Enjoying...

I’ve developed a problem with writing this blog. Often things happen that I think I want to write about, and am really enthusiastic about. These things ALWAYS happen on days when I have absolutely no time to write, or am too knackered at the end of the day to sit at the computer. This then means that when I finally find time to write – like now – it feels insincere to try and emulate the feelings I had at the time. I will, of course, try to do so, but I’m not sure that I’ll succeed…

I’ve really enjoyed this event so far. My enjoyment started properly last Monday night, when we had our Centenary Dinner. This is normal dinner in terms of food, but we decorate the hall and party a bit in the name of the 3year celebration of the 100 years since WAGGGS began. We ask the participants to plan this dinner, and split them into teams entitled ‘decorations’, ‘entertainment’, ‘cake’ and ‘media’. Their preparation time was limited as we tacked it on to the end of my 10million girls session, but what they produced was amazing! The hall looked great, the entertainment was fun (dinner began by dancing all the way around the courtyard to loud bollywood music), conversation was lively and everyone had a great time.

After dinner, we ran the ‘WAGGGS Game’ – which is in a format similar to a team version of Who wants to be a Millionaire? Jessica was MCing (dressed up in a cloak and newspaper hat), and Christa and Sayali were Thing 1 and Thing 2…! I took on the role of official photographer, even though I was tired, because I wanted to be there and join in the fun. It was hilarious. The guests really got into it and had a laugh and also seemed to really appreciate the effort we’d gone to in decorating the hall, preparing the questions, being prepared to make fools of ourselves etc! Jessica and I were buzzing when we came upstairs, and we sat in her room marvelling at how much fun we were having, and how worthwhile it was so that it didn’t matter so much that we were knackered.

Christa being Thing 2...!

The next evening, we sent our participants out to local families for dinner. Although I had a close-quarters fire cracker incident on my way home from walking some of the ladies to Kirti’s house, I had a really great evening. We sat in the dining room eating popcorn (after I’d microwaved my dinner) and playing cards. I learnt a new game called Fluxx, which belongs to Hayley and is very crazy but fun. As the participants came back from their dinners, they joined us in the dining room for a cup of tea and a natter – NB we tried very hard not to stereotype our all British, all older group, but they really do love to natter and drink tea – and it was really enjoyable. For the first time I felt properly like Sangam was my home. It seemed right that I could choose to sit in the main areas rather than hide away in my room, and that the guests enjoyed talking to us, but also recognised that this was our time off to relax. It was really nice. That’s a horrible phrase, but it’s how I felt.

Another new experience this week was my visit to one of our community partners; and a Tare site (where we send our community volunteers) – Tara Mobile Creche. This is a care/school system for children whose parents work on local construction sites. To get there, we walked through their rough corrugated iron huts, past the new buildings and cement mixers on a rough gravel track, and then into a small concrete building with a courtyard. We spent about an hour and a half there; we sang songs with the children, and then played games and swung a skipping rope. It was lovely to see the enjoyment and enthusiasm of both the children and participants. The keenness of some of the kids to have their photo taken and then be able to see it on the screen reminded me of my kids up in ManaliThis visit preceded our ‘Community Programme Fun Day’ on Saturday. The Tare and participants spent a whole afternoon/evening planning a range of activities, and then 2 buses arrived at 10am on Saturday, laden with 30 children each; from Mobile Creche and Deep Griha. It was a really fun day filled with laughter and craft and glitter. We started in the campsite which was very hot and sunny, so I went to do some work in the programme room, but I could still sense the atmosphere and how excited all the children were. Plus it was really nice for the Tare to be able to have some of the children that they’ve been working with for 3 months to visit their home as well.

Participants and Tare gearing up for the day

All the children and staff

Yesterday was my day off. It began with a climb up the water tower at 7am. I’d not been up in the morning before, and the sun in the haze was beautiful.

You may think I’m crazy for getting up so early on my day off, and you’d be right. But I had an agenda! We occasionally come a different way to Sangam in rickshaws and pass a beautiful cemetery. A little research informed me that it was Kirkee Cemetery and I knew I wanted to go to see what (who) was there. Remembrance Sunday seemed like a good day to go, and so I’d determined to go and find it in the morning. I left Sangam at 7:45 and began to walk. As it was so early, there were no rickshaws at the stand, and no empty ones passed me either. I knew vaguely where I was heading, so carried on walking, in the hope of finding a rickshaw on the way. I saw some lovely sights, and it was really peaceful and quiet. No one even bothered me by saying hello constantly; except a group of three small children who saw me coming and rushed up with huge smiles to shake my hand. I walked along a road not far from the river bank, which also looked beautiful in the early morning haze. Then I came to a bridge. I wasn’t sure which way I should go, but thought I recognized the wall around the cantonment. This area is home to the Bombay Sappers, and there are a lot of military compounds. So I went left, and discovered a WWI memorial behind a gate in the parade ground. This told me that I’d gone the wrong way, but I decided to carry on, and complete a loop back to Sangam. The whole walk took just less than an hour.

I spent my morning sorting through photos (see the end of this post), and then Jessica and I went out to meet Heidi, Saga and Saga’s housemate (whose name I’ve forgotten – sorry!) for lunch. We ended up at a coffee place called Aromas, and I ordered a chicken burger. It was nice, but it emphasised to me how bland western food is, now I’m used to Indian food. The meals at Sangam aren’t particularly spicy, but they are very tasty! After a trip in to MG Road so Jessica could investigate suit purchasing and I could get some new earphones, we got a rickshaw to the cemetery! It was nice to have Jessica with me and we spent some time wandering around marvelling at the ages of the people, the range of nationalities, and also deciding that we really needed to research how and why the world wars ended up in India. I feel it’s something I probably should know, and I just don’t. You can see a couple of photos from Kirkee on my Flickr page.

Today was a good day too – we took a bus out to Alandi where there is an old temple in which a man sat and translated the holy texts into Marathi (the local language). I can’t remember his name… Then we drove to Tulapur which is where Shivaji, a great hero of the state, died; and we finished the tour with a trip to another community partner. Ishwari is a women’s cooperative; they make a lot of their income from baking the most amazing ginger cookies which are ridiculously addictive, and also jams and pickles. We then had lunch in a local restaurant, and then I got a whole load of little odd jobs done – the sort that add up and get ignored for as long as possible because they’re just a nuisance – while the participants went out to visit Aga Khan Palace. This evening I watched Bridget Jones with Jessica and Ellen – sorry guys, I still don’t get it!

So, all up to date again! I only have 4 and a half months to go now. That sounds SO MUCH less time than 6 months! The new SVs are arriving next week which is really scary. I’ve trawled through some of the work photos I’ve taken, and as I had a request for more photos, thought I’d add a couple here. Hope you enjoy them:

Me, in my purple uniform, looking super impressed with scout night!

This is my favourite photo! Clare (Tare) and Lynn (participant) try to blow each others' 'candles' out during 'this little guiding light of mine'; and Jen (PM) joins in!

Jen, doing her thing!

Chocolate Fondue at 60s night

Me being the trunk of an elephant.... awesome game! Also 60s night

My elephant ride

Water tower chilling

For each event, we take a 'day 0 snapshot' of our preparations. This is the SV/VIT team all cutting out strips of paper from the same laminated sheet!

TTFN x