Friday, July 29, 2011

Leaving India

The trip home was an adventure of its own. But then, what did I expect!?

The car from Shanti Bhavan took us to the Bangalore airport where Kathy's flight to a beautiful and relaxing beach in Goa and a Yoga guru awaited her. Since my flight didn't leave for fourteen (!) more hours, I asked Raju, the driver, to take me into town, where I again was entertained by crazy traffic (lane markers are just a suggestion), brazen sounds (don't forget about the horns!), and sights (every available surface brightly painted with colorfully ornate Hindu gods and goddesses), and the manic pace of life in a country with three times as many people as the USA but one fifth the land.

Feeling like an old pro at negotiating with the street merchants in Bangalore, I shopped and shopped, finding hand-embroidered, beaded textiles, silver maharaja anklet charms, enameled brass plates and bowls, incense, hair clips, and Indian clothing. I also stopped at Matteo's, the Western style coffee shop with free wifi, and stayed for hours drinking coffee, eating lunch, working on my blog and catching up on e-mails. But it still wasn't even close to time to catch my plane.

So I braved shopping some more, learning how to cross at a crosswalk with lights for pedestrians (yes there is one in India!). Here's how NOT to do it: Wait at the corner for the little walk sign to turn green, check to make sure traffic has stopped, and then walk across the street. Here's how to do it in Bangalore at the corner of MG Road and Brigade: Whether the light is red or green makes no difference since even the crossing guard pays no attention. Waiting at the corner will never get you across. Be brave, act confident, and attach yourself to the tail of someone who looks local, being sure to dodge the autos, busses, motorcycles, rickshaws, and other pedestrians who are weaving through the honking traffic just as you are!

When I was completely shopped out I called for Raju to drive me back to the airport. By now it was only 8:45 p.m. and my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 4:45 a.m.! The airport is open-air, meaning that everyone waits outside until time to check in for your flight, and then you can go in the doors. As I waited outside for a few hours in the pleasant evening air, a gentleman sat down next to me. He was polite, nicely dressed, and spoke English well. My guard was up anyway and after an interesting conversation I wasn't at all surprised at the request for rupees. I decided it was time to get myself inside the building.

Inside, I had another interesting conversation about the differences between schools in India and the US. This was with a businessman who travels frequently between the two countries. I learned a lot, it provided context for my experiences, and was a great way to pass the time. After I finally was able to check in for my flight, I went up to the lounge where I discovered a dozen moderrn comfortable reclining chairs gathered around a cricket match on the Cricket channel. It didn't seem like it was the middle of the night, except when I thought about how long I'd been up and how very much longer before I'd be home.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Last Day at SB


I said goodbye to my students on Saturday morning by taking them on a nature walk to "The Rocks," their favorite place at Shanti Bhavan. We climbed upon large boulders and enjoyed each others' company for nearly an hour. The children used my camera to take pictures, and I let the girls braid ('plait' they called it) my hair and we talked and sang and generally had fun in this unstructured time together.


And then when it was time for me to go, the tears began. I thought I wouldn't cry, but when even the boys joined in a group hug without hesitation, I knew this was a special class, a special moment. With sadness in my heart at all the goodbyes they've had to say in their short lives, I taught them how to blow kisses, and we blew them until we coud see each other no longer. They have a wonderful place to live and go to school, yet this reminded me that school is and always has been about relationships.

I smile every time I look at their sweet faces. May each little person achieve a happy and successful future! Namaste.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Being Grateful

Yes! Warm water for a 'shower'!


Laundry by hand or no clean clothes!

As much as I've enjoyed my time here in India and especially at Shanti Bhavan, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to a different pace of life back home where things are once again familiar.

With more gratefulness than ever before I'm looking forward to my own comfortable bed, to coffee in the morning while sitting on my patio while reading a newspaper, and to being with the people I love the most in the world!

Perhaps this is a good time to post one of the lists Kathy and I compiled as we continued our adventure.

