Diwali: A Love/Hate relationship

Greetings to you all.
I'm writing this post from my brand new room 'upstairs'! Sophie and Aleia left today, and so Jessica and I have purloined their rooms alongside all the other staff rather than down in the dorms. My room is painted yellow, and when I finally arrived in it this afternoon, had a huge pile of balloons under the blanket, and little notes in all the drawers, courtesy of Net and Heidi who clearly have way too much time on their hands, but also very big hearts. It was nice that it felt more welcoming and I now have the notes stuck all around my room, as I didn't bring all that many photos with me to decorate with, and a couple of them are on my 'this is the UK' banner in the hall.
So I had a half work day today, as we felt we'd worked very hard creating an activity for the very important '10 million girls' sessions which we run during events, and wanted to get all our things moved. This morning Jessica and I also went to the local neighbourhood, Vishrantwadi (wadi for short) on the 'Wadi Challenge' which is basically an orientation/ errand run that we send participants on!
Yesterday I had a day off, but unfortunately I wasn't feeling very well and spent most of it asleep. This was very upsetting as I had promised to give Geoffrey and his new friend Jupiter a tour of Sangam, but maybe I'll be able to do that and post some photos soon. Ellen and I did go out in the evening to visit Prakash and his family; he came to Sangam during the birthday event to demonstrate Tabla (drum) playing, and invited us then.

Some other random things I've been meaning to mention include:

• After a week or so of being unsure and not trusting Net, I have now established that neither Indian nor Western omelettes have tomato in; it is ONLY the tomato omelette that I have to avoid!
• Jessica received a lovely parcel from her grandma full of brightly coloured US sweets that looked like plastic beads- very exciting! It's her birthday on Sunday.
• It was also Christa's (DWCM) birthday yesterday, and in November, we'll be celebrating Ellen (SV), Mina (CRM) and Sayali (VIT)'s birthdays. There may also be another one which I've forgotten at the moment - sorry if that's the case!
• The swimming pool has finally returned to its totally clear blue, inviting state. For a while it was decidedly green and we were no longer sure that it had a bottom, as we couldn't see the beautiful blue tiles!
• I now think I'm almost prepared for the next event - my first as a full SV. Starting to feel ready to dive in; only 2 days until the participants arrive!

Now you're all up to date on the goings on, I can turn to the main focus of this post; Diwali.
I have a truly love/hate relationship with this festival. I will try and outline the basics of this, and then take you through our Diwali evening/ adventure!
I Love the story of the Ramayana, and Diwali is the celebration of Rama's return from exile.
I Love the lights, lanterns and small lamps that are lit everywhere and in every home. It is reminiscent of Christmas, but somehow more spiritual, and they make or buy new lanterns every year, rather than keeping them and re-using them.
I Hate the fireworks. To be more accurate, I hate that most of Pune (and presumably India) seems to have progressed from the Festival of Light to the Festival of Noise! The fireworks as we understand them (flying high in the air and then exploding in multi-coloured sparks) are quite pretty, and surprisingly often don't bang either. The majority of people, though, demonstrate a disturbing preference for fire crackers, which are 99% noise, and maybe 1% light - if you're lucky. And as you'll know if you know me, or will have gathered from my last post, I do NOT like firework bangs.
I Love the number of people on the streets, and that they are all happy and enjoying themselves; celebrating the start of a new year, and shaking hands with everyone to wish them a Happy Diwali.
I Hate that most of the people on the streets have firecrackers! I REALLY hate that small children were lighting some of them, and picking them up to shake them if they didn't go off soon enough... we did see one small child holding a cracker as it went off, but after blowing on his fingers and shaking them a bit, he seemed fine. Luckily.
I Love the steady flow of Diwali sweets appearing at chai time at Sangam from various benefactors from the gardening and travel companies we use, to friends, other staff, and guests as well. (NB I love this for the sentiment, not for the huge amount of sugar we've been consuming!)
I Love the constant string of invitations to visit the houses of friends, and at each one be stuffed with chai and Diwali sweets. (I don't like most of the Diwali sweets as they are just that - REALLY sweet. However this is not a part of the Hate side of things, because some of the snacks are also savoury and very tasty!)
I Hate that I made a fool of myself outside Aarti's (one of our 17year old guides who we're training in the ways of SV-dom) house when the boys were 'demonstrating' fire crackers, presumably for our enjoyment, and because they were so close and came as a surprise, I ended up with tears streaming. Not crying as in sobbing and wanting to go home (although I sort of did), but just tears of shock. Net and Jessica and the others were all really supportive and hugged me close to 'protect' me, but some of our Indian hosts noticed and were worried they'd upset me, which made me feel bad and stupid because hey, it's their festival and they should be allowed to make loud noises if they want to!
I Loved being given a sparkler by Aarti's father. They've always been my favourite firework as they're quiet but fun! Sparklers here are decidedly floppier than at home, and burn all the way to the end so you have to be paying attention and drop them on the street before it reaches your hand, but still decidedly safer than a lot of the other explosives that were around that night! Although while I was playing with my sparkler, the above very close and loud cracker incident happened, and as I jumped I was in danger of setting the beautiful sari that Hayley had lent me (because mine is still with the tailor) on fire!

