Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Monday, 29 August 2011
And another photo
Monday, 15 August 2011
Kerala and things Keralan
Hi
So I have been in Kerala since mid June and in Thiruvalla (pronounced Tee - rue - vay - lah with the emphasis for the vay- lah and the tee - rue barely spoken) for 4 weeks so here are some observations on my time so far....
I don't know whether Kerala is more conservative than Sikkim or whether the "glow" of being in India has worn off but I'm definately having a harder time in Kerala than Sikkim. Anyhow Kerala feels very conservative, especially in the ordinary town that I am based in. Women are expected to know their place and keep to their place and I feel like screaming most of the time. The dress is very traditional - sarees for older women, salwar and kameez for teenagers and dresses for small girls. Small girls have short hair untill about 7 - 10 then they grow it. I have hardly seen a woman with short hair and when I do, I want to go up to her to congratulate her (but of course I don't). On the buses, the women sit at the front of the bus and the men at the back and never the two shall meet. Except on state buses, when the women sit at the back of the bus and the men sit at the front. I have rarely seen women working - most of them are in the homes being mothers and housewives. The shop keepers, waiters, cooks etc are all men. But some women do escape to university and study and get degrees and some must get some sort of professional job, at least before they get married but it's hard to come into contact with them. The teachers at the school where I work on Mondays and Tuesdays are a mixed group of young, single women, married women and a couple of older unmarried women - so some women who are married work..... nb no male teachers at the school therefore I suppose it is safe for the women to work there!
Kerala is also feels wealthier than Sikkim - and statistically it is so. It became a state in the 50s after independence and has been dominated by the communist party. So it has the highest literacy rate in the whole country - hurrah. Also it has big links with the Middle East with many men working there. It was explained to me that this happened because the Communist Party gave the land from the land owners to the people who actually worked the land. Therefore the landowners lost their source of income and looked around for another source of relatively easy income.... hence ties with the Middle East. My landlady's husband is working in Dubai and oneof the blokes from the milk shop is just here on holiday from Kuwait and is returning this week. The houses feel more substantial here and it's harder to spot "poorer" housing. I haven't seen anything yet which compares to the mud houses/lean-tos that I saw alot of in Sikkim, except for the some housing in the backwaters.
Whoever said that whatever happens I would lose some weight in India was entirely mistaken!! Keralans eat like there is no tomorrow - huge mountains of rice all eaten very quickly. And there is no hanging around after you have eaten enjoying a post-prandial chat and letting the food go down. It's jump up and let's get on with the next thing.... which in women's cases is the mountain of washing up. I am even getting into this mentality myself. After last night's nice meal of dahl, chappatti and beetroot thondor, I dashed up straight away to do the dishes, thinking "must crack on or the ants will be out again". I have learnt that the high incidence of diabetes here in India is due to the amount of rice people eat, as well as the amount of sugar. I'm hoping that I'm OK and shall be escaping soon and hopefully getting my blood sugar level down to a more acceptable level. In the meantime, I am blooming with a very rounded tummy, despite the amount of sweating I am doing in this incredibly humid climate.
I have TV in the flat (I can watch BBC world news and some crummy American channel in between adverts every 5 minutes) and I do have a cold water shower and a western toilet.... but I do miss my lovely room in Sikkim with the most amazing views, washing from a tap and using the squat toilet. I miss the kids in Sikkim. The children here are lovely but I don't really get to spend much time with them to really get to know them. In Sikkim I was working in the same small school 6 days a week for 2 months... here I do 1 session a week with 15 different groups in 6 different settings. And I won't really have a sense of the countryside here in Kerala, apart from the back waters which are truly lovely and very peaceful but feel worlds away from Thiruvalla with its crazy traffic and ribbon development between town centres. I don't get a sense of fields here or the lay of the land. The landscape is dominated by very tall tropical trees so no sense of the landscape unfolding in beautiful vistas.
Malayalam is very hard language to learn and you know I am not the most gifted linguist but I am having a stab at it. I can now say my name is Bee, how are you, I am fine, count 1 - 10 and say the colours. I am learning now to say "sit down and listen to me" which I realise is fairly crucial when working with children! I am also able to pronounce reasonably correctly the place names of the towns where I work so I don't need my written prompt card when I get on a bus.
Off to what is known as the supermarket but doesn't sell everything... but it does sell peanut butter and white sliced bread which is my stand-by snack food when all else fails or when I am too tired to cook.
cheers
bee
So I have been in Kerala since mid June and in Thiruvalla (pronounced Tee - rue - vay - lah with the emphasis for the vay- lah and the tee - rue barely spoken) for 4 weeks so here are some observations on my time so far....
