Week 4 in Makaibari was action packed and the art competition at the weekend was fantastic. There were about 20 kids in total, each of them turned up squealing with excitement, except for brother cousin Sonu who is just far too cool for school. There were 2 categories - 'life in makaibari' for the younger kids and 'global warming' for the older kids. My favourite piece of art work was one of the drawings for the global warming category where a 10 year old boy had sketched a beautiful picture of a globe, coloured it in perfectly and then covered two thirds of it with a large black circle and written a caption next to it "the hole we are making because of global warming" How it made me laugh (in a corner, privately on my own.. of course!) I know, I am totally inappropriate. Speaking of inappropriate, I was repromanded that week by one of the ladies who owns a local hut/shop because I went to Kurseong on the back of Nayan's motorbike wearing a skirt (it was ankle length!) and I didnt ride side saddle! Apparently it was very inappropriate! I don't think I'd have coped with side saddle though - we were tearing it round hair pin bends up into the mountains and I didn't have a helmet - you'd have to be crazy to want to do that side saddle!
On Tuesday night, I woke up at 3am to 2 tall men holding huge flame torches outside my bedroom window and chantin in deep spooky voices! I was absolutely petrified! They dissapeared after about 10 minutes and in the morning I asked Pema and Bharati about it who explained that they are holy men who come and sing at weird hours of the night then re-appear mid morning the following day and they take any food or money offered by the homes that they sang at as symbols of any evil spirits or bad health within those homes! very odd. So basically, carol singers with a bit of a more fancy explanation that come at ridiculous hours of the night to petrify unsuspecting victims such as myself!
I practised my indian headwobble on a daily basis while I was in Makaibari but I still cant get the hang of wobbling my head without moving my shoulders an inch! The headwobble is legendry and can mean anything from "yes, please my friend go ahead" to "no chance in hell, bugger off" you generally have to look hard at the expression in the eyes to decipher which end of the spectrum it may be. Turns out it was even more of a phenomenom in the rest of India.
A few days before I was due to leave Makaibari it transpired that there was due to be a Gorkhaland protest and nobody would be allowed to pass from the foothills down to the plains (where I needed to go to get my flight to Delhi!) Gorkhaland is the name given to the area around Darjeeling and the Duars in north West Bengal and they have long sought to be their own state, seperate from Bengal.
Luckily Nayan is some sort of Wizard and has a few inside contacts so off we went on the motorbike to the Gorkhaland President's office in Kurseong. We pulled up outside, me in my inappropriate position. We climbed down flights of stairs into a dingy looking basement where we found 6 men playing draughts who looked like they wanted to blast my brains out and eat them for breakfast. Me - terrified?! Noooo!
Turns out they were awesome dudes, really friendly, really chatty and I departed my toothy grinned mates with my certificate showing permission to pass through the foothills into the plains tucked under my arm.
The recipe competition ended on the Thursday and sadly only 6 people entered, but those who entered, entered several recipes so I had enough to make a book!! Wooohooo! I typed up all the recipes and did a bit of editing such as changing "wasted sauce" to it's intended ingredient - "oyster sauce". The book covers were delivered Thursday night and I was really pleased with them! I spent most of Friday printing, cutting, stapling like crazy and managed to make about 20 recipe books but couldn't get any further. I had wanted to continue on Saturday but due to the strikes, the office was closed so I had no access to a computer and all of the shops and internet cafes in Kurseong were closed too. So... I have left a manual of instructions for the next volunteer who may want to take on the project and Daniel also said he would try and do some work on it too so fingers crossed. I hope the profits made can make some sort of difference to the community.
on Saturday, Angelina, Borun and Sonu were playing cricket with a branch and a rock and giggling their heads off for hours - their laughter is so infectious! I decided to make them a ball out of rags as the rock didnt seem that safe... 3 strikes after I'd made the rag ball, Borun got hit square between the eyes with it- that would have hurt! In the afternoon, Aswini and Bharati decided they wanted to dress me up in a Saree.... it was very funny! I had the make-up, the bling, the works. Then I had to parade around in the front yard while they all had hysterics! I think I was the entertainment that day! later on, I went to Pasang's house for a farewell beer with Daniel and Lucy and when I got back, Aswini invited me into the house to their hymn and prayer session. They were sat in their front room and they were all singing hymns together, their voices were so beautiful and I was quite overcome with emotion that the waterworks were turned on for a few tears! We all sat and prayed in silence for a bit and then Angelina piped up "KHEEEEEER, KHEER, KHEER" (which means rice pudding!) You see, my last meal was to be rice pudding and it was like christmas had come early for Angelina!!!! Also for me, seeing as I had eaten chowmein with lumps of hairy pork fat for breakfast and fish fat (yes FISH fat) curry for lunch. Grim.