I think they are most of my main feelings about Diwali. Including the stop-off at Aarti's house, I think it took us about 90 minutes to cover the walk to Mina's house, which would usually take about 20! She lives in a block of flats that has a courtyard in the middle, so I was no better off there in terms of sound, as the fireworks and crackers were set off there and the sound echoed around! However, it was worth the gauntlet run journey as we had a really nice evening together and got to meet her extended family and friends as well. Plus, her husband drove us back to Sangam in the car - phew!

I'll add a couple of photos below, but I don't have many because I was a bit preoccupied with keeping my wits! I know it's silly to be scared of bangs at the age of 22, but there you have it. I think my overall decision about Diwali is that it's awesome, but next time I'm in India at this time of year, I'll make sure that all my friends come to visit me, so I don't have to venture out! It's bad enough sitting in my room typing this - I'm on the side next to the road, and the occasional bang still makes me jump! Today is the last day of Diwali though, so hopefully, relative peace will descend tomorrow!

 Me (in borrowed sari and a Tshirt - not great but the best I could do!) and Net (also in one of Hayley's saris!) at Mina's house - safe from the noise and madness.

One of the fireworks in the courtyard. These were actually good - no noise! Photo taken by Jessica from Mina's balcony.



TTFN x

Saal Mubarak! (Happy Diwali)

It's the festival of light and the start of a new year!
It lasts 5 days, but TODAY is the main day of the festival. Yesterday we all visited Kirti's house (she is our yoga teacher and a long-time friend of Sangam) for a Diwali party with lots of good things to eat (despite having filled ourselves with tacos for dinner). And today we're all going to Mina's (our Community Relations Manager) house for a similar party. As today is Diwali day, we've been exempt from wearing uniform - which outside of events is navy bottoms and any guiding/sangam related top - and allowed to dress up. The sari I bought is currently with the tailor having the blouse sewn, so Hayley has kindly lent me one of hers as everyone else is in saris. It's bright green with a purple puloo (the long bit that hangs over the shoulder) and very pretty. I'm on reception duty today, which means sitting and looking pretty, occasionally answering an email, and being on hand should we have visitors. Not all that likely today seeing as everyone's celebrating with family, but we are expecting someone to come look for our geocache. Hence I'm writing this post, and also flicking through some session manuals and other resources to keep on top of my event-prep-work.
The bad thing about Diwali is the presence of firecrackers. We haven't seen fireworks as such - a couple went up last night as we were walking to Kirti's, but they didn't bang which made me happy. HOWEVER there are lots of bang-y firecrackers, and boys (and men) just throw them in the street. I'm used to occasional bangs and pops from the neighbouring ammunitions factory, but being awoken more than 2 hours early by bangs from all around is not desirable; especially when one is not at all keen on firework bangs!

Diwali is pretty though - every house and window has lights in it and there are Diwali lanterns around as well. There weren't as many as I'd expected yesterday, but perhaps today will be different. The weather is cooling down a little bit as well; nights and mornings are quite chilly; but it's warm enough that we could walk down the road in just a single layer at 10pm. Lovely!

That's all for now - I think I've just come up with an ingenious idea for an activity so going to get on with that!

TTFN

A nice day off

3 posts in 2 days.... I'm spoiling you!

Today was the second of a 2day 'off' period. Yesterday Jessica and I just chilled for the whole day, watched a couple of movies, made a couple of skype calls, swam, slept etc.

