Isn't it done yet?

Standing infront of the hot flames of the BBQ yesterday, I got inspired to write this blog today (and also the numerous guilt trips by a certain individual...u know who u r)
Youth...yup its been on top of my bold head for a quite a bit lately,
is a lot like the making of a good BBQ.
From the very beginning of starting the fire, by finding the right kind of wood and the right kind of fire starters or in some cases the old way of finding twigs you have the making of a good BBQ. Well my younger days...aka not so many moons ago it was kind of with good dry wood (uncles who have seen it all and done it all) with some fire starters whereby I got admissions to quite a happening college at that time and I had a decent loads of friends around me.
Then all a sudden you realize you have big fire in the pit.
This is my defination of the glory days, where the fire of the youth is burning and you are right there in the centre of everything.
Tho alike any wise BBQ guy will inform you...you can never make anything in that fire but just enjoy the glow it creates aka enjoy the moments which would feel like an internity at that time and place...
Only after the fire dies down, do we spread the wood all over the pit and throw in some charcoal over the hot wood to have continues heat throughout the BBQ
And I believe this happens around now for me anyway...
its the time when we have enjoyed the flames and nows its just time to have a sustainable warm glow and maybe, just maybe help start a new fire for someone else ;)

Coming home

Hi gang,
I know its been sometime since I've refreshed my blog and yes I have received the two sens soundings from my fav critic.
Anyway got up this morning and felt it's a good day to do some blogging.


So where was I, yep I'm back home now.
Got a couple of things on my plate to sort out, nothing too big just the simple thing of planning the rest of my life...
And of having to answer every third question on how did it happen and then this always follows by what next. And then of cause is getting used to the pace of things happening...
Thus as you see I've got everything under control...

And then I got high, and then I got high...

Greetings from 2,050m above sea level.
Well it is now day 5 with the boys and other than sharing, beds, drinks, seats and loads of other things together this trip is turning out to be quite good. And yes I have stop shitting across india, though it looks like Govin has picked up the batten on this one.
Let see, how do I describe Amritsar,
Seeing the Golden temple reflect of the lake was calming and peaceful.
Standing in the land of my forefathers was enlightening.
And having a cup of cha in a dhaba in the middle of nowhere was just amazing...
McLeod Ganj was quite chilled, literally for as we just arrived it was pouring rain,
so me and Ravi did the only thing we could do then, proceed to the hotel bar to have a couple of shots. Once the rain stopped and we were errr a bit more chilled (ahem as the temperature dropped of course) we just walked around the streets and was taken aback with the breath taking scenary. Next morning we packed up and moved to Manali. Although we had to amend the plans from taking the toy train due to Govin's unhappy tummy, the van ride was great.
Todays plans are to just walk around and absorb the sights and sounds and chill ;)
On that note, I shall sigh out now...
~Peace to all~

Shitting all across India...

Oh yeah, as someone so adequately put it,
I'm going to Delhi with a Delhi tummy...
Tho I did enjoy the 17hrs or so train journey,
the view from the toilet in A2 class was excellent.
I know a certain person would be all smiles now
whilst shouting at the computer screen;
See, see I told you soo ;)
Anyways all is good, the purge has reduce from hourly to 4 hrsly to now about 8hrs...
And hopefully by the time I leave with the boys, it would be totally over and done with,
For it would only be fair that I get the Delhi tummy as I come here
and be done with it as I leave here
let the adventure begin...
-dave-

Good bye Nareshwadi, Good bye Mumbai

Hello Delhi...

Yup the volunteer program has ended...
Hmmm im trying desperately to articulate my feelings about leaving here
This uneasy feeling i have as i say good bye to this place ive called home for the pass 3 months
For its been a bitter sweet experience
From the first going through the mad heat wave of Nareshwadi
To seeing the first droplets of rain on a hungry ground
From observing in Mumbai the blanten poverty all around
To seeing the hope of a better tomorrow by NGO programmes.
To loosing my fav mobile phone...to realizing Nokia has got some decent phones after all ;)
Well Iwill have to just rearticulate a saying an Aussy gal told me
Mumbai mere jaan, It hurts so much that you must just love it...
On that note,
alvida mumbai mera jaan...may i paths cross again soon

A not so wise thing to do

Many a time after an incident has happen we cant help but wonder "what if"...
"what if!"...i truly think those words should be banned from the english language not individually tho but together!
God knows we always will need the word "what" and the word "if"...
i mean my most fond memories were bugging the life of mum n dad on
what is this and what is that and what is what...
and i always remember the famous answers of "becauselah" you know who you are and stop smiling!!
and how life would be without "if" for "if" i think was the mother of all innovations for i can imagine the great einstein sitting one day and going "if", not "what if" but "if" we put this e in front of mc then square it...and wallah!!!
ok by now you must be wondering dave has finally lost it...well in a sense you are right...yesterday i lost my phone and the whole day today this stupid "what if" has been bugging the life of me...well you must say...this was one hell of an opener ;)
Yup, I lost the one love i brought away from ....... the queensland
this mobile phone had been thru a lot with me and i guess like many things has gone away
but its all not that bad! ive got my eyes on this next beaut sony tho the nokias have come up with some nice alternative...choices......the death of the wise shopper
anyway till then ive got this new sony phone that reminds me a lot of the ol faith full t10s and it has excellent fm!!
well anyway enough of the "what ifs" i shall now send an email to the good people at oxford and see if there is any hope of banning those darn words, maybe if i get enough people with me...
hmmm something to work on in malaysia ;)

till then
-dave-

Many faces of Nareshwadi

The many stories behind the simple smiles...