I don't know whether Kerala is more conservative than Sikkim or whether the "glow" of being in India has worn off but I'm definately having a harder time in Kerala than Sikkim. Anyhow Kerala feels very conservative, especially in the ordinary town that I am based in. Women are expected to know their place and keep to their place and I feel like screaming most of the time. The dress is very traditional - sarees for older women, salwar and kameez for teenagers and dresses for small girls. Small girls have short hair untill about 7 - 10 then they grow it. I have hardly seen a woman with short hair and when I do, I want to go up to her to congratulate her (but of course I don't). On the buses, the women sit at the front of the bus and the men at the back and never the two shall meet. Except on state buses, when the women sit at the back of the bus and the men sit at the front. I have rarely seen women working - most of them are in the homes being mothers and housewives. The shop keepers, waiters, cooks etc are all men. But some women do escape to university and study and get degrees and some must get some sort of professional job, at least before they get married but it's hard to come into contact with them. The teachers at the school where I work on Mondays and Tuesdays are a mixed group of young, single women, married women and a couple of older unmarried women - so some women who are married work..... nb no male teachers at the school therefore I suppose it is safe for the women to work there!
Kerala is also feels wealthier than Sikkim - and statistically it is so. It became a state in the 50s after independence and has been dominated by the communist party. So it has the highest literacy rate in the whole country - hurrah. Also it has big links with the Middle East with many men working there. It was explained to me that this happened because the Communist Party gave the land from the land owners to the people who actually worked the land. Therefore the landowners lost their source of income and looked around for another source of relatively easy income.... hence ties with the Middle East. My landlady's husband is working in Dubai and oneof the blokes from the milk shop is just here on holiday from Kuwait and is returning this week. The houses feel more substantial here and it's harder to spot "poorer" housing. I haven't seen anything yet which compares to the mud houses/lean-tos that I saw alot of in Sikkim, except for the some housing in the backwaters.
Whoever said that whatever happens I would lose some weight in India was entirely mistaken!! Keralans eat like there is no tomorrow - huge mountains of rice all eaten very quickly. And there is no hanging around after you have eaten enjoying a post-prandial chat and letting the food go down. It's jump up and let's get on with the next thing.... which in women's cases is the mountain of washing up. I am even getting into this mentality myself. After last night's nice meal of dahl, chappatti and beetroot thondor, I dashed up straight away to do the dishes, thinking "must crack on or the ants will be out again". I have learnt that the high incidence of diabetes here in India is due to the amount of rice people eat, as well as the amount of sugar. I'm hoping that I'm OK and shall be escaping soon and hopefully getting my blood sugar level down to a more acceptable level. In the meantime, I am blooming with a very rounded tummy, despite the amount of sweating I am doing in this incredibly humid climate.
I have TV in the flat (I can watch BBC world news and some crummy American channel in between adverts every 5 minutes) and I do have a cold water shower and a western toilet.... but I do miss my lovely room in Sikkim with the most amazing views, washing from a tap and using the squat toilet. I miss the kids in Sikkim. The children here are lovely but I don't really get to spend much time with them to really get to know them. In Sikkim I was working in the same small school 6 days a week for 2 months... here I do 1 session a week with 15 different groups in 6 different settings. And I won't really have a sense of the countryside here in Kerala, apart from the back waters which are truly lovely and very peaceful but feel worlds away from Thiruvalla with its crazy traffic and ribbon development between town centres. I don't get a sense of fields here or the lay of the land. The landscape is dominated by very tall tropical trees so no sense of the landscape unfolding in beautiful vistas.
Malayalam is very hard language to learn and you know I am not the most gifted linguist but I am having a stab at it. I can now say my name is Bee, how are you, I am fine, count 1 - 10 and say the colours. I am learning now to say "sit down and listen to me" which I realise is fairly crucial when working with children! I am also able to pronounce reasonably correctly the place names of the towns where I work so I don't need my written prompt card when I get on a bus.
Off to what is known as the supermarket but doesn't sell everything... but it does sell peanut butter and white sliced bread which is my stand-by snack food when all else fails or when I am too tired to cook.
cheers
bee
Saturday, 13 August 2011
a day in the life of a volunteer
Hi everyone
It will take too much time to update you all with news and experiences from the yoga ashram and from my first few weeks here in Thiruvalla in Kerala so I thought that, just for now, I'll give you an idea of what sort of day I have had.... then I will do an overview when I have more energy.