My last week at Makaibari was overrun with insects - I'm sure god paying me back for having given up my karma theory and resorting to squashing the bastards with the nearest object I could find. There was everything - moths, beetles, spiders, crickets, cockroaches, stick insects, any type of insect I hate - it was in my room, in my bed, in my shoes, in my space (or in the case of the scorpions.. in my soap dish) and I did not like it, not one little bit.
On Sunday when I left I was given a beautiful bag and a stole from my homestay family as well as a tibetan peace scarf. I was then adorned with about 6 more tibetan peace scarves from various villagers and was waved off like the Queen!
The journey to the airport was hilarious - it was supposed to just be me and Nayan and the driver (as stated on my permit) but we picked up about 6 more people on the way who fancied a ride to Bagdogra and back just for a laugh. Men in the middle of playing cards or doing washing who got yelled at by Nayan out the window and the next minute I knew they were clinging on to the bar on the back of the jeep and climbing in through the back window!
It was nice to be able to see the scenery on the way down to the airport because on teh way up the weather had been so bad, I couldnt see out the window. There were beautifully coloured huts and sheds, goats, monkeys, cows, horses, women carrying anything from water bowls to whole tree trunks on their heads in the midday sun, men riding push bikes with women side saddle on the back wheel cover. There were 3 men on a motorbike, 2 with suitcases balanced on their heads, a man on a moped with a huge ceiling fan over his shoulder, a 'community' paddling pool with about 50 kids in it giggling and squealing with delight, men cycling with about 10 or 15 calor gas bottles on their pushbike trailors, the list goes on....
I said my goobyes to Nayan and his merry men and checked in for my flight to Delhi. The plane went via Guwahati in Assam and the scenery was so green and very beautiful.
I had heard lots of stories about taxi drivers in Delhi trying to take you to hotels or emporiums and I wasn't really fancying a scenic tour of delhi in the dark, I just wanted to get to my hotel so I devised a masterplan of taking a sick bag with me off the plane and a few minutes after getting into a taxi, pretending i felt sick and i needed to get to the hotel fast. Luckily I didnt need to reveal the masterplan, I had a lovely little taxi driver who did his best to take me straight to the hotel... he didnt really know where he was going and we had to keep stopping and asking people for directions but we made it in the end! We pulled into a street which was crammed with homeless people squatting under tarpaulins and rubbish everywhere and i thought "this can't be it"... oh, but it was.... the hotel however was very nice and when I checked in, Aparna the golden triangle tour leader was there and told me i had 10 minutes to get ready because we were all going out for dinner! My roommate was german... typical... and quite miserable, but she was pleasant enough and didnt snore so that was a bonus. The group was a lovely mixture of people - mostly around my age - 12 girls and one boy (lucky David haha) and we all got on really well. Aparna our tour guide was absolutely amazing - so knowledgeable and so caring and told stories about traditions, cultures, architecture etc.. in a way that really made it come alive. Every time we had a long ass bus journey, she took the opportunity to teach us something new. She told us all about the caste system, arranged marriages (and dowrys) and honour killings. I thought it was all a thing of the past but no, it is still very much part of Indian culture it is just in the big cities they are not so strict about it. Aparna taught us about the different Hindu gods - there are three main gods- brahma, vishnu and shiva - creator, operator and destroyer. Ganesha is the primary god. There are 33 million gods and goddesses which represent each living thing. However, parents are the main gods that Indians worship because they are the creators of life. People worship different gods, sometimes they'll worship a god that their family respects and for others it can be a personal preference - for example, young adonis' who pump iron in the gym worship the monkey god who represents strength and power. Aparna worships Durga, the goddess of courage and bravery.
Aparna also taught us about 'HOLY COW!' the reason that all traffic can come to a standstill at any time of day to let a few cows able accross the road.... In India there are four main things you should respect... your mother, the cow, the ganges (ganga ji) and your motherland.
