Flat hunting: The one with the Broker Wars

There’s been mayhem, stress, upsets and danger in the hunt for a flat. It’s been a better drama than an Eastenders Christmas Omnibus with more memorable storylines. But perhaps that’s an easy accomplishment.

N & I decided to share a flat as we’d shared a room for four weeks through the training and orientation period. No mean feat given that rooms were maybe 10 x 10 feet with a small en-suite bathroom. Sharing was a sensible move as one bed flats in Delhi are hard to come by and with an allowance of 8,000 rupees each per month (about £106 GBP) this doesn’t get you much here.

Potential VSOers should not be put off. Countries vary and even in India the situation of fellow volunteers in other parts of India are completely different. Delhi just happens to be more difficult. Much more difficult. We’d decided to look around ourselves for various reasons but in Delhi two Western women usually means an inflation of the rental price by about a third.

We went through many brokers. We’ve seen flats that felt like terrorist cells. We’ve been called so many times by one broker it was nearly harassment. Another we could not communicate with, our Hindi being so limited at this stage. One admitted he struggled finding anything in our price range as bigger flats were built for families who in Indian culture have less privacy. Two single Westerners like having doors on the bedrooms and not having to walk through them to get to the main bathroom. Flats just weren’t built for us.

But finally about a week into the search we found a place. A week sounds like nothing in Western time but you don’t see pictures or get to read blurb on a property. You get in an auto and go to see the place. We’d visited 16 in a week, 10 in the first weekend alone. ‘The Taj’ as we named her was the one. On our second visit we were invited to have chai with the landlord and his son. We chatted, were told we would be treated like his daughters and we negotiated a price. Two days later we hadn’t sorted out the finer details between our NGOs, VSO and us. The Taj went to someone else. So much for being family. Gutted we had to haul ourselves around Delhi once more.

We got into situations we shouldn’t have for the sake of getting somewhere quickly. Neither of us wanted to carry on living in hostels having been in them for four weeks. We got on the back of brokers’ motorbikes without helmets as we were repeatedly told, ‘another flat is around the corner, Madam’. Calling brokers from the internet and having to meet them at properties. The worst situation was the day of ‘broker wars’. One day a younger broker had shown us two flats. Neither suitable he offered to show us more the next day. He turned up with a friend in a car who thought he was Mr. Smooth. N got offered an invite to a Hindi wedding and a jacuzzi. The next day they repeatedly called us. We were with another broker and they showed up to try and get us to see the same flat. Whilst sitting in our broker’s car, we saw the younger brokers drive by with their tinted windows. They returned and Mr. Smooth got out. All pointed white leather shoes and black velvet jacket, on the pull. I cringed thinking an argument was about to occur. Whose patch were we on anyway? Our older broker got out shook their hands and introduced himself. We had to excuse ourselves and lied that we were about to sign a deal. All because we were Western women and the young broker had obviously got his friend along for some fun.

Contrary to the Hollywood stereotype that has permeated some of India, we’re not easy. We didn’t want to go to a club, just a flat. After all the drama, there’s no Eastenders ending thankfully. We got lucky and found a flat. We had more drama and nearly lost this one too. Eventually we got the deal done and moved in today. It’s Christmas Eve and after two weeks of nightmare stress; it’s been the best Christmas present I could have had this year.

On the Road for Deaf Drivers?

I was asked to go on short day trip with work. Excited to be on a train out of Delhi, it was a great chance to chat to my colleagues out of the office, to get ideas about where my work with them and VSO will go. On arrival we got picked up by a Deaf man. I was astounded. I’d noticed some tweets on Twitter before I came to India that Deaf people aren’t allowed to have driving licences and here was someone Deaf driving.

It was explained like so: they can drive so they do, the law is behind on these things. Fair play. India is more than behind on this one, why wait?

The Chief Executive of my organisation is currently going through every law relevant to Deaf people in India, and there are many, to advise government about the necessary changes to bring them in line with the UNCRPD and human rights recommendations. He has been reading out of parts of the law and they are archaic. It’s a bit like hearing about some of the old laws in the UK still in existence such as, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.

