Jaipur
Jodhpur
Camel Safari
March 19, 2010
On my to-do-list it says "blog" and you know how I'm always faithful to my to-do-list so that's why I'll tell you something about my project and all
Time flies... this is my last day in Delhi. A couple of weeks ago, all I wanted was to get out of here as soon as possible. Now I realize I'll miss the comfort of having a place to stay, the fun of having fixed friends and the convenience of knowing your way around. I'm about to hit the road.
The last two weeks have been quite interesting and fun. As I told you in my previous post, the purpose was to inform school children and college students about HIV/AIDS. To this end, we would first "work" in an NGO in that field for two weeks, meaning we would mainly observe and acquire knowledge in this way, and occasionally help out if possible. I'm not a very big fan of the concept - I hoped to find a project where I would actually DO something - but that's the best I could find. And it turned out to be quite interesting. The NGO, Sahara House, started off as a care center for drug addicts. Through the years, they realized that a lot of drug users got infected with HIV, because of shared needles. Today, Sahara House has various projects throughout Delhi as well as in other cities in India. The interesting thing is that 90% of the employees are former drug addicts and/or seropositive. We visited three projects, each for a period of three days.
The first three days we went to a place called "Michael's Care Home", which shelters people with AIDS, and helps them to deal with the hospitals (apparently, a lot of doctors are still very reluctant to treat AIDS patients). The doctor at Michael's Care Home taught us a lot about HIV and AIDS, which was quite interesting. We interacted with patients (they call them "clients", for some reason I couldn't really find out); some their life stories are still resonating in my head.
The hardest part was the second project. Sahara has an outreach program in a slum area with a lot of injecting drug users (IDU). They talk to these people and get them into detox and rehab if they are ready for it. Otherwise, they provide clean needles and syringes, or oral substitutes for the drugs, to at least prevent HIV from spreading (this is called harm reduction). The HIV incidence in those areas is estimated at about 10 to 20% (government and independent numbers tend to differ). What you see there is close to what hell must look like. People literally live in garbage, with nothing on their minds but drugs. You can see them injecting their stuff, in the strangest parts of their body because they have no proper veins left. I've shaken hands with dozens of them, some of them told me their stories. I've talked to people I would normally run away from. We were escorted by one of the outreach workers, and it was impressive to see how everyone there knows him and respects him - they even call him "boss". It made me realize they are lucky that some people do not run away from them. Despite the thick mental shield you inevitably develop when seeing such misery, three days of confrontation with this godforsaken place really get to you. The hardest for me was the absurd contrast between being in the slums during daytime and being with AIESEC people at night. I tried it, because life goes on and all that, but it's quite impossible to have a good time in some fancy club when you saw people living like animals just a couple of hours before. I never saw so clearly how deeply cynical this world is.
After seeing all that misery, the third project felt like paradise. The Women and Children's Home provides shelter (as well as detox and rehab) for women with drug problems and/or HIV, as well as a crèche for their kids. We interacted with the women and I must say we really had a lot of fun. Of course, there again, most of them could have written a book about life stories. That is, if they would have been able to write. Several women there are completely illiterate. I never realized that illiteracy sometimes means that they aren't even capable of drawing. We tried to play some kind of pictionary, and for some of them drawing a spider or a mouse was an impossible task. This made me realize I spent 20 years of my life, almost full time, educating myself. We have so much knowledge, and we really take it for granted. All we do is looking up to people who know even more, to the point that we think our knowledge is only basic. But when I interact with these people I realize that I have everything, and they have nothing. I travel around the world, while they barely understand the concept of a map or a globe. Education, education, education. Everyone says it, but I never fully understood it until now. Education is the only way of getting chances in this cruel world. Most of these women are strong and beautiful and, in their way, intelligent, but without education, they are helpless.
Yesterday we gave our first and last presentation about HIV/AIDS in a school. Quite frankly, I couldn't help but feel like we were at least partially used as a promotional tool for AIESEC. Our audience consisted of 12th graders, meaning they will go to college next year, a good moment to join AIESEC. Anyway, they at least acted as if they were interested in what we had to say about HIV/AIDS, so it wasn't that bad. That presentation was the only useful thing we did in this whole project, though, so it goes without saying that I'm not really satisfied. It really felt like some perverted kind of tourism sometimes, seeing AIDS patients and drug addicts to later brag about it in your blog. The only way I can reconcile with it is if it actually makes me do something about it. I'm sure some of us (most of us?) will go back to their countries, show the pictures of slums and drug addicts to their friends, and then go on with their little luxury lives. I understand it, and I can't even guarantee I won't do the same, but I find it, once again, cynical.
