i have been in india for a little over one month now. to be exact, i have been here for 35 days. it doesn't really sound that long when i look at it now, but my feeling about being here has certainly changed. it sounds trivial when i write about it, but it's all one big process of realization for me. i have lived in india for one month and i still have five more to go. but one fifth is over, and looking back it has gone very fast. before i left austria, people told me that time would pass faster than i could grasp. they were right. i have settled into a routine here. and here i am again. it's saturday, and i'm writing this blog entry.
i finally managed to find a map of the region. click for a larger version. on the left side in the middle you can see kodaikanal, slightly to the right is my village of perumalmalai (not on the map).
not many big things have happened this week. however, there are two 'notable' ones.
the first is that i have moved rooms. i heard that someone from bodhi zendo would be coming to stay at the school for a couple of weeks (lack of rooms up at the zendo). esther, who told me, leaned in and whispered to me 'wanda, you room not nice. visitor room very nice, very sun. you change rooms, you here long time! you room small and dark' and voila, i switched rooms. i live right next to my old room but now everything is bigger and there is soooo much sunlight! sunlight makes me happy. ever since i moved, i've been very jolly. esther says 'you funny lady'. i think that's a good thing. :)
as it always is when something is so overwhelmingly positive, there is something small that goes wrong. in my case, nothing really went wrong. just.. in my first night i wanted to use the bathroom and went to the toilet only to find a HUGE GREEN HALF-SEE-THROUGH FROG looking back at me (luckily it wasn't a snake, that just would have been too good). it was INSIDE my toilet. my heart stopped for a second. i was scared. i mean, it was late and dark and there was this THING staring at me. i tried to catch it for about 45 minutes (no joking) and tried to spray it with water (haha, because obviously frogs don't like water..) and finally managed to catch it under my shower bucket. then i waited and realized that i had no clue what to do next. those things jump high, really high. and i could not just go to sleep because the chances of me forgetting about my new friend were pretty high. james to the rescue. he laughed and disposed of it like a pro: went to my room, lifted the bucket, took the frog with his hands, and carried it outside. and my heart started beating again. i spent the whole night laying awake, picturing spiders and frogs and insects and all kinds of creatures crawling around my bed. ah, this paranoia. it seems that apart from having a very very bad fear of spiders, i am also not stable when it comes to frogs. who would have known! EEEEK!
haha anyways. the second notable thing is that father ama asked me to accompany him to a college nearby to which he was invited to give a talk about zen. the college has a 'harmony club' (somehow a different form of a 'peace and social awareness society' at university) and every year on january 31st they invite somewhat famous people to talk about peace and living together in harmony. one of my many jobs is to photo-document everything that's happening at bodhi zendo and at the little flower projects, so i was officially the project photographer for this event.
it's amazing father ama, 75 years old, sits cross-legged in the front seat of the jeep and sleeps while we speed down the palani hills with approximately 90km/h. no seatbelts involved. but this is india, i shouldn't be too surprised seeing as i have had a whole month to get used to indian driving habits. it took us two hours to get there and on the way we stopped at a small piece of land that father had bought some time ago. he is planning to build a healing center for the aged in the next year (which is lovely in combination with everything else he has built up: a montessori school, a zen meditation center, a women's rights and microfinance society and now the healing center. there is something for everyone and he totally lives according to the zen philosophy of 'living your life for others, because you and the whole universe are one'. the man is remarkable and i have never met anyone quite like him.) back to the piece of land. the guy who's staying there and who's managing it has a daughter who is getting married on monday. guess who was invited to attend a hindu wedding? :)
we arrived at the college at around 10am. i keep on forgetting that i am extremely privileged, now only concerning my living conditions, but also concerning the weather. in the hills where i'm staying, it's not too hot and not too cold (see picture below, i find the landscape extremely impressive..). in the nights it can get pretty chilly, but during daytime there is not a single cloud in the sky and the sun is literally burning down. still, there is always a slight breeze - it's perfect. in basically ALL other parts of india, temperatures are unbearable, either because you freeze to the spot in the north, or because you melt along with everything else in the plains. the college lies in the plains, and by 10am temperatures had risen to what felt like 40 degrees in the shade. it reminded me of a sauna. if you ever plan to travel to india and are staying in a flat area, pack lightly.
the college is an all-girls university, the only one in the whole state of tamil nadu if i understood correctly, is run by a couple of nuns. ah, how i love nuns, especially those who suddenly stop smiling when you tell them you are without confession. the head-nun attempted several times to get me to sit in the chapel and pray while i was waiting for father to finish his talk.. i must say, i prefer the indian temples. you're not forced to believe. anyways. i was intrigued by the fact that a) none of the students at the university (!) spoke a word of english, and those studying the english language only said 'welcome' and ran away giggling like mad; b) none of the students seem to have seen a caucasian before - i could not believe how many girls just stood and STARED and behaved like the montessori kids i normally am in contact with; c) although there is no uniform, ALL the girls were wearing the same set of clothes - the punjabi (pants, long shirt, scarf);
in the meanwhile i've gotten used to being stared at and to occasionally being poked and prodded by curious bystanders, but i was surprised at how many university students also felt the urge to make me feel like a giant, white alien with glasses. it gets annoying at times, but at the end i always find myself looking back and smiling. andere laender, andere sitten!
