Govindpuri stories

Thought I would share this article which highlights the work done by ASTHA, where I volunteered for the past 3 weeks. As they say 'necessity is the mother of invention'- I have been impressed by the 'Jugardh' can-do spirit in India, i.e. when the system is broken, find a way to get around it through your network and your own skills!

Have a good one ;)

Walking Foodie Tours of Delhi

*What to do if you have time to kill in Delhi… Stay at a hostel, make some friends, explore the city and generally have fun!

This weekend was shiny and sunny and it appears that Delhi has transitioned from Winter to Summer without much of a thought for Spring. I no longer shiver in the shower and have indeed begun to seek shady sides of the street.

I had made tentative plans to leave the city this weekend- another girl from the hostel, Akshata, was interested in going to Amritsar or Agra with me. Not having seen the Taj, we were both somewhat curious to see it despite my misgivings of overly touristy areas where the touts are aggressive and tourists are over-charged. I had a nap on the couch (overnight) and was ready to go on Saturday morning but my friend had gotten ill overnight and wasn’t up to it.  So instead I napped some more and we decided to see the Old City with two other ladies.  It turned out to be full 5-hour gastronomy tour.  We stopped for amazing parathas at one of Delhi’s landmark hole-in-the-wall eateries , ate pani puri on the streets (pani puri are these funny little ‘puff-balls’, to borrow my friend Athena’s expression, that are filled with tamarind sauce which gives them a salty-sweet taste – rather addictive.). We had ice cream and shopped all around Chadani Chowk for a wedding outfit for one of the ladies, who had recently been invited to attend her first Indian wedding.

Then another night at the hostel watching movies, and a day spent exploring the street art festivals of Delhi.  We went to the industrial/container city of Oklha where graffiti artists had put some time and thought into beautifying old containers. I think my baby brother would have enjoyed it, there was even beat-boxing and hip hop dancing.  There was a real “hipster vibe” at the street art festival, a world away Old Delhi.  It did feel a little strange being there in Okhla- I guess most of the people working there are men earning a few hundred rupees a day (maybe 200 rps = about 4 CAD) so the sight of foreigners walking around attracted some attention (frank stares from the locals is pretty much a given in Delhi).  But it was a relaxing Sunday nonetheless and I had a lovely time- stopping for delicious watermelon and honey melon on the side of the street, dancing around, taking pictures, being a real goof and enjoying the company of new friends. 

Delhi life - Vie quotidienne a Delhi

(Le francais suit!).

Mini-blog of my "Delhi" life (my "daily" life... hahah)!

I came back from the state of Gujarat on Sunday and now am planning to spend 3 weeks in the throbbing metropolis of Delhi. Staying at a pretty decent hostel, the Moustache, that serves breakfast, has hot water, and has the added benefit of being fairly close to where I am volunteering.

I am spending 3 weeks as a volunteer fundraiser-cum-strategist-intern with ASTHA, a charitable trust set up in 1993 which advocates for greater inclusion for children and people with disabilities, in the slum areas of Delhi.

ASTHA folks are quite welcoming and learning everyone's name has become quite the game for me. My colleagues are very amused at my struggles to remember and correctly identify the 15-odd staff that I have met, from Jyoti to Kaushlendra, to Bimesh and Rakesh.

A shocking number of children with disabilities never go to school in Delhi, despite the right to education being clearly enshrined in the country's legislation (see Right to Education Act 2009). The various laws and policies specify that children cannot be turned away by pretext that the school does not have adapted facilities or special educations - although this is often done in practice.  Since ASTHA has been around for 20-odd years it has shown some pretty good results, and the kids who grew up with the organization have now formed their own youth advocacy wing which helps people with disabilities in various manners, such as supporting the obtention of disability certificates.

It is the little things that can throw one off when working in a foreign country... I have learned now to count in 'lakhs'  (1 lakh= 100,000, and people will indicate for instance that 5 million is 50 lakh or 50,00,000 ). Also people in this office share all their (home-made) lunch items...even me although I have to ask the office cleaner/manager if she can kindly go out to get my lunch.  I was told not to wash my own dishes as that is her job... so all this is a bit of an adjustment although there are benefits to working here as well.  Such as that since I dont speak Hindi, it is actually much easier to concentrate on what I am reading or working on, since the general conversations don't distract me, hehe.

There is lots to do on weekends and weekdays as well as work. Last night I checked out the trendy Haus Khaz village and ate Tibetan food with an LSE friend. I am also hoping to get to the Darbah to hear the Thursday evening Sufi singing, the qawali which is apparently a truly lovely experience. The hostel folks are all enthusiastic and the hostel is located near a lot of cafes and bookstores so guess where I am heading tonight :)
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En resume... Je fais du benevolat pendant 3 semaines avec une ONG qui travaille en plaidoyer pour les enfants handicappees. C'est tres bien comme experience et j'apprends beaucoup sur la culture indienne. ASTHA, ou (Strategies alternatives pour les personnes handicappees), oeuvre dans les quartiers defavorises, et ce depuis 1993. En Inde il y a plusieurs lois qui visent a assurer une education de base a tous les enfants y inclus ceux qui sont handicappes, mais en pratique cela se fait difficilement. Mais ASTHA persevere, et en fait produit des bebes... les jeunes qui ont ete aides par l'ONG par le passe ont maintenant cree leur propre organisme pour aider les gens, notamment pour l'obtention de certificats et de documents necessaires pour prouver son statut de 'handicappe' et pour mener des activites de plaidoyer.

En plus de cela, je m'amuse bien. Hier je suis allee dans le quartier tres chic de Hauz Khas pour y manger de la nourriture tibetaine. Je vais essayer d'aller entendre des chants sufis dans un temple qui s'appelle un 'dargah'. Mon auberge de jeunesse est tres bien situee pres de plusieurs librairies et cafes donc je vais bien en profiter!

Gros becs, je vous embrasse,

Mia

Bhuj, Gujarat, Land of Gandhi

Bonjour!  Je me trouve presentement a Bhuj, Dans l Etat du Gujarat, et c est un endroit qui me plait enormement.I arrived in Bhuj on Momday and will be here til Friday evening. so far it has been one of myf avourite places to visit.  I spend Tuesday in Mandvi which is a little coastal town near the south of the Kachchh district. Kachchh is famous for its shipbuilding insustry which even today relies on traditional building techniques. I wandered happily around the OLd Town, ate amazing Gujarati thali at Osho restaurant and went to Vijay Vilas palace which is fairly unremarquable save for its stuffed tiger and the gorgeous view of the area that it provides from the top of ita tower.  Yesterday I shopped in the artisan village of Ajrakhpur which houses the muslim Katri clan known for the hand block printing technique and for their uae of natural dyes.  I also went to the living, Learning and Design Museum which presents a very comprehensive exhibition on 10 different tribes and the embroidery and textiles they produce. Embroidery was until recentlt a personal art not for commercial purposes but things are changing, and the Shru jan Trust wjich administers the museum and sells the handicrafts for many artisans is doing a good job of ensuring this this is done in a locally sustainable manner. Finally I also visited the office of Khabir, an Ngo that represents shoemakers, dyers, and other artisans. Their centre is quite good with a guesthouse, pottery and dye centre, cafe, kitchen and exhibition space. Bhuj itaelf is a great little town with a lovely although somewhat polluted lake. I ve walked around it a few times and wathed herons, ehrets, pelicans, cormorants and lots of other birds which are active in the early a.m. and ar sunset.