Durga Puja

Durga Puja is a massive ten day Hindu public holiday from the 10th-20th of October in India which celebrates goddess Durga defeating a demon. It's the biggest holiday of the year in West Bengal so where else would you go but Kolkata which is the capital city of the state?

By this time of my placement, I really needed a holiday. The kids were getting more and more rowdy due to the end of term which made me pretty exhausted by the end of the day. The teachers seem to dislike Jordan and I, as they never send us smiles but instead shoot death glares, especially during concert practice. And the Principal attempted to manipulate us for our money. That's quite a long story. Also John, an English volunteer whom I grew quite fond of because of his wisdom, quirkiness and his absolute certainty in what he wants, was finishing off his placement and heading back home. So when the time came to pack up my bag and head for the train station, I was pretty stoked.

But that didn't last too long. The Sleeper Carriage in the overnight trains are infamously known for the ladyboys, apparently not just transvestites but hermaphrodites, who hop on the trains and ask for money and if they don't receive some, usually touch men on their chest until they do give them money. The ladyboy that happened to hop onto the train at this particular time was not a very good ladyboy, I must say. No wig, no makeup, no fake breasts, no smile, and a little stubble. Just an obvious male in a sari. He grunted at me, touching my face quite roughly until I handed over ten rupees. But I have to say, that's better than what happened to my friend! She got a bum grab as an attempt to wake her up! However, the ladyboys on the way back to Pokhriabong were very nice, and quite pretty! You can hear them coming from the clapping of their hands and they sit with you and call you beautiful and if you politely refuse to give them money, they simply smile and walk away.

After ten hours, we finally arrived at Kolkata and boy was it quite a shock. In Pokhriabong, I often forget that I'm in India. Almost everyone is Nepalese so the culture is completely different. It's also cold, clean, quiet and empty. But Kolkata was definitely a reality hit that I am in India. It's hot and humid, dirty (my boogers turned black from the all the dust. Too much information?), extremely crowded, loud, cows randomly roam the streets, the constant staring, and there are beggars everywhere. One of the most shocking images I saw and will remember for a while was a skinny and blind father carrying his 8yr old daughter who was unconscious and extremely skinny. Many times I'm quite skeptical of beggars as one time I saw a woman carrying a baby boy in the morning but in the afternoon, she changed into a different sari and had a different baby in her arms. But this man staggered blindly, literally, passed us – an obvious bunch of Westerners. It was heartbreaking. There was another time where a few of us walked into a bunch of street kids. I'm pretty sure they weren't actually too poor because they looked quite healthy and their clothes looked relatively new, but they followed us for quite some time. They grabbed my hands calling out, “Didi” (sister) or “Auntie” and would not let go. There was one girl who refused to let go of my hand so I looked down at her and asked for her name. “Tiya”, she replied with a smile. For a minute or so, we walked down the street together swinging our arms. I gave her my newly bought water bottle and she ran down the street. One time, a woman grabbed my side so suddenly I thought she was trying to steal my bag. It was out of desperation for money that she grabbed me, but I was so shocked I leapt away before realising. Often men with amputated legs or legs turned backwards that they can't walk crawl up behind me and tap my leg gently. 

It's easy to think of beggars as just that: beggars. It's easy to distance myself from these people and group them into something that I can't relate to but often it's not their fault that they are poor and live this way. If I remember that they are men, women, daughters, sons, mothers and fathers and if I remember that they have names like Tiya, I kind of feel like I'm doing more then just give them money. I'm giving them an identity that most people often forget and overlook.

I'm not sure if it was the massive temperature change from 20degrees to 32degrees but I really started to feel the lack of iron in my body due to my Indian vegetarian diet. I felt so weak that I found myself napping at least twice a day and soon enough I got sick with a cold. This made my Kolkata adventures of shopping in markets (which is quite frustrating as people follow me trying to lead me to their shops) and going to museums and temples quite exhausting. So I was quite excited to go to Sagar Island. Although Sagar Island is basically untouched by tourists and there are only two websites on it, I was expecting Fiji-like islands with clear blue waters and white sand. I was wrong. The sand, which was quite soft, was grey and brown and so was the water. It wasn't bad, just not expected. We spent the day swimming, tanning and exploring the island. When we were tanning, a few young men came and sat 20meters away just watching us. All the girls quickly put our shirts over our bikinis and soon enough a few more groups of young men on motorbikes came and circled us on a 20m radius. They would stop, rev their bikes and stare. They all stayed for at least 30minutes just watching us. It was weird.

The island has a tiny town away from the main town that probably have never seen Westerners before. I felt so intrusive walking into their town as it seemed so peaceful. I felt so tourist-y as I felt like I disturbed their way of life and culture by coming to the island for a holiday.

Because the main town do not get tourists, we got overcharged for almost everything that we bought. Kids came to us and begged, obviously not real beggars as no beggars would live in an island that has zero tourist attractions and we offered them food that they refused. They wanted money.

