A Local Fishing Village

This morning we drove to a fishing village, where we visited local fisherman who survived the tsunami of December 2004. As we all know, the damage that the tsunami caused was rampant throughout Southern Asia, and the Indian West Coast. Driving over to a village where the tsunami had hit was a excellent experience, where we were able to see the construction of new houses and new boats that replaced the old after the tsunami hit. There were copious foundations, donations and fund-raisers that went into helping the victims of the tsunami, and their philanthropy was evident throughout this village.

Building their new houses further away from the ocean allowed the fisherman to be slightly safer from rises in sea level, and thus protect their lives. The boats line the shore, waiting to be used for fishing. It is amazing to see all the boats waiting for their owners to come use them, as they idle in the surf.

One group of fisherman actually took their boat out into the ocean while we were there, which settled my curiosity for how they were able to get the boats over the breaking of the waves. With a long shaft attached to the engine, the propeller is about 4 feet away from the actual boat, which allows them to keep it at an angle for the lesser depths.

After spending some time on the beach, where we talked with our guide about the fisherman’s lifestyles and photographed the boats, we moved on to see the new houses that were built. Exchanging thatch for concrete, the new houses seemed able to withstand a potential disaster with more ease.

We said good-bye to the fishing village and headed back to Pondicherry, where we visited a paper-making factory. One that focused on recyclables for the production of fine papers, this factory was incredibly organized and well managed to provide the best experience for all two-hundred of its employees. We toured around the entire factory, and went through the process of the recycled materials all the way to the photo album that I bought in the store.

From there, we made our way to Pondicherry Museum. On the way, we stopped and did something that I was ecstatic about. We visited a temple, which had a sacred (live) elephant outside. The elephant would bless each person who gave it some money (ironic). All you had to do was put money in its trunk and kneel down and it would tap your head with its trunk. (See the video of me getting blessed by the elephant!) As a huge fan of elephants, this was really fun!

The Pondicherry Museum was housed in a old-French Colonel’s house, which was situated next to the current governor’s house. It had some beautiful artifacts and works of art, which were extremely old. In one case, there was fossilized wood that was twenty million years old!

We then had lunch at the Promenade, a hotel near the ocean in the “white quarter” of the old-French settlement of Pondicherry.

In the afternoon, we browsed local stores and rested up for tomorrow.

I have been promised an elephant ride, so I desperately hope that will be reported tomorrow! We shall see…

A Day in the Life of an Udavi Student...

Bright and early Thursday morning, we said a temporary goodbye to the The Park Hotel in Chennai, and hit the road in our bus for Pondicherry. It was a three-hour ride, which turned out to be quite scenic, and went by quickly. We arrived at Udavi School, where each of us was paired up with two ninth grade students. They were extremely adorable little kids, and they had an entire afternoon planned for us. First, we had lunch in their typical fashion. We got our metal plates, washed them in a big tub, and walked inside to get a lunch of rice, a hard-boiled egg and soup. Then, we sat down on picnic tables outside.

Next, we were toured of the school, and played games with the kids. We started with volleyball, which was successful on their part, but not so much on mine! We moved on to soccer, and then it became time to paint the wall.

The school newly built a cement wall that ran around their playing fields. It became our task to white-wash and paint the walls. We all gladly grabbed our paintbrushes and started slapping on the paint. The kids helped us, bringing us paint, and with our partners we all painted sections of the wall. I can proudly say that I painted 5 sections!

After the wall was finished, we sat down for a chance to get to know each other. This involves singing songs, the Brooks Hymn, going through a typical day at home, and then they reciprocated. Next, they put on a wonderful traditional dance and song for us. We were all very appreciative, especially since we were not able to return as much!

After sharing different aspects from each of our very different cultures, we all pilled onto our bus, both the kids and our group and headed to the Indian Ocean to swim. After working for nearly four hours in the heat, it was nice to take a dip in the rough ocean. We swam for an hour and a half before saying goodbye to our new friends and heading back to the hotel for some much needed rest and dinner.

Tomorrow, we head to a tsunami-torn village, and will see the attempts that the village and foundations have made at improving the lives of the victims.

Welcome to Chennai

After spending five days in Bombay, we packed our bags and transferred to the domestic airport to fly to Chennai (Madras). An interesting fact that I learned was that the madras print, often used in shorts and pants was named after the City of Madras, which was a French settlement until the name was changed to the more traditional Indian name of Chennai. (Similar to the Mumbai/Bombay name change)

We arrived in Chennai and drove to the hotel to drop our gear and then drove to Sishya School. More like Brooks than any other school we had seen in India, Sishya was a private coeducational school outside of Chennai. We met students in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades, who were all struggling with taking the SATs, applying to United States and well as United Kingdom, and other universities around the country. We could relate to these students exceptionally well. It was amazing seeing this contrast. Just two days ago we were in one of the poorest places in the world, and the next minute we were among students who were exactly like us. They all performed in school plays, had similar school days and participated in sports.

