From Chennai to Bangalore and back

Well I'm back in Belgium now and hadn't blogged for the past month while I was still in India, so I thought might as well do it now before I forget the amazing experience I had...

I left for Bangalore in the second week of March and stayed there for a week. I was supposed to stay there for the entire month, but I had built up all my contacts in Chennai and made quite a few friends over there too. So I decided to go back. I only had 2 weeks left anyway before I had to return to Delhi, so in that time I visited a couple of NGOs and went on a field trip with one of them. We went to a village in Kanchipuram and there I got to experience first hand what Self Help Groups were all about. I met with the members, saw their enterprises and they did their best to explain to me what they were doing with the money they had obtained from micro loans. Some had little shops where they sold day to day products, like biscuits, soap, spices, sugar, milk, eggs,.... Others made clay pots, fertilizer, food to sell on the streets, some did crop production,... It seemed quite succesfull because they had managed to get themselves out of the 1 and 2 dollar a day earnings circle and put themselves into a higher one. They were proud of what they were doing and what they had achieved! Funny how people who have so little can teach us so much...

After Chennai I had to go back to Delhi to catch my flight back to Belgium. I left a couple of days before to do some sightseeing and to say goodbye to the friends I had made there. While I was in India, the World Cup cricket was going on and the semi-finals was beeing played that week. India Vs Pakistan, the match of the Century! I watched the match in a Indian pub-resto, packed with Indians all supporting their country. India won offcourse, and what a celebration it was because it had put them in the finals, which they had also won. Cricket is almost the biggest thing in India :)

1 month to go...

Hi Y'all!

It's March the 3rd today and as you may or may not know, I should be in Bangalore right now. Well I'm not! Some mix up happend with flights and stuff, and to be quite honnest, yes it was my fault :D But hey, being in Chennai is not all that bad. I had a good time here and still am. Anyways, I'm leaving for Bangalore on Saterday.

But to recapture my Chennai'n experience since the last time I blogged...
So on Saterday we went to the opening of a new club in a shady neighborhood... The Candy Club ;) We got there a bit earlier to check the place out cause a friend of a friend I was going with was supposed to model in a fashion show during the opening. Once we arrived at the place we were woundering if that was really a good idea :S Anyways we went to check the club out, and to our amazement it looked pretty good! But as all things here in India, they seemed kinda delayed with the works and stuff, they were still hamering away and painting and doing all the shit they should have gotten done a week before the opening :) Were they gonna finish up in time??? That was the question... Well they did! So we spent the evening at the club, unlimtited drinks and the same music you hear in every club in Chennai, all the time. Unlimitted drinks you say? Yes, untill they run out and you have to pay for them...hahahahaha. Guys, don't try this in Belgium, they'll brake the place down!

Hey look I'm famous :p hehe....

So that was saterday. On Sunday I went for a run with a group called the Hash Runners. It's a group of people who go on runs at different locations all over Chennai, and in every state they have a group. Someone has to set out a path and the rest of them have to find there way, looking for white marks on the ground and dodge cow shit in the boiling sun for about an hour. Sounds good? Well it was very much fun, especially the part after the run when they bring out the beers and food, and beers and when they make the rookies sit on a cold block of ice for about 20min asking stupid questions!

And I made some friends too...

They found it very amusing watching me run arround, in short shorts :D

So that was a good weekend, followed by a week of work, gym, gym with Kammy and cricket with Kammy!!!! Oh yeah it's the world cup cricket here in India, and India is cricket crazzzzzzzzzy! And seeing as I am South African, I have to act a bit cricket crazzzzyyy too :)

On Saterday went to my going away BBQ, well leaving Chennai for Bangalore BBQ actually, but as I didn't leave then I should probably give it another name...well no what the heck! And on Sunday I got stranded in a Riksjaw.... I was going somewhere and the driver ran out of petrol! Babbeling to me in Tamil, he left me in the Riksjaw, somewhere on a busy road, with some guy who kept staring at me and was leening on a pole. I wanted to leave and get another one, but the driver left his keys in his shuttle and I just couldn't abandom him... I think he was new at it cause he gave me a really good price without me having to fight with him and bargain about the price, plus his Riksjaw looked kinda new... so I waited.... and waited.... and waited... and waited.... 30 mins long... untill finally he came back!!! With petrol in a bottle! He looked as happy as I was to see me as I was to see him :)

Funny how every story I have to tell about my so far Indian experiences has me waiting in it.... Waiting for this, waiting for that, tomorrow they say, but over here when you're waiting for something, tomorrow really never seems to come unless you go and get it!

Chennai

Well it's the 19th of Febuary, I know I haven't been blogging like I should, but hey I told you guys this is tough for me :) Anyways, I arrived in Chennai on the 1st of Feb. A bit happy and a bit sad to leave Delhi, I departed with the capital and flew into the sun. Hoping to get more out of my work and meet a few people who could show me arround. And I did... The first night I arrived, I met up with an old high school friend of mine, that I hadn't seen in years. He was in Chennai doing an internship and had almost finished up. He introduced me to a couple of his friends, Indians and non-Indians :) So I guess it just kinda took off from there because they were all very social and invited me to a couple of things that was gonna keep me busy for a while.

Chennai is one of the most conservative states in India, I did not know that before I came here. Women cannot were sleeveless Tshirts or shorts, which is kind of a bummer when it's like 35°C! I get stares here, more than the Delhi stares and people keep on calling me white! Me, white? HAHA... That's the thing over here in India, we want to get a tan while they wanna get whiter! Michael Jackson syndrom I say? I even saw an ad on TV for a soap that washes the tan off your skin, so strange... The reason probably is because when you're dark, it means that you're a worker, like it used to mean by us in the olden days. Anyways...I got my tan :)

From Chennai, Goa, the Indian Oasis they call it, is about a 20 hour drive. I definitly wanted to go to Goa so that didn't make much of a difference to me. We left on thursday night and arrived there on friday night. What a drive! Can you imagine driving for sooooooo long, on I'd say an average of 80km/h? Once you get out of the cities the traffic is alright, but in the cities..OMG!!!!! Rush hour is like...all day long!!!! Thank god I don't have to drive over here :) No rules, no lanes, no pedestrian crossing so you can like hit someone anytime everytime, everybody is trying to get ahead so nobody does, and sooooo many cars! EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Sorry, I dwelled off, lets talk Goa :) Goa is like the Western part of India. There are allot of tourists, allot of pubs and restaurants where you can eat continental food and have a drink without anybody giving you a "look". Allot of small shops, all selling the same cheap crap that nobody really wants to buy, allot of "salesmen" trying to con you into going dolpin spotting, or paragliding :) We did! And saw a dolphin or 2, or I guess that's what I think I saw. And paragliding is much fun, but the ONE minute trip was hardly worth putting all that gear on. It's a pitty, cause they could really make something out of this country, if they would stop thinking about the short term cash making, and think about the long term money making tourist industry. So seriously, if ya wanna go dolphin spotting or paragliding don't get convinced by the guys standing along the beach side, hire a boat and bargain. When they say free, I say HOW MUCH?

I'll be in Chennai for another 10 days or so, then I'm off to Bangalore...the city of gold, no actually the silicone valley :) It's kind of a pitty cause I'm just getting to know a couple of really cool people, but hey life goes on and so do I. Keep ya posted!

Getting used to it! & When D came to I.

Despite of all my efforts, I just couldn't seem to get in touch with NGOs and MFIs who were willing to help me out, answer my questions and provide me with a little data. I wasn't getting much help from my local promotor either, so it seemed. It kinda felt like he didn't care much about me being here, and he had not even read my work. My first appointment with him was about a week after I arrived so I was starting to get a little nervous about my being here. What was I to do in the meanwhile? I woundered the campus searching for ways to pass the time whilst I wasn't working on my thesis, and finaly I met some Indian students who offered to take me out for dinner. That was really nice cause I was feeling a little lonely all by myself. A couple of days later I finally got a response from a NGO named Pradan, they were willing to answer my questions. That sort of gave me a boost, so I decided to walk up to another NGO, Sa-Dhan, barge in and make them give me an appointment. Well, I didn't really barge in and make a scene, they were kind enough to help me.

On the 14th of January, a couple of collegues came down for a quick holiday. We were to go to a real Punjabi wedding, another collegue of ours was getting married and he was kind enough to invite us to his wedding. Seeing as they were gonna be here for a week, we decided to do like a India in 7 days thing. They landed in Delhi at 4am, and at 6am we left to the see the Taj Mahal. After a 5-6 hour drive, for about 200km, we got to the city Agra. Saw the Taj from a distance, cause it was closed :<, but hey, they were only gonna be in Delhi for one day and if you come to India and don't see the Taj, that's even more worse than comming to India and seeing a closed Taj! Spent the afternoon there and drove back to the Park Hotel in Delhi, another 7 hour drive... We were exhausted, but men will be men, and they will wanna party and drink whenever, whatever, however,...

The next morning we checked out and drove to the airport, we had a plane to catch! Off to Chandigarh we were, a small 50 minute flight and then we could finally relax. After checking in and being strip searched, we got to hear that our flight to Chandigarh was cancelled due to weather conditions! Alternative solution, take the bus, 7-8 hour drive, NOOOOOO!!!!! We were certainly not up for that. So we decided to find mayby some other solution, and our dear friend Francis was gonna find out what our options were. It was hectic, nobody knew where to go or who to follow, what to ask and where to ask it, we just followed some people who we thought were also going to Chandigarh. Well, we followed the wrong people, cause one we got out of that airport there was no one to be found. Nobody was aware of the situation and we were lost! I decided to go back into the airport and ask for help, but getting back into an Indian airport if you do not have a ticket is not an easy thing! Anyway, to make a painfull story short, we ended up taking a taxi! We arrived in Chandigarh 10 hours later... and went out looking for a place to party and drink some more. Like I said, men will be men...
This is kinda what the wedding was like:

We had fried chicken, and drank whisky, and when it was time to go we were all tipsy and never slept so well in the 2 hour drive back to the hotel!

