I have been experiencing some technical difficulties posting for the past week and half. My old, borrowed, laptop is either struggling to handle the processes of modern web use, or the internet card which I have borrowed from Deepa Academy to work and post these blogs was not intended to handle this much data. I have no idea what I am talking about when I say that. Anyways, here are my last two posts.
7/13/13
It has been a month now, officially, and I have fallen into a steady routine for the first time in a few years now:
Wake up at 7:30: breakfast, ironing, prepare for class, lock up my valuables, head out the door by 9:40. Class at 10: Practice the song of the week, introduce or review vocabulary, work on some exercises, coffee arrives, play a game, talk to the students after class for 10 or 15 minutes, talk with Jugdesh Sir (the faculty who helps me with the high school students’ session) about what went well, what didn’t work, and what will be happening tomorrow.
12-12:30 Back to the Hostel: Lunch, wash my dishes, relax, prepare for afternoon session, lock up my valuables, out the door by 3:15
3:30 Afternoon session: assure any student that I encounter that I have eaten lunch, and give a detailed description of what I had eaten, ”Ana, Sambar (rice and curry)” - this also happens in the morning, and the students are bewildered when all I’ve had is a slice of toast and some tea. Play the games of the week, discuss whatever comes to mind, get imitated, make some bad jokes, agree to stay an extra half hour, tea arrives, Visit downstairs with Sharntharam Sir, or Sandhya Ms, or Parimala Ms., or Shubha Madame. If I see Shubha madame, the warden at Deepa, she usually gives me a snack and a sweet to take back with me (It’s Great!)
5:00-5:30 return to the hostel: Say hello to Silvio, greet the watchman and Sindu the little girl who cleans, unlock all of my valuables, laundry, bath, dinner, dishes, get locked in by 9:30 (which took a few days to get used to), check my email, prepare for class, work on the manual, kill a few cockroaches/mosquitos, Malaria meds, sleep.
Occasionally I’ll throw on a movie on my little laptop or read from one of the two books that I have brought with me. Throw in a music program occasionally, a shopping trip, a dinner or nice lunch, or a walk around the neighborhood and there you have it, a general idea of what I’ve been up to. Recently, Sindu, the cleaning girl, has been visiting me in my room. She likes to practice her English with me, and I’ve shown her some Pixar animations on my computer which she really seems to enjoy, I load her up with my excess sweets before she leaves, and the old cleaning lady always starts yelling at her once she’s out the door. Not sure what that is about.
Usually I am not a fan of routines. I avoid keeping one at my college, for better or worse. It is pretty easy with different classes at different times everyday. I am able to choose my own work hours at my place of employment, and I have tended to have very separate groups of friends with constantly changing schedules themselves. But I am actually enjoying this routine. I do enough during the weekends and have had enough random weekday events to keep me from getting bored and nutty, not to mention I have plenty of work. I find that with this routine I have a lot of time to think, which is nice. I go to sleep most night feeling accomplished in a weird way, just knowing that all my simple chores and tasks of the day have been completed. I doubt I will have anything resembling a regular routine once I return to my college and start working again, so I am savoring these moments, even if I will not necessarily miss having a routine.
Silvio is the guard dog of the Hostel. He’s the ugliest, mangiest mutt on the street, and I’ve developed a cute little rapport with him as I travel to and from the hostel. Silvio has a very elaborate back-story. A notorious drunk with father-issues, and a mysterious private life, I often scold the mutt as he lays in the sun for not getting his life together. Sometimes he’ll look at me and wonder what this strange human is doing making noises at him, but mostly he’s too drunk to even notice me.