So we felt that today we should at least do something slightly proactive, and therefore decided to visit Parvati Hill. We drove past this hill the other day when Jen took us all for an early morning walk through the woods, and everyone recommended it to us as a nice place to visit. There were no rickshaws to be found on the road immediately outside Sangam, so we wandered along enjoying the morning warmth until an empty one finally pulled up with the assumption (correct, this time) that we'd like him to take us somewhere.
The ride to Parvati Hill took about 25minutes through heavy traffic (it's Diwali, we think this was the reason for more traffic than usual and the lack of empty rickshaws), and cost just over £1.

Parvati hill is quite high, and has what everyone calls 'elephant steps' paved up it. They are indeed huge, and trick you into thinking the slope isn't quite as steep as it actually is, because every few paces you take a step up. We walked for maybe 10minutes, dodging small children, goats and rangoli designs, before reaching the temple at the top. There was the most amazing rangoli there - the biggest and thickest we'd seen and it was a really lovely sight at the end of our hill trudging. But there was more!
We started by paying our 10rupees to go into a museum about Maharashtra; there were old chariots, some weapons, coins, plates etc. Most of the information was only in Hindi and not translated to English, but we enjoyed it anyway. Then we wandered to the left and discovered more rangoli, and a beautiful temple in pastel colours, with pictures from hindu stories painted into the alcoves of the walls around the edge.
Next, we walked towards the amazing sight of an even bigger temple, which had obviously been recently repainted; orange and red! It was stunning, and surrounded by walls which were obviously really old - the bricks reminded me of pictures of Ankor Wat.
When we'd finished marvelling at that, we turned around and spotted more golden domes at the opposite side of the hill top, so headed that way. This was the main Parvati temple complex, and covered a much bigger area. It had a high wall all around it, which you could walk around for the price of 5rupees, so of course we paid, and carefully climbed the steps, acknowledging the sign which warned us we were doing so at our own risk because the temple was protected and authorities could therefore not fit safety railings! The views from here were spectacular, and we spent some time being amazed at the size of Pune, and also wondering whether we could work out what direction Sangam was in. Although Jessica and I have already started to refer to this place as 'home' rather than 'Sangam', which is great because it means I'm starting to feel settled!

Having exhausted ourselves taking photographs of and from the temple walls, we made our way back down the hill, and as it was still quite early, we caught a rickshaw to nearby Saras Baugh, which is a park with a little lake that Aleia had mentioned to us at breakfast. It was very pretty, and I can see myself using it as a calm peaceful reading spot away from Sangam on days off in the future! A walk around there led us back to a rickshaw and a bumpy journey home (see!), and then we had an hours' rest before lunch. The rest of the day has been pretty chilled, and ended with a nighttime swim which was fun :)

So that's it - you're finally totally up to date. Jessica managed to remember a lot of the things that I wanted to blog about, and beat me to it, so I'd like to suggest that you check out her most recent entry. Numbers 5,7 and 9 were definitely things that I'd wanted to mention, and the rest is all relevant as well!

It's back to work tomorrow with video training and a visit to one of our community partners included - busy busy as always! So until the next time,

TTFN!

No longer 'new' (and a tour of the neighbourhood)

I'm afraid that once again I've forgotten a lot of the things I'd been intending to write about. It's been another busy week, although not quite as crazy as all our guests have now left. We've been busy having meetings and planning sessions for the next 3 events though, and then getting on with preparing for the first of those.

On Friday, we had Sophie and Aleia's leaving ceremony. They each gave a presentation about their time here. Sophie's made an amazing book featuring loads of things she's learnt along the way, and Aleia created a slideshow of photos. It really impacted on me to see how passionate they were about their time here as SVs, the amazing things they've done and how much they've learnt. It was a bit scary because I felt like it was a lot for me to live up to. When I'm done, I'll actually have been here for a few weeks more than their term, and to think I might fit in as much as they have seems impossible. It was very inspirational though. I feel like there will be a big gap in the team when they leave this week, and Jessica and I will need to find our feet very quickly.

The second part of the ceremony was officially the end of our training period; Jen removed our 'new volunteer' badges, and we instead received Sangam pins. Gwen also gifted us little pouches which are useful for carrying phones (or in my case recently, tissues) when you don't have pockets. So now we are officially full members of the programme team, and have a number of responsibilities that are just ours in the next events. The whole team sits down together and decides who wants to/ can do what. Upcoming tasks for me include the neighbourhood tour, indian afternoon, reflections and flag ceremonies and many other things. I'm really enjoying having my own task list which I can work through at my own pace - within reason. Still fairly worried that I'll struggle with some things, but Jen, Gwen and Net and Ellen are all really supportive and answer any stupid questions I come up with, and the rest of the staff are awesome as well.