The National Association for the Deaf (NAD) has been campaigning for Deaf people to be able to hold driving licences for some time. Last week NAD were featured on page two of a national newspaper, The Hindustan Times. There was news that the Supreme Court of India had turned down their appeal on the grounds that driving here is more dangerous and they wouldn't be able to hear the honking.

In comparison to some countries driving here is more dangerous but that doesn’t make Deaf people any less able to drive. There are only 26 countries where Deaf people are not yet legally allowed to drive. It’s a shame then that India is one of them. Anyone who has been to Rome or Paris can see the chaos there where Deaf people are allowed to drive. Can a driver playing tunes with a thumping bass hear the honking? The appeal was turned down illogically. I spent some time in the car and I was no more scared than I usually am!

Sign 4

They say try not to see anyone from home in the first few months of your placement as it can make you feel homesick. I didn’t have much choice as I attended the Sign 4 conference held in New Delhi from the 17-19/12/09. Needless to say, I didn’t feel homesick but rather it was great to see some familiar faces and hear about people’s experiences of India. I’m extremely grateful to two British colleagues who I’d texted beforehand and they’d brought over some supplies for me. Thank you both (you know who you are)! As an aside, these supplies were Marmite, Nutella and red wine. You can get anything you want in New Delhi but it comes with a price. A small jar of Marmite comes in at a fiver. To put it into perspective, this is more than a day’s allowance. Eating local wherever you are is always going to be cheaper.

The conference didn’t directly relate to my placement as it was on Sign Language linguistics but as it turned out it gave me an overview of the development of interpreting in India from the perspective of a University and a chance to meet some Deaf people from India. I could also practice my International Sign Language and meet Deaf people from around the world. There are many reasons I am doing a VSO placement. One of them is that I’d been after some international experience for a while. There are a few conferences around the world you can attend in linguistics, Sign Language, and both Deaf and interpreting associations. This felt like the start of that international experience except I was there as a new resident of India to work with the community here for the next year.

How good it was to see an International conference for Deaf people held on Indian soil. There is much to do here for Deaf people and any international events can only strengthen the case for government to set up the post of an Interpreter for Deaf people. Until it does it will be unlikely that people will want to work as interpreters with no formal employment and no recompense for that role. The government has said it will recognise the job when there are more interpreters. The chicken and the egg? It seems so. I hope that any work I can do out here can play some part in getting the egg hatched.

First Day at the Office

The flat hunting saga continues but work must carry onas ever. I spent the first two days of this week visiting many flats with nothing vaguely suitable. It's quite weird searching out accommodation in Delhi and the search has certainly been eventful. But that is a whole other story.

It is Wednesday and it feels good to have gone to work today to start what I came here to do, four weeks after arriving in country. In country orientation (ICO) involves four weeks of talks and language training. In our intake we also had a strategy conference thrown in which was by far the most beneficial part of our ICO as it was an opportunity to hear from Indian speakers who were heads of NGOs, experienced VSOers and a leading academic talking about key trends in India.

By the end of ICO everyone is itching to get to their placements. Having said goodbye to most of the 18 people with six of us staying behind in Delhi, it was time to start work. I’d been to my new office the week before to say hi to the staff and still managed to get lost.

It was an enjoyable twenty or so minutes as Nehru Place is an entertaining corner of Delhi. The main part looks a little like a built up 1960s British concrete shopping centre. A grew up near one in Edmonton in London. The same one that was immortalised by Frank Spencer in an episode of Some Mothers do Have ‘Em. You may remember the episode where he is uncontrollable on rollerskates. You can’t see much of the centre on the clip but it is similar to the old Tricorn in Portsmouth. The difference here is Nehru Place is a hotbed of IT activity. The middle of the street is taken over by men selling wallets, shoes, socks and ripped Hindi movies. Apart from a few cloth shops, most of the rest sell IT goods or can repair them. Want a laptop in Delhi? This is the place to come. It is to computers and stereos what Tottenham Court Road is to London.

Amongst the wallets teenage boys lurk waving lists in plastic wallets of every type of copied software imaginable. Sam Miller in his book on Delhi said Microsoft once hired an elephant to trample on CDs in Nehru Place to make a point. He then states many of the sellers brag that Microsoft employees based in Nehru Place often buy fake copies of Windows themselves.

