Hey Didi... Guess what? I'm in INDIA.
Yes I know you know this, I've been here for nearly 3 months (how is it that long already?) and I promise I'm not bragging. But I really do sometimes just forget that this is not the same place I have always lived, that it is some other far flung country and that India is so so different to home.
Didi you know this from living here, but some of you don't realise that I work in a bubble. Sangam is a bubble which contains the whole world within its walls and nearly everything you could need to be happy here. Sangam could be on the moon and everyone would forget that they were somewhere other than just Sangam. It is its own unique multicultural country within a country - like the Vatican but much more liberal towards everything especially women! haha
And to show this likeness below we have our Sangam Last supper interpretation... this photo is for a competition but I wanted to share :)
Anyway the point of this blog... for much of my work time, I am based within the walls of Sangam. Which I love, we have heaps of fun stuff happening and work here during events is very busy... as my work at the moment is primarily with community programme I also get to explore more of the local community and share in this exploration of India with the Tare.
Being in Sangam so much I have begun to forget that the great diversity of India is right outside the gate. So on Wednesday we had a fun day out to visit Alandi and the temple there, a town which is about 10km away, Toulapour which has another temple and a great view of the rivers that meet there, and also Ishawari a Women's Cooperative group, home, community centre, bakery, restaurant, farm, classroom and everything else to help provide skills and a place to learn and belong for women living within a rural indian setting.
It was while in the six seater rickshaw back from Ishwari that I realised I was beginning to forget I am in India and that I should try and remember the little things and see how different and unique the whole of Indian life and culture really is and try to share this more.
I was sitting in a rickety, bouncy, loud rickshaw chugging along the most potholed road I have ever been across. The hot and fragrant air blowing around us, dusty red-brown earth and crop fields green and yellow. Huge trees with vines dangling, painted red and white striped along the roadside (why painted this way no one can quite answer) but it's a regular sight on the roadside as you travel, as is the amount of litter which is strewn everywhere whether in the city or country there is no part of the landscape where plastic and rubbish can't be seen, so much so that you begin to see it as part of the natural landscape and become complacent in the fact that no, it has not always been there and nor should it remain.
As we were bumping along, laughing at how crazy the ride was becoming boys and girls were getting out of school, the girls always look pristine in their uniforms, often white dupattas on their shoulders and matching ribbons in their long sleek perfectly groomed hair. I often marvel at how anyone keeps their clothing white in this country that is forever dusty. People think we get a tan from being in the sun, its not a tan its a layer of dust. I had this thought that if one of the many Hindu Gods should blow over all of India, the already bright colours, beautiful buildings, markets, people and life here would all get this layer of dust removed and become even more alive and vibrant. I don't think my senses could cope with even more colours, sounds and noises, so maybe this muted india with its dust cover is for the best.
The boys walking home always seem so rowdy, joking and calling out to us and the other girls, being a nuisance and causing mischief, there were some older teens sitting 3 and 4 astride motorbikes as they overtook our rickshaw along the road. Buffalo carts are still a common sight pulling their loads of crops, fruit, veg, a family and anything and everything their owners need to transport. There is no limit to the possibilities of what indians will and can transport on the back of a seemingly impossibly small vehicle, whether it be a bike, a cart or a car. 'The greater the challenge the better' is the motto I feel suits them best. I have seen whole families, front doors, windows, wardrobes, laundry and a washing machine all on the back of various motorbikes!
Roadside cafes that are nothing more than a couple of corregated sheet walls and a tarp with a make shift cooker and plastic garden furniture but somehow make the tastiest dishes.
There are often cow pats perfectly round made by families living in rural areas on the road side drying in the sun to use as fuel for the fire. Lorries overtake us with a loud honk and whoosh past us, covered in decorative designs, and with a unique and bizarre horn sound - and as they fly by you see the standard "Horn Ok Please" painted beautifully on the rear.
While at the temple there were several older ladies sitting sari clad and cross legged on the ground surrounded by baskets of fresh ripe fruit, papaya, guava, chickoo, grapes, strawberries and watermelon all home grown and sweet and soft and waiting for us to taste them. Chickoo is one of my favourite, kind of like a fig or date, sticky sweet and almost malty to taste (think malt loaf in a fruit..YUM)
Strawberries are a summer tradition at home but I've never tasted strawberries as sweet as they are here and such a bright ruby red colour and so cheap to buy a punnet or two.