The second part of this blog is to feature some photos that hopefully give a bit better idea of what Sangam looks like, and the area it is in. I took these photos from the top of the water tower, which gives great views all around!

Ellen climbing up the Water Tower

 Net above the pool; in the top right corner is the Jubilee Garden - a really relaxing place :)

 Jessica looking over the pool... These buildings are the main part of Sangam towards the road.. underneath is the dining room and our offices, on top are the staff bedrooms, one of which I'll be moving into soon!

This is the Jubilee Garden, the roofs are of the dorms, I'm staying under the arch in the bottom right corner at the moment!

 This is the local area. Sangam's roofs in bottom right, in the centre is the illegal slum, currently housing about 600 people. Our neighbour on the left side is also a slum, but it's legal so the inhabitants receive ration books so that they can buy subsidised goods. On the right of the picture is Phule Nagar, the local middle-class neighbourhood. This is where we do our 'neighbourhood tour', where we get our milk from everyday; our local sweet shop, pharmacy and doctor can be found here, and it is also where a lot of our local staff live.

 In contrast, This is Hari Ganga, a relatively new build of flats just a few hundred metres down the road. People living here will be bringing in around RS25000 a month; usually with husband and wife both working. This is one of the horrors and yet somehow amazingly beautiful things of India - that entirely different worlds are quite literally on each others' doorsteps.



 I hope that helps some of you to picture things a bit more clearly. It's very difficult to describe India to people who've not experienced it for themselves exactly because of this diversity - it seems impossible. At Sangam it is so calm and shaded, it's sometimes easy to forget that a very busy main road is just outside the gate, and that there are people living in abject poverty just across the road, and alongside people who are really living quite well. You have to be able to accept these things in order to live here, but that doesn't mean we're not trying to do things about it. Sangam's programmes are all about empowering people to make changes, and we work with a lot of community partners who do similar things. As part of the birthday event we've just finished, we also began an exciting new connection with both the local slums, and held a birthday party - planned and run by the participants - for 60 children from these places. Many had never had birthday parties, or perhaps didn't even know their birth date, but the photos are amazing - you can see the joy and excitement on their faces. Although I had to stay at Sangam and work, I looked through the pics and was so happy that it'd happened. Hopefully it's the start of some great things happening here.

Leaving you with some food for thought I hope,

TTFN x



World Sangam Day madness! (a post written many days ago)

Namaste!
I hope you're all well.
Before beginning, I'd like to remind you all that I'm trying to add photos to my Flickr page as well (although admittedly I've still not taken many decent ones on my camera), and these also get uploaded to my blog on the right-hand side --------->
I'll try to copy some of the photos I've taken on Sangam's camera soon, so I can show you more of what's been going on here.

Sunday was World Sangam Day - and Sangam's 45th Birthday! Wow! It was a crazy hectic day, but SO much fun. The morning began with visiting the elephant who'd arrived during the night. I'd gone to bed early because I was knackered, so missed her arrival, and also the chance to camp out in the campground with the elephant (!), which was a bit disappointing, but nevertheless it meant I was better prepared for the events of the day.

I think a contributory factor in the tiredness was the fact that we'd spent a good 2-3 hours crushing lumps of mud into powder, so that we could then make clay to make tiles for a '45th birthday memories' spot!!! Very long hard work, but also kind of satisfying! :)

We now know that the elephant was named Laxmi, after a Hindu goddess, but at the time, it was just 'elephant' or 'nelly', because there was a guess the name competition later on! When I went down just before 7am, she'd already had her bath, but there was a bit more scrubbing to do, and then she had to have her make up put on and her blankets and cage tied to her back so that people could ride her safely. She then spent the morning giving staff and participants rides, so that she could offer an enjoyable feature of the afternoon to all our birthday guests. As I got up, there was also a group of people walking swiftly round the Sangam site, trying to follow our 'extra surprise' - which turned out to be a camel! Jen had managed to keep that quiet so we were all pleasantly surprised to have TWO animals to ride (although I never got around to the camel, whose name was not Alice, although she did seem to like the song!).

