Diwali

Diwali was on 17^th of October, and I am only writing about it now, 26^th of October. I have no idea when I will have time to put this on my blog, but you ought to get an idea of how time works around here. It does not exist; I don’t have time to do everything up to date. But this entry is not about the Indian concept of time, it is about Diwali.

Diwali is the festival of lights and the festival where you worship the god of money. It is a festival of lights because this one god, or rich dude (can’t really remember), came back home after abandoning his home because he lost some kind of war. Be aware though that this information might not be correct as I seem to have forgotten lots of the details. What you do on Diwali is that you go to your friends and give away candy, during the night you eat and shoot up firecrackers and fireworks. But before fireworks and dinner you pray, or do puja as they call it in India. We got to participate and it was really cool.

What we did is that we had to use the right hand ring finger to put some red sticky stuff on the forehead of the mini statues of the gods. I was too short and unable to reach the gods so I had to go short people style and throw it towards the gods. Then we would dip some kind of flower in what I guess was holy water and drip it on the gods. After that we would do a wavy action with our hand over some candles, and in the before saying a silent prayer we would spread leaves from a yellow flower over the gods. It was really cool, but I felt a bit weird doing it as well.

The fireworks in India are insane! They make so much sound and go absolutely everywhere. There were very little safety regulations, which was quite worrying. But Ankit has a big house and on top of his roof we got a nice view to all of the fireworks. One, which was really bad, was a small bomb. All it would do is make the biggest bang I had ever heard, followed by a ringing sound in your ear. NOT fun. But there were others which were really nice.

Dipti, Ankit's wife, helping her son lighting the firecracker

Dinner was extremely good, lots of Indian food. I love the food here because it has so much taste. We don’t eat meat though as most of the people in Kullu Valley are vegetarian. Quite ironic how Bendik who’s a vegetarian had to start eating meat for Western Sahara (Apparently all he eats there is camel meat) and I who do eat meat had to stop. But, surprisingly enough, I do not miss eating meat.

People also paint their floors, I don’t know why. But take a look at the picture, it is really cool.

We slept at the neighbouring family as kids they said that would be safest. We had no problems with that whatsoever, because the last few days before Diwali kids have been knocking on our door leaving firecrackers outside ready to go off as we open the door. Many of the kids here are such pranksters. But all in all, Diwali was a good experience. (Apart from when I got a bit of a firecracker right next to my eye. But no worries; my vision took no harm from it)

New Volunteers Have Arrived

Two Norwegian boys were supposed to arrive on the morning of Diwali, i.e. Saturday, 17^th of October. Friday, when we decide to go to Valentino’s to have a nice meal, Fiona gets a phone call from Aslak (from AC UWC) saying him and Alf (his Norwegian friend) are 3 hours away from Kullu. We’re then informed of their means of transportation which was that they got a ride from some nice people, and that they had been in the car for 12 hours already. With a car it should take approximately 9 hours from New Delhi to Kullu; so we get slightly worried thinking they are being kidnapped or something.

We call Ankit who says it should be okay, so we get curious to see if they’ll actually arrive in Kullu that night or not. Amazing how much drama the imagination of young minds can create. However, around 4 later I get a phone call from the boys saying they are in Kullu and need to know exactly where in Kullu they should go to come to Ankit’s. 15 minutes later we are all sitting outside Ankit’s house enjoying a bottle of wine. Aslak brought his guitar; we have already used it a lot at the blind school and the Bashing Orphanage.

On Saturday we celebrated Diwali, but I will post a separate blog about that. On Sunday, though, Fiona, Kitty, Eloise, Alf, Aslak and I went to Bashing so that Aslak and Alf could get a feel of the place as we will be very much involved there in the future. We had warned them that they children were quite loud and wild, but when we got there this was not the case. I don’t know if it was because the boys were there, or if the boy who ran around the most was sleeping; but we had quite the efficient sessions compared to last time.

Alf and I brought the youngest ones upstairs to practice some basic English. We had flash cards with different animals for the boys to learn. It was really fun, because one boy worked really hard and was so happy when he managed to remember the correct word. He also inspired another boy to try harder. The third one is more intelligent, so he would play at the same time as he was participating.

On Tuesday we all went to Kelheli (I think I finally found the correct spelling because this is how it said on a shop sign in Kelheli). We had bought a bed sheet and brought along some paint for the boys (remember how Kelheli is the orphanage with only boys?) to work with. We all made a twister game together with red, blue, green and yellow spots on the bed sheet. It was fun making it with them. We also did some skipping rope games. I think the Norwegian boys made an impact on the boys from the orphanage because there haven’t been any boys there for some years. This means that most of the boys staying there now haven’t had the experience of getting a visit from boy volunteers.