My time in India has, more than I realize, involved the consideration of measured risk-taking. When someone offers me food, I have to measure the risk of eating it and the risk of offending whoever has offered me the food. Walking down which street, what I am wearing, when am I going here or there, how am I getting around, who am I going where with? Each situation presents a risk and I have to decide whether it is worth taking. Perhaps I should meet a terrible fate, but is that perhaps worth spending this whole trip "living in fear"? I don't think so. I broke a cardinal rule (of my mother’s) the other day. I ate food from a “gari”, a cart. Pudus are a fried creation of the dosa and idli family, and it was a measured risked because though the Pudus themselves were thoroughly cooked, the delicious coconut and chili chutney’s that they come with were HIGHLY SUSPECT. But this time it was worth risking the potential three days I would suffer on the toilet because of dirty water. They were pretty delicious and seem to have caused no serious harm! Win for Alex!
7/ 9/13
Last night a late dinner at the Headmaster Shantharam’s house. Lovely people, lovely food. Ravi sir, a faculty member, drove me home on a scooter. Truly the way to travel in India, and the streets of Bangalore are quietly spectacular, the streets are lined with tall trees and splattered with multicolor buildings. Something about cities in India feel very organic to me, like they’ve naturally grown out of the jungle. If you pay close attention, I don’t think you’d ever find a truly pristine natural beauty, there’s nothing natural about the idea of pristine. Anyways, so it was nearing 10pm, we’re driving back to my hostel, and I took a head count, just to confirm what I already was suspicious of. About a hundred men, and only 5 women to be found on the streets during the 10 minute journey from Malleshwaram 18 Cross to my hostel on Parallel Road 4th Cross. Seems like an unofficial curfew for the ladies…. So that’s a thing.
Some of the Characters in my story:
Pooja (P.S.) Sometimes Pooja doesn’t say anything when she first sits down at 3:30 in the afternoon for the level 2 English session. It takes a few minutes for her to warm up on those days. But most days she is fired up and ready to have a laugh about whatever she can poke fun at. Often its me. From the start I told myself not to worry about it, to enjoy it, but it has taken a couple of weeks for it to really sink in, and now I take her sass and shoot it right back at her. We’ve had some good laughs at each other. She speaks the best English by far out of the seven girls who show up for these afternoon sessions. When she gets frustrated with me or maybe its with herself when she‘s having trouble communicating something to me, her first impulse is to imitate my funny American accent and that usually gets all the others going as well. But I’ve also noticed her scolding the girls if she feels they’ve crossed a line with me, which I usually don’t notice. I’ve developed an “anything goes” attitude with these students and I defend it as an English teaching method. Most ,if not all, of their school subjects are taught in English, and I think it wears them out by the end of the day. So when they come to my sessions, I like to have a relaxed atmosphere. We play a lot of games, chit-chat, and sometimes just sit in silence because no one has anything to say. Last week I started bringing in some Playdough, which turned out to be a great facilitator of discussion and a fun stress-free activity. Pooja especially enjoyed the human figure I sculpted one day, and has been demanding since, “Acka!, Where’s my girl? Make me a girl!” This week Pooja and I made a deck of playing cards written in Braille. This has been a smash hit with all of the girls. She came to today’s session with another deck so that we could play more games with more people. Pooja is one cool cat.
Parimala Ms. - My favorite new aunty. A volunteer administrator and teacher at the Academy Parimala Madame has been working for Deepa for over 5 years. She speaks a good deal of English although she is not perfectly fluent, and I am able to communicate fairly well with her. She has been my main guide outside of school, accompanying me to temples and parks so that I can safely explore Bangalore. She has been extremely kind to me and allowed me to have full and interesting weekends. She has taken me to 7 or so temples near Bangalore, including the Iskon temple, Kadu Malleshwaram, Lakshmi Narasimha, Gangamma Devi, Nandi Theertha, Shiri Sai Baba, and the Tirumula Tirupati Devasthana. This past Saturday, she also took me out for the BEST meal I’ve had so far in Bangalore. Butter Masala Dosa from heaven! It was absolutely wonderful. She has also taken me to many of the student and affiliated dance and music programs, to get mendhi done on my hands, to the post office to send letters back home… Whenever I need something or to go somewhere, she happily escorts me and makes for terrific company during these excursions. In a few weeks Ms. Parimala has offered to take to me to see Mysore, a must-do on my list, and I know she will show me a great time there. She has taken such good care of me and I am very grateful for that.
