One night in India

Rocking at a free concert I went for thanks to a couple of new found friends

Dave Sir

My new title ;)
No India is not getting to my head folks, thats just the name the kids over at Narashwadi had knighted me with. Well im finally in Mumbai after my 2 weeks + and this stupid comp...doesnt have a usb port so I cant load up all the pictures i took...ahhh...you just have to love India...well actually many things in India are like that....where the saying "Dont judge a book by its cover" really applies in India...you go to a porch restaurant and you will get an over priced and over spicy food compared to if you go to the basic shop at the end of the road and there you will find a mouth watering dish that just amazes you at quarter the price...hence you just got to love India and dont expect too much.
So anyway back to Narashwadi and Dave Sir
In the last two weeks I've gotten the kids to join me for a morning jog, followed by my lolli bribe and then some moral classes...yup after like God know how many years of that being brainwashed into our systems i thought it would be a good idea to teach the kids some basic morals, I can just see all the mums smiling now ;)
Anyway its coming close to lunch time now and my stomach is grouling, so im off to get some food, will definately try to upload pictures later today.
Till then take care gang.

Some pictures

Flying kites

Rita trying on the hat

Computer class

Watching Harry Potter at night

After a visit to the farm

Playing in the 'wadi' aka under a big tree ;)

Inka making her famous czech pancakes

A cybercafe in the middle of nowhere…..

Yup I truly believe I have lost myself, in a land of a million souls, a million miles from civilization (which I had thought was civilization…) Over here everyone knows your name and a simple smile is as genuine as the warm morning greetings by birds chipping away at my bedroom window.
This is day 5 of my month or so in Narashwati and I’m not regretting it one bit, ok just a bit la ;)
Anyway, where do I start, lets see there are about 15 kids, 6 girls and 9 boys all aged between 5 to 15 years of age. The place is about 1 to 2 hectors easily, whereby half is allocated to the boarding school and the other half is to mangoes and ciku farming, Yes mum I am having loads of fun eating mangoes and cikues ;)
My day normally starts about 7 in the morning, thanks to the very NICE birds who really go out of their way to give me a wake-up call, no matter how much morning stares I give them! The kids normally show up at the hall, come multipurpose classroom, at 7.30 whereby Rita my partner in crime (also know as the other summer camp coordinator) starts the class with some yoga. Then around 8ish to about 9 we conduct simple warm up classes with the kids. We all then have our breakfast about 9 and classes resume at 9.30 to about 12pm. During these couple of hours we organize various activities from kite making to learning basic English. Then its lunch and then at 2pm I try to sort out some computer classes for the kids till about 3 (the reason I say try is that most days the electricity stops in the afternoons). The kids have an hour break before teakwando class start from 4 to 6. From 6 to 7 we normally sort out some outdoor activities with them before dinner at 7. The kids are normally free to do whatever they want to do after that, whereby this week has been allocated to Harry Potter dubbed in Hindi, I must say is quite cool watching ;)
I am slowly getting used to the mad afternoon heat waves and the crazy evening mosquitoes frenzies in this land where the fields are dry yet everyone is bursting with kindness and a friendly greeting.
I guess now what is left is for me to find myself….of which I am very sure by the end of my days here I will, for I realize that rather than sharing and teaching these kids, instead I am learning and remembering basic things I had forgotten a long time ago….

Ok now to reply to the few comments…yes I am trying to get more people to come along!! And the cable was for my phone which now enables me to load pictures taken by my good ol sony ericsson bira masi ;)

Finally I got the data cable for the mobile phone

India flag in the mids of the hustle and busel of Mumbai


View of Mumbai beach through the smog ;)



Narashswari school where I will be based from tomorrow onwards

















Yup guys they have a basketball court!!! Now to find where they
keep the ball ;)

Getting to know Mumbai

Thats me on my first train in mumbai (3 days ago)

Yesterday I was litterally hanging of the train doors, it was soo cool!

Do believe the native Indian in me is finding his routes again. Wonder what he will be up to next and yeah...had my kingfisher also ready ;)

Smile you are in India

Day 1
Landing in Mumbai was very interesting, far from all the preparations I had for a crowded airport with loads of tauts everywhere ready to con your very last penny, I must say I was quite disappointed!!
It felt like coming out from an airport in the middle of Africa or somewhere like that. (by now you guys must be thinking Dave did it again, he landed in the wrong airport) Ahemm!
It turned out that Mumbai has got 2 arrival halls, and I landed in the older and not so much used one...go figure!
Anyway there Lee was, short for Hayley, busy with her laptop as she stands out like a beam of sunlight on a clowdy day, nope its a blond hair ;) I hurried to her and we quickly set of on an amazing ride in the typical bollywood cab where neither the driver nor Lee knows where they were driving too half the time. I smiled quitely on the irony of getting lost in India, What a Start ;)
On the ride, Lee briefed me on everything and anything in India and the cardinal rule over here and that is..."everyone means well and will want to help, however it is best to at least ask 3 people before making any decisions" Very interesting philoshy I must say, from an Aussy gal in India. So we finally reached Somaya College, an open university that is privately funded by the Sumaya Group, an ol money company that has helped charity organisations in India and is big contributor to Atma. My place is a penthouse in the Engineering branch. (Just my luck!) It kind of reminds me of the ol days when I was Singapore and used to chill at Vindays college. Nevertheless its a nice apartment that I am sharing with a Chec chic named Inka and it has cable!!
Lee and I went shopping after that and I had the first glimses of my new home for the next couple of months whilst I am not in Narashswari school. After dedicating much of her day as my official tour guide, Lee left me at around 4ish to go back to the office.
Guess what, I took a nap ;) for an hour anyway, then I ventured around the campus and found myself a cybercafe or what looked like one anywat and I believe it is here I had my first con!!
Printed on the sign board it clearly indicated it was Rs10 forr 20 minutes thus I bravely went in and in my requested to use the internet. After about 19 minutes I enquired in my 'hindish' how much it was and the young man told me 'pendthra' aka 15 1 though...but the smart kid seeing my confused look only gave me Rs2 from my Rs20...hmmm ah well didnt want to make a scene so soon upon my arrival and I felt it was worth the experience ;)
By now you must be wondering how come there is no pictures yet!!!
Well I did pack my faithful digital camera and tried to take some pictures of my first sunset in mumbai....but guess what...no batteries! Yes in my anticipation of using the digital camera, I had charged up the batteries at vin's place and well you guest it....forgot to reload the batteries into the camera...SO JAS if you are readin this and smiling....well please find the charger and battery and bring it along to malaysia...thanks ;)
Well kids the moral to be learn here is (or in my case for now is)
1. Always go the extra mile to find what you are looking for.
2. Ask, ask and ask again before making a decision.
3. And yes, the devil is in the fine details, from traders to batteries
Cheers all
-dave-