Yamuna Vihar, Delhi
I've been here for nearly 2 weeks now, it's been very busy and at the weekend I was struck down and ended up making offerings to the stomach gods! But I'm in good shape again now. So here's a general update/introduction.
We're staying in the top flat of the house next door to the house which hosts the project. The flat is in Yamuna Vihar, a lower middle-class area of north-western Delhi, across the river from New and Old Delhi and the historical and fashionable districts. We are above the main road so there is a constant hubub of noise starting with the daily march of the Jains to their temple at 5.30am, clanging their drums and chanting - the effect is a cross between a religious processsion and a very large toddler with a very large frying pan. One day we were lucky enough to see the arrival of a naked Jain - having cast off all worldly attachment, the naked Jain strode down the street as his creator made him, flanked by drummers, horn-blowers, boys on smartly decorated donkeys and women in co-ordinated saris. This was a sedate parade compared to the weddings - it's the start of wedding season here. In my evening class on Friday i had to shout over the din. The constant background noises are horns, jingles (from reversing cars - 'jingle bells' is popular), shouts, engines and, at night, stray dogs howling and fighting. Thankfully I bought some earplugs!
The flat has two rooms - a bedroom and a sitting room which doubles as a classroom for my classes during the day. My students are polite, earnest young Indians with an average age around 20. Most are male but I have a few women as well; some are from the local area but most come from the poorer areas, as the project is attempting to help young people who would otherwise be unable to learn English. I am teaching intermediate classes during the day and advanced in the evening (but they are actually all at a pretty similar level). Alison has been working with Joy (who taught here last year) in the beginner's classes during the day - we have several laptops so she spends a lot of time supervising the students playing fun language games designed for English children! Alison also has the excitement of the drama group in the evening, it seems to have evolved into more of a discussion forum, with some very well-informed and passionate individuals. They've talked about the problems of India and the Pakistan issue. My classes too contain some well-informed people. The difference in culture is huge, but I have had few problems with this so far.
As I type there are occasional pop-ups, most of them advertising BharatMatrimony, which is a way of arranging marriages online...
I've not got far out into Delhi much since I've been here but I did go into town on the first Saturday and meet my friend Tom who happened to be travelling through. I went into Delhi on the Metro and saw a huge mosque in Old Delhi - a remnant of Mughal India. The scale was incredible, and the whole building was crafted out of the pink-red Agra sandstone that characterises many Mughal buildings. Old Delhi is built on the remains of a lavish and wealthy Mughal city, the heart of that Empire in India. That city declined in the 1700s and throughout British rule, and is now submerged under a mixture of shabby modern buildings.
My asthma has settled down now, I was allergic to the matresses we had at first and was then allergic to the beds, but I'm now sleeping fine on a mat on the floor. We keep meaning to scrub our floor but the dirt is pretty much ingrained... it's a good excuse if you're not fastidious about tidiness.
The food has varied, I've had some delicious samozas and some excellent daal, but there's a certain spice they put in some of the curries that turns my stomach. In the last resort we have a jar of precious, precious marmite we brought with us from the uk...
We're staying in the top flat of the house next door to the house which hosts the project. The flat is in Yamuna Vihar, a lower middle-class area of north-western Delhi, across the river from New and Old Delhi and the historical and fashionable districts. We are above the main road so there is a constant hubub of noise starting with the daily march of the Jains to their temple at 5.30am, clanging their drums and chanting - the effect is a cross between a religious processsion and a very large toddler with a very large frying pan. One day we were lucky enough to see the arrival of a naked Jain - having cast off all worldly attachment, the naked Jain strode down the street as his creator made him, flanked by drummers, horn-blowers, boys on smartly decorated donkeys and women in co-ordinated saris. This was a sedate parade compared to the weddings - it's the start of wedding season here. In my evening class on Friday i had to shout over the din. The constant background noises are horns, jingles (from reversing cars - 'jingle bells' is popular), shouts, engines and, at night, stray dogs howling and fighting. Thankfully I bought some earplugs!
The flat has two rooms - a bedroom and a sitting room which doubles as a classroom for my classes during the day. My students are polite, earnest young Indians with an average age around 20. Most are male but I have a few women as well; some are from the local area but most come from the poorer areas, as the project is attempting to help young people who would otherwise be unable to learn English. I am teaching intermediate classes during the day and advanced in the evening (but they are actually all at a pretty similar level). Alison has been working with Joy (who taught here last year) in the beginner's classes during the day - we have several laptops so she spends a lot of time supervising the students playing fun language games designed for English children! Alison also has the excitement of the drama group in the evening, it seems to have evolved into more of a discussion forum, with some very well-informed and passionate individuals. They've talked about the problems of India and the Pakistan issue. My classes too contain some well-informed people. The difference in culture is huge, but I have had few problems with this so far.
As I type there are occasional pop-ups, most of them advertising BharatMatrimony, which is a way of arranging marriages online...
I've not got far out into Delhi much since I've been here but I did go into town on the first Saturday and meet my friend Tom who happened to be travelling through. I went into Delhi on the Metro and saw a huge mosque in Old Delhi - a remnant of Mughal India. The scale was incredible, and the whole building was crafted out of the pink-red Agra sandstone that characterises many Mughal buildings. Old Delhi is built on the remains of a lavish and wealthy Mughal city, the heart of that Empire in India. That city declined in the 1700s and throughout British rule, and is now submerged under a mixture of shabby modern buildings.
My asthma has settled down now, I was allergic to the matresses we had at first and was then allergic to the beds, but I'm now sleeping fine on a mat on the floor. We keep meaning to scrub our floor but the dirt is pretty much ingrained... it's a good excuse if you're not fastidious about tidiness.
The food has varied, I've had some delicious samozas and some excellent daal, but there's a certain spice they put in some of the curries that turns my stomach. In the last resort we have a jar of precious, precious marmite we brought with us from the uk...