Sandhya Ms. - The sister-in-law of the headmaster, one of the Academy’s main administrators and teachers, this woman is truly tireless. She has been with Deepa since its founding and has truly dedicated herself to the students and staff. She has also been taking very good care of me, arranging my trips with Parimala Madame while making the occasional appearance herself. She also often acts as my liaison to the headmaster Shantharam. When I need something, she is the person who I call first. She will most likely be escorting the girls in the Bharathnathyam dance group here to the United States where they will be doing a fund raiser tour across a number of states on the east coast and middle America. She has been working very hard on organizing this trip as well. She and Parimala Ms have generously taken me under their wings, which for a girl alone in India is a good thing to have.
Shubha Madame - Warden of Deepa Academy. The mother-away-from-home for all of the girls attending the school. Another pair of eyes looking out for me. She gives me snacks now and then to take back to the hostel and seems to like to practice her English with me. I get the feeling that she’s hard to get close to, but once she takes you under her wing, you’re there to stay. I found out the other day that she is married, and her husband lives in a village far away. She only visits him once or twice a year. Her daughter lives in the Academy with her, a young girl who has befriended and helps the students at the academy. I wonder what she thinks of them. I imagine it must be difficult for her at times, putting up with people outside of the academy staring at her as well because she is walking down the street with two blind girls. I’m sure its happened, I’ve noticed it myself when I go for walks with the students.
Eyes in India. It is not quite like anywhere else. So many eyes, everywhere. In my previous studies, I focused for a time on the rite of Darshan, the sacred act of vision between the gods and mankind. Hindu’s take Darshan of the gods to receives blessings, boons, protection, and to make a holy connection with the sacred… that is probably pretty poorly put, and I’m sure there are many better ways to describe it, but take the basic idea. It places an implicit value on eyesight doesn’t it? Where does it leave the girls at Deepa Academy in their society? I want to ask the students, but I am somewhat unsure of whether or not it would be a sensitive topic. Perhaps one day I’ll take the measured risk.
7/13/13
It has been a month now, officially, and I have fallen into a steady routine for the first time in a few years now:
Wake up at 7:30: breakfast, ironing, prepare for class, lock up my valuables, head out the door by 9:40. Class at 10: Practice the song of the week, introduce or review vocabulary, work on some exercises, coffee arrives, play a game, talk to the students after class for 10 or 15 minutes, talk with Jugdesh Sir (the faculty who helps me with the high school students’ session) about what went well, what didn’t work, and what will be happening tomorrow.
12-12:30 Back to the Hostel: Lunch, wash my dishes, relax, prepare for afternoon session, lock up my valuables, out the door by 3:15
3:30 Afternoon session: assure any student that I encounter that I have eaten lunch, and give a detailed description of what I had eaten, ”Ana, Sambar (rice and curry)” - this also happens in the morning, and the students are bewildered when all I’ve had is a slice of toast and some tea. Play the games of the week, discuss whatever comes to mind, get imitated, make some bad jokes, agree to stay an extra half hour, tea arrives, Visit downstairs with Sharntharam Sir, or Sandhya Ms, or Parimala Ms., or Shubha Madame. If I see Shubha madame, the warden at Deepa, she usually gives me a snack and a sweet to take back with me (It’s Great!)
5:00-5:30 return to the hostel: Say hello to Silvio, greet the watchman and Sindu the little girl who cleans, unlock all of my valuables, laundry, bath, dinner, dishes, get locked in by 9:30 (which took a few days to get used to), check my email, prepare for class, work on the manual, kill a few cockroaches/mosquitos, Malaria meds, sleep.