When we returned to the hostel, we were welcomed by the distressed manager. He couldn't speak English very well but he managed to say a few words that we managed to string together. We had to leave the hostel because another group has arrived. The day before, the manager said that we could only stay one night, which we were happy to do. But in the morning, a man who we thought was also a manager because he organised our dinner and breakfast and could speak relatively good english told us that we could stay for the whole four days. Apparently he made a mistake of translating “they can't stay until Sunday” to “they can stay until Sunday”. So within minutes, we had to pack our things and leave. One man stood in the corner of the room humming the tune of a random song that he insisted was the Australian anthem. It was just so random that it made me laugh so hard but made others extremely annoyed. We tried to find accommodation at several hostels and hotels on the island without success which is strange as there is nobody on the island to stay there, so within the hour, we decided to make our way back to Kolkata. After a rocky trailer ride, an hour long bus ride, an hour long wait at the train station and a 3hr train ride, we finally made our way back to Kolkata.

This time we explored heritage sites like the Belur Math Shrine where I sneakily took photos when “photographs are strictly prohibited” (Yeah I know, I'm living life on the edge), sat in the same seats as bohemians, poets and revolutionists in the Indian Coffee House, witnessed the aftermath of animal sacrifices in the Kali Temple and danced in a rave in the wave pool in Aquatica, Kolkata's water park.

By the end of the holiday, I was missing my kids so much I couldn't wait to get back to Pokhriabong. Can you believe that I only have ten more days of teaching left? Then I'll be travelling and flying back home. I'm so excited to go home but the kids! I only left the kids for ten days and I missed them so much! It's going to be heartbreaking to leave... 

Sunrise on the Himalayas

The warm shower which is the second I've had in the last two months (the hot water tank at my placement never worked), along with a very comfortable mattress at the hotel allowed me to have one of the most comfortable sleeps I've ever had in India. A piercing ring of the alarm interrupted my sweet dreams at three in the morning and tempting thoughts of sleeping in crossed my mind. But how can I? In a few hours, I would experience one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed in my life: the sunrise over the Himalayas. I reluctantly got out of bed, and with a few other volunteers walked through the silent streets of Darjeeling to the jeep that would take us to the famous Tiger Hill.

45minutes and 40 rupees later, we were in the Super Deluxe Lounge which is the top and third floor of a building full of lounge chairs facing large windows revealing nothing but darkness. We got our seats in the second row but soon realised that it's no good sitting. The room was filling up fast and a tourist already set up his camera and tripod in the middle window blocking the view of many. A local man got pretty angry and started a fight, a little bit of entertainment before the main course. Because of those blocking the view, a few of my friends and I decided to jump out the window and sit on the window ledge instead. At first I was pretty scared (I'm terrified of falling) but when I looked out into the hills, valleys and the Himalayas slowly emerging from the darkness, I forgot about how high up I was. I watched the sun rise out of complete darkness. It was pitch black, then lines of dull orange emerged turning into pinks and yellows and suddenly out of nowhere, a bright orange line of the sun emerges from the horizon. Everybody gasped and pointed. It was absolutely spectacular! The sun rose quite quickly from a bright blood orange line to an orange crescent to a pink semi-circle and then a blinding orange circle. It was insane.

And the mountains! The largest mountain in view is Mount Kanchanjunga, the third largest mountain in the world, which is 200m smaller than Mount Everest. I witnessed the peak of Mt Kanchanjunga light up pink as the sun rays hit the Himalayas. Slowly, one by one, the peaks of the Himalayas glowed like candles. The whole scene looked fake. Especially since the bottom of the mountains aren't visible because of the clouds; it seemed like the mountains were floating in the air. From that position, I was able to look into Sikkim (the northern state of India), Tibet, Nepal and China and see the first and third largest mountains in the world (from my point of view, Everest was pretty unimpressive compared to Kanchanjunga).

By six o'clock, the sun was pretty high in the sky and it was a beautiful bright morning. My toes and my bum was frozen but it was definitely worth it! I can't explain how amazing, majestic and absolutely incredible it was. Even now as I look back on it, it's completely surreal. I don't think any piece of writing can ever bring justice to the view of the Himalayas so all I can really say is, fly here now and experience it for yourself. You will not regret it!

The first glimpse of the sun.

The sunrays hitting the peak of Mount Kanchanjunga

Panorama of the view

On the window sill

Himalayas in the backdrop of the war memorial

Close up of the mountains

Life in the Clouds

It's halfway into my placement at Sacred Heart School and as expected, my daily routine is no longer new and unpredictable (mostly) but is pretty much as normal as everybody's.

Every morning I wake up at 7.15 and have breakfast. Breakfast is one of the most delicious things! I've eaten it every single morning yet I still look forward to it. It's chana (part of the chickpea family), chipati and egg. Speaking of foods, I don't even crave pizza, pasta, korean food or even delicious El Jannah and their amazing garlic sauce anymore!