Henna – Mandhi

For special occasion the females decorate their hands, and sometimes their feet, with henna paint (Mandhi in Indian, note that I don’t know how to spell it). Nisha, Preety (the sisters from the neighbouring family) and Fiona did it on Eloise, Kitty and me one evening. It was really cool, and it stays on for about 2 weeks. We decided to sleep with the crisp on, apparently it stays on for a longer time, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant to sleep with. But hey; no pain no gain, right?

Kitty's and mine

Eloise's

The Other Foreigners in Kullu

Not that many tourists come to Kullu, most of them go to Manali to party and smoke up. This means that we are just about the only white people in Kullu. However, there is another big group of foreigners living here just at the end of Kullu; the yoga people. This group lives in a fenced up area which is, according to rumours, rather fancy. What they do is that they pay to go on a 6 months course to meditate and do yoga. Most of them are, for some weird reason, Canadians who believe they are yogis. Yogis are people who are on the best path man can be on, a rough explanation for you right there. But the ones who reside at this centre believe that they are superior people who do not bother to interact with the locals or anyone outside of their own community. Might sound a bit like how UWC students can be at times.

Anyways, when we go to the only Italian restaurant here; we always see some of them. Apparently, it is the only restaurant they go to. They all dress in the same style; sort of Jesus-like clothing, none of them talks to us, and whilst they think they’re behaving like people who’s had a revelation; we find them to be behaving like total asses to be frank.

So whenever locals talk with us they first ask if we are going to Manali, since we are not they just assume we are going to the yoga centre. So we tell them we are in Kullu to work at schools and orphanages and ask if they know Ankit Sood. Those who know think we are sluts who give Ankit a good time. Isn’t that just great? It makes me a bit ashamed of being white, but I take comfort in that most people know that we are here because of the project.

I have talked a bit with my mother lately and she has booked tickets to India! She is leaving Norway 15^th of November, and leaving India the 27^th of November. I am really excited because we are all going on a trek with Ankit further up in the Himalayas. I have a strong feeling that those days will be good days.

Kaleyli – We Went Alone

Fiona wasn’t feeling too well, so she stayed at the flat while Kitty, Eloise and I went to Kaleyli to do games and introduce First Aid. I must say it was quite exciting since it was the first time we were going without Fiona.

We walked up to the bus station trying to find a bus going to Kaleyli. Fiona had told us to take a bus to Bhuntar or Mandi. If we were to take the one to Bhuntar we had to change, so we thought it to be best to take one going to Mandi. The bus system in India works in a messy, but organised way. You find a person working on one of the buses and ask him if his bus is going to Kaleyli. If it doesn’t he will work his butt off to try and find the right one. So we got on the bus to Mandi and got to the boys orphanage.

Arriving at the orphanage, we got chai from the family who’s responsible and went down to get started with the boys. We began with some name games where you do your name and an action. But, you have to remember everyone’s name and action. It was a good ice breaker as the boys found it a bit embarrassing. To get more of the boys involved we decided to do a game where you have to organise yourself by height or by month of birthday without talking. This they found to be great fun. We also did so that the one with the biggest hands had to stand at one end of the line, and the one with the smallest hands had to stand on the other. They only had 20 seconds to do, so the first time they were talking a bit and messed up the order, but the second time they had gotten the hang of it.

After some pictionary we decided to move on to Firs Aid as it was getting rather late. First Aid was quite the challenge to introduce. We ended up just explaining that we were going to teach them First Aid as language was quite a barrier. We had made a poster with drawings and words, but we realised we had to act it out. Eloise started fake-hitting Kitty, and Kitty would pretend to be in pain. We asked the boys what they would do. They answered that one would punch, and some said they would cry. Which sort of made sense, but it wasn’t until Eloise used to word ‘doctor’ that it all made sense. Such a simple word, but so easy to forget when one is caught up in one’s own plans. But they boys really enjoyed the First Aid introduction, so hopefully it will be something we’ll be able to carry out properly. We will need to find someone who can help translate a bit though.

Bashing

One of the orphanages situated right outside Kullu is called Bashing. Here reside about 12 children together with a 19 year old girl. There are 2 girls aged 12 and 13, and the rest are boys. The house they live in has a small bedroom for the boys without any beds, a common room which is turned into a bedroom for the girls during the night, a small kitchen where an old woman who comes during the day cooks, and a bathroom which I have not dared to take a look at. The children do not own much clothing and there is no heating or warm blanket to keep them warm during these winter nights.