It was set-up in a circular fashion, were we would spend about 10 minutes with a group of people, and then they would move to the next table. (There were 2 Brooksians at each table.) We had the opportunity to see students who were experiencing such similar situations that it was not hard to become friendly with them. They even had Facebook, and were applying to the same colleges as us!

We chatted with them for about an hour and a half, before saying goodbye and going back to the hotel. After getting to the hotel, some of us ventured out to do some shopping around the city, but then came back for dinner. We needed to rest up for a big day in Pondicherry.

Leaving Mumbai (Bombay) for Chennai

Early this morning we will transfer to the domestic airport of Mumbai to fly to Chennai (Madras) where we will stay for a day before moving to Pondicherry, and then return after Pondicherry. Mumbai has been a great place, full of excitement, different cultures and experiences. However, Mumbai is an extremely urban situation, and it will be nice to go to the two southwestern Indian cities, which are more rural, and supposedly are vastly different.

Bollywood

Tuesday we saw a complete change of pace. After seeing one of the poorest places on the surface of the world, and two schools who used technology to advance their situations, we drove out to the film producing capital of India. Known affectionately as Bollywood. Here we saw the filmmaking school, which was recently built and opened. It was a beauty facility, with state of the art technology and stunning architecture. Although there were no students at the school, it was interesting to see the differences between a high-end university and the primary schools, whose facilities needed desperate repair.

Comparing Two Schools

After seeing the slums in Mumbai, our group felt as though we were able to go through a lot. Mucking through knee-deep water in the falling apart shanties of the slum was something that gave us a lot of confidence for what we were able to do after the slums. We started out the day by going to two different schools, separated by only about ten feet. The first was extremely technologically oriented, and the goal was to see how technology infiltrated the curriculum of the younger students. Using a program that was developed by Pratham, the younger children explored many foundations of learning through the computer. We played with the children and learned about the similar computer aided learning that we experience in our own country.

Knee Deep in a Slum of Mumbai

Finally we made it to the second full day in India. With enough preparation for what was to come, Sunday became the day that our lives changed forever. In the morning, we took our bus over to the University, where a professor, his wife and daughter talked to us about slum life and how they were formed, what the culture was, and how they were ran. It was extremely informational, as we learned how different the culture is within a slum.

The shock was yet to come. Continuing with our theme of inconceivable dichotomy, we first went to the professor’s stockbroker friend’s house for lunch. After learning all about the slums, and being emotionally prepared for what was to come, we had lunch at a million-dollar house belonging to the professor’s friend, who also was knowledgeable about slums. A beautiful apartment in Mumbai, the house could be compared to the way many people live in the United States.

After lunch, our hosts led us to what was to become the most powerful experience of many of our lives. Considered to be one of the worst slums in Mumbai, SLUM NAME is rampant with disease, trash, stray dogs and the level of poverty that we saw was unexplainable and some of the most dramatic things we had ever seen.

After entering the slum, we walked to a school which was on the second floor of a building, which was literally a hole in the wall. After walking through the mosquitoes and other unpleasant things everywhere, we walked up a very narrow and steep latter to the second floor of a tiny room where a school was held. Here we were welcomed most graciously by our young hosts, who were so happy to see us.

The professor who was bringing us around to the slum and who gave us the introductory talk on slums works with the Humanist Self-Improvers, which is a group that tries to restore dignity and pride throughout the slums. It seemed to be a movement that worked well, as beggars were virtually nonexistent in the slum. More surprised to see our innocent selves in the slum, the citizens were respectful, but confused. The professor discussed how despite all of their problems, the citizens of the slums still are able to have pride in their lives, self-respect and dignity. They do not succumb to begging, as that strips them of any dignity whatsoever.

After visiting the tiny schoolhouse, we split up into groups of two, and were accompanied by two guides. I was fortunate enough to be paired with the professor. Our goal was to go around to modest homes throughout the slums and talk to the families about the importance of education and dignity. Especially with the fathers, who believe in child labor as a source of income, we were persistent that education was incredibly important to the development of children throughout the slums.

We went to three homes, each of whom were incredibly nice, and offering us drinks and even food. The fact that these poverty stricken families spent an entire days savings on buying the two of us a drink was incredibly powerful. Poverty in our minds was completely redefined. Poverty meant that they did not have one single thing in their lives, no bank accounts, no cash, nothing.

Stand-by for more, because this is such a huge experience!