limited and, while the children's English is very good, they seemed to find it hard to explain a number of things that they seemed to do out of tradition and habit. While it would have been nice to know the significance of more of the little touches, it was nice to just sit back and enjoy everyone having a good time.

Ganesha after his unveiling

Later in the afternoon I managed to prise myself from the room to join in with the evenings festivities. Luckily for my ill stomach these didn't involve too much movement. The little boys danced around to the modern Hindi and Telugu music that boomed from the loud speaker placed next to the shrine. As well as it being a special day for us to wear our saris, all the girls were dressed in their finest, most colourful outfits complete with necklaces, earrings, beautiful bindis and yellow painted feet (no one could tell me why they did this but it looked great). 

Some Yellow Feet- I love the colour coordination here

Bravilika and her friends in their outfits 

According to Lottie, the evening prayers were very similar to the morning ones that I had missed. The only major difference was that the speaker had been replaced with Padma who is the most devoutly religious lady I've ever met. She stood reading from the prayer book as we all sat and listened and the some Aunties and their daughters lit more flowers and slowly tossed rice at the statue. More turmeric paste was smeared on our jaws, red powder was placed between our brows and we were given our own rice to throw as the prayers drew to an end. As soon as the ceremony was finished, the music began again and the children broke away from their already lose formation and the boys danced. I'm sure that if I had not been so ill I would have noticed more of the beautiful details and might even have joined in more rather than just observed, however it really did feel like a feat to make it down from the bedroom- we had been at the doctors every night for the three nights building up to the festival. 

Padma and Ganesha

Over the next few days my health improved enough for Lottie and I to take a few little walks around Mayuri Marg (with a plain ice cream as a treat) to explore our new surroundings a bit more.  As seems to be the norm here, we had a trail of small children following us everywhere we went, holding our hands, asking our names and (more importantly) wanting to tell us theirs. There enthusiasm and joy to see us wandering about is imminently heart warming but a sight around the corner made cheered us up even more than ice cream and adorable small children. Down a very small alley there was a crowd of around 30 women and children surrounded by even more bystanders who, like us, where also watching what seemed to be an amazing party game. There was a pinata-like object suspended from a rope that was being pulled at the opposite end so the object swung all over the alley. Rather than being blindfolded to add an element of challenge to the game, the children were having bucket upon bucket of water emptied over them by the women who, along with the spectators, were laughing as the participants squirmed as the water hit them. We stayed until the pinata was hit and got back to the school feeling much happier and in the festive spirit than we had done when we left. 

The moment when both the water was thrown and the pinata opened 

It was this evening that a few of the little boys who often stop by our room to ask for chocolate decided to bolt the door in without us noticing meaning that we were unable to make our way down stairs for dinner at 7.20pm. We've been locked in before, often in the morning, however it isn't normal for the culprits to flee the crime scene so normally we are able to call someone to set us free without much inconvenience. This time we had clearly taken too long to notice the situation and the boys had given up on their attempts to gain our attention. This meant that that next half an hour was spend trying to work out how to set ourselves free which is a lot harder than we thought it would be. Luckily for us the dinner bell still hadn't gone meaning the courtyard below our room still contained a sea of children and a few staff who, we thought, would able to help us out. What Lottie and I had failed to consider was that, not only was the wave of noise these children created far too loud for our voices to over come, but also many of the children who could hear us weren't able to work out where our voices were coming from or what we were trying to say. After around 20 minutes of shouting at the top of my voice we decided to lower a message from the window (it read 'We're locked in! Send Help') attached to half a pack of strawberry Oreos. This plan was successful in the sense that the message did make it to the ground, however it was picked up by one of the Auntie's sons who was only 3 years old, unable to read Telugu let alone English and found the whole thing a massive game. His amusement seemed to render him unable to detect our desperation so we changed tactics to throwing scrunched up pieces of paper at any member of staff we saw walking past. Eventually, someone noticed us and a young boy was sent running up to unlock the door. Very warm, and crying with laughter at our situation, we made our way downstairs to be greeted by the kids to whom we had been crying out to for the last 30 minutes who found our situation hilarious. 

