Saying Goodbye

For those of you who have not been to Sangam, I will let you into a secret. Sangam has a very important tradition when it comes to saying Goodbye. For those yet to come (hint, hint VISIT ME!!) I will not spoil it.

However, if your visit to Sangam has had any sort of affect on you then the finale when we send you on your way seals the deal – and it can be quite emotional. Why am I telling you this? Well let me go back to the last post I wrote when I updated what I have been up to, which was around a month ago…

My last photo post  was of the Rickshaws which we arranged as a Surprise for the Tare and we all had such a great afternoon learning to drive with Deepak and Raju our favourite Rickshaw drivers up and down the drive within Sangam’s grounds.

 Rickshaw racing

 Deepak and Raju are literally the best and most fun drivers around!

 Sitting like the Indian drivers do - no need for pedals!

This was the end of March and the start of the closing few days for the Tare both the March group and the 12 week group.

 My whole group of Tare (plus Fer, Laura and Chenda)

Honestly, I feel so privileged to have been part of each of their experiences here. Seeing them have such a great time together, the friendships that have been made and I know will have such a lasting effect on them all, then hearing about all the incredible things they were able to achieve at site each day. Each and every little triumph made me smile deep inside because it brought back so many feelings from my experience last year and I know they shared the same joy through being a Tare.

And then they all left…  they all did these amazing presentations to sum up their time here, it made me feel pretty emotional about it all, and then one by one they all went on their way, on the next step of their adventures, travelling around India, Thailand, Europe and then home.  The ‘Sangam Goodbye’ was rolled out one after another, and after lots of hugs I did find myself tearing up when these guys left.

It was so strange and quiet without them. Especially as my days have revolved around their activities, and making sure everyone was happy and healthy here. It felt a bit like my nest was empty – the birds had flown away.

Then it was April, and Sangam was very empty and too  quiet. But we had some fun days planned.

Every year we take the local staff on a “picnic” which is just a Sangam family outing. We decided to stay local, we opted for a movie, lunch and bowling at one of the big local malls. It may not sound like anything out of the ordinary for you lot at home but quite a few of our staff live in the immediate local neighbourhoods. They definitely have good jobs working for Sangam but they are by no means rich. So an all expenses day out to the Mall is a fantastic day for everyone. Highlights for me were watching the ladies riding the escalators in the Mall like it was the Oblivion at Alton Towers. They deserved the round of applause we gave them when they managed to get to the top! It was also really lovely to see the ladies reclining in the VIP seats at the cinema. The film was so shockingly bad it was funny, but everyone seemed to enjoy it none the less. Then we had lunch, followed by bowling. Explaining bowling shoes was interesting, luckily we all bought spare socks, and then the whole principle of throwing this huge ball down a lane to knock down 10 pins, but after a few practices everyone was loving it and we had some great team spirit going – no accidents, and even a whole heap of strikes.

 Me, Rach Shuba and Sangeeta at bowling

 The whole Sangam Family

 

Later that same week we had a big clear out at and got together all the tons of stuff that guests leave with us because they’ve bought too many Indian clothes and souvenirs, and had our annual Community Bazaar. It’s basically a jumble sale and raises money for Sangam – everything was 10 rupees, our local staff got VIP shopping privileges first for about an hour, then the rest of the day was the mayhem of the rest of the community coming into Sangam and buying all our junk. Clothes, shoes, kitchen supplies, toiletries, toys, stationery, furniture, doors, bedding. Literally anything and everything was for sale. It was cool to meet so many of our local staff’s families and neighbours and to see how much they bought! We sold a lot of stuff. Since then we have noticed a few of our things being worn by people when we’ve been out in the neighbourhood which is really cool.

 This is what the Community Bazaar looked like!! Mayhem

Then it was time for lots of evaluating and planning for the staff for all the events coming up next season, and figuring out what worked and what we can improve.

And somehow it was time for GOA!!! Which happily coincided with my 29^th birthday.  We had an awesome sleeper train journey down to Goa, 12 hours made shorter by lots of food, wine and singing every song in the songbook accompanied by Jen on her Guitarelele and making friends with other travelers.

We chilled, on the beach, at the pool, in the bar – spent a fantastic evening at the infamous Night Market on the evening of my birthday and then it was back to sweltering Pune. It was a wonderful break and I’m sure I’ll be going back to Goa again before I leave India, it’s the perfect place to unwind.

Then the sad sad day arrived when it was time to say goodbye to some people that I had made really close friends with. We had already had to say goodbye to my darling friend Chenda,  who was such a shining light of happiness and friendship to everyone but then Fer and Laura were  leaving on the same day.

 When you spend so much time with people every day you start to take their presence for granted, but when these guys left and we had to do “Sangam Goodbye” I couldn’t do it. It was like a massive loss for me, for sure one of the best friends I have in my life was going away and she lived in a country a long long way away. I was totally gutted.

 Love these ladies - Fer and Chenda - best friends and work mates you could want!  I miss you x

I asked the long term staff later that day "how do you get used to saying goodbye to good friends over and over again?" It’s really kind of heartbreaking, living and working here we share so much together. All the highs, lows, happy, funny, amazing things, and then there they are there with kinds words, hugs, chocolate and stories just when you need them most to pick you up after a bad day. You kind of have to accept that saying goodbye is part of the experience and how new things and new people come to be. But it doesn't stop me missing them all like crazy!!

Now we have time to get over all these goodbyes. The last of us still standing will remain and although people keep coming and going we wont be having a “Sangam Goodbye” for a quite a while, which is good because I need time for my heart to get over everyone that has already had to leave.