INDIA! Part 1

India, India, India. Where to begin?

I've always been on the fence about traveling to India. Sometimes, the idea of it is exciting in the opportunity to see the Taj, the Goan beaches, the amazing food and the completely different culture.  Other times it has scared me; the poverty, petty theft, dirt, stink, and high likelihood of stomach flu.

After Egypt in 2010, I decided it would be a while before I traveled to the third world again.  But 3 years on, I'm here, 350km south west of Delhi in the city of Juipur, India.  I was able to get 5 weeks off work and I figured that if I didn't come now, I may never.  

I decided to do something a little different for this trip.  Rather than just do a tour, I signed up for a voluntourism program. It's a mix of volunteering during the week and traveling on the weekends.  Yet to be determined whether that was a good idea or a huge mistake.  

I flew into Delhi where a driver from the volunteer program was to pick me up from the airport.  I found out extremely quickly that here in India "15 minutes" can literally mean anything from 2 minutes to 2 hours.  After "15 minutes" (when he finally decided to show up) it was a fairly painful 5 hour driver to Jaipur where the volunteer program is.  Without getting into too many details, the drive consisted of 2 vehicle changes, a "15 minute" wait in a small windowless  room with two 150kg men at an "English school", excessive speeding, a very near run in with a cow, and a standoff at a toll booth. So a few touch and go moments, but I suppose that a trip to the 3rd world would not be complete without a whiteknuckler from the airport.

The volunteer house where I'm staying is quite nice.  It's in a nice area of Jaipur (based on the surrounding houses) and the neighborhood seems fairly quiet (for India).  The house itself has dorm style accommodation ,  4 beds per room, and sleeps about 28.  Dinner is provided, which so far has been really delicious.  The other volunteers (there are 17 of us at the moment) are all really nice and friendly. A few oddballs, but for the most part good. The company runs a bunch of different programs, so some are on the same tour as me and others are here more long term.   So overall it seems good so far. 

There are a few minor issues though - the main being that the house is true vegetarian. Not really a problem for me, except for that apparently that means no booze (!!!!). Thankfully, when I'm traveling on the weekends that's not the case, and I suppose it good for me to not drink during the week. Maybe I'll loose some weight.  The other minor problem (which pales  in comparison to the above) is that the showers have no hot water until November (I guess it's still summer right now). Not ideal, but it will only be for the first 2 weeks and it's so bloody humid here anyway that I would probably only have a luke warm shower even if I could.

In terms of the volunteer work itself, I had the option between teaching or working with orphans. I decided to do the orphan work because it sounded more fun.  In the teaching, you have to prepare lessons and mark quizzes. In the orphan work, you just need to turn up and play with them for a few hours.  Easy right? 

After the first proper day of work, I will be the first to admit that it's a lot tougher than I thought.....Firstly, there are like 30 young kids.... and just 4 of us.  Secondly, they are cooped up all day in the orphanage and don't have much interaction with the outside world, so they are just desperate for attention. Thirdly, it's India.....living conditions are not good.  For example, I'm pretty sure that a "potty trained" child here is one who squats against the wall to take a shit, instead of just shitting himself standing up. Thankfully, there are government workers at the orphanage as well who deal with all that crap (ha ha ha) and our job is mostly just entertaining them for 3 hours.  

We start the day by helping to bathe and dress them in the morning, which is pretty funny.  None of them want to wear pants.  I must have put one kids pants on 5 times yesterday morning.  After that, it's play time.  One of the girls in my volunteer group has done this program before, so she brought toys with her - big Legos, dolls, etc. which was really nice.  The government doesn't provide toys and the organization I work for has limited funds for extras like that.  So we did Legos which a few of the kids really liked. 

I'm not sure how I'm going to find the next 3 weeks.  I'm not exactly the best with children, nor do I have much patience......  But I did want to do something different this trip and challenge myself. I also think the work is quite important.   These kids have just had the shittest life.  Believe it or not, there is a box outside the orphanage where people can abandon their children.  Additionally, of the 30 children, 5 are physically and mentally disabled.  One in particular (who must be 3 or 4) was a recent arrival after having been left in the box.  I suppose his parents were too poor to deal with a mentally challenged child.  He is sooooo skinny - apparently has started putting on weight now which is good.   Pretty sad stuff. Anyway, I'm sure I will have some interesting and/or funny stories to share as time goes on.

Other than the work, we have a fair bit of free time (which is nice).  On monday I went to Hawa Mahal, or "palace of the breeze".  It was gorgeous, and well worth the $1 admission fee I paid.   Yesterday a group of us went to Jaigarh Fort, which is an old fort which overlooked the city. It was built in the 1700 to protect a palace complex down below it. There were pretty spectacular views, so that was the best part.  On the way back we stopped at Jal Mahal which is a palace built in the middle of a lake.  We just looked at the palace - I don't think you can actually go out to it, but it was really pretty to see. The rickshaw ride was over an hour each way and was absolute chaos - I loved it.

The roads here are pretty horrendous.  The worst ive ever seen for sure. The rickshaw rides are like a crappy carnival ride; bouncing all over the place until you think you might throw up.  The "highways" we're also terrible, which is especially appalling given that they are all toll roads.  Even my driver was complaining - "I pay toll, but they don't fix road." On the drive from Delhi to Jaipur we probably passed through 6 toll booths; saw thousands of potholes but not a single bit of roadwork.

Overall, India is pretty much as expected so far; dirty, chaotic, cheap, and interesting.  This morning, the "view" from my window was a cow standing amongst a giant pile of garbage.  Yesterday, I saw a family of 4 on a motorcycle (plus groceries). And on Monday, my red hair and I were a proper tourist attraction for Indian tourists at Hawa Mahal.  Yesterday, we hired a rickshaw for 4 hours for $12 (between 5 people) and in 3 days, I have spent $30. 

Most people in the volunteer house seem pretty keen on dressing "Indian". You know what I mean - loose fitting, baggy, brightly coloured, block print clothing. Not my style.  Ive had to buy a few traditional shirts for the work at the orphanage, but Im not caving on the MC hammer pants. Let's see how long I can hold out.  

Since we can't drink at the house, we had to find other ways to keep busy at night.  Last night, one of the girls and I made up a trivia/jeopardy game. 25 questions in 5 categories.  Everyone played (in 3 teams) and it was really fun evening. Plus, I got to live out my childhood fantasy of being a gameshow host (I used to play Wheel of Fortune when I was a kid - I was pat sajak and my parents and stuffed animals were the contestants.  That's not a lie). 

I then explained the rules of cricket to everyone, since no one (even the other Aussies) had no idea how it works.  I called it "cricket by a Canadian," and was necessary because we are planning on going to the cricket this afternoon.  Today is a holiday (I have no idea which one - there seems to be one every other day), so we are all off work.  In a strange coincidence, the Australian cricket team is here in India playing 5 one day tests.  They are playing India here in Jaipur today - so I'm going to go see the Australian cricket in India (hopefully)!

Thats all for now. Off to do some shopping!

Siobhan x