In the weekends, we went traveling in Rajasthan. I will keep it short because it's probably boring. Some crazy/funny things did happen, but I hope to talk about it some other time. Two weeks ago we went to Jaipur, the Pink City. A chaotic and noisy city, but it felt like a small village compared to Delhi. Nice forts in the rocky Rajasthani hills, splendid views, great tourism. Last weekend we went to Jodhpur and to Jaisalmer, where we did a camel safari. Jodhpur is the Blue City, so same story as Jaipur but different. Jaisalmer, the Golden City, is located in the Thar desert and is the proud owner of a beautiful fort made out of sandstone. I think it used to be a magnificent city, but it is completely spoilt by tourism. We went on a "non-touristic camel safari" (like all tourists do) and spent a night in the desert. We slept under the stars, saw sunrise and sunset, beautiful experience.
So, as this whole crazy continent is heating up like a furnace, I have the brilliant plan of heading south, where it's the hottest. I have the opportunity of working in a HIV/AIDS project for an NGO in Cuddalore, in the state of Tamil Nadu, on the southeast coast of India. I'm planning to head southeast slowly, doing some tourism along the way, to arrive in Cuddalore in about a month. How long my project will last is not clear yet, I guess it will depend on how well it goes. Tomorrow I'm going to Agra (there's supposed to be a nice building called the Taj something) with some people I met here, and then I will head east. I should be in Kolkata by the end of next week. I'll try my best to keep you updated.
I'll try to upload some pictures, if my connection is not too slow.
March 4, 2010
Delhi and a nice weekend in the north
Dear friends,
I've been meaning to write for more than a week now, so there's a lot to tell. I was in the process of writing a long text about Delhi, but I'll shorten it a bit to talk more about last weekend, which was truly wonderful.
But first, Delhi. Once I got over the excitement of the first days, small irritations slowly started to attack my nerves. All this talk of "culture shocks" usually makes me laugh, but after barely one week, I couldn't deny it anymore. I was nervous, mean against everyone who spoke to me on the street, weary. In Delhi, everything is complicated and chaotic. Going anywhere requires bargaining and traffic jams; buying anything requires more bargaining; to get a sim card or a train ticket (in some cases), you have to fill out forms and hand in a copy of your passport. As a result, you need one week to do what you would normally do in one day. I have been in Delhi for 3 weeks and apart from visiting and going to parties I haven't really done anything (except learning some Hindi; I'm learning how to read, it's fun! I feel like a child who wants to read everything there is to read). It's really hard to let go of that idea of wanting to do this-and-this-and-that in one day; I thought I was a pretty easy-going guy (or at least capable of being one), but in Delhi I feel really uptight. Apart from these small frustrations, living in Delhi is like living in a permanent mess. The air is bad, the streets are dirty, there's dogs, cows, goats and other animals runnnig around (though less than in the rest of India, I think), and the sound of horns doesn't leave you for one second. Even at home, it's hard to relax. The first two weeks, I lived with Indian guys (apart from two other trainees). A couple of them became really good friends, especially Arnav, who invited us to his home last weekend. The most difficult part of this friendship is that we seem to have totally different ideas of privacy and personal space. In India (or at least here in Delhi), your room is public property. Anyone can come in any time without knocking, which they very often do. This sounds fun, and actually it is (except when it's the supervisor, the cleaning lady or the plumber), but I seem to have the need to be alone every once in a while, and quitely read a book or play the guitar (I bought a baby guitar) without anyone just sitting there and watching me. What's more, they do not make any effort not to make noise when someone is sleeping. Three men shouting in Hindi in your bedroom because they have to fix something is not the best way to wake up. All of this made that after one week, without really having done anything, I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. To make things worse, last tuesday we got robbed. Someone came into our appartement (even though some people were home) and took my iPod, my camera, and my Japanese friend's laptop and mobile phone. That was definitely the worst day since I got here, and since then everything got better. But before I get to the positive part, just one last thing. We had a lot of trouble with the housing here. As I told you, I previously lived with Indians. Previously, because they got kicked out. AIESEC Delhi pays a company to arrange for accomodation for the many interns that come to Delhi. What this company did is buy a students house (called a PG or Paying Guesthouse here, actually both students and young working people lived there) and kick the Indians out. The Indian guys with whom I was living all had to leave last weekend. They did get warned a month beforehand, but I find it really hard to accept the idea of Indian students having to leave their home to make room for some foreign trainees. What's more, we really enjoyed their company, so it's sad they had to leave. By the way, people from AIESEC DU (Delhi University) tried to censor me. In my previous post I talked about people having to wait for their internship, and someone from AIESEC apparently read it. They called me and asked me to remove the name of their organisation from my blog, which of course I refused. I have waited for three weeks to start my project (I started yesterday), which will only last for two weeks. In my case it's fine, since I was going to come to India anyway. But other people came all the way to Delhi for 6 weeks just to do a project for only 2 weeks. People need to know that going on an internship with AIESEC India might not be the best idea. To console my would-be censors (hi Sameer and Megha) I should add that some people have really good internships with a lot of responsibility.