The next day we decided to catch the plane to Bangalore a day earlier, seeing as there was absolutly nothing so see in Chandigarh. Thank god we did, cause the flight the day after, the one we were supposed to catch, got cancelled :) Bangalore is a really nice city, it was much warmer than in Delhi and the people are friendly. We went to a real market where they sell fruit and veg's, meat and fish, spices and things you wouldn't ever imagine: 

So I got in touch with guy name Pushkaraj. A 25 year old Bombay'an living in Bangalore. He was gonna show us around and take us to see tigers! I must say, most people in Belgium would never be so kind as to offer up there free time and show strangers around. Push was really cool and very sweet. He took us to a rooftop bar, and a beach disco party inside and we partied all night! Well at least untill 23h30, cause everything in Bangalore closes at 23h30... But hey, gotta learn to apreciate things, wherever you are in the world, if everything was like it was at home, what's the point in travelling the world, right?

Next day caught the plane to Mumbai and spent the day in the absolutly lovely Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. That's the one where the terrorist attacks were a couple a years ago. Francis and I went outside of the hotel and took some pictures of the dockside, fighting off beggars and drug dealers and a guy who wanted to clean Francis' ears for money :)

So at about 4pm, I departed from my collegues and took the Radhani Express back to Delhi. The 17 hour train ride was worth doing it, but I wouldn't again. I arrived in Delhi the next day, took the riksjaw back to my humble quaters, and started looking for accomodation in Chennai!

The why, wht and when.

First of all, hi to all the curious readers who wanna know what the hell I'm doing in India! I normally would never write a blog, cause I would never read one myself, but I guess it's a good way to keep all the memories of an experience like this in tact. So I'm gonna give it a try, embrace yourselves! Oh yeah, forgot to warn you guys about my wounderfull spelling talent ;)

A year ago I received an email from the Vlir-Uos, an organisation which links most of all the colleges and universities in Belgium. They were offering the opportunity, and scholarship, to students who wanted to have a foreign experience. The criteria was that if had to be relevant and help the development of a 3rd world country. It mainly was for students who wanted to do internships abroad, but seeing as TEW, toegepaste economische wetenschappen, or applied economical sciences doesn't have any practical courses incorperated in the program I wasn't sure I could do it. But, as I am, once I set my mind on something that I want, I'll do just about anything to get it :) So I looked into it and found out if I could write my master thesis about aomething developmental and economical, and I could as long as a reached the criteria.

I chose India because I have always been fascinated by it. The food, the people, the social structures and ofcourse the beauty. So realating to my country I chose a topic, micro finance. It sounded good but I really had no idea what is was, as long as it had sth to do with economics and development it was good enough for me :) I got a promotor at my university, found one in India who was willing to help me, booked my flight and arranged for a place to stay for a month. Once my application got approved it really occured to me that I was gonna be gone for 3 months in a country so far away, not only in kms but in everyway possible for a Western person to be able to understand. I told myself, what the heck let's just do it and we'll see, what will happen will happen and if it won't break me it'll only make me stonger.

A couple of days before I left I started getting quite nervous about leaving. I still had to do so much and only started packing a few hours before I had to leave for the airport ;) I realised that I wouldn't see my baby Tsjarlie boy for 3 months, and my boyfriend too :) I'm not really a person who will miss someone easiely so I wasn't worried about missing family or friends, but Wouterke I was worried about not seeing you, not being able to talk to you whenever I want, not being able to hold you, kiss you and fight with you. I was worried that I wouldn't miss you, but I do :)

So anyway I got to the airport, said my goodbyes, got on the plane and arrived in Delhi at 00h00 local time, which is 4h30 later than Belgium time. Some guy was gonna pick me up, he was gonna have a playcard with my name written on it and take me to the guesthouse of the Indian Statistical Institute (my base). Once I got there, he showed me to my room and left. I will never forget that moment, I took a good look at the place where I was going to be staying for a month and wished I had never got it into my thick head to come to India... I just got into my PJ's and tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't! I was cold and hearing all sorts of noises, thinking that any moment now someone was gonna break into to ly room and steel me :) When I think of it now, I really have to laugh about my foolishness! The first couple of days I always locked my bag when I went out of my room, checked 5 times every hour if I still had my pasport, wallet and phone on me and was suspicous of everyone arround me. Just to say how stupid we are and how we let other people influence our jugement of a country they know nothing about!

Anyway the next day I left for Delhi centre and stayed in a hotel over there. I booked it for a week but then realised that I was beeing a fool and that it wasen't that bad. I stayed there for 2 days and came back to the institute. Luckely I did because I made some friends over here. Farkhonde, Nishant, Soham and another guy who's name is too difficult to remember :) They took me to the worlds famous Kareems. It's like a snack, what we would call it in Belgium, but it's really big and really busy. We had to wait for half an hour to get a table but the food is great! It is located in Old Delhi, rusty roads, old and dirty buildings, smelly but very charming and BUSY!! To get there we took the metero. I never would have thought that I would be taking a metero in India :)