Salaam Baalak Walk

Today I went on a walk for my history class called Cities of Delhi lead by a ex-street kid who talked about life for street kids in Delhi. The walks are organized by a NGO called the Salaam Baalak Trust, which does a variety of cool things for the street kids. Our guide...whose name was Shakar I think...walked us through the New Delhi train station and surrounding neighborhood to show and tell us about the lives of Delhi street kids. He said a lot of the street kids in Delhi are runaways from rural areas, who leave for a variety of reasons: poverty, abuse, boredom, fantasies of city life they've seen on TV, etc. Our guide said he ran away from Bihar at age 12 because he'd gotten himself into gambling and drugs and realized that he was causing a lot of trouble and pain for his parents and didn't know a better way to turn his life around and stop troubling them (respect and love for parents is very profound here). Many kids, like him, show up at the New Delhi train station without much of a plan, but are picked up quickly by other street kids...or if you are a girl, probably kidnapped by a pimp (the number of runaway girls and street girls is a lot lower for this reason). The networking that happens between these children in an effort to get by is amazing. He said they have essentially informal business relationships with the juice vendors at the station: sometimes sleeping on top of their shacks, sometimes using them as a bank of sorts, sometimes giving them some of the spoils of their train car raids. They sometimes take the money stored at the juice vendors' place to pay police officers off so they don't get sent to the government shelter/prison. They sell old magazines to the media stands and know how to act blind and mute to avoid trouble when traveling on trains without tickets. Our guide said a lot of the kids would rather not go to a government shelter or with organizations like Salaam Baalak because the freedom they have on the streets is amazing and shelters make them study at certain times and bathe everyday! (He wouldn't go until he was told there was a TV he could watch; apparently many of the kids are enthralled with Bollywood). Our guide is now 20 and working on his MBA with dreams of being a Bollywood actor and has already been in a few short films. He's now back in touch with his parents and has a very good relationship with them (and they are quite proud that he's fluent in English and working his way through college). Needless to say, the achievements of some of the kids that go through Salaam Baalak are amazing. (We got to say hi to some of the boys at one of the Salaam Baalak shelters, they were enthusiastic and happy...I really wish I knew enough Hindi to talk to them.)
A word about Salaam Baalak:
Salaam Baalak persuades kids on the streets to come to their shelter and lets them choose whether or not they want to stay. Once there, they are first asked if there's any way they'd go home, if that is unsuccessful, they ask them about they dreams and desires and do their best to set them on that track. It's really an amazing organization. If you want to check out their website it's:
http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/

This one's for you pops...in some parts of the world they know clergy ought to be 'set apart.'
The beach in Galle, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, perhaps the Indian Ocean?
We went to an elephant orphanage in a place called Pinnewala (I think)...they were pretty cool, but it was kind of sad to see some of them chained up and the deformities some of them had from poachers.

I want KANDY!! (da daa da da da da)

Last week we had a break from our IES classes, so I hopped on a plane with my friend Parvoneh to visit her friend Will in a town called Kandy in Sri Lanka. Even if Sri Lanka had been a miserable place, I think I would have been satisified just by staying in a place called "Kandy," but fortunately it was more, as the postcards say, a taste of paradise. After a long day/night/morning of traveling, Parvoneh and I arrived in Kandy and found the hotel Will had booked for us. We honestly weren't expecting too much because we travel and stay on students' budgets, but our room was very nice. We had a balcony view of the Buddhist Temple of the Tooth, the lake in front of it, and the jungle all around. That alone was quite relaxing after buses, trains, and planes. And please ask me what the first thing I did in Kandy was =) haha, right, I ate candy (but that's only because I was starving and the only thing in the fridge at the hotel was pop and chocolate, so it was basically forced on me.) Anyway, Sri Lanka was beautiful. On the train from Colombo (on its west coast) to Kandy (kinda in the middle) we saw the terrain change from beach to marshy farm fields (everything was dripping in green) to jungle. It rained at least 10 times a day in light showers and drive-by downpours, but the rain cooled everything, so the weather there was fabulous (and I can't forget the wonderful lake breeze, which is so refreshing when one is used to Delhi). The people of Sri Lanka are very nice too, which caught us off guard because we are used to friendly people in Delhi, who are almost always up to something. After we let our guard down, we enjoyed their friendliness and hospitality. Probably the best thing we did there was visit a girls' orphanage that Will's study abroad group goes to every week. Basically we were told to just hang out with the girls and talk to them so they could practice their English. It was so much fun, the girls were around 12 or 13 and full of energy and enthusiasm. We discussed our favorite Bollywood heart throbs and played games...I was so sad that we had to tell them we weren't coming back even though everyone else would be. Nevertheless they were truly a delight and blessing. Everything else that was supercool is better told through photos...so I'll be trying to post those soon.
Now I'm back in Delhi almost sad that we have a 2 week break coming up at Ramjas because that means I won't get to see my friends there for quite a while. The timing is pretty good though since I have a test in one of my IES classes next week and some cookie baking lessons to schedule with my girl friends here that have never made chocolate chip cookies (which is a TRAGEDY!) Things here are starting to form into some kind of routine, which is nice, and the weather has actually cooled down for a few days. Manoj, one of our IES staffers, said it'll only stay cool if I believe it will...so I'm trying really hard to maintain faith and not let my conviction that Delhi never cools down win out. I can't really escape the feeling that I'm on some kind of extended vacation (even though I'm taking classes, etc), which kind of frustrates me now and then because I guess I feel like I should be accomplishing something significant, but I think I'm starting to appreciate the opportunity to enjoy experiencing India and the chance to relax and breathe.