Things To Be Grateful For:
  • Running water in every faucet
  • Shower heads
  • Toilets that flush w/o pouring water into the bowl or tank
  • Toilets that have seats to sit upon!
  • Washing machines & dryers
  • Lights that go on when you flick the switch
  • Electricity!
  • Water you can drink
  • Fruit you can eat
  • Fresh salads
  • Eating when you're hungry
  • Starbuck's
  • Meals without rice
  • Cheeseburgers
  • Bacon & eggs
  • Ball Park franks
  • Paved roads
  • Traffic lights
  • Traffic and safety laws
  • Bedrooms without cockroaches, lizards, and water bugs
  • Wine!
  • Beer!
  • Beds with mattresses that are more than one-inch thick
  • Beds with sheets that fit
  • Pillows without lumps
  • Window screens without holes
  • Window panes!
  • Ceiling fans
  • Hangers
  • A good night's sleep

Summer said to let her know how long it takes after we get back before we can take a shower or turn on a light without marveling in grateful appreciation!

But also of course it's oh, so beautiful here! And the people are incomparably generous of spirit. Here is a photo of us in our sarees, a last-day tradition. We were wrapped and adorned with bindis by wonderful Auntie Annie and Miss Asha.

Goodbye, Summer!

Weather

I've heard that it's broiling hot back home, so maybe this is a good time to tell a little about the weather in India. Meanwhile, I hope you're managing to stay cool and feel good.

It was beastly hot in Delhi and Agra in northern India, just as we had expected. They weren't wrong! We were also told that we missed the worst of the heat and the monsoons even though it was in the high nineties and it rained every day. Hmmm? Just glad we weren't there earlier!

And then, once we arrived at Shanti Bhavan we were again told that we had missed the hottest part of summer. So we braced ourselves anyway.

However, it's very pleasant here in southern India where I'm spending most of my time. The temperature is about 80 degrees and a little breezy first thing in the morning, it warms up during the day, and then a dependable rain shower falls in the evening to cool things down again. Just about perfect. And oh, so beautiful! All of these photos were taken on the grounds of SB. :)


I'm nearing the end of my last week here, still teaching fourth graders every day and supervising study hall for older kids twice a day too - once at 6:30 a.m. and again at 6:00 p.m. Right now I'm with tenth graders who are all very busy working on their geometry, biology, and modern Indian history. And, like SUCH a good role model, I am writing e-mails, putting pictures on my blog, and checking Facebook! Ha!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Beautiful Children


I am getting so attached to these children that it will be very difficult to say goodbye at the end of this week. I know all of their names (a bigger accomplishment than one might think) and I know them both academically and socially. I've been teaching them reading (yes, reading comprehension strategies), creative writing (narrative, expository and persuasive), English grammar (which as you can imagine is quite difficult in a language that's not your native tongue), science (plants and vertebrates), math (same fourth grade math concepts I taught in Highland Park), social studies (I've been learning lots about India by teaching this subject! Love it!), and a myriad of other things that come up in the course of a schoolday.

They're happy to learn and so appreciative of every little thing. They refer to me as Miss Nancy, and upon entering the classroom they stop at the doorway and ask permission to enter the room by saying "excuse me, Miss." The title 'Miss' does not refer to marital status here, but rather is a term of respect reserved for teachers. They also thank me for teaching them. Ah!


As I've mentioned before, Shanti Bhavan is near the small village of Baliganapalli in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. It's amazing here for many reasons, especially the children. My students are fourth graders (Kathy's are fifth) and we're having a good time although their academic schedule is rigorous and behavior expectations are demanding. These children are from some of the poorest families in India yet are so like children that I've taught anywhere.  

Since this is a boarding school the children live and sleep and eat and play here. They have 'aunties' who tend to their needs, take care of them when they're not in class, and tuck them in at night. One of the more interesting fusions of living & going to school in the same place took place earlier this week when all the girls got their hair cut instead of coming to science class. I only found out by word of mouth about this so I had about a minute to re-plan! And then of course I'm sure you can imagine the uproar when they all eventually came back sporting short haircuts that they self-consciously covered with hoods or caps.