We walk bare foot into the temple in Alandi, I am a shoe lover, so it took some time at first to get used to no shoes, but now its just a way of life. We pil our shoes outside the temple steps, minded by a street vendor. The floor inside is cool and well worn from thousands of pilgrims feet, then out in the courtyard the sun heats the stones so that we have to run on tiptoes across to the entrance so not to burn our delicate feet, not used to the wear and tear of life on our soles like the locals visiting here.
The temple seems loud and crowded, many people are coming to worship here. We all walk in a clockwise direction as is the ritual in Hindu temples. The saint that the temple is dedicated to is said to have entombed himself beneath the ground here at age 16, when he felt his divine duty was achieved, and the main shrine of the temple is the place where he is thought to lie and where his spirit and energy emanates from the most. It is a very spiritual place and I have visited the temple before amongst a throng of devotees chanting, which only adds to the powerful feeling of oneness and inclusion that I always feel within Hindu temples. The indian people are happy for us to be involved in their devotions to their gods and saints, ushering us through to the inner sanctum but quickly hurrying us along again as other people push to gain entrance to the tiny room where they place flowers, sweets, coconut and milk onto a flat stone, touching various points of the room and bowing down low to the shrine inside.
Outside the temple there are ghats (steps) down to the river where people are washing, literally having their daily baths dunking beneath the water which is a source of life, death and cleanliness to all in India, others are doing laundry, ladies laying out their sari on the steps to dry in the intense midday sun. Flies fly everywhere, mosquitos too reminding us that the water is not as fresh or clean as the people bathing make it seem. A woman stands at the waters edge, stoops down with a water vessel, scoops up the water then picks it up in a swift motion and balances it perfectly on her head and walks off on her way without a hesitation or misstep or drop of water.
People in India continue to amaze me, as do the things I see each day when I remember to go outside, pop the Sangam bubble and appreciate the diversity, the new things in the world and thechance to immerse myself in this totally different culture.
Tomorrow we are going to Imagica... a Theme Park, in India. A brand new unexplored cultural experience. I am sure I will a lot more to say on this topic too and get to see and appreciate India in a whole new way!
Yes I know you know this, I've been here for nearly 3 months (how is it that long already?) and I promise I'm not bragging. But I really do sometimes just forget that this is not the same place I have always lived, that it is some other far flung country and that India is so so different to home.
Didi you know this from living here, but some of you don't realise that I work in a bubble. Sangam is a bubble which contains the whole world within its walls and nearly everything you could need to be happy here. Sangam could be on the moon and everyone would forget that they were somewhere other than just Sangam. It is its own unique multicultural country within a country - like the Vatican but much more liberal towards everything especially women! haha
And to show this likeness below we have our Sangam Last supper interpretation... this photo is for a competition but I wanted to share :)
Anyway the point of this blog... for much of my work time, I am based within the walls of Sangam. Which I love, we have heaps of fun stuff happening and work here during events is very busy... as my work at the moment is primarily with community programme I also get to explore more of the local community and share in this exploration of India with the Tare.
Being in Sangam so much I have begun to forget that the great diversity of India is right outside the gate. So on Wednesday we had a fun day out to visit Alandi and the temple there, a town which is about 10km away, Toulapour which has another temple and a great view of the rivers that meet there, and also Ishawari a Women's Cooperative group, home, community centre, bakery, restaurant, farm, classroom and everything else to help provide skills and a place to learn and belong for women living within a rural indian setting.
It was while in the six seater rickshaw back from Ishwari that I realised I was beginning to forget I am in India and that I should try and remember the little things and see how different and unique the whole of Indian life and culture really is and try to share this more.
I was sitting in a rickety, bouncy, loud rickshaw chugging along the most potholed road I have ever been across. The hot and fragrant air blowing around us, dusty red-brown earth and crop fields green and yellow. Huge trees with vines dangling, painted red and white striped along the roadside (why painted this way no one can quite answer) but it's a regular sight on the roadside as you travel, as is the amount of litter which is strewn everywhere whether in the city or country there is no part of the landscape where plastic and rubbish can't be seen, so much so that you begin to see it as part of the natural landscape and become complacent in the fact that no, it has not always been there and nor should it remain.