It will take too much time to update you all with news and experiences from the yoga ashram and from my first few weeks here in Thiruvalla in Kerala so I thought that, just for now, I'll give you an idea of what sort of day I have had.... then I will do an overview when I have more energy.
Torrential rain overnight. Woke up several times and was very pleased into be in a flat, all warm and dry.... then discovered in the morning that the monsoon rain had got into the kitchen. Was jolly gateful that Kerala Link is renting the flat and it was not my problem! Cup of chai to start the day. I am getting seriously addicted to the stuff but in my defense, I would like to point out that I have not had an alcoholic drink in a very very long time. Breakfast was mango, red banana and grapes with yoghurt and honey - delicious. Keralan women are of course up at 5am and slaving over hot stoves to make loads of cooked breakfasts and also cooked tiffen(lunches) to take with you. I prefer a more Western apporach to breakfast! Normally I get to do a 20 min yoga routine but I needed to catch the bus this morning as it is Saturday - my Elanthoor day.
Caught the bus to Elanthoor, only there wasn't a direct bus and I had to change at Kozencherry. Buses here are old and battered with strict male/female divides. I got lucky and got a seat otherwise it is a painful stand as the drivers here drive very fast and then slam on the brakes. It's not easy to keep your balance and other people on the bus have had years of practice and I have had only 3 weeks. No windows on the bus so there is a nice breeze. When it rains the metal shutters come down over the window spaces and then I get anxious as I can't see when my stop is approaching. Fortunately no rain today so was able to spot my landmarks and nimbly jump off at the right spot. You have to be fairly agile to catch a bus - they don't stop very long at any of the stops and sometimes you find yourself getting on or off when the bus is still moving!
A short walk through the very small town that is Elanthoor took me to a half way home for women who have had (are still having) mental health issues. They are 7 of them and they were all waiting eagerly for me in the rec room. Today we were making pockets - hanging oblongs of materials with pockets sewn on them. Bet you didn't know that I am a sewing teacher! Amazing what you can knock up when you have to. Actually the pockets have caused me alot of stress as I had to find the material, get a tailor to cut it up into the right sizes, get the thread, needles, and pins. Needless to say my Malayalam (the local language) is not up to this.... The women had a good time (I think) and then it was time to play bingo. Yes, those years of Whitehawk and Moulsecoomb work with older people were not wasted!
I get lunch at the half way home - yippee - this means that I do not have to cook tonight! I am getting a tad jaded with rice. Yesterday I made masala dosa, which was a welcome change. Then up the hill to the girls hostel. There are 40 girls aged between 5 and 15 and during the weekday they all go to local educational institutions and then spend the rest of their time at the hostel. Their families can't keep them - often for financial reasons but sometimes because their father drinks and it is not safe for them to be at home. The incidence of male violence against women, especially in the family, is very high. And despitge the government controlling the sale of alcohol, the rate of male alcoholics is also high. The girls are always great fun to be with and I think I provide a bit of light relief on a Saturday afternoon. Today was making small books from a sheet of A4 paper then they drew pictures in their books. Then I taught them What time is it Mr Wolf which they all enjoyed. I can't cope with 40 girls at the same time (though I was expected to!) and I see them in two groups of 20 each which is still pretty large but at least I can manage them. Thank you, Lucy at Carlton Hill, for classroom management tips!
Fortunately got a direct bus back to Thiruvalla and picked up 3 packets of milk from the milk "shop" ie someone's house near the bus stop, crossed the road and picked up 6 eggs from the stall by the road and a couple of these funny doughnuts which are savoury and have chilli in them as I was in great need of a snack. Had a chat with the stall holder's sister who is visiting from Mumbai and is a retired teacher. Then back to the flat for a flop on the bed, munch of the doughnuts, slurp of another chai, before dashing out to the local internet cafe to write this blog, whilst being bitten alive by mossies. I need to go back to the flat very soon as I have a 6pm curfew which I am stretching to 7pm, having negotiated with my landlady who lives downstairs and who gets very worried if I am not home when it is dark. Also the Kerala link people ask us to keep to this too "for our own safety". I shall save you all from my diatribe on the fate of women in Indian society and sign off instead.
Will write again soon with news of the ashram and of general impressions of Kerala. And I will get to put up some photos before I leave!
Only two and a half weeks till I go to New Zealand.... golly gosh! And my other big news is that I have found a bar!!!!!!! I might even get inside it and have a drink before I leave.
cheers
bee
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