I am SO lucky to be living here – Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya, Dharwad. Pt II

My daily schedule part II

• The work bootie call
• Too many snakes in the shower
• Hungry Caterpillars
• A puppy in the toilet

After lunch I usually get a shower as by that time the water bucket has been in the sun for a while.  It’s a simple open hut made of bamboo with no roof so you often have monkies checking you out from above.  Last week after my first bucket of cold water I saw something move very close to my head and all of a sudden saw this (not my photo):

I did run out of the hut but unlike a friend Baptiste who witnessed the same last year I grabbed my towel.  Enough of the snake jokes.  The other volunteers came running to see the snake peg it up the tree.  As always, the creatures we most fear are bricking it when they see us.   However, 50,000 people die every year in India due to snake bites so it’s good to be cautious ;)  The night before I had made a fire and spent 10 minutes gathering wood and leaves in the dark (my headtorch was broken) from around where the shower is.  I won’t be doing that again in the dark!

Ants, Mosquitoes and Caterpillars are the only thing here that we regularly get stung from.  My mum used to read ‘The very hungry caterpillar’ to me when I was a toddler   and I never remember a baddie in a James Bond film putting a caterpillar in his bed but these bad boys are pretty poisonous if you touch them.  Quite pretty too:

Whilst on the subject of animals, I missed the dogs here.  Mama Love was my favorite and for the first few days I didn't see her around, then I found out she’d been nesting as she was pregnant.  The next few nights she chose my hut to nest outside, crying all night and digging a hold under the side of my wall.  She then found her best shelter to give birth in the toilet.  Safe considering some of the other dogs here eat puppies.  However, it had other dangers.  The day after her four puppies were born the water butt in the toilet overflowed on top of the puppies.  Had it not been for a passing volunteer hearing Mama Love’s screams they would have drowned.  It was quite a mess to rescue them as the toilet is a hole in the floor and two puppies ended up sliding down the hole.  Luckily all puppies were rescued and are fine.  This is her new nest.  A purpose built one :)

Before I go back to the office I like to do a head stand.  I know, aren’t  I special?  Teaching yoga everyday means I don’t get to practice much myself and a head stand is my asana of choice when I get the chance.  I try to hold it for +3 minutes.  Try doing that with mosquitoes biting you, monkies checking out the white eejit upside down from above in the trees and a dog licking your face.  It’s my daily challenge!

1345 Back to the office.  What do I do when I’m working? Well I’m trying to get supporters and funding for the school.  All 250 kids get accommodation, food, education and healthcare at no cost.  And each of those kids has come from a deprived background yet the school has given them hope and turned them into little Indians with a very bright future :).  If you’d like to sponsor a student click here.

Fundraising takes time.  It’s all about building relationships and last time I was here I met with +200 companies (thanks speed networking) and was hoping that some of the relationships would have developed into good partnerships.  Unfortunately despite the excellent management at the school the admin staff hadn't followed up.  Instead they did what I like to call a ‘Bootie call’.  Actually, scrap that, it was a ‘Pimped Bootie call’.  I introduced them to a good supporter last year.  The supporter helped the school and didn't get a thank you.  I inquired to Admin as to what the next stage was “well sar I shall call them when we need something”.  I used to be a fan of bootie calls until I realized that a proper relationship is far more rewarding.

Depending on how long my laptop battery lasts if the power is down I work until around 5 then go for a walk with the dogs and other volunteers.  If there’s enough time this could mean a walk to the local lake to bathe with the buffaloes and anything else that’s in the water or to Kalkeri the local village. 

The local lake and some of the villagers on their 'commuter run':

The end of the day is a peaceful time with all the farm workers returning from the fields.  To give you an example of the interactions we have, last week I spent 30 minutes trying to get a local boy to ride his bike (brakes not really working, flat tyres and a frame that could be used in Olympic weightlifting) to ride over some rough terrain.  I’m no MTB pro but I've some friends who are so I've learnt some techniques which I shared with this guy so watch out for future MTB champs coming from Kalkeri!

The village has a real charm at sunset.  The village is very rural yet used to seeing western volunteers so walking though you get a good balance of them acting out their lives whilst offering a smile and “what is your name”.   As I did last year, I took nearly 200 photos of the villagers and printed them to give out.  The distribution was a bit of a blood bath with all the kids jumping on me to get their photo first but a local auntie stepped in and calmed them down.  Then at one point I managed to run away from +20 screaming kids.  I guess my ankle is fixed now!  

Despite the development of requests for ‘photo photo’  since I've started printing them off I get an amazing reception in the village.  Every time I go to town I have families on the bus wanting to be my friend.   Last week, a lady picked up an orange peel from my lap and without saying anything just squeezed it into my eye.  She then did the same to her own eye showing that it didn't mean harm.   Oddly if felt quite refreshing, I think it might have been a one off though as I tried it yesterday and it hurt like hell.  After that same bus ride I got off and an Auntie came up to me, smiled and said Namaste then gave me half of her bags and pointed up the hill.  To be fair they usually carry more on their heads than I carry on my back so I complied to her order, I think she was one of the few I hadn't taken a photo of so fair is fair.

Here's a few photos from the village:

In the evening I go back to the office for a while to wrap up work and write this blog!  The evening is mosquito prime time so sitting in the office with the only lights coming from your laptop screen and your headtorch is a massive incentive for all the local flies, moths and mosquitoes to play kamikaze with your face.  It’s a lot more pleasant than Orange in the eye!

A few nights a week we have clubs for the kids which the volunteers run.  They can be anything from extra computer studies to capoeira (we have some very creative volunteers).  I've only taught kids yoga a few times but my achievement was getting 4 teenage boys to lie still in savasana for 4 minutes.  Unbelievable :)

The college boys also get extra lessons at night and I've been teaching them about socioeconomics and presentation skills.  They are very sharp lads and keen to get involved in helping the school whilst learning.  So to try and be more unique among 3.3m charities in India they are all putting together 30 second videos as to why this school is unique.  I’m proud of the lads!

Late Night:   So late night for me is 10pm.  After dinner I usually head to my hut to write my journal, yoga class prep or read.  Once in a while I pop to the volunteer house to socialize with the guys who are usually playing the guitar, singing and on ‘special’ nights eating cheese that a new volunteer will have brought. 

Days are very busy here so sleep comes easy.  All with the knowledge that the wakeup call will be the buzz of nature pierced by Hindustani vocals at 0530.  Amazing.  

Christmas prize (I'll bring something back from India) for the best caption (in the comments) on the below picture........this is my sponsor child holding the big stick: