Ed in India

Farewell Dream a Dream

2009-03-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

So it is my last day with Dream a Dream as I fly home early tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to getting up at 3.30am to leave the hotel for the airport.

The last two weeks has flown by - just like the the last time I was here. Apologies to everyone for the lackj of blogs this time but internet acess has been a real problem (I'm told it is always worse in the summer) and I have also been in a rural area for the past 3 days with the Dream Team facilitating their Retreat. It was great and ended with a clear strategic plan for the next 3 years - and a hugely ambitious one at that. The plan, if excecuted successfully, will see DAD grow well beyond their current impact of c. 1500 children to approx 8,000 children.

The Retreat saw us working till late in the night. Just as well I was tired when I went to bed as my bed wasn't exactlky what I'm used to!! See pic. Just a rough padded mattress on a stone slab!!! But I slept like a baby. At least I had a western-style loo and a shower. Such blissful luxury!!!

The Rereat ended with Holi celebrations for the entire team. Holi is the festival of colours and is celebrated with people getting covered in brightly coloured paints. Wow that was a fun way to end a pretty intensive 3 days.

As I write this, I am surrounded by cardboard boxes stuffed to the brim as the DAD office gets packed up ready to be moved to bigger premises at the weekend. I visted the new office the other day and it is a real step-up from the current accommodation. It is clean, spacious and above all....quiet. No constant din from the traffic noise and a place to hear yourself think. Also, there is proper electrical wiring that is a big improvement on the rather dodgy arrangements in the current office.

Other news includes: getting more proficient eating with my right hand; enjoying riding on the back of various motor bikes being driven from place to place by some of the team; joining in on a 5km fun run in Cubbon Park early on Sunday morning (6.30am); visiting the very smart Leela Palace Hotel for coffee at the weekend (Bangalore's best hotel); being the recipient of Anju's undying love and affection and trying to understand Indian English e.g. "updation" which I am told means updating!!

Once again, it has been such a privelege to work with, and contribute to, such a fabulous team of people. Their warmth, generousity of spirit, optimism, hunger for learning and, above all, kindness have all been overwhelming. It is very humbling.

So, until the next time......

PS Thanks to everyone back home for your emails and sorry that I haven't been able to reply to all of them - either through lack of time or, most likely, lack of internet access.

Sending a package in India

2009-03-06T02:01:00.000-08:00

Photos top to bottom:

Back in the slum
New fashion? Comb in hair!
Afternoon sleep in the heat - but oh, the flies (by the lady's hand)
My auto rickshaw queuing for LPG gas in the morning rush hour
Our Thali lunch

Dream a Dream has had two Gap Guru volunteers for the last two months - Will and Kieran. They are both from the UK and leave today. As Iwrite I am watching them pack up their things in a large cardboard box to ship back to the UK whilst they continue their travels to Northern India before returning home. Watching them is like a comedy act! They were going to go to the general post office only to realise at the last minute that large parcels that are being shipped overseas need to be sewn up in white cloth. Not sure why! Suspect that the cloth will hold the cardboard box together. Hamsa, one of the young guys working here has come to the rescue as he has found a metre of cloth and they are starting to sew the package together.

Such are the distractions of working here!! Never a dull moment.

Yesterday saw the whole team go out for lunch to say goodbye to Will and Kieran as it was their last full day. We had South Indian Thalis all round. See pics below and note the eating with the hands which I have now fully mastered.

Last night I went home (well, back the the hotel) in an auto rickshaw (as usual) and the driver must have been the fastest rickshaw driver in the whole of India. My heart was in my mouth most of the time as he was weaving in and out of the traffic at great speed. At one point I thought we were going to be crushed between a lorry and the wall of a bridge!! I just about held the remnants of my Thali lunch in my stomach!

Since I arrived here I have been working on the design of the 3-day Retreat for the Dream Team that I will be facilitating. We will spending the three days at a rural farmhouse location and the purpose will be to review last year's achievements, agree 09/10 goals and establish a new 3 year strategy which will see the organisation grow significantly.

It will definitely test my facilitation skills as there will be a wide range of ability and English language skills - not to mention the heat and the inevitable mosquitoes. The design of the 3 days has been pretty testing too and hope that it works out well.

In between, I've been coaching the leadership team here together with the programme managers and taking them through their Myers Briggs profiles.

It's now 5.20pm. I'm tired, hot and sticky. The ceiling fans are whirring around and the traffic noise poutside is constant. But I should count my blessings as I was talking to a guy in Hyderabad today where the temperature is 40 degrees and will be climbing steadily to 46 degrees over the next few weeks.

That's all for now.....

Internet connection frustrates again...!!!!!

2009-03-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

Having just spent 15 minutes writing today's blog I lost the lot when the internet conection failed. A regular occurance here and hugely frustrating. So here we go again......

Just about managed 3 hours at Dream a Dream's office yesterday afternoon before jet lag got the better of me. Went back to the hotel and had something to eat before crashing into bed for about 10 hours' sleep.

Eating in the hotel last night reminded me of just how many people there are available for work in this country. The hotel restaurant - famous for its vegetarian food - was pretty quiet last night being a Monday. I ordered a Thali ( a vegetarian meal consisting of a number of little pots of vegetarian curries and relishes together with a wonderful pilau rice and bread (roti or naan). At every mouthful, the waiter came up to me to ask if I wanted my pots refilled!! He had nothing else to do and the moment I had finished the plate was whisked away and the bill appeared. The meal cost me about £1.30 and I couldn't eat another thing.

Before going to bed I went to a shopping centre to buy another plug adaptor. There must have been a ratio of 10:1 staff to customers in the shop I went into!!! In most places, staff are plentiful and buzzing about.

This morning in the office, Indian English struck again as I was told by one of the managers here that there was going to be a meeting of the team. "OK", I said, "so you are having a team meeting". "No", she said, "it's not a team meeting, it's just a meeting of the team". ??!!??!!??!! Work that one out!!

And getting my auto rickshaw to the office this morning I asked the driver for Adugodi (the district where the office is based). It took me about 9 times to say Adugodi with emphasis on different vowels to get him to understand where I wanted to go. Rather like the first time I was here in November when I asked a rickshaw driver to take me to Brigade Road only to find out that my educated vowels didn't quite hit the spot as the pronunciation for Brigade Road is Briggerd Road. Ah well.......!

Till the next time......

From 11 degrees C to 34 degrees C!!!

2009-03-02T01:31:00.000-08:00

Wow - what a change in climate! It's hot, hot, hot and it feels more like 40 degrees! Arrived at Bangalore airport at 04.45 after a good flight. Didn't get much sleep but watched "The Changeling" film and started reading and my new Rohinton Mistry book "Family Matters" to get back into the Indian groove. Took a taxi from the airport to the hotel and reminded myself of the precarious driving! Nearly crashed into two lorries but I was so tired that I didn't really bother about it.

Arrived at my hotel (same as last time) to be greeted by the staff there as a long lost friend! Had a quick breakfast and then slept for 4 hours. Arrived at Dream a Dream office about one hour ago to an amazing welcome. It is good to be back with such wonderful people and I feel that I have hardly been away. Where have the last three months gone?

Will stay for 2/3 hours only today until I feel too wobbly to carry on and hopefully have a good sleep tonight.

That's all for now......just letting you all know that I've arrived safely.

Heading out to Bangalore

2009-02-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

I am making final preparations to leave home tomorrow morning. All the usual packing and preparing work papers etc. but this time it all seems less stressful. Firstly, I am returning to a city I am now more familiar with, to a hotel that was my home for 2 weeks in November and to a team of people at Dream a Dream who I now know and who are sure to give me a warm welcome. That will only be matched by the warmth of the greeting I will give them in return.

Secondly, last time, I was packing my things and doing some last minute work on the computer, and my pc crashed badly and I thought I had lost everything. I carted it off to the computer man en route to Heathrow and was worried sick about it for the entire flight. This time, I am hoping for a more relaxed departure from Highgate and I'm looking forward to chilling out on the plane. (By the way, my computer was fine).

I'm delighted that I've also checked in online and got my favourite seat - right at the back next to the window. Well, it would have been better travelling business but hey........

So, off to the land of Slumdog Millionaire and I really cant wait for a return visit to the wonderful "cholera" cafe. More of that in later blogs. Hope you keep following........

And finally...the Dream Team at Dream a Dream

2008-11-28T01:31:00.000-08:00

The last supper........

2008-11-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day at Dream a Dream - well at least until I return for my second fortnight sometime early next year to follow up etc. Last night the "Dream Team" all went to Kalpana's home for dinner. Kalpana is one of the Leadership Team and had us all round for a very scrummy meal. It was my first visit to an Indian home and to home-cooked food which was amazing....especially the jalebi.......sweet lattice-like fried loveliness!! All very bad for the diet and the heart no doubt, but nevertheless delicious. We all sat on the floor and devoured the excellent food and company.

Yesterday morning I was frantic writing up my reports and soon I will be presenting my recommendations to the Leadership Team. I have already taken Vishal (the Director) through these reports and hope that the Leadership Team are as positive as he was.

Yesterday morning I visited a school funded by the Round Table of India where Dream a Dream runs some of their programmes. The kids at the school mostly come from a local slum area and, again, I was struck by their hunger for learning. As a white man I was quite an attraction. See the pics! The conditions in the school were very very basic compared to our own standards but the standards of behaviour were great - if a little Dickensian at times. On entering the classroom, all the kids (mainly 12/13 years old) stood up and said good morning. They then sat down and in turns stood up individually to say their names. Teachers clearly have no problems with behaviour - unlike Christophe, the young guy I am coaching who is spending his first two years of work as a teacher in a pretty challenging school near Heathrow through an organisation called Teach First. He always tells me that about 80% of his time is spent trying to keep control! It wasn't like that at yesterday's school.

The terrorist attack at Mumbai has dominated Indian TV - as it has done across the world. To let you all know that I am fine and thanks to everyone for your text messages asking if I am OK. Even if they arrived in the middle of the night/early morning!!!! Hey...thanks for waking me up about a dozen times each night for the last 2 nights!!!! Seriously, it is good to know I have such wonderful friends and family all concerned about me.

This is my last blog posting as I fly home tomorrow morning. I'll have to leave the hotel at 04.30 to get to the airport by 05.30 for my 07.45 flight to Heathrow. I land at about 1.00pm and hope to be home at about 3.00pm - probably a bit wobbly with jet-lag and general exhaustion after my pretty intense 2 weeks here.

I'll have to get used to the cold weather at home as it has been mild here - although very wet for the past 3 days.....and SO muddy too!!

It's been a wonderful two weeks here spent with some amazing people. I'll miss the Dream a Dream team but will be staying in touch via email and before I know it, I'll be back

So thanks for keeping up to date with my travels and experiences. I hope you have enjoyed reading my entries and look forward to catching up with you soon.

You decide, no you decide, no you decide......

2008-11-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

Top left: Hamsa

Above: Claire and Kalpana

Left: Anju

Below: Vishal

In the group picture, foreground left: Sonali and Sunil

You will no doubt be puzzled at my heading for today's blog. It comes as a result of a fascinating discussion I had this evening with Vishal (Dream a Dream's Director) and some of the DaD team. In essence, all about the Indian attitude to making decisions. There are so many occasions when an Indian will leave the decision to do something to the next person - always being ultra-accommodating and never wanting to assert him/herself. I've witnessed it on several occasions whilst I have been here and never really understood it.

Lunch times in the office we invariably go to Cholera Cafe as you will have read. But if I were to make a suggestion or give a choice, it is difficult to get a clear yes or no. Instead you generally get an "if you want" response.

Vishal and a few of us left work this evening for a beer. I went on the back of Vishal's bike and was observing the Bangalore traffic which, as you've seen from my video on an earlier blog posting, is pretty horrendous. And I'm always amazed at why I haven't seen any accidents.

Well, I think this accommodating approach comes into play on the roads too as drivers sort of make way for other cars, bikes, rickshaws, cows, carts, pedestrians etc. And it works!!! Of course if a Westerner were to drive on these roads there would be multiple pile-ups as we are generally such assertive and competitive drivers.....

Just a thought I wanted to share with you and another little insight I've had into the Indian way of life.

Posted on this blog today are some pictures of some of the Dream a Dream team. We all went out for a Biriyani lunch today........Made a change from the daily masala dosa!!

Another visit to the slum....

2008-11-24T05:01:00.000-08:00

The largest slum in Banagalore is just across the road from the office. I went back with one of the managers from Dream a Dream and this time took my camera. Here are a few pictures - such desparate conditions but most people look happy. Behind that apparent happiness though is extreme poverty and, at times, violence that exists within the family unit. Wife beatings, child abuse etc. There is no running water in the slum and as you can see from one of the pictures people rely on a sump - an underground reservoir in which the water collects. There is no official electricity provided to the slum dwellings so most people tap (illegally and dangerously) electricity supply from the main cable. And of course there are no toilets, so people make do in whatever way they can finding a private place to carry out their ablution. It is all incredibly humbling and when you see these conditions, it makes Dream a Dream's mission so much the more urgent.

One of the colleagues I visited the slum with told me that that she has a nanny to look after her 4 year old daughter. Her nanny was married when she was 11 years old (pre-puberty)! In her early 40's now, she is a grandmother!! At least her daughter was married at 16 years old which represents a slight improvement and is now 22 years old with 3 daughters. What is so distressing when I hear stories like this is that children here are robbed of their childhood at such an early age.

End of Week One

2008-11-22T03:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a great first week at Dream a Dream. So much to learn and see and have already started to work on the key aspects of my project here. Some of my highlights this week was the visit to the slum area, the afternoon spent at an orphanage and the warmth of the welcome I have received by everyone working at Dream a Dream. They share a hugely ambitious vision for a more equitable and fair society and do some really great things towards delivering on their dream. But the task is huge and I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. For those of you who have visited India, you will know that this is a complex country full of contradictions. But this is also a fast-growing economy and there is real optimism in the air.

I grabbed an hour this morning (Saturday) to visit the City Market. Like most Indian markets, what strikes you is the noise, the hussle and bustle, the colours, the commercialism, the smells (good and bad!) and the friendly people - many of whom are eking out a living selling a few items artistically displayed to maximise appeal.

Now that I have been here a week, I feel I am well into the groove of Indian life. I do what most Indians do when crossing the road...i.e. look for a small gap in the traffic and stride out holding my hand out. Invariably, traffic stops or slows down and all is fine. Though there have been one or two scary moments!! The traffic is so heavy that cars, bikes, buses and rickshaws don't go that fast so stopping or slowing down is relatively straight-forward. Well, that's my theory!!

I have had a great meeting with Vishal today and will be seeing him again for another meeting at 5pm. Tomorrow I hope to go to Bangalore Palace and the Botanical Gardens where, fingers crossed, I will be able to escape the continuous traffic noise and the pollution.

Many of you have asked for more photos so here is a selection (above) of the orphanage, the endearingly named "Cholera Cafe" where we get our lunch during the week, and the market.....

Keep your comments on my blog entries coming. It's good to hear from you. And apologies for not emailing you....am having problems with sending emails other than via webmail which is fiddly and time-consuming. Till the next time......

Let's do the head wobble and other things......

2008-11-20T00:38:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been to India, you will be familiar with the head wobble. I'd forgotten just how confusing that this can be when a shake of the head means yes and you think it actually means no. It's becoming contagious and I'm catching myself doing the head wobble too from time to time!

Talking about contagious things, I went out today to pick up a take-away masala dosa for my lunch. That, for the uninitiated, is a thin flour batter that is fried and filled with spicy potato, served with a chutney and samba (a watery curry gravy). It is really scrummy and an ideal snack. All for 15 rupees - about 25 pence. So lunch doesn't come expensive. My only challenge was I had to cross the sewer/river just by the office and the smell put me off my food....but only for a few seconds as I do like my food.

I've also had to get used to Indian tea and coffee - both served hot, very milky and very sweet. For someone who usually takes black coffee, no sugar, it takes some getting used to. But thankfully I do get one decent americano coffee each morning on my way to work at a coffee chain called Cafe Day - the Indian version of Starbucks....and they have outlests everywhere.

Four days into my assignment and I have collected a good knolwedge of Dream a Dream and the key issues facing the organisation. I have just agreed with Vishal (the Director) and the Leadership Team exactly what I will now deliver for them before I return to the UK. Time is running by so fast and there is much I want to do..........

Soon I am off to one of the NGO partners, an orphanage about 30 mins by rickshaw from the office. There I will see another Dream a Dream programme in action. On Saturday morning (at 6.30am) I'll be attending the hockey programme to see how they are delivering life skills through sport. More of that another time.

It's all in the language

2008-11-19T02:21:00.000-08:00

My hotel is just off a road called Brigade Road. So you would think that it is simple to ask the rickshaw drive for Brigade Road when leaving the office in the evening. But nothing is quite so simple. I just get greeted with a stare. So I repeat....Brigade Road. Another stare. And this goes on for a few times until the driver says "Briggerd Road".

I'm learning Indian English very fast and clearly my educated Queen's English needs some tailoring. Such are the delights of living and working in Bangalore!! We Brits were here for 200 years and this is clearly the Indian revenge on us!!

Today's visit to a community centre

2008-11-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

The highlight of my day today was a visit to a community centre - one of the NGO partners of Dream a Dream (DAD) where some of the DAD team run regular creative arts sessions for kids aged 6-12 as part of their life skils learning and development. This is one of about 7 programmes that DAD run with kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Most of the kids live in extreme poverty - on the streets, in slums or from very poor homes/neighbourhoods. Visited the community centre to experience a creative skills class take place. It was fabulous and inspiring to see such animated young faces. 25 kids in all attended - 4 of them were siblings. Their parents had died and were being brought up by an older brother. He was at work so had they not had the community centre to go to then they would be playing around in the street.

My commute to work takes about 20 minutes by auto rickshaw and costs a mere 20 rupees - about 30p. This morning was pretty intense, understanding more about the challenges that DAD faces - listening and learning and absorbing vast amounts of new information presented in a wide range of Indian dialects - puts my listening skills to the test!!