When we got there I was shocked to see the state of their living situation. Especially since the orphanages we already had visited had been in a decent shape. We went in to the common room trying to do name games which worked out all right, but as they got comfortable with us things got out of control. It was when we were doing a writing game where we were divided into two teams that the children got rather noisy. I decided to take the little ones outside as they weren’t able to concentrate really well, but soon everyone came out and we could tell that the lack of a proper parental role model had influenced the children strongly. They had no discipline whatsoever. We would try to organise games again, but they would just run around trying to jump on our backs. When they played with each other, they played violently. It even got to the point where they would strangle each other for fun. I got so angry that I told that that it was not okay, but they would just reply that they were only playing. But I was now on a mission and every time I saw one kid hitting or strangling the other I put on a strict face and tell them to play nicely. It seemed to work, or; at least when I was looking at them they would stop.

Before leaving, one of the boys got knocked out. In First Aid terms he was only reacting to pain in the beginning, but his breathing was all right. I put some water on his lips and some on his head after putting him in recovery position. I kept on pinching his ears and pressing my nail underneath his to see if there was any improvement. Fortunately he reacted more and more strongly, and soon he made facial movements when hearing the sound of our voice. The girl who lives there had until that point only been there for two weeks and did not know much about how to take care of them, and in case of an emergency like this one; she would not know how to react. Their situation is very worrying. Also because right next door there are some boys living renting out small huts where people can party and smoke up. (This was not a term I knew very well before, but to smoke up basically means to get high on drugs) When those boys are bored they pick on the kids and just disturb their daily life. If anyone wanted they could just walk right in to the children since security was not on its best.

This is orphanage is run by a private organisation, and not the government. The one at Kelheli is government run and the standard there is much, much more better. We want the standard at Bashing to improve to the standard of Vashisht and Kelheli, so we are going to help set up a new home for them. This will require much funding and I hope that you are all willing to help on this. what is not much money for you; is a lot of money in India.

Manali

It’s been a while since I’ve written now, but just after our hike we went to Manali to visit Mrs Sundershana’s orphanage and Vashist orphanage. We arrived during twilight and went to see a Buddhist temple before going to Mrs Sundershana’s, it was pretty nice but as I had to pay to take pictures I didn’t feel like it. By the time we arrived at Mrs Sundershana’s it was very dark, almost a bit scary. The orphanage was nice, but apparently Mrs Sundershana has started to take advantage of the situation. The children are not allowed to leave the house, teachers come to them to give lessons, and Mrs Sundershana is not to be disturbed unless there’s something extremely important.

After leaving, we stayed for about 20 minutes as we had to go to Vashist as well before it got too late, we felt that

we should definitively invest some of our time at Mrs Sundershana’s. Arriving at Vashist the children are busy preparing for Diwali; the festival of lights. We got some tea and started interacting with the children. They are so well behaved and easy to get along with. I sat with a group of boys and we started making mini

cricket out of play dough. It was great fun. The lady at Vashist gave us dinner and insisted on us staying the night over because, apparently, a grizzly bear was hanging around their house and she didn’t want us to go to a hotel in the dark. We had been extremely lucky not to meet it because when one of the older boys was going to shut the gate the bear was trying to get in; talk about action!

Kitty, Eloise, Fiona and I got the room where the older girls were sleeping. There were enough beds for all, but they insisted on us having the room alone. After getting ready for bed Fiona mentions how last time her and Anja (her sister) stayed there a massive spider lived in the room. I with my fear of spiders did not like this at all. The Hindus believe in reincarnation and any living being could be their late grandmother or whatever. I can’t remember who screamed, but the spider had not moved out. On the wall between the beds resides a big black spider! We all panic for a while until I say that we have to kill it. Fiona seems to catch on that I am seriously afraid of this spider and climbs on one of the bed with a shoe ready to kill it. But trying to kill a spider which is about the size of your hand when it has its legs spread out, and is rather thick, isn’t great fun when the ‘weapon’ you hold in your hand is a crock

(the type of shoes) about size 38. The spider moves further away and we try to find a bigger thing to kill it with. At one of the desks there’s a Spiderman board the size of an A4 paper saying Best of Luck. How ironic, but I grab it saying we can use that one giving my weird comments I usually do when I panic so that people won’t be so freaked out by it. I don’t know if it helps, but it is a habit I have which I can’t seem to control. Anyways, the spider is getting close to a hole in the wall and we realise we have to kill it before it gets in there because then it might come back during the night.