Okay, enough negative stuff. Things are quite nice right now. My internship started, so I'm finally doing something (even though it's mainly observation; I'll talk about the project in a later post). And most of all, I had a great weekend. Our friend Arnav invited us (a Russian guy and girl, a Japanese guy, a German girl, a Dutch girl, and me) to his house in the north (in a small town called Roorkee) for the weekend. A long weekend, since monday was Holi, India's biggest festival, which celebrates the end of winter. It was great to get out of the chaos, the noise and the pollution of Delhi. Arnav's house is nice and big, with a rooftop terrace, where we spent much time looking at the full moon. His parents treated us as kings, cooked delicious food, and trying to help out only resulted in a gentle slap on the cheek. We all felt like we were really breathing for the first time in two weeks, so the mood was great. On saturday we went to Mussoorie, the "Queen of the Hills". This town is situated on a ridge at 2 km altitude, offering a great view on the plains below. It was a misty day, but when we went to the north side, far far away, barely visible, we saw them: the white peaks of the Himalaya Range! It made me euphoric, the idea of being on that ridge, with on one side this massive subcontinent I'm about to explore, going south and south and south, and on the other side a glimpse of these mythical, magical Himalayas, where I hope to go at the end of my journey, to rest from all I will have seen and smelled and tasted. On Sunday we went to Rishikesh and Haridwar, two famous pilgrimage centers on the banks of the sacred Ganga. Rishikesh (also famous because the Beatles resided in an ashram there) is very beautiful, but quite touristic. There's a lot of fun things to do, like white water rafting, but unfortunately we didn't get the time. Our stay in Haridwar was short, but interesting. We bathed our feet in the holy Ganga, and I had a truly spiritual moment (yes, me!), bathing in the fast running water of the broad and mythical river by full moon. Monday was Holi, probably the best day of the year to be in India. On Holi, people throw water and colored powder, on anyone and everyone (yes, there are a lot of ecological question marks, but I won't go into that now). We were on Arnav's rooftop, splashing and painting eachother (including Arnav's parents), and throwing buckets of water and waterballoons to people on the street. There was sun, there were colors, everyone was wet and happy, it was a great ending of a beautiful weekend.
It was hard to return to smelly, noisy old (New) Delhi after such a nice weekend, but in the end I was kind of glad to be back. At least I have something to do now, so it's not that bad. The weather is gradually getting hotter and hotter, so I try to enjoy it while it's still bareable. I'll try to write about my internship one of these days. I didn't buy a camera yet, and I'm hesitating to do so. I fell more free without a camera, but on the other hand it would be nice to have something to share with you. Next weekend we're going to Jaipur, the Pink City, which should be a lot of fun. As always, news from your side is more than welcome!
I've been meaning to write for more than a week now, so there's a lot to tell. I was in the process of writing a long text about Delhi, but I'll shorten it a bit to talk more about last weekend, which was truly wonderful.