Purani Dillee

Chandni Chowk area in Old Delhi. Old Delhi is quite distinct from the rest of Delhi. The streets are really narrow and crowded (this picture is of one of the wider, less congested streets...) and everything just kind of kept building on itself. That being said, it is very cool. Old Delhi is built on what used to Shajahanabad, a city that Shah Jahan built in the mid 1600s...but it was later pretty messed up by the British because the streets are narrow and twisty making them perfect for natives to escape foreign pursuers. The houses there used to be mostly havelis, which are basically houses with open space in the middle, open as in you can see the sky. They are sooo nice and seem quite a sanctuary because they are so quiet and cool compared to the bustle and sweat just outside their walls. The havelis were quite large meant to house extended families and had the open interior because back in the day women weren't exactly allowed to leave so they were allowed at least this space to be 'outside.' Now people have built in and around and over the havelis so the neighborhood is homes piled upon homes and great tangles and knots of electric wires (which makes you amazed that the electricity ever works...) We got to go on the roof of on of the homes, which was so cool because you can clearly just go from one roof/terrace to another so much so that you can go across streets and neighborhoods that way if you know where you are going. We went down one street call patli gali (literally 'thin gully') that was so thin that I wasn't sure my fat back pack would fit through...suffice to say, I'm glad we had a guide who grew up there or we would've easily gotten quite lost. (I can only imagine what fun it is for the kids there, sooo much mischief that could be done and crazy games that could be played. It really kind of reminded me of Aladdin). We didn't really eat anything from the 'chaats' (basically roadside food) there, but I guess that that's half the attraction, so I'll have to go back with someone that knows what the good stuff is; I think the parathas and mithais (sweets) are supposed to be amazing.

On a random note: I went to a Bible study Sunday night (which was quite good) where I ate meat for the first time in a long time; it was nice to be in the presence of other carnivores...I mean Christians.
the calm inside a haveli; this is actually a girls' school now

Soooo kuchi kuchi CUTE!

This morning the first thing I did after rubbing the remnants of sleep out of my eyes is wander outside onto our terrace. This is my usual routine because the weather is so nice in the morning and our terrace is the perfect place to watch the sunrise and planes take off (Indira Ghandhi airport isn't too far away). This morning I wandered to the back of the terrace to fold my laundry still hanging from the day before. When I had my pile of clothes I started walking back to the front, eyes still half-shut, but before I made it around the corner my eyes almost popped out of my head because they caught those of a monkey about 2 feet away from me and looking as if were going to pounce. Oh man did that wake me up! I admit it, I screamed bloody murder (which scared the monkey) and retreated. Turns out there were 4 monkeys (one of which was quite large) hanging out on the corner of the terrace...between me and the door into the apartment. I put my clothes back on the laundry machine and waited a good 5 minutes (who knows how long i could've stayed out there...) for them to wander further over on the terrace, then I grabbed a large piece of wood that I used to scare the monkeys when they saw me (they were chillin' by the door into the apartment by now) and said some Alleluias when I stepped back inside. And I used to think the little guys were so cute..
I need to get a better picture of these guys. The above are residents of Shimla, but they pop up all over Delhi too...

Tiranga (tri-color: rang=color)

Last night we went to a performance celebrating Indian Flag Day (August 31). Like many many things here, it was amazing and I cannot do it justice. They explained what the saffron, green, and white colors and blue Ashoka Chakra. To sum it up, I will quote Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (an Indian Vice President at one point time) via wikipedia,
"Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes renunciation of disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change."

To celebrate the flag, poetry was read and music played in 4 sections, one for each part of the flag. The poetry was in Hindi...so I could tell when he was using the progressive tense...but the meaning alluded me. Luckily, music is universal and "wvah!" (Hindi "wow!") was it amazing. There was a traditional singer, a guitarist (...probably not a guitar, but to my eyes it was), a flutist (again, American interpretation of what it was), a man playing a large, fat pot that looked like a piece of art, and several drummers of various kinds. The drums were my favorite. They made all kinds of sounds, including one like a huge drop of water falling into a pool. They made such energetic rhythms and their fingers moved soo quickly. The drummers' hands reminded me of the spider I was trying to kill in my bathroom yesterday morning because his fingers all moved separately and at an amazing pace...then suddenly would pause and you never knew what they would do next, so you could feel calm for a moment, then the movement starts again and with it, the excitement (since I enjoyed the drumming so much it made me regret having killed the spider...) I also enjoyed watching the man who played the pot-like instrument because his head bobbled up and down and around with the rhythms as if he himself were part of the instrument. Trianga definitly made me feel the joy of liberation and the hope of peace and good will.

some rambling thoughts follow...
Having the privilage of attending that celebration and just general talk about colonialism (because I am in Indian and it is a theme in a few of my classes) has really put into the forefront of my reality that freedom is still new and fresh in many places in the world (and of course, not a reality in others.) Globalization is happening, and it is fusing identities while thrusting them into the forefront. What does it mean to be Indian or Nigerian or Western? What is progress and who has the authority to dictate history? We have discussed such questions in the classrooms of my past, but being in a place that is itself living this debate really highlights that such questions are not history. They are now and they effect all of us.

Things that makes me laugh...language wise:
"Angali (pronounced sounds like "ugly") larki sundar hai." English:
"the next girl is beautiful" but to an english/hindi speaker sounds like "ugly girl is beautiful"

When I say things in Hindi my Indian friends often repeat what I say in English to confirm that that's what I meant to say. So here's my joke:
me: "Mai hasna pasand hai"
mera dost (my friend): "You like to laugh?"
me: "haahaahaa"
(haa means "yes" in Hindi)