By this point we were very hungry and confused about the fact that dinner hadn't occurred at the normal time. When we asked Padma what was going on we were told that the whole school was going to be fed by the local community at the large Ganesha statue situated just outside the apartment block complex the school is in. Along with the rest of the students, we made our way to a car park below an apartment block right beside a very large Ganesha. At the entrance to the car park there was a large folding table on which there stood a number of buckets and pots full of Curry, Samba, rice and water. Under strict orders from the doctor to avoid anything spicy (which is quite a large ask in India) Lottie and I decided not to join either of the seated lines that snaked their way down the car park and instead offered to help carry and serve the curries to all the students, Aunties and Uncles. We marched up and down the lines calling out 'Samba' or 'Rice' and then poured the food onto the large paper plates of the kids that responded. By the end our backs hurt due to the constant leaning with a heavy pot but the whole evening was thoroughly enjoyable. We laughed with the Aunties at our role reversal and our slight incompetence at handing out quite the right about of samba per portion and chatted with the organisers whom we had met before and were eager to thank us for our help and even pass on some encouraging words about our illness and acclimatisation. They have been providing these meals to the school for free every year for the last 20 years and seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the children enjoyed the food. We were told to come back on Monday night when our stomachs might be a little better to give the food a second try which we were very happy to agree to do. 

The Mayuri Marg Ganesha 

On the way back to the school we were greeted by a group of men dancing around a to drums. They were prancing about with the same enthusiasm you might see  in England at a pub after the local team had one some important game and everyone had been drinking to celebrate. It was the kind of drumming we could hear late into the evening, and while they did invite us to join them (and it was very tempting) we did notice that there were no other female participants so we gave it a miss and simply bobbed along to the music with the kids as we made our way home. 

Late on Sunday evening Lottie and I were informed that we were going to chaperoning some girls on a program that evening and that we need to be ready to get the bus in the next few minutes. Slightly confused but eager for any trip we ran up to gather our stuff and by the time we got back down to the courtyard the small, 10 seater mini bus that had taken us to Hi-tech city the weekend before was waiting in the courtyard and was already full of students from the college that most students attend after completing their education at Devnar. There was a lengthy reshuffle of students and eventually we found ourselves inside the bus, pressed up against one of the windows (I perched half on Lottie's lap, half on mid-air). The bus was already at double capacity but there were still twice the number of students to be transported to the mystery venue to it was agreed to make two trips. This was the first time we had seen Hyderabad at night and it was beautiful- especially with the abundance of brightly lit and decorated Ganesha statues. Lights that you would expect to find at an English fairground were all over the city and, in our childlike fascination with the bright lights, we must have made very poor conversation with the girls from the college. 

The venue turned out to be Sundar Nagar, only 20 minutes or so away from the school. There was a brightly coloured stage with a Ganesha sat in the corner and a crowd that was slowly building. Before the second bus load of Devnar students arrived, the acts had already started. They consisted of four consecutive traditional dances performed by 2 pairs of Kuchipundi dancers. After 40 minutes these were over and, with the all the children now seated and eating chocolate bars they had been handed by the organisers, it was time for them to start taking to the stage. They preformed a number of songs and dances, mostly traditional but the older boys stole the show with their enthusiastic modern Hindi Pop dancing just as they had done at Hi-Tech City. There were also new acts I didn't seen before including large group dances with the college girls as well as a a beautiful guitar performance from one of the college boys which far better than I could have managed despite my 5 years of lessons and perfect vision. 

Sowjanya and Sri Ganges with some of the College girls 

Traditional Kuchipundi hair styles on some of the students 

Bargavi, Chitti and Pushpa 

The beautiful guitar piece 

The boys closing the show 

When it was time to return to the school it Lottie and I ended up not being able to fit into the bus on the first trip. While we didn't mind this initially as the bus carrying even more than two people per seat, it later daunted on us that we should probably have been on the first bus as we had been on the trip to keep an eye on the girls but, with all of them on the bus, we were left with only a few Uncles and the older boys. While, in England, this situation wouldn't have caused any concern, the strict societal rules about male and female integration here meant that the situation felt a little wrong some how. There was nothing to be done about it though so we sat with the boys and chatted about school and music- they forced me to play and sing a little but their demands for songs put me very much on the spot and we ended up reverting to singing a few lines of popular pop songs to see how many the boys could identify. Much to Lottie's dismay it turned out to be very few. 

On Monday evening we for filled our promise to eat the the curry at the car park which made the hosts very happy indeed. Our paper plates were piled high with more 'Curra' and 'Annam' that any human could possibly consume and, while it was genuinely really nice curry, the spices meant that neither of us could manage that much, even when I had mine covered with butter milk to counteract the fuzziness the spices caused in my mouth and lips. No one seemed to mind that much and instead just laughed and smiled; they were happy that, after a week of eating just plain rice, we were eating and enjoying their food. 

Car Park Dining! 