We were also taught that India has 22 official languages originating from sanskrit. Swastika is a sanskrit word - the plus sign symbolises constant progress and the clockwise direction represents time. The rays represent god of energy and ten directions of worship which means that when you pray, benefits should go out in ten directions around you, not inwardly to you. The swastika also denotes 4 castes and 4 holy literatures and 4 essentials - know your duty (and then worship and pray), economy and work, children and family life, salvation and reincarnation. Hindus believe that you reincarnated in order to learn lessons and purify your soul until you reach your most purest carnation when your own soul will be dispersed in to the universal soul.
I loved India, it has such vibrancy and life. The people have such colourful personalities and humours. We went to see a Bollywood movie in Jaipur and it was SO funny, it was like a pantomine - they cheered, they whooped, they clapped and laughed and squealed at almost everything.. they take such joy in life and it is a real inspiration.
The history of India is fascinating, especially in the way in which Aparna told the stories, some of the architecture is breathtaking and I cant even find words to describe the Taj Mahal, it just seems impossible that anyone could build something so beautiful with such care and precision without any help of machinery or modern technology. It is just as stunning close up when you see all the intricate masonry, as it is in all its splendour from a distance. We visited before sunrise which was perfect as there weren't many people around and we watched it change from a grey-white colour to a pink-white colour to bright white. Absolutely amazing, I am SOO glad I went. Everywhere we went on teh golden triangle tour was stunning if I'm honest... I appreciated each place. Jaipur was very colourful and we went to the most hilarious puppet show one night - a man with a whistle and some very random puppets (my favourite being the horse on speed... i just can't even start to explain!)and a man with a bongo drum who announced the different scene numbers each time the puppet changed. There was no story or plot, just lots of random whistle blowing and giggling! The man doing the show then decided he wanted to teach me indian dancing which was also very amusing, I love it that these crazy people always pick on me.. means I get let in to the most colourful lives.
At the Amber Fort in Jaipur, Rachel and I got a bit bored looking at weapons in the museum and decided we would go and have our palms read... I laughed so much I cried.. and almost peed my pants. Rachel's summary was "You'll have a long life, 2 weddings, 1 divorce (really?) 2 children, married by 28, things in life will come easy to you, you will do well in a 'communications career', you are very strong minded and strong willed and stubborn. You like the strong sex, you want more than your husband"! My summary was "You are very emotional, you often feel lonely, you you will be wealthy, you will get married at 31 (HELP), you will have 3 children, you will be very happy once you're married, you are not a cheater and you're not selfish but you're not very clever. Me: "who, me? clever? oh thank you kind mister palm reader" palm reader: No! NOT clever, a bit simple" Me: "Er no, you are mistaken Mr.I have a 1st class degree dont you know haha" He then continued, but its okay you will be rich and happy! You can work in communications, art or CHEMICALS (wtf?!) and you also luuurve the sex, you make husband tired. haha! I'm not sure if tears of laughter was the reaction the palm reader was after but he decided to join in and was giggling and clapping us on the back and then broke into rendition of scissor sisters "cos you're filthy!".... As you can imagine Rachel and I joined the rest of the group with tears streaming down our faces - enough not to notice that we came within 5cm of a dancing cobra being enticed out of a straw basket by a crazy man in a turban with red eyes! India really is like another planet but I did absolutely adore it - the dirt and the smells and the poverty are hard to handle but if you're in the right mindset it is so rewarding too. I will however take this opportunity to comment that THE FOOD IS VILE. absolutely vile. viler than vile. End of.
I spent 8 nights touring the golden triangle with lovely Aparna and our great group of people and on Sunday 23rd I left delhi and headed back to Mumbai. It seemed like a different place - nowhere near as scary and I noticed and appreciated so much more - just shows you really have to have the right attitude to be able to enjoy it. I spent Sunday afternoon confined to the bathroom with a classic Delhi Belhi and on occassion when i was freed from the bathroom, I jumped around my room and giggled with excitement about going home the following day!
The flight from Mumbai to London was great (apart from the food) and I had 3 seats to myself - woopwoop! My bag was 4th round the carousel, I flung it on a trolley and turbo walked through "nothing to declare" with a big grin on my face... Mum spotted me first and ran towards me baywatch styleeeee... I ran with my trolley and she and debs ran under the barrier and gave me the longest 3 way bear hug I've ever had! When we got home Ben was at home which was a lovely suprise! Then I saw Peter and Jordan and GEOOOOORGGGEE! Wow, he is a gorgeous little boy with a full set of teeth and the happiest kid I have ever seen. I am so lucky, I have such a lovely family and some amazing friends and IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME. Now I have clean feet. THE END.