Most people also visited the local temple in the morning, as that is traditional on one's birthday, but I was on 'photograph the hilarious attempts of the first couple of groups to climb on the elephant' duty, and so missed out on that. Again, a little bit disappointed, but there are plenty more birthdays and other opportunities to join a temple visit. After a rushed breakfast, I went to help Net run 'Who wants to be a WAGGGS Millionaire' - which was basically a fun quiz about WAGGGS' history and the 4WC. Had to leave to get my elephant ride with Jessica and Ellen, and the whole morning was fragmented in that way as we had a rota system for riding in order to make sure we all got a turn!

The rest of the morning was filled with various activities from finalising the info. boards I made with details of everything happening during the party, to tying balloons up in every available space (and throwing some in the pool for good measure), and some other preparations. Below is a photo of the boards, because they were a big part of my life for 4 days!

The afternoon was a really nice day. We had visiting tabla players, puppet shows, a potter, a tarot reader, laughter yoga, stalls run by our community partners, dance performances, a raffle, a silent auction, the elephant and camel rides, and an official ceremony and cake cutting. The evening also ended with a forum at which we could learn more about some of the community partners and the work they do.
After all this, we spent some time clearing up (really quite efficiently, we felt) and then fell into bed. It was a really great day and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it :)

TTFN

Delays!

Hi everyone.

Just a really quick post to assure you all that I'm still alive!

We've had huge problems with power and internet/ server connections for 3 days, and this is the first time I've had access since everything died 2 minutes after I started a Skype call with my mum - sorry mum, I didn't deliberately abandon you!

So lots to catch you up on, but it'll have to wait until I have more time - lots of work to do now.

Much love to you all

Busy busy busy!

So apparently it's 5 days since I last posted. I thought it was 3.
That means a) that I'm obviously having fun because time is flying
                  b) I may not update you on everything because I've clearly forgotten some stuff already
                  c) this is likely to be another rather long blog post.

I think I may do this in a random order as well - as and when I think of things I wanted to blog about, rather than trying to work through my days chronologically. More fun and easier for me; possibly more confusing for you but never mind!

Today [edit: now yesterday as I never managed to finish this!] was a day off for me and Jessica so we chilled out quite a bit. Wandered to Wadi (the local area) to do a bit of essential shopping (soap and notebooks), came back and sorted out our room because it's a mess (details coming in the next thing I'll write about), then dozed for a bit, I had a swim, and then we visited the doctor - which is literally next door - because Jessica's not been feeling too well. I've been so busy and now have some of my own tasks as well as shadowing the other SVs, that today I finally understood why days off are taken so seriously here. If someone is off, then they're off. Participants are instructed to leave us alone, and if anyone catches us working, we're told off! Because you need a break when things are this full on. So yes, it's been a nice day, and also gave me time to do some skyping to family and friends at home :)

So, next thing:
On Tuesday we invited a group of scouts and guides to spend the night at Sangam. The event participants spent some time planning activities to run for them, and the campfire. We had a 'dhosa man' come to cook dhosa dinner (basically a thin crepe stuffed with spiced potato, and then another more like a scotch pancake but savoury) and had all the tents pitched in the campground.
Then it started to rain. Not drizzle, not a shower, not even what we'd consider to be a downpour in the UK. The best description is a deluge. The next morning the rain gauge read almost 10cm. So much for the monsoon season being finished. It's really beautiful when it rains though - when it's pelting down the drops bounce back up of the arched rooves and create a mist, and the surface of the swimming pool becomes mesmerising.
This meant though that we had to get a lot of wet scouts and guides quickly up to the hall, and have an indoor campfire. It was really good fun actually, but halfway through, Jessica and I had to leave. Because the scouts (x50) would be sleeping in the hall, the guides (x10) would have to sleep in our dormitory. So we had to move all of our stuff out of our room and crash in Jen and Christa's lounge for the night! - hence our room being rather messy and all my stuff needing un-packing once again.

I'm definitely missing a day of fun things that I can't think of to write about now. The last exciting thing I can think of is that last night was our 1960s evening. This was because Sangam was opened in 1966. Jessica and I decorated the dining room with lots of groovy pics etc - and sabotaged the staff photographs along the way! We had homemade meatballs and spaghetti, which meant that the night before found Hayley, Heidi, Jessica and myself making and frying a LOT of meatballs until about 10.30! We then played a '60s themed wide game involving twister, dance routines, helium stick, football etc. A great mix of things that Sophie put together and connected to various things that happened in the '60s. I let my hair go stupidly frizzy and wore my bright green Indian top which worked scarily well as a hippy outfit; but some of the other ladies had brought truly impressive outfits with them! It was a really fun night and didn't really feel like work at all because we were all just getting involved and laughing all night.

