Vanakkam!

So, if you are reading this you undoubtedly fall into one of two categories:

1. You have absolutely NOTHING else to do, or
2. You are my mother.

Either way, thanks for reading. I have been wanting to get started on a blog for the past few days or so, but every time I sit down to write an entry I have no idea where to start. Although it’s only been two weeks since I left Canada, it seems that so much has happened. In order to get caught up to speed I’m simply going to write down in bullet form any thoughts or observations I’ve made about India thus far:

-A family of five can easily fit on a scooter.

-Rickshaws are both terrifying and amazingly fun at the same time.

-It is freaking hot here! Generally somewhere between 35-38 degrees during the day and it “cools down” to about 30 at night. Eeek!

-The poverty here is truly overwhelming. The amount of things that we take for granted in North America are almost infinite.

-Doing laundry by hand sucks!

-The kids at the Nobel school (where I am volunteering) are insanely stoked to have us (Dani and I) there. I literally walk down the halls hi-fiving people, shaking hands, waving and talking to a mob of students.

-The thunderstorms here are amazing! The lighting just lights up the sky and they go on for about 30 minutes every night before it inevitably pours rain and we have a power outage for an hour or so.

-Men and women can't interact with each other once they are over the age of 13 or so, unless you are related or married. Dani and I always get asked if we are bother and sister or if we are married whenever se sit together on the bus.

-When we asked where to throw away our garbage, we were told to “walk to the end of the road and throw it as far as you can”.

-The bureaucracy that goes on here for the most minute tasks is unbelievable. Nothing gets done on time and you have to jump through hoops in order to get there.

-Indians are the most hospitable people you will ever meet.

So now that we are somewhat up to speed, I thought I’d share my day with you. Yesterday, Dani and I got together with about 10 kids between the ages of 7 and 8 and learned how to play cricket. I am still not 100% sure how to play but it is a ton of fun and the kids had a blast too. We played some badminton after that and then had to leave early because Jeha, our neighbour, invited us to her college reunion. Jeha (random attempt at spelling her name) is definitely one of the most amazing women I have met. She has a son, Vishvan, who we’ve gotten pretty close to as well. Jeha has insisted on showing us around town and really goes out of her way to invite us to different functions or get togethers. So, after a quick shower, we hopped on a bus and headed to her college.

We arrived a little late and therefore the reunion had already begun. We found out later that this was more than just a reunion, it was a way for all the Seniors (alumni) to give advice and words of encouragement to the Juniors (current students). The four of us walked into the auditorium to find seats near the back and listen to some of the speakers. The moment we entered the room, the entire auditorium basically fell silent, even the speaker stopped his speech. EVERYBODY was staring at us and murmuring and whispering ensued. A member of the faculty immediately rushed towards us and escorted us to the front row of the auditorium, kicking out people in the front row so we could sit there! The speaker continued on his speech and the entire room was buzzing, we could literally feel everyone’s eyes on us. After the speech was over there was some polite clapping and then another member of the faculty went on stage and grabbed the microphone. He went on to say how excited everybody was that we were there as their special guests of honour and insisted that I go on stage to introduce myself and pass on  some words of wisdom to everyone that was there. This is probably the point where I should be telling you that half of the people there had a PhD of some sort and the other half was on their way to majoring in Physics. I was forced on stage where I introduced myself and then basically blacked out for the rest of my speech. It was insanely embarrassing and awkward but I got some sort of applause at the end. Dani went up next and did the same deal. It’s worth mentioning that she got an additional round of cheering midway through her speech, so I’m pretty jealous about that. 

After that we sat there and laughed off our embarrassment for the next 20 minutes of so as we heard everyone else speak. We were trying to leave after that but they kept on insisting that we have lunch with them, there was no other choice but to surrender and stick around for another couple hours. The head of the Physics department took me on a private tour of the campus and then we had lunch. It was a pretty weird and surreal experience to say the least.

Dani and I are going to plan a big Halloween party for the kids on the block here since they don’t even know what Halloween is, and that’s just plain unacceptable! I have played cricket about 3-4 times over the last day and a half and am really enjoying it! The kids have basically adopted me and are showing me around town. I have a badminton match scheduled to start in a half an hour so I better get a move on!

Noah

                            
                                                                       My new crew!

                                                                                                      Vishvan.