Fiona is still on the bed; they have bunk beds, and is now unable to reach it. We all close in on the wall trying to figure out what to do. Suddenly the spider falls off the wall, Kitty screams and runs to the back of the room jumping up on a table. Eloise is not far behind her, and I am about to follow as well. I see the spider running towards one of the beds and I think Shit, it will get away and then we won’t be able to kill it, so I smack the Spiderman thingy on the floor and luckily I hit the spider. I start jumping up and down having the creeps all over my body. I tell the other that I hit it and Fiona comes down from the bed and uses the crock to smash the Spiderman thingy properly down on the floor. We can hear this crunching sound which disgusts us, but also reassures us that the spider is dead. Oh m

y god I am SO relieved, but still a bit shaky. We sit and talk for a bit, and plan games we can do with the kids for the next morning. Going to bed I slept in the one the spider had been the closest to, and I was sure I was going to have night mares about that creepy bastard. Surprisingly I woke up several times during the night because of bad dreams about cows. I mean, how retarded is that?

At 5.45 AM we wake up, get chai and go out with the orphanage. There is a local bath with steaming hot water. I have never felt so white before in my entire life, but it was definitely

worth the warm bath. We go back to Vashist and the view is beautiful. Manali is higher up than Kullu, so some of the mountains had snow on the peaks. We start playing games with the kids, and after getting breakfast we take the bus back to Kullu. We had to leave a lot earlier because we were invited to a show one of the English schools was having. The show was nice, but it lasted for so long so we left after 2 hours and 30 minutes. Apparently it lasted for about 4-5 hours…

Outside the place we took a bath

Our First Hike in India

At 8.30 Eloise, Kitty, Fiona and I have finished our chai (India tea) and are ready for hiking. It is quite steep, but it gives you the feel of actually getting higher every 10th minute. As we didn’t know the way, we asked someone for the best path. They said we could either take the road (which would take us many, many hours) or we could take a short cut we could not miss the path of. Seeing as we were leaving for Manali later, we figured the short cut was the best idea.

We found the short cut and started walking. After a while you get back on the road again and should find the path again a bit further along the road. We found something which could resemble of a path and took a chance. It was quite the climb with loose rocks making it more of a challenge. Half way I decided to go where there were more grass and fewer rocks. The others decided to stay on the path. I was lucky because the bundles of plants gave me a better grip and it made it easier to get up faster. About 7 metres away the others were struggling. Suddenly Eloise screams out as we hear rocks falling down. Kitty was unlucky and some of the bigger stones were falling down towards Eloise as she was climbing. Fiona who was on safer ground tried to go back again to help Kitty. It was quite the thrill as they all stood on unstable ground and if Kitty would fall, Eloise would be screwed. Fortunately Kitty gets up to Fiona safely, and so does Eloise.

Our rocky climb

Calming down after the a bit too exciting climb

I was so glad I had chosen the other way, but the worst part was that I couldn’t get towards them fast enough to be able to help very much. I could only contribute with encouraging words and advice. We were all quite relieved when we got up to the road. The path had a clear continuance from here and after drinking some water and calming our nerves down we went back on again. As we got closer to the top this strong smell hit us. We were surrounded by marihuana plants all over. Man, did that smell intense! It made me realise how big the drug business must be in India as it is so easily available since it grows wildly all over the mountains.

At the top we visited the temple and a guy who served it gave us blessings and some holy food. It was very sweet so we hid the left over in my back pack and threw it out. I am guessing that by now some animal has eaten it. Lucky bastard, not every day it gets holy food. I bet the other animals are jealous.

It took us about 2 hours and 30 minutes to climb up, and since we didn’t want to go down the same way and the road would take too long; we got a guy to call for a rickshaw for us to take us down. It was a really nice trip down; the view was beautiful and the air was fresh.

Inside the temple

The view from the top looking down at Kullu Valley

The Caste System; its Lungs are Breathing and its Heart is Beating

Kullu is quite a traditional town according to Ankit. The caste system is very much in practice, and this surprised me a bit (but not that much) only because our chemistry teacher Ashok had told me in person that the caste system is no longer in practice. My human rights teacher Narender said it was in practice in very rural areas. Kullu is not in a very rural area not is it in a big city, so I expected it to value traditions, but I thought the caste system was getting out of Kullu’s system. But how more wrong could I be?

At the Kaleyli Orphanage for boys, we are going to help organize the personal information about the boys. First their names are to be noted, then their caste. Their caste is the second most important thing it hit me. You could be the kindest person in the world, but if you were a Dalit (casteless), ther isn’t much hope for you. In one way I am looking forward to start organizing their personal information because I will learn more about the traditional Indian society, and I will truly see for myself the caste system. On the other hand, though, it disgusts me that I have to classify the boys by caste. I feel like if I don’t protest against this it will be like I accept it. But things are different in India, especially in Kullu. I can’t just protest against a few thousand years of tradition, especially not as one of the few foreigners here. The only other foreigners are staying at this meditation place in Kullu where you stay for 6 months. Apparently a lot of Canadians go there, but they don’t interact much with the local community or go too far away from the meditation centre. It is supposed it be a rather big area that they have; we saw some when we went to the Italian restaurant. It is just nearby there.

