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The Madurai river
And its ruins and buffaloes. Like a said, a country that amazes and stuns
This is an interesting blog to write. I feel compelled to apologise for how long our blogs have been but we really want you to know what India is like and not just what Ana and Chas have been up to. Also, it is hard to be excited about India when we waiting to fly to Sri Lanka for a one week honeymoon (finally, no thanks to you British High Commission!) and then on to Copenhagen to spend one week with Ana's parents. And then retire to a small village in Brittany to celebrate our wedding again with so many wonderful close friends and family.
As Jordan described, India is a very abusive relationship. The daily grind of dealing with the people, the bureaucracy, the climate, the food, the filth, etc wears you down until the very moment you are going to crack and swear never to return and then... the most amazing magical things happen to you that not only bring you back from the brink but make you fall head over heels in love again.
So the summary:
Chas and work: Even though I promised myself I would not have any preconceptions about the work
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Hard to comprehend that all of these men were completely innocent and then the police picked them up, tortured them and detained them illegally. here, I got very disheartened in the middle. Staring at a computer screen over 8 hours a day reading newspaper articles knowing that they are probably inaccurate and not an adequate representation of the situation was frustrating. Also feeling at arm's length from the victims was difficult. All that changed with the field trips and the summer camp. This organisation has given us amazing opportunities, housed and fed us and sent us round India for free. I feel that the tiny difference I have made is all that I could have done in two months and am so glad to have been a part of this incredible organisation who has achieved wonderful things in the name of human rights. I learnt yesterday that the media monitoring and field trip reports I have done will be compiled and sent to the national government to demand that they sign the UN Convention Against Torture.
Ana and work: Volunteering for me didn't quite turn out as planned. It was difficult to offer my services, as we were travelling quite a bit, and I just didn't find anything that suited me. I guess going through a bit of culture shock, the language barrier,
One last shot of the lake at Kodai
It is very sad to think that we might not to go back to Kodai for a long time, maybe not at all if other places call us over India being sick and lack of confidence in myself didn't really help either. I have felt incredibly guilty in that I have been here for 2 months, in a country that is crying out for health workers, and I hadn't found a way to contribute.
I could have lined up something before I arrived, but it would have meant that Chas and I would have been separated. I did find volunteer programs for nurses and the like, which were located all around India but were quite expensive. Also, we met an English couple who had paid quite a lot to come out to India to visit hospitals and tag behind doctors. However, they had found the program to be quite disorganised, interesting in that doctors working together contradicted each other over symptoms and transmission of diseases such as leprosy and that their definition of fever was 'to feel hot'. So I am glad that I didn't spend the money, well, we didn't have the spare $US1000 lying around anyway!
But I did end up giving Chas a hand in thumbing through great big law books searching for custodial torture cases, as well as attending and reporting on the national
human rights conference in Bangalore.
Food: I love the food here. I love the spice and the flavours. I love eating with my right hand only (in the South you get your whole hand in, can get rice and sambar up to your wrist!) off banana leaves. But with every meal comes that wonderful frisson of risk-taking behaviour... who knows whether this one piece of food will result in you spend the rest of night emptying your body through any available orifice. I bit into some tandoori chicken last night that unfortunately was raw. But the rest of the meal was great and so far no salmonella.
Chas' favourite meal: chilly idly with a rava paneer masala dosa or, if I am feeling extravagant, garlic naan with a spicy chicken dish, fish tikka and palac paneer.
Ana's favourite meal: anything not spicy, which makes it very difficult here. I have learnt not to order things that say 'masala' at the end, after having a 5min coughing fit in a restaurant. It didn't help that I had a cough that day as well. But, I have to say that I am a big fan of momos, a Tibetan dish
that we have had up in Kodai. They are kind of like a Chinese dumpling, but all meat, and not spicy if you don't dip them in the chilli sauce provided.
Rickshaw drivers: Rickshaws are my favourite way of getting around. You are shaded but out in the open with the wind running around you. Plus they are often really great people to talk to. After I get past the mandatory conversation about Australia winning the World Cup again, some of them are fascinating. My favourite was a guy in Bangalore who told me he was Christian (making the sign of the cross numerous times) but that the Hindu mark on his head had been put there against his will by a faith healer who was trying to get rid of the devil that had possessed him but only in the back of his head/neck. I won't lie; I was a little scared.
However I truly hate haggling with them; I love haggling in general but rick drivers see white people and often start at 300%!t(MISSING)he normal price. It drives me nuts. If I had a job and was here on holiday, I would not complain so
The Sunday market in Kodai
I am sure it would smell fantastic were dried fish not also being sold there. A bit overpowering
much but we are on a tight budget and living here so why should we pay more than anyone else!? I always get worked up before talking to them. I have to learn to let it go.
Cockroaches: Every time I think I have seen some prehistoric ancestor, the biggest cockroach I have ever seen (often you don't see them, they just crawl on you when you are asleep/in the shower/or having a poo), suddenly Mr Olympia Cockroach comes along. Incredible. We have got used to them I think; in Kochi I was trying to kill one in our room and the hotel guy just flicked it away and it scuttled under the bed. I knew it was destiny, we would meet again when we would least expect it. It got down to the last 5 minutes we spent in the room, 3 days later. Ana was packing her day pack and screamed as she found it in her pack! Entertaining. It made another escape under the bed to bother the next resident.
People in India: People in India have been so generous and wonderful. They will go well out of their way to help you (only if
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Quite noisy but lots of fun to walk around. As a foreigner I have felt very safe in India they have no power over you though; steer clear of any petty bureaucrats). However, the non-Indians have been truly amazing too. All the expats that we have come across are such interesting people. Not the tourists who have come to sit on a beach, and don't venture much further, but the people who come to India to stay a while. Most people have come here to help, and have fascinating backgrounds. Thanks to you Jordan, Manny, Rohan, Sabrina, George and Vera, Amanda, Beth and Aidan, Aaron, Andrew, the Lamberts, the Dedekinds and all the others whom have slipped our minds (such as the French couple at the Fort Cochin restaurant).
The South: Finally, you should really go to Kerala. This is important. But I feel you all should know that the South of India (Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh plus Goa) is a different nation from the North. It has different races, languages, religions, customs and festivals. In the South, Hindi (the alleged national language) is the average persons third language! I hope we have given you a good overview of this fascinating area and have inspired you to visit yourselves. Do not be afraid, I have
Our last photo of the Kodai sunrise
All our photos have been of the same sunrise, don't think that we get up that early everyday felt safer here (in terms of violence) than in Adelaide. I walk everyday to work with a laptop without fear (except of buses and rabid dogs).
Anyway, enough on India. On to the next adventure and thanks for following our Indian escapades.
Love
Ana and Chas
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Luke
non-member comment
abusive relationship
i like that, the abusive relationship bit i am sure you could have guessed but that is exactly how i would describe Uganda. (i am very much looking forward to the Brittany wedding also!)