The staff and volunteers are also here day and night, always at the ready for a meeting or an assembly or a special project. It has been interesting to be 'on the job' 24/7. 

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Mysore, Karnataka, India

We are in Mysore for the weekend and we visited with Jamie's friend Radha's parents at their home this morning. It was an amazing visit! Mr. Panini picked us up at our hotel (saving us from monkeys on our patio!) in his car and Mrs Panini served us homemade, hot off the grill dosas with chutney and fresh mangoes, juice, and coffee. We had a great conversation and then they called their driver who took us in a rickshaw wherever we wanted to go.








We visited the Mysore Palace where the Maharaja lived during a time of history not so very long ago in this part of India. While there we had a few, well, adventures shall we say? We try to be good, we really do, but sometimes, well, girls just gotta take charge!

Here's part of the story of our visit to Mysore Palace:
  1. Upon entering the grounds, the guards confiscated our cameras, but when we saw others taking photos we marched right back and got them out of the lock box and carried them around anyway.
  2. That is, until we entered the palace proper and had to go through additional security where of course we got caught again! But this guard asked blatantly for a "tip" to let us carry them anyway. It dawned on us slowly what he was asking for but we acted like we didn't understand, and we managed to sneak away when someone else diverted his attention.
  3. Another guard showed us inside a roped off area, answering all of our questions and showing us parts of the palace no one else gets to see. We thought this was so nice until he, surprise, surprise, asked us for a tip/bribe to take our picture! We once again found ourselves ducking under the rope and hightailing it along the tour.
  4. At this point Kathy said that it feels like we're in a Dan Brown novel, running from guards in an historic building!
  5. We began talking with a man who offered to take our picture in return for us taking his. As Kathy handed his camera back, a guard approached him and confiscated it. We didn't stick around to find out the end of that story since we had enough trouble with guards and cameras of our own!
  6. Out on the palace grounds again, we finally found a place to see elephants in India. Yes! And, we even paid rupees for a ride! The elephant was sweet, the ride was great, but the rupee/tip/bribe issue didn't go so well. Imagine that! A story for another day!
Oh, boy, its good there are two of us - a force to be reckoned with here in southern India!


We spent a bit of the day negotiating Mysore streets on our own, looking for Mysore silk and sandalwood and incense, but it was exhausting with so many people, so many vehicles, so many curving roads to get lost on, so many street vendors, and so many hustlers trying to sell us stuff. We were the only Westerners on the street. Quite an experience! We had marveled at that scene from a rickshaw and a car before, but had never actually been a part of it. Check that one off our list!

Now we're back at our hotel luxuriating in thick mattresses, stand-up showers, toilets that flush, a huge room, a TV (!!), A/C (!!) and a hotel lobby with a BAR!!:)
We paid 200 rupees each for 24 hours of Internet at our hotel which has only worked for about 45 minutes and then only if we sit in the lobby. It keeps going off and the desk clerk makes a call and then tells us it will be back on in "5 minutes" and it's already on in our room. Which it's definitely not! So that explains why this wasn't posted while we were actually in Mysore!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My Birthday at Shanti Bhavan


I had a wonderful day here yesterday! The whole school knew it was my birthday and everyone I saw stopped me, shook hands, looked me right in the eye and wished me a happy day. How sweet!

When my fourth graders came into the classroom that morning they stood up as a group on their own and sang Happy Birthday to me. And then they wanted to clap for me the number of years old I am. I told them if they could keep a secret I'd tell them. So they stood up, clapped and counted probably higher than they've ever done before!! haha!! :)

And the fifth graders also spontaneously stood up and sang to me when I popped in to see Kathy for a moment.