Every night and every morning for the duration of this festival there were prayers very similar to those that had occurred on the first night. The loud speaker also turned out to be a semi- permanent fixture that meant the boys danced around the courtyard as soon as school ended every day. There were also even more visitors coming to the school to hand out chocolate and snacks to the children. It is very common for wealthier families to turn up at the school on the birthdays of their children to distribute sweets and fruit to the children as a charitable gesture however, during this week, there were whole stalls set up making all sorts of sweet and spicy foods (many of which Padma refused to let us try in an attempt to prevent further illness). 

Festivities drew to a close yesterday, on the 25th and, to mark this, Padma called us into her room and dressed us up in beautiful Saris, necklaces and bangles. As I had done the week before, I did feel very elegant, however the material of the borrowed Sari was twice as heavy as my own which meant I spent the day debating weather feeling like an Indian Princess was really worth it in this heat. It's close to call but I probably would wear it again if offered the chance.

Lottie and I sat on the steps by Ganesha 

The girls and Aunties laughing at the dancing

As normal the day started with prayers and it's body was taken up with even more dancing; the number of participants growing throughout the day. Much like the previous Thursday, I wasn't well at all so spent the morning and early afternoon resting to make sure I was fit enough to watch the evenings events. 

By the time I came back down, the drummers had come into the courtyard and most of the school had made their way out. The drums were definitely the centre of attention and attracted the boys from every grade. The girls, in contrast, were all to shy to join in with the jumping about. It did take a fair bit of convincing from both students and staff before Lottie and I allowed ourselves to be dragged into the heart of the dancing but once there we did give it our best go. People seemed to enjoy our participation and the older boys who had performed in Sundar Nagar were very eager to have us copy their moves. This was more than tricky in the heavy Sari I had on and I was constantly worried that the pins would fall out and I would unravel- luckily this didn't happen our dancing caused no injury or embarrassment.  

Our dancing from a distance

Soon after the dancing it was time for final prayers and then to move Ganesha to unite him with the larger Ganesh by the car park. This took at least 10 of the older boys, Uncles and Aunties. By the time the 2 or 3 minute walk out of the compound was complete all of them were covered in so much sweat that they looked liked they had been caught in the monsoon. There was more drumming, singing and plenty of applause when the statues were finally seated together. As the dancing that was happening on the main road seemed to be for the men only, Lottie and I headed back the school with the children before too long and decided to end our first busy festival week reading our books as we sat in our favourite spot. It was at this point that the heavens opened and we experiences the first rain we'd had since the week of our arrival- a very big relief after a day of boiling in our Saris. 

Moving Ganesha 

United 

This week has been hectic, and while it was unfortunate that both Lottie and I were ill though much of it, we did our best to have fun and we definitely did. I am exhausted but I would do it all again in a heartbeat and cannot wait until the next festival so we can wear more beautiful outfits, dance into the night and, hopefully, properly try out some new foods! 

The Story of Ganesha

As I plan to make a post explaining the celebrations that took place during Ganesh Chaturthi, I thought it would be worth while noting down the story of the God in a post as well. Everyone I asked had a slightly different telling of the story, most very similar but a few different so I plan to tell you the story just as Vara Lakshmi (one of my students) told me the Tuesday before celebrations started. Her telling of the story attracted many of the students and Aunties to the dorm we were sat in and there were very few times when she was corrected so I will take that to mean this version is a popular one.

Shiva, one of the most loved and feared Gods, was married to the kind and loving Goddess Parvati and both lived on Mount Kailash. One day, Shiva decided to travel the world and, in his absence, Parvati decided she fancied a bath. Understandably, she was uncomfortable with the idea of taking this bath without Shiva to guard the door so she decided to fashion herself someone to keep watch. She crafted the image of a young boy out of wood and tumeric paste, named him Ganesha and breathed life into him. Being the loving Goddess she was, the boys took his place in her heart as her son rather than simply a guard and she grew very fond of him. 

Some time later, Shiva returned home to Mount Kailash from his travels and was outraged to find that he was turned away from his own home by a small boy. In a fit of anger, Shiva brutally removed the head of the boy and his body was left lying on the floor beside the door. When Parvati found out she was completely distraught over the death of her son and refused to talk to Shiva until the situation was resolved. With his anger subsiding, Shiva saw that to make his wife happy again he would have to bring Ganesha back to life- and for this he would need a new head. According to Vara Lakshmi, at the time of this story there was a law forbid anyone from sleeping with their head facing North. Shiva send his angels out to find the first creature that disobeyed this simple law, cut of its head and bring it back to him. As animals did not understand this law, it didn't take the angels long before they found an elephant sleeping with their head facing North so they obeyed their orders and brought the head back to Shiva. In an attempt to stop Parvati's grief, not only did Shiva fix the head onto the body of the boy, thus bringing him back to life, but he also declared Ganesha as his own son and presented him with a the status of one of the foremost Gods. Parvati was overjoyed by this and forgave her husband for his anger and all was well on Mount Kailash. 