As we were bumping along, laughing at how crazy the ride was becoming boys and girls were getting out of school, the girls always look pristine in their uniforms, often white dupattas on their shoulders and matching ribbons in their long sleek perfectly groomed hair. I often marvel at how anyone keeps their clothing white in this country that is forever dusty. People think we get a tan from being in the sun, its not a tan its a layer of dust. I had this thought that if one of the many Hindu Gods should blow over all of India, the already bright colours, beautiful buildings, markets, people and life here would all get this layer of dust removed and become even more alive and vibrant. I don't think my senses could cope with even more colours, sounds and noises, so maybe this muted india with its dust cover is for the best.
The boys walking home always seem so rowdy, joking and calling out to us and the other girls, being a nuisance and causing mischief, there were some older teens sitting 3 and 4 astride motorbikes as they overtook our rickshaw along the road. Buffalo carts are still a common sight pulling their loads of crops, fruit, veg, a family and anything and everything their owners need to transport. There is no limit to the possibilities of what indians will and can transport on the back of a seemingly impossibly small vehicle, whether it be a bike, a cart or a car. 'The greater the challenge the better' is the motto I feel suits them best. I have seen whole families, front doors, windows, wardrobes, laundry and a washing machine all on the back of various motorbikes!
Roadside cafes that are nothing more than a couple of corregated sheet walls and a tarp with a make shift cooker and plastic garden furniture but somehow make the tastiest dishes.
There are often cow pats perfectly round made by families living in rural areas on the road side drying in the sun to use as fuel for the fire. Lorries overtake us with a loud honk and whoosh past us, covered in decorative designs, and with a unique and bizarre horn sound - and as they fly by you see the standard "Horn Ok Please" painted beautifully on the rear.
While at the temple there were several older ladies sitting sari clad and cross legged on the ground surrounded by baskets of fresh ripe fruit, papaya, guava, chickoo, grapes, strawberries and watermelon all home grown and sweet and soft and waiting for us to taste them. Chickoo is one of my favourite, kind of like a fig or date, sticky sweet and almost malty to taste (think malt loaf in a fruit..YUM)
Strawberries are a summer tradition at home but I've never tasted strawberries as sweet as they are here and such a bright ruby red colour and so cheap to buy a punnet or two.
We walk bare foot into the temple in Alandi, I am a shoe lover, so it took some time at first to get used to no shoes, but now its just a way of life. We pil our shoes outside the temple steps, minded by a street vendor. The floor inside is cool and well worn from thousands of pilgrims feet, then out in the courtyard the sun heats the stones so that we have to run on tiptoes across to the entrance so not to burn our delicate feet, not used to the wear and tear of life on our soles like the locals visiting here.
The temple seems loud and crowded, many people are coming to worship here. We all walk in a clockwise direction as is the ritual in Hindu temples. The saint that the temple is dedicated to is said to have entombed himself beneath the ground here at age 16, when he felt his divine duty was achieved, and the main shrine of the temple is the place where he is thought to lie and where his spirit and energy emanates from the most. It is a very spiritual place and I have visited the temple before amongst a throng of devotees chanting, which only adds to the powerful feeling of oneness and inclusion that I always feel within Hindu temples. The indian people are happy for us to be involved in their devotions to their gods and saints, ushering us through to the inner sanctum but quickly hurrying us along again as other people push to gain entrance to the tiny room where they place flowers, sweets, coconut and milk onto a flat stone, touching various points of the room and bowing down low to the shrine inside.
Outside the temple there are ghats (steps) down to the river where people are washing, literally having their daily baths dunking beneath the water which is a source of life, death and cleanliness to all in India, others are doing laundry, ladies laying out their sari on the steps to dry in the intense midday sun. Flies fly everywhere, mosquitos too reminding us that the water is not as fresh or clean as the people bathing make it seem. A woman stands at the waters edge, stoops down with a water vessel, scoops up the water then picks it up in a swift motion and balances it perfectly on her head and walks off on her way without a hesitation or misstep or drop of water.
People in India continue to amaze me, as do the things I see each day when I remember to go outside, pop the Sangam bubble and appreciate the diversity, the new things in the world and thechance to immerse myself in this totally different culture.
Tomorrow we are going to Imagica... a Theme Park, in India. A brand new unexplored cultural experience. I am sure I will a lot more to say on this topic too and get to see and appreciate India in a whole new way!
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