Brekkie

School starts at 9am with a morning assembly. The children are arranged into lines characterised by class, gender and height. They recite the school prayer (the founder is actually Hindu but his wife is/used to be Christian so asked for the prayer to be made) which goes like:

Oh God, our loving Father.

As we come before you,

give us the strength to follow your path with

courage, courtesy and confidence.

And help us to perform our duties towards

God, parents and society.

Thank you God!

Afterwards somebody says the Current Affairs and then we all sing the school song. It's a super motivational song about how one person can change the world called: A Drop in the Ocean by Steps. It's quite long so I won't put the lyrics up here!

Assembly

The school has eight periods a day, usually 40minutes long. But since we have the annual concert to practice for ten minutes is cut off from each period leaving us 30minutes to work with and an hour and 15minutes for concert practice. It's a killer. Jordan and I have free periods in Period One, Three, Five and Seven and we usually mark work, prepare for future classes or just relax.

Jordan and I marking

On Thursdays, I share Class II with Jordan during Period Two. Usually Class II is insane as there are about five rowdy boys out of twenty students. But we worked out a system where one of us would take the boys outside and work with them one on one. Currently with Class II, we're working on the theme Me, My Family, My World. Sometimes Class II feels almost like babysitting which I hate because I'm not here to colour and draw but to teach. But the range of their English and intelligence is absolutely astounding. There is one child, Prakit, who is an absolute genius. He finishes his work without getting distracted, his hand writing is amazing and he gets everything correct. On the other hand, there are children like Ravikant, who can hardly speak English and often talks to me in Nepalese. If we make things too difficult, half the class won't bother and will be so loud the kids who can understand will get distracted. But if we make things easy, it won't be a challenge for those who can manage and wouldn't help them increase their academic ability. Struggle street. But the naughty kids are definitely improving in their behaviour. They love getting Hi-5's and now even hug me and say, “Thank you, Sharon Miss” after each lesson!

Teaching vocabulary related to family.

Class II being very enthusiastic 

The kids were very enthusiastic to say something!

During Period Four, I have my favourite class – Class IV. They like to play a game with me called “New Pinch”. The rules are quite simple: if you have something new and somebody spots that it is new, everyone must pinch you until you say, “Thank you.” One day, Adi asks almost too innocently (he's one of the naughty boys), “Miss, are those new earrings?” I was quite surprised that he noticed and replied quite enthusiastically, “Yes, they are new earrings!”

He immediately turns to Dipesh (also one of the naughty boys) and says with excitement, “Dipesh! Miss has new earrings!” Suddenly there were murmurs around the classroom of “New earrings. NEW earrings!” and before I knew it, I was swarmed by nine year olds pinching me (which hurt quite a lot!) screaming out, “NEW PINCH!” until I said, “Thank you!” It's a strange and painful game but I like it nonetheless. Perhaps the reason why Class IV is my favourite is because they feel like they can muck around with me despite my authority position. It makes me feel accepted and that I'm more than a teacher to them. I mean, they would most definitely not do this with other teachers!

Classroom of Class IV

Class IV

Class IV

During Period Six is Class VI. Honestly, I don't like Class VI too much. They don't listen and their fights over not sharing crayons or somebody hitting somebody else seems very immature for their age. They don't take Jordan and I seriously resulting to a very loud classroom and a lot of shouting of, “Quiet!” on our behalf. With Class VI, we just started on teaching them about the Aborigines and their Dreamtimes stories. Soon enough, they'll write their own story and create their own artwork using the symbols the Aboriginals use in their art.

Class VI

And in Period Eight, I have Class III which I share with Jordan. Currently we're teaching them the structure of a story and eventually, they'll write their own little book. However, it seems to be more draining than rewarding with Class III. They're the laziest class where about ten of them refuse to write when it requires them to use their brain. But Jordan and I try hard. In class, we let the naughty kids do what they want, as long as they're not interrupting the others and we focus on the kids who want and need help. And since the naughty kids do not get individual attention during class, they get it after class in afternoon detention. They finish their work and we understand their weaknesses and work on them. It's a win-win situation! Almost...

After every lesson, we hand out a kangaroo or a koala to the most quiet and hard working student. Behaviour has improved immensely after we introduced this system. They love it! Today for Class III, it was Mharshang.

Mharshang and her koala

Teaching Class III

At 2pm, we have concert practice. Jordan and I take Class IV with a play on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and on the other days, we have Class V with a song: It's a Small World by Disney. We thought it would be an appropriate song as Sacred Heart has many volunteers coming from all over the world. So far, it's going really well but we just need to tidy up some dance moves. It's super cute.

Class V in position

Class V making a tunnel

After school, I'm pretty much drained and exhausted. Not physically but mentally so sometimes I go to my room and read a book or I go out and play with the kids.

Played with Ariyan all afternoon!

Mucking around with the boarding kids on Photo Booth

So that's my usual day! It's pretty exhausting which results to my bedtime of 10pm but pretty fun. However, since my day-to-day routine is pretty much the norm now, I have been a little more homesick than in the past. I'm excited to go home in two months but how can I leave this place? This is my second home now.