Voluntary Fun

Pune, India

In this blog: roaming the countryside, volunteering with Asha Kiran, and a birthday with a difference.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This follows on from the last blog, where I was in the city of Pune (poo-na) doing a couple of weeks of volunteering with a charity called Asha Kiran.

Sunday 26th January

Dam beside one of the villages I passed through

I'd hired a scooter for the weekend to explore the area around Pune, and having not seen a lot of countryside recently, headed out of town. I stopped briefly on the way at the fairly low key Aga Khan Palace to have a quick look, which in later years was used to imprison Gandhi and his chums - he spent a lot of time in prison for civil disobedience over the years. A few miles later I was out of the city, and into the countryside - sometimes scrubby, and sometimes irrigated with many small farms growing crops and vegetables. It was great to be free from the city, and away from people, noise and chaos for a change. However the downside to being remote was when I realised the scooter was very low on fuel. After a bit of freewheeling and crossing my fingers, I eventually made it to civilisation and breathed a sigh of relief.

The contrast of India - some people living in
makeshift tents, others next door in comfortable flats

I cruised around a couple of small rural villages, where people lived in concrete homes surrounded by makeshift fences and tracks. It was basic, but not the bleak poverty I've seen in parts of many cities. I continued on, stopping to see kids playing cricket on wasteland, and farm labourers living in makeshift bamboo and tarpaulin tents beside the roads. Hearing loud music, I stopped outside what turned out to be a wedding, and upon them seeing me, was ushered into the car park by a group of locals who were getting ready to do the disco for it. I only went into the car park though, not the wedding itself. Rather than just a table with some equipment as you'd normally expect, they actually drive straight into the outdoor venues ready to go with a purpose built disco bus, clad across the front with huge powerful speakers and a DJ inside. Just awesome.

Commonwealth War Graves

Pune was surrounded by various military camps wherever I went, and it turned out to be the largest base that the British Raj had established during their rule of India. India now has a huge military budget, and the camps all seemed to reflect this, being well established and professional. Coming back into the city, I spotted a very well tended area, which turned out to be a Commonwealth War Graveyard. It was very similar to those I'd seen in Normandy when I cycled through six months before, with identical lines of pale sandstone headstones set amongst perfectly manicured grass, commemorating mostly British soldiers who fell in India during the world wars. An unexpected sight for sure. 

Monday 27th

Manish Stroff, director of Asha Kiran

Back to work, sort of. It was week two of volunteering with Asha Kiran (see previous blog for details), and upon arriving at the office I learnt my task for the week. Amongst other projects, Asha Kiran run a community centre in one of the slums surrounding the city, and the director of the charity - Manish - had tasked me with creating the syllabus and all course material for a three-month basic computer course they were soon to be holding. The idea being that these disadvantaged folks would then be able to use their new found skills in their own business, or to help get a job. Whilst I'd initially envisaged my time volunteering to be hands-on in the projects, I soon realised that it didn't matter how I helped, as long as I helped. 

Millions of people across the globe learn how to use a computer, and because of that, initially I was sure I'd be able to just download and adapt a free course that someone else had done, but it turned out not to be that simple. The circumstances were also a little special as well making it trickier, in that the students could be aged anywhere from 8-80, and some of them might only recently be partly literate - the literacy rate in India is only 74%. I got to work and spent the day deciding what I thought they should learn, and started gathering bits of freely available material from across the web.

Tuesday 28th

More of the same, working on the computer course all day. At lunchtime, the five guys in the office all gather round a desk to chat or read the paper. Everyone brings a tiffin lunch - a set of three stacking stainless steel containers, containing different foods such as chapattis (flatbread), curried cauliflower, curried mixed veg, and daal (a type on lentil soup), and shares it round with each other which I thought was nice.

That evening I took advantage of the fantastic cinema nearby again and went to see 'Mandela' which had just come out (though I understand came out in the UK six weeks before). It was a fantastic film, and it was obvious Nelson Mandela had a big heart and gave so much to his country, though had a more chequered early background than I realised. A fantastic, noble guy. 

Wednesday 29th

Great breakfast again in a great local cafe next door to where I was staying, where all the local students and young office workers eat. I had the typical local breakfast of an onion and tomato omelette with toast, followed by an uttappa, which is a kind of Indian savoury pancake with tomato and onion mixed, in served with a spicy dip. Spicy food for breakfast almost seems normal now!

Another day of working on the computer course.

Thursday 30th January

It was the day of my 31st birthday, and I decided to take the day off just because I could. Despite it being completely at odds with the volunteering work I'd been doing, I thought I'd be a bit self-indulgent for the day and loosen the purse strings a little, as well as doing what I love best. So I hired a bike.

After a stop at the office, to use the internet to open my birthday messages and Skype a friend, I pedaled south exploring another part of Pune city. I stopped at the racecourse, a legacy of the Raj era, as there appeared to be a race meet but it turned out to just be a load of locals gathered round a big screen gambling on a race in Delhi. A little further on I turned down a side street into a quiet residential area, and came across some farmers who were herding big flocks of sheep along the road; an unexpected sight given both that there was no fields and I'd seen very few sheep in India so far. Just as I started to ride away again a local, stood there with his two sons who had just finished school, started talking to me in broken English, and after a few minutes he decided to kindly invite me into his home - this seems to be becoming a regular habit. I thought 'why not?', and we walked down a short dirt track to his house which it soon became apparent was on the edge of a small slum. 