Throughout the day I noticed surreptitious cutting and drawing and coloring on little scraps of paper from the recycle box. Every once in awhile, during a grammar lesson for instance, someone would come up and present me with an intricately designed little gift with the sweetest words of appreciation and birthday greetings. Karthikeyan made a monkey that slides in and out of a tree. He said he made it because I told him Max likes monkeys. They may not be learning much about possessive nouns, but I am sure learning about making do for others with what you have!

It's a tradition in India to give to others on your birthday, so I gave each student and adult in the school a piece of candy which I bought last weekend in Bangalore. And also at assembly last night I presented the school a book about character traits and values, something highly respected at this school. The book is Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters by Barack Obama.

I think this may be about the best place in the world to be having a birthday!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Teaching at Shanti Bhavan

Into my second week now, I'm still trying to process how teaching here compares to my other positions through the years. As I muse a bit on this topic, have a look at these studious and lovely children during our nature walk/writing time today.

A major and quite apparent difference is the scanty amount of resources, such as paper, pencils, chalk, markers, crayons, scissors, technology, teachers' manuals, current textbooks, workbooks, library books, leveled readers, teaching specialists. I could go on and on. I could mention lights - my particular classroom has no power, ever, and most of the others use solar powered electrical lights - but it's not considered appropriate to turn them on during the day. Oh, and I could mention window panes.

Yet teachers and children here are beautifully resourceful - and that's definitely not detrimental to teaching and learning. One of the many wonderful things about teaching here is working with children who are bright and creative and eager to learn and who are learning to think critically and solve problems just as we hope all children will.

To be completely honest, some moments are fine and some aren't. What gets tiring is needing to be on top of every behavior at all times especially since there are so many needy children - essentially every single one. Every child here has had a more difficult upbringing than any of the other children I've taught through the years. Some will be as good as gold at most moments and others will try to get by with everything at all moments and others will only try occasionally. Just like a classroom full of kids anywhere.

And I should probably mention that these are definitely the first students I've ever taught who are fluent in Hindi as a second, or in many cases third, language. In fact we have Hindi class every single day, sometimes twice! Um, no I'm not their teacher for that!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Bengaluru - Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Now it's Saturday and I really did teach fourth graders for a whole week. I realize I haven't written about it yet, but you can trust me it was time for a weekend break!

We are now in Bangalore staying in a sweet small hotel with toilets that flush, showers you can stand underneath, electrical power you can depend upon, a distinct lack of bugs in our room, meals without rice, wine with dinner, and shopping to be done. I'm here with Kathy, Summer, and three other volunteers.
To get here we rode in the jeep again and I had the fortune of riding in the front seat with the driver. As we sped again down the road for over two hours I got to thinking about what the "Rules of the Road" must look like here. I'm thinking something like this:
  1. Honk when approaching curves in the road.
  2. Honk and pass motorcycles whenever you want because they can always go between the cars or on either side of the road.
  3. Don't worry about lanes, just honk and try to get through.
  4. Watch out for cows, dogs, sheep, and monkeys sleeping in the road, but don't worry, just honk and they'll slowly get up and move. No need to slow down.
  5. Always drive on the right, or the left, or the right.
  6. Don't worry about people crossing the road. Just honk. No need to take your foot off the gas pedal.
  7. Rickshaws, motorcycles, and bicycles can go wherever they want so be sure to honk at each one of them.
  8. Even if it doesn't look like there's room for you at any given traffic jam, there really is so just lay on the horn and keep moving forward.
SO. After we arrived and checked into our hotel, we luxuriated in lunch at Matteo's, a spot with coffee and sandwiches - and free wifi! Then Kathy and I took off in a rickshaw for Garudo Mall where we had an appointment at Kenko Reflexology and Food Spa. We had the best foot massage ever and then went into the fish spa for the most bizarre pedicure ever. Check it out!
We had a brief moment of near panic when we realized we weren't sure which street our hotel was on, but after gathering our collective thoughts we finally figured it out and secured another rickshaw for the ride back.