But they are a great bunch of people at Dream a Dream and have been incredibly welcoming.

Almost mastered the art of eating with my hands - well right hand only - for obvious reasons. But that does test my dexterity as I am left-handed! Rice is a major challenge so I generally eat curry with breaad - roti or naan. Am staying in a hotel with a great vegetarian Indian restaurant and having some great food - but curry for breakfast is a bit of a challenge. Resorting instead to cornflakes and fresh fruit and toast with pretty dodgy jam! Hopefully will find somewhere tonight that serves meat!! Plenty restaurants but I am still orientating myself around the local vicinity of the hotel.

Back to the slum of yesterday, I forgot to mention that it sits next to a river - well an open sewer really that carries an enormous amount of waste and debris from Bangalore that collects on the river banks. Tomorrow if I get time I'll take a pic and you'll see what I mean. But as I said in yesterday's entry, there appears to be general happiness despite the appalling conditions. I saw a women's self-help group in action in the slum. A group of women who meet periodically and pool meagre amounts of money. This money is then loaned out at pretty near zero interest rates to help any one of the women in need. Great stuff.

Ah well, it's been a long day and I'm tired cos my sleep pattern hasn't quite adjusted to the flight and time difference. Am doing this in the office and am the last person here. Fan is going on the ceiling and the flurescent (spelling?) lights are blaring - along with the constant din of the traffic outside and the hooters going full pelt announcing the presence of every single driver. In that chaos I must try to wave down a rickshaw and negotiate my way home.

See you next time on this blog!

Day One at Dream a Dream

2008-11-17T04:23:00.000-08:00

My first day here is coming to an end. It has been a fascinating insight into an amazing charity doing some pretty amazing things. Arrived here by rickshaw and although I thought that I had got the price well down from an initial 200 rupees to 100 rupees for the trip from my hotel, I soon discovered that it should have only cost me 20 rupees!! With about 70 rupees to the £, that is really cheap. Ah well, I now know for the journey going back to the hotel!

Spent the day listening to the key players here who make up the leadership team, led by Vishal the Chief Exec who is a truly inspirational guy. My work for the next two weeks is becoming clearer and there will be much to do around helping to build a satrategy for growth.

Vishal and I have just taken a tour around Bangalore's biggest slum - just opposite Dream a Dream's office. It houses well over 200,000 people and covers an area of about 4 square kilometres. Such areas of poverty are not new to me but it has been some years since I visited a shanty town in S Africa or was last in India etc. The amazing thing is that in general, the people look happy and yet they have very, very little.

I feel a little punch drunk with so much information that I have absorbed today. Hoping to get some photos and video uploaded onto this blog soon!

I've arrived in Bangalore

2008-11-16T03:10:00.000-08:00

Arrived at Bangalore airport 30 minutes early after an uneventful flight. Terminal 5 at Heathrow was really impressive and lived up to all it was supposed to be. Whilst busy, there were few queues and the longest I had to queue was at security which took me 5 minutes! We touched down at Bangalore at 5.00am local time (5.5 hours ahead) and took a taxi to my hotel - the Ballal Residency.

Drove from the airport as dawn broke. My driver was, like most Indian drivers, hooter happy reminding me of the chaos on the roads when I was last in India in 2001. En route to the hotel, we passed a golf course and loads of people were playing at 6.30am!!

The hotel is simple but clean and will be my home for the next 2 weeks. I had a quick breakfast (curry of course) and then collapsed on my bed for a 3 hour sleep. Have just returned to the hotel having walked around the immediate area jam packed with people, rickshaws and endless cars and scooters. My biggest shock was to see a Marks & Spencer franchise store just around the corner from the hotel!!

Writing this in my hotel room that overlooks a Police Officers' sports ground and...guess what....a cricket match is on with highly enthusuastic crowds and a commentator blaring from the PA system.

Still feeling a bit wobbly after the flight, the time change and the lack of sleep. So looking forward to a good night tonight and to meeting all the team at Dream a Dream tomorrow.

Getting ready to leave the UK

2008-11-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

No-one is more surprised than me to find that I'm writing a blog!! Blogging is a very recent addition to my technical skills (thanks to the help and assistance of Sandra at Adopt a Business) and I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues whilst I am in Bangalore.

Through my blog, I will be able to share some of my experiences of my work with Dream a Dream and update some choice photos - and even videos. So I hope that you log-in from time to time whilst I am away.

I am writing this first entry whilst in the middle of packing and preparing to leave the UK tomorrow (Saturday). I will hopefully post my next entry from Bangalore in a couple of days or so. Enjoy!