But back to the issue we were talking about; the caste system. When it comes to marriage it is pretty much the same; you should marry someone from the same caste and it is all arranged by the parents. A love marriage (a marriage where you marry someone because you love the person) is a scandal! You can’t just love some one, you have to learn to love someone; and the only way to do that is through marriage. I am not so surprised, but deep inside of me it pisses me off. Even though I try not to show it because I don’t want to insult the local people, especially not since many of them are so friendly to me.

However, it is not like this all over India, but it is very much a reality in Kullu and there are many places in India similar to Kullu. I am so glad to have grown up in Norway where I don’t have to be dominated by the husband. The other day there was a day where the married woman was only allowed to fast and pray. She had to wear completely new clothes and new make-up. First, the mother at our neighbouring family said she had the day off. We saw this event as a rather positive thing, but when Fiona told us it was done for the health of the husband, we had quite a different opinion on the matter. There is of course no such day where the husband does the same for his wife.

8th of October

On 6th of October I bought an Indian sim card. Per this very moment it is not working. Apparently I was lucky enough to buy from a company that was having trouble all over the Himachal Pradesh region. But, determined as I sometimes can be I walked back to the cell phone shop (now my second home here because I spend so much time there) where I asked them to fix it for me. Indians are very helpful, so the guy has been working his butt off to locate the problem, get in touch with the company and explaining everything to me. Supposedly it is going to be up running by tomorrow evening.

Today I have been hanging out at the cell phone shop, doing some laundry, trying to tidy up where I sleep and stuff like that. Nothing exciting really, but we went to the only Italian restaurant in town and we had garlic bread with tomatoes and stuff, pizza, soda, some fancy stuff I can’t remember the name of, and warm apple pie. It was like a small feast and we only paid 625 rupees. Which is approximately 75 kroner, I love India! That very same meal would have cost well over 1000 NOK in Norway.

These past days we have been hanging out at the blind school a bit and it has been really nice. The children there are very eager to speak English. We worked with the youngest ones who are 3-7 years old. When they are unsure of how to express themselves in English, they confide in each other to find the right sentences and words. It always makes me have to learn some Hindi. I only know a few words, but pani = water and Ma = me (I must add that I have no idea how to spell these words!).

After a while you forget that you are working with blind children and you say stuff like ‘look at this’ and when you can’t see something that is just in front of you, you find yourself saying ‘gosh, I must be blind’ Those moments are a bit embarrassing, but they usually don’t pay attention to it. We played some games with them while we were there. We had clapping games, ring games and gave them stuff they could make shapes out of. We would ask them to make a shape and they greet the challenge. One boy in particular was very keen on this. I asked him to make a heart. He had been so fast at the other shapes I had asked him to make, but this one was a real hassle for him. Then it occurred to me that he might not know the shape of a heart, so I drew it on his arm to help him. I couldn’t be more than 6 I think, but you never know; some of these Indian are quite short for their age. Anyways, he kept on struggling making the heart, so I made one that he could feel his way around and before you knew it he was on the right track. But he didn’t quite get the top of the heart where it goes a bit down. Suddenly the language we spoke was in our hands, me guiding his hands over my heart so that he could feel the shape and then over his heart so that he felt what part was missing. We had to do it a couple of times, but he managed. I showed him that now, our hearts were the same shape and the proudest smile came on his face. I could even see it in his eyes even though he was blind. I never expected a blind person to express such emotion through his, or hers for that matter, eyes as they could not see with them. It was a good moment.

Tomorrow we (Fiona, Kitty, Eloise and I) are going to Manali to visit some of the schools and orphanages there. It is about an hour and 30 minutes away from Kullu. We’ll stay at a hotel and come back on Saturday, because tomorrow morning we are going on a hike to one of the mountain tops. We’ll be able to see all of Kullu and probably more. Fiona said she heard something about a temple being at the top. I’m really excited about it, but it is going to be very steep. I’ll bring my camera and take some pictures J

Day 4

Today Kitty is the one who is ill. I feel really bad for her because she has fever and everything. So Eloise, Fiona and I went up to the blind school because they are singing for some important man who is coming to Kullu. Afterwards we went to get something to eat which was really good bacuse I was hungry. But unfortunately my stomach didn’t like what I ate that much. Probably shouldn’t have had that banana milkshake… Stupid me. But it went all right.
Then, since today was the last day of the festival of the gods, we went to see all the gods gather at the fair before they would go back to wherever they came from. It was really crowded, and apparently one the gods come running at you, you have to move because people are apparently really scared of them. And that was so insane, because we were standing in the middle of this huge crowd, suddenly a god comes running and we just have to run to the side and try to stick together so that we don’t lose each other. It was a lot of fun, but a bit tiring as well. There are always a lot of people everywhere in India, and never silent.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to take any pictures, but the gods where colourful sculptures carried around by local people. They did not control the god, because it had a spirit of its own. So wherever the god wanted to go, the ones carrying it were forced to follow.
Back at our place we started watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but stopped in the middle of it because we were invited for dinner at the neighbouring family again. The food was so good; Eloise, Kitty and I realized we need to learn Indian cooking. When we got back again we finished the movie before going to bed. And for tomorrow we invited the girls to come over to watch a movie and eat some pasta with us. I think it will be a lot of fun. But first, at 14.00 Fiona, Eloise, Kitty and I are going to the blind school.