Occasionally I’ll throw on a movie on my little laptop or read from one of the two books that I have brought with me. Throw in a music program occasionally, a shopping trip, a dinner or nice lunch, or a walk around the neighborhood and there you have it, a general idea of what I’ve been up to. Recently, Sindu, the cleaning girl, has been visiting me in my room. She likes to practice her English with me, and I’ve shown her some Pixar animations on my computer which she really seems to enjoy, I load her up with my excess sweets before she leaves, and the old cleaning lady always starts yelling at her once she’s out the door. Not sure what that is about.
Usually I am not a fan of routines. I avoid keeping one at my college, for better or worse. It is pretty easy with different classes at different times everyday. I am able to choose my own work hours at my place of employment, and I have tended to have very separate groups of friends with constantly changing schedules themselves. But I am actually enjoying this routine. I do enough during the weekends and have had enough random weekday events to keep me from getting bored and nutty, not to mention I have plenty of work. I find that with this routine I have a lot of time to think, which is nice. I go to sleep most night feeling accomplished in a weird way, just knowing that all my simple chores and tasks of the day have been completed. I doubt I will have anything resembling a regular routine once I return to my college and start working again, so I am savoring these moments, even if I will not necessarily miss having a routine.
Silvio is the guard dog of the Hostel. He’s the ugliest, mangiest mutt on the street, and I’ve developed a cute little rapport with him as I travel to and from the hostel. Silvio has a very elaborate back-story. A notorious drunk with father-issues, and a mysterious private life, I often scold the mutt as he lays in the sun for not getting his life together. Sometimes he’ll look at me and wonder what this strange human is doing making noises at him, but mostly he’s too drunk to even notice me.
My time in India has, more than I realize, involved the consideration of measured risk-taking. When someone offers me food, I have to measure the risk of eating it and the risk of offending whoever has offered me the food. Walking down which street, what I am wearing, when am I going here or there, how am I getting around, who am I going where with? Each situation presents a risk and I have to decide whether it is worth taking. Perhaps I should meet a terrible fate, but is that perhaps worth spending this whole trip "living in fear"? I don't think so. I broke a cardinal rule (of my mother’s) the other day. I ate food from a “gari”, a cart. Pudus are a fried creation of the dosa and idli family, and it was a measured risked because though the Pudus themselves were thoroughly cooked, the delicious coconut and chili chutney’s that they come with were HIGHLY SUSPECT. But this time it was worth risking the potential three days I would suffer on the toilet because of dirty water. They were pretty delicious and seem to have caused no serious harm! Win for Alex!
7/ 9/13
Last night a late dinner at the Headmaster Shantharam’s house. Lovely people, lovely food. Ravi sir, a faculty member, drove me home on a scooter. Truly the way to travel in India, and the streets of Bangalore are quietly spectacular, the streets are lined with tall trees and splattered with multicolor buildings. Something about cities in India feel very organic to me, like they’ve naturally grown out of the jungle. If you pay close attention, I don’t think you’d ever find a truly pristine natural beauty, there’s nothing natural about the idea of pristine. Anyways, so it was nearing 10pm, we’re driving back to my hostel, and I took a head count, just to confirm what I already was suspicious of. About a hundred men, and only 5 women to be found on the streets during the 10 minute journey from Malleshwaram 18 Cross to my hostel on Parallel Road 4th Cross. Seems like an unofficial curfew for the ladies…. So that’s a thing.