 Today [real time] the participants were out visiting some of our community partners in the morning, and then we all met at a local restaurant for a buffet/ thali- style lunch. Very good :) Then this afternoon was our Indian themed afternoon where participants could get mehendi (henna) on their hands, learn to tie saris, try out rangoli (beautiful pictures made of sand drawn on the floor) and drink chai! Jessica and I had to constantly tie and untie our saris until Jen was satisfied that we could do it ourselves - gruelling stuff! The evening featured a traditional Maharashtrian wedding feast which we ate on the floor from banana leaf plates, and then some of the children from Maher, one of our community partner homes, gave an AMAZING drama/ dance performance telling the story of Gandhiji. It was really moving, and reminded me once again of the importance of inter-cultural understanding; of remembering history; and of the importance of making the future a better place for all. I rarely feel guilt about being British and having some historic connection to the (sometimes) violent colonisation of other nations, but tonight it struck me that we do have a lot to answer for. Of course, a lot of good came from colonial rule, but some of it was not good at all, and Gandhiji's story highlighted that very well, especially when presented so cleverly and emotionally. Perhaps this blog isn't the place to get into a deep debate, but it made me think again about my dissertation on Postcolonial Literature, and re-inspired me to perhaps continue that thread of study. Maybe I can make a difference in my own small way there.

I just realised I didn't tell you about Oktoberfest - which was very random. It was at the racecourse, and felt like a giant pub garden party with bbq! You had to exchange your money for tokens to buy stuff which was a bit annoying, but we (Heidi, Hayley and I) all chipped in and shared lots of different German foods and a couple of beers as well. It was really hot, but a great atmosphere and loads of fun. Heidi and I went swimming when we got back to Sangam to cool down and burn off a few calories! Also pool-themed was our poolside movie night. We projected 'Surf's Up' onto a sheet screen that we had specially made, spent the whole day blowing up inflatable chairs, and even served floating plates of popcorn! The participants all loved it, and again such a great atmosphere, but I still cannot say that I've seen the film as I was too busy taking photographs or being a waitress!

I'm certain that a LOT more amazing things have happened to me, but it's hard to keep track. I'll have to start bringing my timetable with me when I blog so that it jolts my memory. I am however able to tell you all that I am having the time of my life. Even when all the printers and computers conspire against me and I have 4 different jobs that need doing all at once, I am enjoying myself. Sangam is a sanctuary and a haven, and the people here truly live and work through the 'Spirit of Sangam'. I'm quite sad that our current participants will be leaving in a couple of days because they've been here pretty much since I arrived and so it seems normal. However it's not long until our next event starts and I'll have more people (this time all from the UK) to make friends with and share experiences with. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever; sometimes it feels like only a couple of days and I wonder how on earth I've managed to fit it all in. I'm currently chilling out after a busy evening, listening to the madness of some of the other SVs in the pool. I have one more job to do - lock away laptops and camera - and then I can fall into bed, ready for another day.

Hopefully my next blog will have some photos of Sangam proper and in some detail - as this has been requested. I find it quite difficult to describe India in a way that successfully portrays the beauty and craziness that this land embodies, so maybe some images will help those of you who aren't really sure what I'm on about sometimes! However that may not be for a few days as it's World Sangam Day on Sunday, so things are only getting crazier here. Maybe when I get another day off....

TTFN.

Thunderstorm

Today was the first day of my first event – ‘Celebrate our Centenary/ Sangam’s 45^th Birthday’. I was shadowing Sophie, but ended up helping out everyone in various capacities. I’ve photocopied passports, printed a timetable (which took about 20 times as long as it should have done because of temperamental computers and printers), participated in a ‘house rules’ session and a tour of Sangam, and a tour of the ‘neighbourhood’. I’ve interacted with participants from UK, USA, NZ, Australia and Sri Lanka, and have been wrapped in a sari along with the other SVs (yes, all 6 of us….!). I’ve demonstrated the dining table system with the help of pool inflatables and probably done loads of other random things that I can’t think of right now.

Then this evening was the Welcome Ceremony. As we’d not yet been welcomed officially, Jessica and I became participants rather than staff, and had to dress in our official MO uniforms. I wore the nice blue blouse, but of course it was made for England’s temperatures and was far too hot!