Day 3

Plan of the day: meet Pretti (pronounced as in pretty) and go up to the fair where we would meet Neesha. Go to Kaleyli orphanage and then to the blind school to see the kids perform. We will be working at the blind school as well during our stay.

At the fair we took one of the things that look like London Eye, just way smaller. It was the first time I had been on one of those and it went really fast and kept on going for so long! Unfortunately I got sick and threw up, but I couldn’t spit it out because then I would only hit people. So we tried to signal that we wanted to get off, it took some time, but we finally got down. Having puke in your mouth is not great fun, and it was really warm as well so things got twice as worse. I felt so bad that I had to go back home together with Neesha and Pretti, whilst the others went to the orphanage and the blind school.

I slept for about 4-5 hours and then started writing my blog. I felt a lot better when the others came back, but was really jealous because I wanted to go with them. They had a great time and the show had been a lot of fun. The girls had a warm shower and then we watched a movie in the double bed; What a Girl Wants. It was nice to watch a really cheesy, girly movie, but a bit strange as we heard lots of Indian sounds outside. By Indian sounds I mean Bollywood music, people talking, cars/scooters driving around, horns blowing etc.

Day 2

Today all three of us took a cold shower and we went with Fiona to the fair and then to visit one of the orphanages. It is an all boys orphanage at Kaleyli just outside Bhuntar. We got to meet the family which was in charge and talked with them about when it suited them that we could come and what sorts of stuff we wanted to do with the boys, and what requests they had. On Sundays and every second Saturday we can come and teach the boys how to use the computer. The orphanage was donated one by some electronics company, it is quite fancy actually! During the weekdays we can do what we feel like as long as it is after 16.30. We were thinking of continuing the English teaching that’s been going on, have some activities and teach them some basic first aid skills.
After having tea with the family (Indian tea is really good by the way!), we played football with the boys. That was really fun, but after a while we realized we had to start a new game. Some of them lose interest because it is usually the same who has the ball. We played Dodge ball and that was a major hit. The boys were polite always calling us ma’am (but that was probably because they didn’t remember our names…), and including us in the game even though we were the ones arranging it. I am really looking forward to working there.
During the evening we were invited to eat with the family Fiona is staying with. They practically live next door, and it seems they always have contact with the volunteers who stay here. The family consisted of mother, father, oldest daughter who is 20 (Her name is Djoti, but I am unsure of how to spell it, as with all the girls), Neesha who is 18, Pretti (16), and Asta (3). All the girls, except Asta, are sewing ladies and they make the most beautiful saris, trousers and shirts. It was cool to eat Indian food made by an Indian family. We had chipati, vegetables, rice and some sort of sour cream. At first we were a bit sceptic at what to do as we were 1. sitting on the bed, 2. didn’t have a knife or a fork (but we did have a spoon in the bowl of sour cream) and 3. none of the others had their food. Apparently it is Indian tradition for the guests to eat firsts. But then Fiona joined us and we just copied her. You just use the chipati (bread) as your cutlery. And we could use the spoon as well. It was really good we got tea afterwards.
The Girls in the family loves playing card games, so we played for 1-2 hours and it was a lot of fun. They seem to be really close, and the family is such a lovely one. We came back around 22.30, so I read a bit in my book before going to bed. My Sister’s Keeper is really good and nice to read when one is in India so that not everything one does has something to do with India.

Day 1

After arriving I get tea and Kitty and Eloise are pretty tired as well, so we sleep for a bit. We live in a flat that has one bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The bedroom has a double bed so Kitty and Eloise shares that one, the living room as a bed, a dining table with room for 4 people and a small table. The kitchen has a gas stove and a small cupboard. Now, the interesting part; the bathroom. I expected it to only be a whole in the ground, but there’s actually a western toilet there. Only that it doesn’t work. There is a whole in the ground, but it looks like a toilet. Check out the picture and you’ll see what I mean. There is no shower, but we have loads of buckets with water in there. We were also thinking of making a shower, all we need is two buckets and a hose.