I was led inside his house, a hut made from wood and corrugated iron, and whilst being careful not to reveal it, I was quietly pretty shocked. The family of four lived in just one room, which was no bigger than the average British bathroom. There was a set of shelves, a plate rack on the wall, a pile of assorted stuff and a kind of trough-come-wash area. It was all kept clean and tidy, but was no toilet, and they all slept together on a fairly thin stuffed mattress which they rolled out every night. This was poverty. Despite him having a job in security and his wife being a housekeeper for someone, he explained they were very poor and this was all they could afford, at a rent of £20 (2000 rupees) per month. Despite all this, he was extremely hospitable and sent his son to the shop, returning with a bottle of 7UP for me to drink. We chatted for twenty minutes or so, before conversation ran a bit dry and I thanked him and said goodbye. I wanted to give them something, and it didn't look like the boys had much in the way of books, so I gave them the book I was reading, 'What Young India Wants'. This family has virtually nothing but still wanted to share a tiny bit of it, a heartwarming experience.

My birthday summed up

After a nice lunch at India's version of Starbucks - Cafe Coffee Day - I continued cycling, past some tower blocks and a large slum, before coming across a local cricket match in progress with a big crowd lining the oval, so stopped and watched for half an hour. A few miles later I found myself in one of the many large and modern IT parks that dot the city. In the centre of it I was amused to find a nice  green city park which despite being deserted, had Hindi music pumping out through speakers on all the lampposts. Finally back to the upmarket Koregaon Park area where I was staying, I went to the ninth-story rooftop bar of a very smart 5* hotel nearby, and had a beer whilst sat beside the infinity pool in the fading light of dusk, followed by a massage nearby. A brilliant nearby jazz bar was the perfect end to the day, having a huge portion of tandoori chicken pieces whilst watching a brilliant live jazz band. I was surprised though to find I couldn't have a beer, as it transpired it was a 'dry day' for the anniversary of Gandhi's death. They sneaked a vodka into my lemonade anyway! It was of course a little sad not to be able to celebrate the day with family or friends but that of course couldn't be helped, but was still a truly diverse day of poverty and luxury all-in-one that I'll remember for a long time.

Friday 31st

Seasons mall - one of the many in
well developed Pune

It was my final day with Asha Kiran. Having had a few days stuck in the office I took up the chance to visit one of the crèches again. Rajesh took us on his motorbike across town to Cerise, the crèche I'd visited the week before which had a farm next door. On the way we passed many modern IT parks, huge malls, the offices of international companies such as IBM and Microsoft, and top international hotels such as Hyatt and Westin, and even a Premier Inn. Pune is one of India's big outsourcing hubs, where American and European countries get Indians to do skilled rolls such as programming and accountancy at around a quarter of the cost, and consequently is a pretty developed place because of it. Trade and commerce is more effective at lifting people out of poverty than charity, as I've heard said many times recently.

Daft but fun slapping game at Cerise crèche

Teaching anything to young kids of a wide range of ages who don't speak English, turned out last time to be a little tricky. This time at the crèche, I was armed with some ideas for games to play with the kids from my sister, a primary school teacher, and the teacher encouraged me to go for it. I started with a bit of Simon says, followed by a game where you make a rhythm by slapping against different limbs. They really seemed to enjoy a daft game where I got them to run from one side of the room to the other, whilst making the sounds and actions of different animals. It was a fun morning, something I never expected to be doing on this trip, and the kids were buzzing when we left.

Back at the office I finished the slum computer course I'd been working on, and gave Manish all the photos of the projects I'd taken so they can use them for publicity. 

Before I knew it, it was 8pm and the end of my two week volunteering placement. Whilst it had started off a bit slow, it ended up being an interesting, fun and rewarding experience. I was impressed by the efficient bare-bones basis that Asha Kiran worked on, with nothing wasted and favours pulled in wherever possible from local companies. It's sad in many ways that it exists in the first place though - these NGOs/charities are only there because the Indian government is so corrupt, and not able to fund proper infrastructure themselves, whilst many politicians and government workers live comfortable, if not lavish lifestyles on the back of it.

Leaving the office, Manish said to me 'want to drink a beer?', indicating a quick thank you drink, and he told his wife he'd be home in an hour. Four hours, five beers and a meal later we finished up! He even insistented on paying for it all personally. He's a very interesting guy, very aware and open about India's problems, and fascinating to talk with. He told me stories about the problems of child labour which he works to help stop; still a big problem throughout the country. It seems that clothing sweat shops aren't much of a problem now as the government cracked down hard, but other industries still are. I was shocked to hear that fire crackers for example are usually made by children because they have small and dexterous fingers, but is also a very deadly and hidden-away industry.

1st and 2nd Feb

It was the weekend - a concept that I'd long since forgotten existed - every day is the weekend when you travel. But after a busy couple of weeks, I fancied a quiet couple of days, which in truth hardly justify writing about - just listening to some podcasts, going for a couple of walks, some reading and writing, and a trip to the cinema.

Late Sunday night it was time to leave Pune, and I reflected on my two weeks there. Helping other people is supposedly to be an entirely selfless process, but I tend to agree with the notion that altruism can never be entirely selfless. No matter how much many people believe that helping people purely benefits the other party, the reward of satisfaction also benefits the giver as well. For me personally that was true - it was satisfying that people have benefited from my time, even if in a tiny way, but also good to have a couple of more normal and settled weeks for a change.

Disco bus - great idea!

Heading back from work

Farmers at work