Ganesha's resurrection is the reason for celebrating new beginnings during Ganesh Chaturthi and many of the prayers people make to Ganesh during his visit are asking for peace and prosperity during a time of change or for the success of a new start - something I very much liked the idea of with the festival coming taking place so close to our arrival here.  

Hi-Tech City

Every Sunday morning, a one-way section of motorway in the business district of Hyderabad is closed to vehicles and becomes a gathering place for cyclists, Zumba and Yoga enthusiasts, performers, protesters and those who just fancy a stroll about.

On Saturday night, Lottie and I were informed that we needed to be ready for a 'programme' in Hi-Tech city which would require is being ready to leave Devnar at 6am the following morning. While neither of us were thrilled by the idea of a 5am start, we were both really excited about what this 'programme' was. We were given no indication of what this trip out would be, how long it would take or what Hi-Tech City was but at 6am on Sunday morning we were sat outside the school office ready to see a little more of Hyderabad. In true Indian fashion, at 7am a mini bus pulled up and Lottie and I were piled into it along with about 15 other students and a few staff members - two people per seat seemed to be the general rule. We made a 30 minute trip across town to this section of motorway where we all stumbled out of the mini bus and had to cross the busy road and climb over the central reserve before we actually understood where we were and what this trip was all about. We were there because, on the 4th of October, a Blind Walk is being held in honour of National Sight Day and to raise awareness about blindness and the school. During this event a number of the students will be performing various acts and the stage at Hi-Tech City was the perfect place for them to practice.

At one end of the blocked off road there was a very enthusiastic lady engaging a sizeable crowd in a Zumba fitness lesson, while the other end of the road curved into the horizon. We headed towards the stage and greeted by the enthusiastic lady who had one of the older boys onto the stage within seconds to explain why we were there. After the introductions four more older boys took to the stage and performed the most amazing dance to a remix of Hindi and Telugu songs I had never heard of and their energy and enthusiasm seemed to shock the whole crowd who, I think, had been expecting something a little slower or more simple from blind teenagers. I felt immensely proud of them when they finished and they completely deserved the large round of applause they received. Next up was a little girl from 2nd grade who sang a beautiful song is Telugu and then Sana and Sri Gangga completed the set with another song. I was more than impressed by the confidence these children had, especially in front of such a large crowd.

After the performances, the children were to engage in a number of team building activities such as finding objects on the floor while stood in a line and only being able to communicate through tapping on the shoulders of the person in front to get them to turn left or right. While this was a good idea for a game it didn't take into account that a number of the students have some vision so weren't completely relying on the physical cues and were, instead, just picking objects off the floor as they normally would. After this a game of cricket was set up so the people could see how the boys play the sport (by using a ball with a rattle inside rather than a normal one and also rolling the all rather than throwing it).

Lots of passers-by wanted to stop and ask questions about the school and the kids (as well as who Lottie and I were and why we were there) and some even joined in with the cricket. It was great to see strangers adapt to the children's disability so easily- people who didn't realise the children found it hard to catch would throw a ball to the boys and notice that they would stand with their arms protecting their heads as they couldn't see where it would land and, therefore, roll it to them next time.

I really enjoyed this little trip out and I'm now really looking forward to National Sight Day. Unfortunately, however, I spent the rest of Sunday curled up in the dark in my room being very unwell which put a bit of a downer on an otherwise wonderful  morning. Hopefully my stomach settles down properly soon and I can get back to teaching as normal and enjoy this week as much as I did the last!

The First Week

As I write this it is Saturday night meaning India has been my home for a week. Naturally, a fair bit has happened since the last time I wrote. As well as this, the world I live in now is about as different from the Guest House as the Guest House was from home. It is hard to pick out the bits that I think might be of interest but I will try my best to.

Devnar School for the Blind

We arrived at Devnar at around midday on Monday and were formally greeted by the Chairman Founder, Dr Goud, and the Principle, Lily Madam. After this came the introductions with the children. We were swarmed by students asking 'Good Afternoon, Mam' and 'Mam, Mam, Mam, What is your name!?'. While they all seemed thoroughly delighted to meet us, many of them were very eager to know whether we knew 'Anna Madam' or 'Jo Madam' and a number of other old Project Trust volunteers that have come here. It was lovely to see that the volunteers really make an impact on this school, but it also made our stomachs drop a little as the shoes we needed to fill felt immeasurably huge. That night we set about decorating our room with photos from home, fairy lights and nets for the beds. In all honesty this was a really rough night. It was the first night I'd felt homesick since I'd left and suddenly the thought of being away from my home for so long left me with a sunken stomach and choked up throat. I wanted to call a temporary 'time out' and pop home and give my family a massive hug on the sofa in the living room of my home before pulling myself together and carrying on out here, but that's clearly not an option.