Our dinner this day was with Ankit. We had pizza at a place just around the corner. It was so good because their spices gave such a nice taste to it (not the spicy ones though). Ankit was really nice, I was so surprised because I imagined him to be an old man close to 60 or something, but he was actually 32 and quite fresh.


But we need some facts about Kullu; it is the valley of gods and has 365 different gods. At the moment the festival of gods are on and it’s ending on Sunday. Because of this there’s a show every evening and Fiona took us to one this evening. There were lots of Hindu songs and dances. The dances were really nice, some of them a bit ridiculous, but most of them cool. It was nice to see some traditional ones as well. After a while it got a bit tiresome, it lasted for a really long time. But then, to shake things up a Russian group had come to perform. That was insanely awesome, they dances ballet, but in a fast tempo, almost circus like. It was fun to see, but when the Russians were done we were tired and decided to leave.

My bed is right next to the door, so I was a bit scared because there are so many sounds, and loud sounds, in India. Every minute I thought someone were breaking an entry or something. But fortunately I had my ear plugs and suddenly I was really tired and I thought I was back home at the countryside where the only sound is coming from the neighbour’s sheep.

Travelling to India

As I get up early morning Tuesday at 01.45 I am done packing and ready to go to India. I eat some breakfast drink some apple juice I believe it was, and brush my teeth. My mother and I leave at 02.30 and my journey has begun. Strangely enough we do not meet a single moose, but perhaps she saw one on the way back from the airport.

After an hour or so of driving my mother gets tired so we decide to swap seats. Driving goes well because I only have to follow the car in front of me, we are driving where the roads have been temporarily changed so that there will be room for the new ones. It is first when we get out of there that I realize I need glasses! I knew that after the IB exams my vision was a bit poorer, but it had improved a bit over the summer. So I decided not to go ahead and do something about it. I hadn’t been driving at night before at unfamiliar roads. So when I was going to see the speed limit sign I couldn’t read it before about 3 meters away from it or so! I found it to be a bit frightening, but figured I just had to slow down instead. My mother was sleeping so I didn’t want to wake her up. Who knows; maybe she would have panicked or gotten angry that I didn’t do something about it sooner. It was best to let her sleep so that she wouldn’t have a bad start. It could have messed up the entire day for her for all I know.

Anyways, my first plane left at 07.00 to Copenhagen and I got to sleep one hour before boarding. I arrived at Copenhagen after one hour of travelling and sleep. My next plane which was going to Istanbul wasn’t leaving until 12.10, so I realized I needed to get creative. Fortunately for me, the airport was big and had many shops and stuff. I get to buy some adapters at Expert and at a kiosk I bought a book. I hadn’t been able to see My Sister’s Keeper yet, and when I saw it was a book as well I though ‘If I can’t see it; why not read it?’ According to Kitty, the book is much better than the movie. So lucky me ;)

On my flight to Istanbul I slept, read a bit, filled out some health form and got dinner! That was really nice because I was hungry and didn’t feel like eating my packed lunch! I had some chicken and a really good piece of apple cake. Yummy! Arriving in Istanbul I could go right to transfer. The waiting area was huge! There were these massive stuff all over, an own eating lounge, a world lounge (very disappointing because all it had was Starbucks who only accepted Turkish money!), and other types of lounges which I can’t really define. By then I was really tired and had a low blood sugar level. I needed to get some energy so I bought an ice tea (couldn’t find coke) and a chocolate bar. I was good to go again.

The plane to India was massive; I’ve never been on a plane like that before! A boy aged 22 or so sat next to me. He had been in Turkey because of a Take won do tournament. He talked a lot and ended up giving me his mobile number. He asked if he could get mine; I said I only had a Norwegian one and that I could only use it for emergencies. Then he asked if I used internet. I just said I only used my email for business purposes only and smiled and laughed a bit. He thought I was some stupid girl who had no idea how to use a computer and right there and then I did not mind. He wasn’t disgusting or mean or anything it is just that he asked if we could be good friends, and the last time a stranger asked me that he wanted to be me to be his girlfriend. So I decided not to take any chances.