what i absolutely LOVED were the courses offered at this university. they range from the standard english and history courses to tailoring (imagine getting a BA in sewing!) and publishing courses (publishing = there's a printing press and the students enrolled get to copy books!). fascinating. the university campus is huge and even has a couple of halls of residence (which is unique in india, i heard). also their drama society is pretty big, as part of the 'harmony day', we got to see an awesome (and unintentionally hilarious) re-enactment of mother theresa's good deeds. :D
change of scene. if you walk outside the grounds for about two minutes, you see something that resembles a garden shed. there's a sign outside saying 'daycare center'.
i was curious, so i went inside. and i was shocked. this supposed 'daycare center' is also a sort of pre-school, so basically the same institution that we have in perumalmalai where i live. HOWEVER. this institution is simply heartbreaking. there are 35 children cramped into what seems like 15ms2, they get no food, there is not a single toy laying around, there are all extremely thin and have skin problems.. the only 'teacher' there is an old woman who seems to be frustrated with life, seeing as she beat the children in front of my very eyes. i couldn't stay longer than a couple of minutes. i talked to father about it later, and he said that he was shocked. the nuns provide food for this day'care' center, but apparently the money has been going somewhere else and the children have not been seeing any of it. (selfless as he is, he later 'donated' the money he would have gotten for his talk to the center directly to ensure at least one nutritious meal for these children).
all of this made me realize how extremely privileged the children at our montessori school are. not only do they have a school uniform and shoes to wear, they get three meals, loving care, toys and have a decent roof above their heads. it's incredibly touching to see how the definition of 'pre-school' can vary and what shocked me most was that this center we saw was right outside the very very rich university campus. seriously, buy two computers less for your IT course and donate money to the children starving right outside your door!!! father said that he is afraid that this is just how it works in india. india, land of contrasts. if it wasn't for certain individuals willing to dedicate their whole life to ensuring that others have access to at least a fraction of what we take for granted, all of schools would be like the one i just described. it's heart-breaking and quite simply horrible. i now look at the montessori school here in a completely new way. like the project name 'little flowers' says, this school is like a little flower, a new shimmer and hope for life, amongst all the dirt and poverty of the village perumalmalai.
i finally managed to find a map of the region. click for a larger version. on the left side in the middle you can see kodaikanal, slightly to the right is my village of perumalmalai (not on the map).
not many big things have happened this week. however, there are two 'notable' ones.
the first is that i have moved rooms. i heard that someone from bodhi zendo would be coming to stay at the school for a couple of weeks (lack of rooms up at the zendo). esther, who told me, leaned in and whispered to me 'wanda, you room not nice. visitor room very nice, very sun. you change rooms, you here long time! you room small and dark' and voila, i switched rooms. i live right next to my old room but now everything is bigger and there is soooo much sunlight! sunlight makes me happy. ever since i moved, i've been very jolly. esther says 'you funny lady'. i think that's a good thing. :)
as it always is when something is so overwhelmingly positive, there is something small that goes wrong. in my case, nothing really went wrong. just.. in my first night i wanted to use the bathroom and went to the toilet only to find a HUGE GREEN HALF-SEE-THROUGH FROG looking back at me (luckily it wasn't a snake, that just would have been too good). it was INSIDE my toilet. my heart stopped for a second. i was scared. i mean, it was late and dark and there was this THING staring at me. i tried to catch it for about 45 minutes (no joking) and tried to spray it with water (haha, because obviously frogs don't like water..) and finally managed to catch it under my shower bucket. then i waited and realized that i had no clue what to do next. those things jump high, really high. and i could not just go to sleep because the chances of me forgetting about my new friend were pretty high. james to the rescue. he laughed and disposed of it like a pro: went to my room, lifted the bucket, took the frog with his hands, and carried it outside. and my heart started beating again. i spent the whole night laying awake, picturing spiders and frogs and insects and all kinds of creatures crawling around my bed. ah, this paranoia. it seems that apart from having a very very bad fear of spiders, i am also not stable when it comes to frogs. who would have known! EEEEK!
haha anyways. the second notable thing is that father ama asked me to accompany him to a college nearby to which he was invited to give a talk about zen. the college has a 'harmony club' (somehow a different form of a 'peace and social awareness society' at university) and every year on january 31st they invite somewhat famous people to talk about peace and living together in harmony. one of my many jobs is to photo-document everything that's happening at bodhi zendo and at the little flower projects, so i was officially the project photographer for this event.