An upscale Italian restaurant tonight, grocery shopping and shopping for school supplies tomorrow will round out our weekend away.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Living at Shanti Bhavan

The Gates to Shanti Bhavan

Here's an excerpt from my journal written Saturday evening after just one night here:

Gorgeous tropical scenery here. Fantastic people here. Rigorous academics and global values embodied here.

And living is, well . . . basic. Since I've been here I've barely looked in a mirror (its all clouded and very small in a dimly lit bathroom) and haven't yet taken a shower. When I do it will be by pouring water - with any luck warm water - over me with a cup from a bucket while I sit on a stool in an indented area of the bathroom. Neither of us are really looking forward to it! I pulled my hair back and didn't even think about it all day. Rather freeing.

Also, we get hungry between meals and keep forgetting what time to go; they seem so much later than we would ordinarily eat. We missed morning tea today since we didn't know about it, but have made it early to every meal and snack since! First ones there!

As we were walking from the school building to dinner tonight, we heard the children give a shout in the dining hall and realized the lights were all out. Everyone seemed to quickly take it all in stride and the aunties lit candles at each table. After eating we began to walk back to our room with flashlights but no umbrella. Auntie Roj insisted on walking us all the way back to give us shelter. So nice.

We changed into pjs and then realized our toilet was leaking from the tank. We tried to call Aniish from the phone in the courtyard but the phone didn’t work (of course) because we have no electricity! Then we found a solar powered phone but the recorded operator on the phone was speaking Hindi (of course) which made us laugh.

So we put more clothes on to go back out, and when we picked up our umbrellas a lizard and a giant cockroach scrambled out and scurried up the wall and onto the ceiling. Disgusting! But what to do?

Now we have rain, no electricity, no phone, broken plumbing, a lizard AND a cockroach!

My journal continues with the rest of the evening including enlisting the plumbing helper to chase the bugs away for us. We also received the assurance of a new room starting tomorrow night.

After these escapades, as we lay in our respective small beds with flashlights, we started laughing and giggling uncontrollably and talking about the crazy silly unbelievable things that have happened so far on this trip. We decided to make a list. It was all funny enough to pass the time in the dark. Oh my, just what do we have in store here?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Arriving at Shanti Bhavan

On Friday, we left Delhi on a comfortable 2.5 hr flight to Bangalore where we were met by a driver holding a sign saying "Nancy and Kathy Shanti Bhavan." That really thrilled us, I think because we've been talking about and preparing for and planning for and learning about this school for over six months. And here we are at last.

Or I should say ALMOST there!

We climbed into the jeep and took the ride of our lives for two hours through the countryside, dodging other cars and trucks and motorcycles and busses, passing on the right or the left, honking, hitting potholes, bumping up and down, listening to Indian music on the radio. We looked for seat belts to no avail and a few times we bowed to each other with hands in a prayer position. Mostly we giggled, held on, gasped at the closer calls, and marveled at what we were seeing when we dared to open our eyes. We both decided that we would never again complain about any traffic and safety laws in the US.

We sped past fields of red dirt, fields full of marigolds (or a similar orange flower) and roses and some type of beans (sure looked like soybeans), a gigantic statue of Hunaman the monkey god, villages with tiny colorful stucco homes with cows grazing outside, herds of sheep, a roadstand with about a dozen men selling vegetables, round straw mats drying on racks in the sun, beautiful large-trunked trees (need to look all of these up - perhaps baobab?),women walking along the red dirt roads in colorful sarees, men in kurtas, busses and motorcycles decorated with floral garlands. We were on a somewhat paved road for awhile and then crossed over 11 or 12 lanes of a major highway onto a dirt road that turned into a semi-paved road with gigantic potholes.

We eagerly anticipated arriving at Shanti Bhavan long before we actually pulled through the gates. We kept saying to each other, "Oh, I bet its right around this bend." Coming through those gates and seeing this place that we'd heard so much about was really a moving moment and I actually had tears in my eyes. We were greeted by Aniish and he drove us to the building where our room is.

So now that we ARE truly here I wonder about the reality of what's in store . . .