At 03.10 we landed (the plane left at 18.45) and I had slept, listened to some music and gotten a second dinner! Always nice to get food, saves me money. It took me two hours to get through the customs and the security checks and all that. But that was only because there were so many people there. Now I only had to wait approximately 12 hours for Kaka Sardirgi to pick me up. He is a friend of Panki who is Ankit’s brother. Ankit is the local co-ordinator in Kullu for the project. So what on earth was I going to do, because the airport only had a sitting lounge and a small café. Lucky as I am my mother had bought me a netting to put around my backpack which I could hook up to wherever so that nothing could get stolen from it. So with my backpack next to me and the small one in my lap I fell asleep feeling quite safely. But I must admit that it wasn’t until I saw another western looking girl sleeping that I dared to do it. I slept and slept and slept. The only times I woke up was when I needed to use the toilet. Apparently you are not supposed to go in and out of the entrance hall that much, so when I was going back in again the only guard with a gun stopped me. I was so scared! He asked who I was and what I was doing. I was so tired as well, so I just smiled and said I was from Norway waiting for a guy I had an appointment to pick me up. He looked at me saying ‘okay’, so I just added ‘so I’ll just wait here until 15.30 if you don’t mind.’ Let me add that 15.30 weren’t until 8 hours ahead! But he smiled back and said okay. I had a new friend and he had a gun. If I got into any trouble I knew just where to go. So I continued sleeping, it is an amazing way of making time fly.

16.00: Panki’s friend is still not here so I go to the police/taxi office to order a pre paid taxi. My bus to Kullu leaves at 17.30 and I should be there at least 15 minutes before departure. I get in and a young taxi driver takes me to New Delhi. It takes quite a lot of time; he asks me what Cannaught place is. Uuuh, he doesn’t know? It is where I am taking the bus from, stupid! So I get stereotypical and think he’s going to kidnap me and sell me to some disgusting old guy who’s in the trafficking business. Fortunately he did not, but as he doesn’t know where it is; I show him my bus ticket so he can get a more accurate address. We are going to Janpath Road, but it doesn’t help because he can’ fin Janpath Road even though I told him that the sign said to take to right, not left. Thank god I was being the map reader for my mother when we were visiting Mia in France! He says the address is unclear (stupid!) and that I have to go off right now (This is where I want to cry because I have no idea how far away Janpath Road is). Instead I get angry that he’s got the guts to do so. So I say ‘I paid for you to bring me to Cannaught place, Janpath Road; so you must bring me there!’ The stupid taxi driver, who took pictures of me while driving, says ‘no, unclear address’ I try to explain to him about the sign, but since he doesn’t want to hear I tell him to ask somebody for the way. Fortunately he does, but no one can help him. Then he looks at the ticket and sees some phone numbers to the bus organization. He calls them for directions and fortunately takes me to the right place. I didn’t have any network on my phone because Telenor doesn’t have cover in India.

Here I ask all sorts of people for help to find out exactly where the bus leaves from and in doing so I meet Kitty and Eloise, the two girls I am staying with in Kullu! But we have managed to book different buses so we only saw each other for like 5 minutes. But at least someone now knew I was alive; it was a breath of fresh air. People in New Delhi are quite helpful, everyone got me in the right direction and I found my bus. On the way I also saw my first wild monkey; imagine that; in the middle of New Delhi!

The bus ride took about 14 hours, but I slept a lot on the road. If you are going to India; bring earplugs so that you can shut out all sound. The Indians love to blow the horns on their cars. It is crazy, but I think it is a part of their driving system as well. Around sunrise I wake up and we are up in the mountains and I must say it is beautiful! When the bus driver told me we were in Kullu, I got off and found the nearest phone I could use. I was told to go to Sidarth Hotel, and Fiona (the volunteer who’s already here) would meet me there. She said I should get hold of a rickshaw and they would take me there. I, who had no idea what a rickshaw was just said all right and started looking for one. Strangely enough, I found the so called bus station. It is just a place where all the buses leave from, but here is no office or anything. They just shout out where they are headed to and people get on. I asked some people if they knew where Sidarth Hotel was, but they had never heard of it. The said I must be meaning Shandya Palace Hotel. Seeing as I was really tired and the connection was bad on the phone, I could have heard wrong. So they show me what a rickshaw is, it is this really small taxi which is really cheap. I’ll take a picture of it soon. Arriving at Shandya Hotel I get to borrow the phone and call Fiona, apparently I have the wrong hotel and it is only when I ask a police officer that I realize I am at the WRONG place. I am not in Kullu but in Bunthar, the neighbouring town. The policeman grabs a rickshaw for me and he takes me to the bus station where I am told what bus to take to Kullu. When I get off the bus, I grab the first rickshaw and ask him if he knows where Sidarth Hotel. Guess what; he does!! I get in and at Sidarth Hotel, Fiona is waiting for me. I am so happy and proud not only because I managed to find the place in the end, but because I didn’t panic (even though I wanted to), and I didn’t get kidnapped!

What is this blog about?

This blog will be written by Kristina Miklavic, a graduate from RCNUWC'09, detailing her stay in India.

I will spend around 4 months in Kullu Valley volunteering at orphanages and schools. Every now and then I will post some pictures and some entries sharing my experiences.

Hope you will find This blog helpful if you are travelling to India, interesting to read if you are someone I know (or someone I do not know)

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