it's amazing father ama, 75 years old, sits cross-legged in the front seat of the jeep and sleeps while we speed down the palani hills with approximately 90km/h. no seatbelts involved. but this is india, i shouldn't be too surprised seeing as i have had a whole month to get used to indian driving habits. it took us two hours to get there and on the way we stopped at a small piece of land that father had bought some time ago. he is planning to build a healing center for the aged in the next year (which is lovely in combination with everything else he has built up: a montessori school, a zen meditation center, a women's rights and microfinance society and now the healing center. there is something for everyone and he totally lives according to the zen philosophy of 'living your life for others, because you and the whole universe are one'. the man is remarkable and i have never met anyone quite like him.) back to the piece of land. the guy who's staying there and who's managing it has a daughter who is getting married on monday. guess who was invited to attend a hindu wedding? :)
we arrived at the college at around 10am. i keep on forgetting that i am extremely privileged, now only concerning my living conditions, but also concerning the weather. in the hills where i'm staying, it's not too hot and not too cold (see picture below, i find the landscape extremely impressive..). in the nights it can get pretty chilly, but during daytime there is not a single cloud in the sky and the sun is literally burning down. still, there is always a slight breeze - it's perfect. in basically ALL other parts of india, temperatures are unbearable, either because you freeze to the spot in the north, or because you melt along with everything else in the plains. the college lies in the plains, and by 10am temperatures had risen to what felt like 40 degrees in the shade. it reminded me of a sauna. if you ever plan to travel to india and are staying in a flat area, pack lightly.
the college is an all-girls university, the only one in the whole state of tamil nadu if i understood correctly, is run by a couple of nuns. ah, how i love nuns, especially those who suddenly stop smiling when you tell them you are without confession. the head-nun attempted several times to get me to sit in the chapel and pray while i was waiting for father to finish his talk.. i must say, i prefer the indian temples. you're not forced to believe. anyways. i was intrigued by the fact that a) none of the students at the university (!) spoke a word of english, and those studying the english language only said 'welcome' and ran away giggling like mad; b) none of the students seem to have seen a caucasian before - i could not believe how many girls just stood and STARED and behaved like the montessori kids i normally am in contact with; c) although there is no uniform, ALL the girls were wearing the same set of clothes - the punjabi (pants, long shirt, scarf);
in the meanwhile i've gotten used to being stared at and to occasionally being poked and prodded by curious bystanders, but i was surprised at how many university students also felt the urge to make me feel like a giant, white alien with glasses. it gets annoying at times, but at the end i always find myself looking back and smiling. andere laender, andere sitten!
what i absolutely LOVED were the courses offered at this university. they range from the standard english and history courses to tailoring (imagine getting a BA in sewing!) and publishing courses (publishing = there's a printing press and the students enrolled get to copy books!). fascinating. the university campus is huge and even has a couple of halls of residence (which is unique in india, i heard). also their drama society is pretty big, as part of the 'harmony day', we got to see an awesome (and unintentionally hilarious) re-enactment of mother theresa's good deeds. :D
change of scene. if you walk outside the grounds for about two minutes, you see something that resembles a garden shed. there's a sign outside saying 'daycare center'.
i was curious, so i went inside. and i was shocked. this supposed 'daycare center' is also a sort of pre-school, so basically the same institution that we have in perumalmalai where i live. HOWEVER. this institution is simply heartbreaking. there are 35 children cramped into what seems like 15ms2, they get no food, there is not a single toy laying around, there are all extremely thin and have skin problems.. the only 'teacher' there is an old woman who seems to be frustrated with life, seeing as she beat the children in front of my very eyes. i couldn't stay longer than a couple of minutes. i talked to father about it later, and he said that he was shocked. the nuns provide food for this day'care' center, but apparently the money has been going somewhere else and the children have not been seeing any of it. (selfless as he is, he later 'donated' the money he would have gotten for his talk to the center directly to ensure at least one nutritious meal for these children).
all of this made me realize how extremely privileged the children at our montessori school are. not only do they have a school uniform and shoes to wear, they get three meals, loving care, toys and have a decent roof above their heads. it's incredibly touching to see how the definition of 'pre-school' can vary and what shocked me most was that this center we saw was right outside the very very rich university campus. seriously, buy two computers less for your IT course and donate money to the children starving right outside your door!!! father said that he is afraid that this is just how it works in india. india, land of contrasts. if it wasn't for certain individuals willing to dedicate their whole life to ensuring that others have access to at least a fraction of what we take for granted, all of schools would be like the one i just described. it's heart-breaking and quite simply horrible. i now look at the montessori school here in a completely new way. like the project name 'little flowers' says, this school is like a little flower, a new shimmer and hope for life, amongst all the dirt and poverty of the village perumalmalai.
I was reading this and your half-see-through frog ordeal and the unintentionally hilarious re-enactment of Mother Theresa's good deeds cracked me up!
ReplyDeleteThis is Liy, by the way :) Just showin' some love on your blog!
Also, Happy Valentines Day! Hope you managed to get yerself sum sah-weeeeet lovin' (of some kind/form) today! Toodleloo! :)