So I’ve been in Jaipur for just over a week now and as you’d expect it’s flown by. Whilst I felt instantly ignorant as soon as I landed in Delhi and everything is new and some things feel totally alien to me-India felt strangely familiar straight away. When I first got off the plane in Delhi I expected to feel a massive shock to the system but perhaps I was too zombified from the journey to feel anything or maybe it’s because all planes/airports feel pretty much the same. I did find myself delaying leaving the familiarity of the airport though. I bought a coffee, bought a sim card (which meant filling in a massive form complete with a photocopy of my visa and passport, a passport picture and signing about 5 different pieces of paper....all just to buy a sim!?!) and then followed a similar procedure just to get a taxi into town. My first experience of bureaucratic India! I then expected to feel a massive wave of culture shock as soon as I stepped out of the airport but as soon as I got in the taxi I fell asleep! On the bus journey to Jaipur I half took in the new smells and views of cows, camels and rickshaws but if it wasn’t for the constant beeping and what seemed like, near car crashes, I would have fallen fast asleep! So I’m still waiting for “it” to hit me.
Just to give you more background on what I’m doing here-I’m working for idex ( network for development exchange) with Calum (another intern from Stevenage) to teach English to the idex staff as an internship-the cooks, managers, administrators, cleaners and drivers etc in order for them to communicate with the volunteers easier. I haven’t actually started putting this into practice yet as I’ve been cracking on with the admin work that has building up-I’m basically working on a system of tracking volunteer’s feedback of their experiences and creating reports so the managers can monitor what areas need to be improved. It’s actually really interesting-not only reading the feedback-but getting a behind the scenes view of how such a big company runs and the endless amount of things you have to consider. It’s also interesting working in the office and having banter with everyone-breaking away from work every now and then to drink some chai and discuss bollywood films, women’s empowerment, the Indian census, literacy rates etc. It means I’m constantly learning new things every day. And once I start teaching it’ll be interesting in a totally different way. Teaching sat on a floor of mattresses without the constraints of a whiteboard and tables and chairs. It’s liberating in one way but intimidating in another. It means you have to think on your feet and not rely too heavily on pre-planned lessons (as things are very changeable here as I’m sure you can imagine). Calum seems to have it nailed as I’ve sat in a few of his lessons so it definitely can be done-but I’m looking forward to giving it a go myself.
Me and Calum live in a big house known as the high school house (as it’s usually used for European high school kids to stay on the high school exchange program) about a ten minute rickshaw journey away the idex office.We live with Dinesh and Umaji who cook breakfast and dinner for us every day. It’s quite a cushy set up really as we have our own room and bathroom area (bucket bath again like Ghana but indoors/private and if you have one if the afternoon the water’s quite warm), dining area on the roof, area to wash our clothes out the back, a TV to watch cricket/bollywood films and even internet. Maybe this is another reason why I’ve not felt a culture shock as such, because I’ve got everything I need and I don’t feel disconnected from anyone at home. Oh and the food is amazing, as you’d predict-tasty, filling and varied-perfect place for a vegetarian! I’m coming home FAT!
Even though I’ve not had one tidal wave/slap across the face “oh my god-I’m in India” moment, I keep getting little waves of contentment and realisation that I’m here: walking around the craft market in the evening browsing the stalls selling materials, shoes and puppets with live music in the background, the smell of incense and spices, passing a guy wearing a turban with a big twirly moustache playing two pennywhistles through his nostrils with a big smile on his face; on a rooftop bar when India beat Pakistan, appreciating the breeze with a Kingfisher as everyone chanted and cheered and fireworks went off all around Jaipur; feeling like I was in an American teen film at a pool party with a pool with turquoise water, a DJ, candles, waiters and a bathtub full of ice to put drinks in; watching the final in the living room with Dinesh and finally getting the rules of cricket in the final hour of the game and finding myself going mental when India actually won (i’ve got the cricket bug now)......there’s obviously a lot of moments like this as I’ve only been here under two weeks so every day I’ll encounter something entirely out of the ordinary. I'm guessing soon it’ll be less of a novelty and annoyances will creep in, so at the moment I’m just letting myself soak it all in and allowing things to become slowly more familiar to me bit by bit.
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