But first, Delhi. Once I got over the excitement of the first days, small irritations slowly started to attack my nerves. All this talk of "culture shocks" usually makes me laugh, but after barely one week, I couldn't deny it anymore. I was nervous, mean against everyone who spoke to me on the street, weary. In Delhi, everything is complicated and chaotic. Going anywhere requires bargaining and traffic jams; buying anything requires more bargaining; to get a sim card or a train ticket (in some cases), you have to fill out forms and hand in a copy of your passport. As a result, you need one week to do what you would normally do in one day. I have been in Delhi for 3 weeks and apart from visiting and going to parties I haven't really done anything (except learning some Hindi; I'm learning how to read, it's fun! I feel like a child who wants to read everything there is to read). It's really hard to let go of that idea of wanting to do this-and-this-and-that in one day; I thought I was a pretty easy-going guy (or at least capable of being one), but in Delhi I feel really uptight. Apart from these small frustrations, living in Delhi is like living in a permanent mess. The air is bad, the streets are dirty, there's dogs, cows, goats and other animals runnnig around (though less than in the rest of India, I think), and the sound of horns doesn't leave you for one second. Even at home, it's hard to relax. The first two weeks, I lived with Indian guys (apart from two other trainees). A couple of them became really good friends, especially Arnav, who invited us to his home last weekend. The most difficult part of this friendship is that we seem to have totally different ideas of privacy and personal space. In India (or at least here in Delhi), your room is public property. Anyone can come in any time without knocking, which they very often do. This sounds fun, and actually it is (except when it's the supervisor, the cleaning lady or the plumber), but I seem to have the need to be alone every once in a while, and quitely read a book or play the guitar (I bought a baby guitar) without anyone just sitting there and watching me. What's more, they do not make any effort not to make noise when someone is sleeping. Three men shouting in Hindi in your bedroom because they have to fix something is not the best way to wake up. All of this made that after one week, without really having done anything, I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. To make things worse, last tuesday we got robbed. Someone came into our appartement (even though some people were home) and took my iPod, my camera, and my Japanese friend's laptop and mobile phone. That was definitely the worst day since I got here, and since then everything got better. But before I get to the positive part, just one last thing. We had a lot of trouble with the housing here. As I told you, I previously lived with Indians. Previously, because they got kicked out. AIESEC Delhi pays a company to arrange for accomodation for the many interns that come to Delhi. What this company did is buy a students house (called a PG or Paying Guesthouse here, actually both students and young working people lived there) and kick the Indians out. The Indian guys with whom I was living all had to leave last weekend. They did get warned a month beforehand, but I find it really hard to accept the idea of Indian students having to leave their home to make room for some foreign trainees. What's more, we really enjoyed their company, so it's sad they had to leave. By the way, people from AIESEC DU (Delhi University) tried to censor me. In my previous post I talked about people having to wait for their internship, and someone from AIESEC apparently read it. They called me and asked me to remove the name of their organisation from my blog, which of course I refused. I have waited for three weeks to start my project (I started yesterday), which will only last for two weeks. In my case it's fine, since I was going to come to India anyway. But other people came all the way to Delhi for 6 weeks just to do a project for only 2 weeks. People need to know that going on an internship with AIESEC India might not be the best idea. To console my would-be censors (hi Sameer and Megha) I should add that some people have really good internships with a lot of responsibility.
Okay, enough negative stuff. Things are quite nice right now. My internship started, so I'm finally doing something (even though it's mainly observation; I'll talk about the project in a later post). And most of all, I had a great weekend. Our friend Arnav invited us (a Russian guy and girl, a Japanese guy, a German girl, a Dutch girl, and me) to his house in the north (in a small town called Roorkee) for the weekend. A long weekend, since monday was Holi, India's biggest festival, which celebrates the end of winter. It was great to get out of the chaos, the noise and the pollution of Delhi. Arnav's house is nice and big, with a rooftop terrace, where we spent much time looking at the full moon. His parents treated us as kings, cooked delicious food, and trying to help out only resulted in a gentle slap on the cheek. We all felt like we were really breathing for the first time in two weeks, so the mood was great. On saturday we went to Mussoorie, the "Queen of the Hills". This town is situated on a ridge at 2 km altitude, offering a great view on the plains below. It was a misty day, but when we went to the north side, far far away, barely visible, we saw them: the white peaks of the Himalaya Range! It made me euphoric, the idea of being on that ridge, with on one side this massive subcontinent I'm about to explore, going south and south and south, and on the other side a glimpse of these mythical, magical Himalayas, where I hope to go at the end of my journey, to rest from all I will have seen and smelled and tasted. On Sunday we went to Rishikesh and Haridwar, two famous pilgrimage centers on the banks of the sacred Ganga. Rishikesh (also famous because the Beatles resided in an ashram there) is very beautiful, but quite touristic. There's a lot of fun things to do, like white water rafting, but unfortunately we didn't get the time. Our stay in Haridwar was short, but interesting. We bathed our feet in the holy Ganga, and I had a truly spiritual moment (yes, me!), bathing in the fast running water of the broad and mythical river by full moon. Monday was Holi, probably the best day of the year to be in India. On Holi, people throw water and colored powder, on anyone and everyone (yes, there are a lot of ecological question marks, but I won't go into that now). We were on Arnav's rooftop, splashing and painting eachother (including Arnav's parents), and throwing buckets of water and waterballoons to people on the street. There was sun, there were colors, everyone was wet and happy, it was a great ending of a beautiful weekend.
It was hard to return to smelly, noisy old (New) Delhi after such a nice weekend, but in the end I was kind of glad to be back. At least I have something to do now, so it's not that bad. The weather is gradually getting hotter and hotter, so I try to enjoy it while it's still bareable. I'll try to write about my internship one of these days. I didn't buy a camera yet, and I'm hesitating to do so. I fell more free without a camera, but on the other hand it would be nice to have something to share with you. Next weekend we're going to Jaipur, the Pink City, which should be a lot of fun. As always, news from your side is more than welcome!
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