My Photo Wall

Luckily, this feeling didn't linger for too long and I am settling in really here really well. It is very different from home but I'm used to the lizards that crawl along the walls (we have named them Penelope- all of them) and I don't even mind that there is no hot water and that the water cuts off so we have to wash out of buckets. The heat isn't too much of a problem at the moment, in fact, if we leave the fan on during the night, we wake up cold in the middle of the night and have to put our hoodies on. There are also no mirrors here which sounds like an odd thing to comment on but it has made me realise how embarrassingly often I looked at my reflection back in England. It's a little odd not to have looked at myself in a week but also fairly liberating as I haven't worried once about what I look like. After a few meals here I started to really enjoy the curries and could even start to differentiate between some of the flavours rather than describing everything as 'spicy'. Saying that, Padma (or new Indian Mum) still cooks us separate little dishes when what the children have is too spicy for us...

Penelope

Luckily, this feeling didn't linger for too long and I am settling in really here really well. It is very different from home but I'm used to the lizards that crawl along the walls (we have named them Penelope- all of them) and I don't even mind that there is no hot water and that the water cuts off so we have to wash out of buckets. The heat isn't too much of a problem at the moment, in fact, if we leave the fan on during the night, we wake up cold in the middle of the night and have to put our hoodies on. There are also no mirrors here which sounds like an odd thing to comment on but it has made me realise how embarrassingly often I looked at my reflection back in England. It's a little odd not to have looked at myself in a week but also fairly liberating as I haven't worried once about what I look like. After a few meals here I started to really enjoy the curries and could even start to differentiate between some of the flavours rather than describing everything as 'spicy'. Saying that, Padma (or new Indian Mum) still cooks us separate little dishes when what the children have is too spicy for us...

My first Bindi

The driving here still never fails to amaze me- be it in a car, bus or tuck tuck! There are a few road markings on some of the major roads but these seem to be ignored in favour of vehicles all picking seemingly random lines of travel as if they are working together to create some kind of elaborate cats-cradle on the road. On a short trip to the ATM today our tuck tuck decided it was okay to drive the wrong way up a dual carriageway sized, busy road for at least 100 metres before turning back off the road and it was wonderfully terrifying. I have also learnt that no matter how small the gap is a tuck tuck or motorbike will fit through it; failure is really not an option.

Tuck tucking!

The staff at Devnar are some of the loveliest people I have ever met. Even though many of them don't speak much English they are always there to give us an encouraging smile as we play with the kids or chuckle at is while we struggle our way through some of the spicier meals. One lady, Haseenah, sat and told us all about how she and some of the other staff spend their time translating textbooks from Telugu to English and then to Braille and then told us more about her life. In that single conversation which covered a few differences between the lives we led taught me so much about the people here that I can't wait to get to know the people here even more over the coming months- it feels like collecting images and memories that will build up to create a beautifully accurate tapestry of what living here is really like.

Trying on Haseenah's Burka

Most importantly, the best thing about this project, without a single doubt, is the children. They never fail to cheer me up! I have even become fond of our 7.15 alarm clock that is a little boy called Abdul who stands outside our door calling 'Elena Mam, Lottie Mam, Chocolate!' (though our patience is really tested when he locks us in with the bolt on the outside just before breakfast). The students are constantly asking questions about who England, my family, friends, village and school which I love answering just to see their excitement at the novelty they see in my life. Details like the fact that the local Arts Centre in my village is called Prema and that translates to 'Love' in Telugu throws them into fits of giggles. The younger ones climb all over us and are overjoyed when we agree to sing Ring-a-Ring-a Roses with them or tickle them while saying 'Cheeky Monkey!' I have spent a lot of time this week simply observing how they go about their daily lives. As I have never spend any time with any blind people in my life I don't really know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't what I discovered. The children here love life, learning and each other. It's beautiful to watch them walk around in pairs or threes with linked arms to guide each other and how they all get out of each others way when they hear a peer shout 'Side!' so they can get somewhere with a clear path. Their disability doesn't seem to hold them back at all with many of them hoping to go to university and become professionals one day. There have also been little inspiring moments such as helping a student called Sana put clear plastic, Braille labels on the squares of a Rubiks Cube. This honestly made me feel like there is nothing these kids can't do which is truly heart warming.

As I write this one year still feels life an awfully long time, but after how encouraging I have found this week I do think that it's going to be a really amazing time out here.