[Photos later - it's probably obvious why I wasn't snapping from the car! Ha!]

Friday, July 1, 2011

Delhi


Such interesting and varied experiences during our days in New Delhi, the capital of India. Our guide Raj & our driver Sunil patiently collected us from our hotel, found ATMs so we could access rupees, offered much needed advice about meals, advised us on places to shop, waited while we shopped, helped us understand cultures and customs, transported us from New Delhi to Old Delhi and places in between, and expertly explained the history and significance of each sight. Each facet of this experience contains stories of it's own - like how we had to stop at 4 or 5 ATMs to find one that would give us money and even then would only allow 10,000 rupees which sounds enormous but in reality is about $225 - not enough for the tour, the hotel, the tips all of which we had to pay for in cash!

We visited the Lotus Temple, a Ba'hai temple, one of 7 in the world, one on each continent, one in Wilmette, IL. The temple represents a lotus blossom, a flower sacred in 9 Indian faiths. The flower has 27 petals - everything is in multiples of 9. We bypassed a long hot line because of Raj's connections, removed our shoes, visited the library and then the temple sanctuary where we spent some time in quiet mediation. Outside again, our bare feet walked on stone walks very hot in the early morning sun, back to parking lot where Sunil was patiently waiting.

We drove past the immense Red Fort, built by the same Shah Jihan who built the fort in Agra that we saw yesterday and to the Delhi Haat, a market for shopping for authentic Indian wares. We went to a clothier where we looked at punjabis (2-piece), kurtis (tunic), & sarees. Kathy and I tried them on and ended up purchasing several with the help of encouragement of the owner and salespeople who also provided a Kingfisher's beer! Here's Kathy enjoying the beer with Raj while I looked at gorgeous silk Kasmiri rugs.

Next stop Gandhi Museum where we viewed artifacts of Bapu's life - spinning wheels, homespun clothing, items of bedding, walking stick, spectacles, photographs, newspaper clippings, a little model of the three monkeys (speak, see, hear no evil) given to him by a friend from China that he carried and referred to as his "gurus." We also saw several photos of the Birla House (that we walked through on Tuesday) where Gandhiji was assassinated on 1-20-1948 on his way to a prayer meeting. "He was right. He knew he was right. We all knew he was right." - Pearl S. Buck

Drove into busy Old Delhi to visit Jama Masjid a red sandstone mosque from the Moghul era where we were required to leave our cameras behind, take off our shoes, and cover from head to toe in a robe.

Nearby was the famous ancient market place Chandni Chowk. The streets were busy, congested, full rickshaws, motorcycles, people walking, shops selling embroidery thread and beads, perfumes, food. It was crazy, smelly, hot as we made our way through being careful to keep Raj in our sight. He took us to Haldriam's where we (safely) enjoyed samosas (stuffed with beans & potatoes), pakodas (paneer clotted cream), and gulab jamin (sweet & yummy).


After checking into our new hotel we ventured out into the Delhi streets on our own without Raj for the first time. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant (!), ate dinner, got a little lost on the way back and had to ask a Delhi policeman, found our hotel at last. Another adventurous day in India!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Incredible !ndia

Yay! Wi-fi finally! That has been a bit of a challenge since we got into Delhi Tuesday afternoon but let me just say that India is incredible!

Taj Mahal in Agra yesterday was unbelievably gorgeous! Maybe what's unbelievable is that we're really here! I still think our pictures look like someone's photo-shopped them! Ha!


Delhi today was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Busy. Noisy. Exotic. People in garb representing a multitude of beliefs. Oh and did I mention hot? And wet? Our guide told us the weather had just broken so we were lucky. The rain showers helped cool us down, so yes that means we've pretty much been in wet clothes all day!

Here are a few more images of Delhi and Agra, yet I can't begin to capture the vibrancy of this country.





We've been busy every minute and are excited to get to go to Shanti Bhavan tomorrow. I bought my kurta and punjabi today And Kathy bought a beautiful saree so we're all set!