The ceremony consisted of Aruna blessing a lovely ceremonial lamp, and then she and Priyanka performed aarti on each participant. This is a blessing which involved yellow and red powder being applied to the forehead, rice thrown on the head, and then betel nut and lamp moved around the head in a circular direction. Christa or Hayley then presented us with flower garlands and welcomed us to Sangam. We all then lit a wick on the lamp, before singing the World Song together. Then there were LOTS of photos of the whole group and various smaller groups. I didn’t take many as a) there was an official photographer there for a lot of it and b) I only took my little camera. Jessica took loads though so when she uploads them I’ll link to them, or possibly steal some. Below are a few just to give you an idea of what it was like….

Aruna and Christa

Net and Ellen

Sangam is decorated - for the birthday, but then it's also Diwali, Xmas, New Year coming....!

Current staff and Aussie participants

Staff and NZ participants

Staff and Sri Lankan participants

I’ve really enjoyed today, although it did begin with Yoga at 7am (as did yesterday) and I’m really not able to say that I’m enjoying that so far. I’d much rather go for a run or a swim….!

Tomorrow we’re supposed to be doing a water tower climb in the morning but I’m currently listening to an amazing thunderstorm so we may have to cancel as it’ll be slippery and dangerous. Then we’re taking the participants out to buy saris (and other things I guess but that’s the bit I’m interested in). I have the afternoon off, so I’m going to Oktoberfest with Hayley as she suggested it might be fun!

TTFN

A long post to update you all!

I finally have internet on my laptop!

‘the internet man’ was here today, and after an hour of fighting with the wireless programme on my laptop (which was definitely not a problem in the UK), he managed to hook me up to the internet. Although when I then went to write this post, the internet disappeared so this has been copied from Word….!

[edit – it seems the signal isn’t strong enough in my room so I now need to do all my internetting from our office. Hopefully that’ll change when I move upstairs.]

So, first impressions of India (take 2) and of Sangam.

The first thing I noticed – even in the airport – was the smell! I guess after a while I’d forgotten the scent of India, but it’s very distinctive and I recognised it straight away. If I had to describe it, at that point I’d say it smelt damp; but that isn’t the best description, and when I stepped off the plane it made me smile. The immigration official who stamped my passport was – by freaky coincidence - from just around the corner from Sangam, and was intrigued by the address I’d put on the form. Unfortunately our friendly conversation didn’t lessen his officialdom, and he spent AGES staring at my passport, and then his screen, and then my old visa… 3 people went through the desk next to me in what seemed like the eternity I was nervously waiting whilst trying not to look at all nervous. But then he smiled, stamped my passport and let me go on my way. After collecting my luggage and changing some money, I stepped outside to find the driver waiting with my name on a sign. I’d been warned that he’d probably not speak much English, but wasn’t expecting to be greeted with total silence! Although he smiled and nodded at me, and took my bag to the car then heaved it into the boot (he looked like it probably weighed twice as much as him!), I didn’t hear him mutter a single English word (I think he spoke Marathi on the phone) for the entire 4 hour journey. Admittedly I did nod off at one point, for about an hour I think, but apart from that I was enjoying – if that’s the right word – the scenery and the chaos of Indian roads.

Within 5 minutes I’d seen so many of the eccentric and yet typically Indian sights I’d got used to before but generally forgotten about: cows in the road, women sweeping dust from dust roads (which always seems pointless but I’m sure does have a purpose), dogs wandering, people walking barefooted, street stalls, many many people on motorbikes and mopeds, usually with women dressed in beautiful saris riding side-saddle on the back, and many other things that I thought of at the time – and thought that I should probably make note of before I forgot – and have consequently forgotten!

I would also like to direct you to this post which I wrote last time, as I don’t think I could really do a better job of expressing my feelings about horn honking! My driver was certainly sure that he owned the road, and that everyone else shouldn’t ever be in his way. Unfortunately, it seems that most other people on the road felt that way too… I also think the roads have become scarier since I’ve been driving regularly – I just don’t understand how they seem to be able to see everything around them at once. They all drive so closely together, weaving in and out of lanes with rarely an indicator, and yet they never hit anything! They must have some sort of sixth sense.

After signing in at Sangam, I was shown to the dorm room that is to be mine and Jessica’s during our training, and met her. We had 2 days to just chill out and get acclimatised, and I think may well have struggled to entertain ourselves if Net hadn’t very kindly given up the morning of her day off yesterday to show us around Pune, the local neighbourhood and Sangam itself. I also had a quick swim in the pool, and then we had a night-time swim before bed (well more of a float and chat really, but still!)