Sunsets over Nareshwadi

These are just a few of the beautiful sunsets I've captured over Nareshwadi from just outside my room...








its a wonder how sometimes we forget to look up and look out...

A day at the beach

Hi all,
Its been sometime, well its been a long week and what a week it has been!
Last Monday we decided to take the kids to the beach before the summer ends and the monsoon comes. The beach was not too far away and the kids really wanted to go. So we all got on the bus and off we went!
As soon as we reach the beach the kids ran into the water to play...so me and the 2 other teachers took shifts on keeping an eye on the kids, and with the two other teachers being ladies, I had to be the one in the water with kids! Boy I wished I paid more attention during the day to my swimming classes ;)
Anyway I was in the water keeping an eye on the two naughty boys beside me with the rest of the boys slightly further away but within running reach if anything happened...
So all went well and the two kids beside me were so happy playing in the water, especially Kuldip, the only kid who is HIV positive in at the boarding school...
Then around 12.30pm as planned I called all the kids back for we had planned to take them for lunch in town. So they all came out and I started to dry myself and thank God everything was going good...and I spoke to soon!
It turned out one of the teachers took one of the girls into the water so she can play in the water a bit and next minute I know the other kids had also ran back into the water but because the teacher was there I continued to get dressed. The next minute I know one of the kids is running back and shouting that Rohit is in the deep end, initially I thought he was kidding, then i saw the other teacher shouting for help from the shoreline and I looked up to see this black dot in the waters!! How my heart sank...I sprinted to the beach and ran into the water, I swam with all my might and hoping Rohit to just stay a flout for a bit more longer while i battle the huge waves to reach him...lucky there were a couple of elder kids who were parallel to him and heard all the shouts n started to swim to him.
Time just stopped for me and how I prayed he would just stay a flout a bit more longer...and boy did he fight to stay up and the boys reached him in time...I brought him out and rested him on bench, he was moving in and out of consciousness but he was managing to speak and kept saying dave sir dave sir...
Anyway a long story short he spent a night at the hospital and now is back at the school, the doctor did tell that his lungs we nearly full of water and a few more minutes he would have gone in...nevertheless all is good in the world and Rohit n his mates were caught stealing mangoes and had to spend the day picking up garbage around the school compound ;) kids!
well cheers guys.
Dave signing out

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-

A summer wine toast

A toast to the queen,

a toast to the weather,
a toast to the helpful post office gal who blames the world for everything bad in the world
ahh my last hours in this land,
so much given...so much taken
yet i smile and make this toast
why shouldnt I comes to mind
A toast to the queen wherever she may be

Me and...my passport

As the song goes...
"me and....my shadow"
well lets see where do I begin...
I guess two days ago would be best, the day I thought I lost my passport
(I cant stress on the word "thought" more) here I was all ready to travel to this new place with my hat and a dream of a better tomorrow. So I had a very packed day from scanning my passport to doing loads of bank work and just enjoying the days that maybe my last in the land of the queen that i had called my new home and now wonder...anyway back to me and my passport day
So here I am scanning my passport in a pound cybercafe shop smiling at the 5 pounds I saved from not scanning it at the other shop but instead finding this cybercafe and mentally telling myself DONT FORGET YOUR PASSPORT HERE! so after scanning the passport and deleting any cashe memory on that pc and went to shop in surbiton, bought myself a nice sandwich some 'millionaire desert' (dont ask) and a bottle of milkshake to enjoy by the thames, then i bought a nice bottle of red (which was suppose to be middle and not full bodied!) following that i walked to the thames and had my lunch by the thames , enjoying the beautiful afternoon with queen's swans (stop terf!) after that I dropped by my ol place checked for mail and walked to Kingston to do my bank work (the bank took too long so couldnt meet up with vin and jas), went to the Stupid Visa Card stop, yup my name for this travel visa card to top it up (another painful story for another day) well finished that and was getting to late for the drinking session with the gang.
So finally came back to vin's place and unpacked everything and THEN yes THEN i see i dont have my passport with me (not in my 9.99 pounds killer cargo pants or in my excellent demin jacket and not in my faithful new knapsack) all hell breaks loose literally, a million and one things running through my head above and beyond the look on vins face ;) So a dash, a run, a sprint to the cybercafe, frighten to death the poor gal that was chatting with God knows who on the PC i was using but nope not there (freaking out more) (ok lots more) asking the dumb founded indian dudes behind the counter on where is my passport...who gives a shit was their expression and im like...ahhhhhhhhh anyway fine shit happens off to the police station it is. Just my luck. At the station there is only one counter with one desperately seeking dude chatting up this gal who like lost God knows what, well here I am trying desperately to indicate to the guy that I am here sweating buckets on the fact that my passport has got stolen and God knows what is going to happen to my dream that looks like is ending before it even begun. Finally the gal leaves the counter but wait, it looks like she forgot something or another in her car that is like parked at the end of the moon, so i wait...and wait and wait a bit more when she finally returns and chats a bit more with the nice copper before leaving and my turn is now...I run to the counter and make the report and hoping to the Gods that someone actually left my passport there...unfortunately no...
so i call my mates and tell them the drinks are off, i call vin and tell him the situation (he kindly informs me that it will take up to 6 months to sort out my passport in the UK) and yup...stop smiling vin...tells me to retract my whole day which i said you must be kidding nevertheless did anyway
And guess what...in the wine shop someone had handed in my passport to the counter and yes that was the same bottle I had the last glass of today

Sunday & a glass of wine

One wonders what I will be doing this time two days time,

for this time tomorrow the journey would have begun

a whole new place and a whole new story.......