Some of the Characters in my story:
Pooja (P.S.) Sometimes Pooja doesn’t say anything when she first sits down at 3:30 in the afternoon for the level 2 English session. It takes a few minutes for her to warm up on those days. But most days she is fired up and ready to have a laugh about whatever she can poke fun at. Often its me. From the start I told myself not to worry about it, to enjoy it, but it has taken a couple of weeks for it to really sink in, and now I take her sass and shoot it right back at her. We’ve had some good laughs at each other. She speaks the best English by far out of the seven girls who show up for these afternoon sessions. When she gets frustrated with me or maybe its with herself when she‘s having trouble communicating something to me, her first impulse is to imitate my funny American accent and that usually gets all the others going as well. But I’ve also noticed her scolding the girls if she feels they’ve crossed a line with me, which I usually don’t notice. I’ve developed an “anything goes” attitude with these students and I defend it as an English teaching method. Most ,if not all, of their school subjects are taught in English, and I think it wears them out by the end of the day. So when they come to my sessions, I like to have a relaxed atmosphere. We play a lot of games, chit-chat, and sometimes just sit in silence because no one has anything to say. Last week I started bringing in some Playdough, which turned out to be a great facilitator of discussion and a fun stress-free activity. Pooja especially enjoyed the human figure I sculpted one day, and has been demanding since, “Acka!, Where’s my girl? Make me a girl!” This week Pooja and I made a deck of playing cards written in Braille. This has been a smash hit with all of the girls. She came to today’s session with another deck so that we could play more games with more people. Pooja is one cool cat.
Parimala Ms. - My favorite new aunty. A volunteer administrator and teacher at the Academy Parimala Madame has been working for Deepa for over 5 years. She speaks a good deal of English although she is not perfectly fluent, and I am able to communicate fairly well with her. She has been my main guide outside of school, accompanying me to temples and parks so that I can safely explore Bangalore. She has been extremely kind to me and allowed me to have full and interesting weekends. She has taken me to 7 or so temples near Bangalore, including the Iskon temple, Kadu Malleshwaram, Lakshmi Narasimha, Gangamma Devi, Nandi Theertha, Shiri Sai Baba, and the Tirumula Tirupati Devasthana. This past Saturday, she also took me out for the BEST meal I’ve had so far in Bangalore. Butter Masala Dosa from heaven! It was absolutely wonderful. She has also taken me to many of the student and affiliated dance and music programs, to get mendhi done on my hands, to the post office to send letters back home… Whenever I need something or to go somewhere, she happily escorts me and makes for terrific company during these excursions. In a few weeks Ms. Parimala has offered to take to me to see Mysore, a must-do on my list, and I know she will show me a great time there. She has taken such good care of me and I am very grateful for that.
Sandhya Ms. - The sister-in-law of the headmaster, one of the Academy’s main administrators and teachers, this woman is truly tireless. She has been with Deepa since its founding and has truly dedicated herself to the students and staff. She has also been taking very good care of me, arranging my trips with Parimala Madame while making the occasional appearance herself. She also often acts as my liaison to the headmaster Shantharam. When I need something, she is the person who I call first. She will most likely be escorting the girls in the Bharathnathyam dance group here to the United States where they will be doing a fund raiser tour across a number of states on the east coast and middle America. She has been working very hard on organizing this trip as well. She and Parimala Ms have generously taken me under their wings, which for a girl alone in India is a good thing to have.
Shubha Madame - Warden of Deepa Academy. The mother-away-from-home for all of the girls attending the school. Another pair of eyes looking out for me. She gives me snacks now and then to take back to the hostel and seems to like to practice her English with me. I get the feeling that she’s hard to get close to, but once she takes you under her wing, you’re there to stay. I found out the other day that she is married, and her husband lives in a village far away. She only visits him once or twice a year. Her daughter lives in the Academy with her, a young girl who has befriended and helps the students at the academy. I wonder what she thinks of them. I imagine it must be difficult for her at times, putting up with people outside of the academy staring at her as well because she is walking down the street with two blind girls. I’m sure its happened, I’ve noticed it myself when I go for walks with the students.
Eyes in India. It is not quite like anywhere else. So many eyes, everywhere. In my previous studies, I focused for a time on the rite of Darshan, the sacred act of vision between the gods and mankind. Hindu’s take Darshan of the gods to receives blessings, boons, protection, and to make a holy connection with the sacred… that is probably pretty poorly put, and I’m sure there are many better ways to describe it, but take the basic idea. It places an implicit value on eyesight doesn’t it? Where does it leave the girls at Deepa Academy in their society? I want to ask the students, but I am somewhat unsure of whether or not it would be a sensitive topic. Perhaps one day I’ll take the measured risk.
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