I’m in love with Sangam already. It’s so peaceful and homely; although there’s an ammunition factory backing onto the site, and the main road is literally just beyond the gate, once you’re in the compound, you forget all about it. There’s plenty of noise, but it’s all just crickets and birds! Everyone here without exception qualifies to be in the ‘friendliest people I’ve met’ category, and I feel like I’m settling in well.

[no longer from Word – real time posting…!] :

Today, the real work started. Jessica and I have spent the whole day with the other SVs in turn; each taking us through something different from the aims and mission of WAGGGS and Sangam, to the equipment available to us and the system in the dining room. We also attended the whole staff briefing for the next event, which, being the celebration of Sangam’s 45^th Birthday is HUGE and also a lot of work because it’s all very different from the sessions that are usually run. The most exciting bit about it at the moment is that we’re hiring an elephant so that people can ride it and take photos…! But there’s lots of other cool stuff going on too J

We were also officially welcomed to Sangam during this meeting by Jen who is the Programme Manager; we were given  Sangam bags with some useful equipment in, and also our official name badges, Sangam neckers and ‘new volunteer’ badges! Also included was a notebook which was filled with messages of welcome from everyone already here which was a really sweet and personal touch and pretty much epitomises the impression I’ve received of how things (and people) work here.

I realise that this is a really long post – I blame the delay in being able to have decent internet access at a convenient time – but I think you’re now fully up to date. If I’ve missed anything important that you’d like to know about, please leave me a comment and I’ll try to include it next time!

Tomorrow everyone is on event prep, and most of the event participants are arriving between lunch and dinner time, so Jessica and I will be shadowing/ helping out the other SVs as much as we can, and also hopefully rooting out some uniform so we can be recognised as SVs during the event. Things are going well and I’m enjoying it, if still feeling a little bewildered by it all!

TTFN

Arrived safely!

Hi all
Just a quick note to say that I've arrived safely!
Got into Mumbai about 4am UK time, and then had a long drive to Sangam.
When I got here, I had a form to fill in, then met Jessica and settled into our room, and then it was time for lunch so I got to meet all the other staff.
We're just relaxing and getting used to being in India at the moment, hopefully we'll go out and explore the local area a bit today before training starts tomorrow.
Not much time right now to write, but will update properly soon!
TTFN

Off I go...

Well, this is it. The last blog from England for 6 months...

In about half an hour my dad will be driving me to Birmingham airport. Then I get on a plane to Dubai, wait around there for a bit, get on another plane and then finally arrive in Mumbai.
After that. it's just a 4 hour taxi ride and I'll be at Sangam.
I have butterflies in my tummy; think some are nerves and some excitement. Maybe a little bit of dread that I'll leave something important behind. Like my passport which I left in the scanner yesterday and then panicked about! (how does one spell the past tense version of panic? It always looks wrong)

Anyway, just wanted to say goodbye, I'll be in touch when I can. For those of you who are on FB, my sister will hopefully post to say I've arrived safely when I have!

TTFN

Nearly ready...

Things are getting organised now...

I've finally managed to just about pack everything! Need to weigh it properly as I'm close to the wire...
Before you ask what on earth I'm taking, my clothes only weigh 7kg (and have become my hand luggage). The rest of the weight is made up of essential toiletries (some of which may be thrown out as I know I can get stuff out there, just felt like being fussy), swaps, electronic stuff including a laptop, and a few items from Sangam's 'wish list' of items that are difficult to find in India. The company my dad works for - Rapid Electronics - stock a lot of it, and they very kindly donated a number of things for me to find room for in my bag! It was really generous and I'm very pleased, but it did make packing that tiny bit more difficult!
Oh and Geoffrey's coming too, of course. He hopped off his shelf and kept tugging at my trouser leg in case I forgot to pack him....!

I went to Birmingham today and collected my Visa. Application went through successfully, and it's valid until 26/03/12 which is the day I fly home - so pretty perfect really! My sister came to meet me and we re-organised our trip to New Zealand, and had Pizza Hut as it's become traditional when one of us (usually me) goes away to or comes back from somewhere far away!

Tomorrow's jobs are:
Put car on front drive and submit SORN form
Post tax reclaim form - money yay!
Buy hobnobs and skittles for Hayley at Sangam
Print out some photos to take with me
Be a little bit more ruthless with what I'm packing.
Sort out camera and make sure all batteries are charged

So that'll keep me busy!

TTFN