My first day was great. I got to meet more staff, learnt more about what my VSO placement will entail and practice more Indian Sign Language. My laptop had a mini-malfunction but thanks to one of the IT shops the staff managed to get it connected to the network. It seems I’ll get stared at a lot working around here as I didn’t see one other Westerner today. It may take some getting used to, but it’s quite nice being in this corner, away from tourists and a lot of other expats.

The YouTube clip is available here.

Volunteering to Clean up the Yamuna

Only two days after attending my first big event in India I got on a bus with 10 or so other volunteers and turned up at the infamous Yamuna River in Delhi for the next event, International Volunteering Day. I say infamous as the Yamuna is known as a bacteria-ridden sludge fest running alongside the east of Delhi. Sam Miller in his book on Delhi points out that great cities have been built around their rivers. Paris on the Seine, London around the Thames. The Yamuna is neglected, ignored and often used as a rubbish tip. Many homeless people live on its banks and life down here is another world separate from life in the rest of the city.

The aim of the day was to clean up the Yamuna. A passing journalism student had heard the band and seen all the school children. She wandered up and I explained that we were helping the bus loads of school children clean up the Yamuna. As we stood there in blue rubber gloves with rakes she looked incredulous and stated this was impossible. Of course, we added, this wasn’t the entire point of the day. The point was to involve children and young people in issues directly affecting their community, to promote active citizenship and volunteering. This seemed to be a concept that wasn’t understood. Behind us a few locals were chucking rubbish over the bridge into the river as the children was trying to rake out debris from the Yamuna’s murky shorelines. We pointed at the children and said the future of India. The journalism student pointed at the people on the bridge.


The buses kept coming, the bands kept playing and the rubbish kept coming. Soon the banks in the allotted space were full and the stash of rubber gloves has run out. Within an hour people has moved past the roped off area and had moved down the shore in a breakaway faction. One volunteer beckoned another group of us over to help. There were children, adults, volunteers and other expats working in NGOs raking rubbish out of the river, balking at the methane released by trash being disturbed. There was a sense of togetherness as people just got on with the job at hand.

The media present rightfully saw a good photo opportunity. Two photographers and one cameraman were present for over an hour clicking away at people working together, passing down empty bowls to be filled with the ever increasing mounds of plastic bags, city detritus and nameless lumps of half degraded black smelly goo. We were excited the next day when a few volunteers got their photos in the newspaper working away with some local people. One story though had completely missed the point as had the student. It pontificated: why hadn’t the government cleaned up the river, why were school children doing this, what was the point of an event like this.

Talking to the excellent organisation, Swechha, who ran the event, would have shown what the aims were. Walking around the stalls of NGOs, chatting to people, listening to the bands and the impassioned speeches from VSO and the UN would have made it clear. The title of the event itself was pretty obvious. The easiest thing of all to understand was the determination that people showed on the day, the way that they worked together and the enjoyment of community spirit and coming together that was apparent all around.

YouTube clip now available.

World Disability Day 2009

Some countries call it the International Day of People with Disabilities. Others the World Disability Day (WDD) as it is named in India. Whatever the label, with 70 million disabled people in India it is a day that needs celebration. A day that asks politicians to sit up and take notice. A day for disabled people to raise awareness and to champion their cause.

WDD has been held for the last 3 years at India Gate, under its imposing arch, far bigger than the Arc d’triomphe or Marble Arch. India currently has the People with Disabilities Act (1995). An act that disabled people and organisations say is weak. It follows the medical model of disability which says that disability is something to be treated. It does not address fully what society can or should do for disabled people or what their rights are in terms of education, health and access.

Despite this seemingly weak stance India ratified the UN Convention of Rights for Disabled People (UNCRPD) on 1st October 2007. It was the sixth country to do so but so far it is a piece of tokenism. Little has happened since. The underlying theme of WDD in India this December was to refuse amendments to the current law and create a stronger rights-based law, empowering disabled people to live fulfilled lives as equal citizens.

With regard to Deaf people the current law mentions Deaf people a handful of times including once in a definition, twice in the names of organisations that serve the Deaf community. There is not much else. It is as useful as a jumper on a hot summer day in Delhi.

It was gratifying to be part of the day, to see people out in force. With 5,000 people present it occurred to me that the many people attending seemed to be Deaf. I asked someone where everyone else was. I was informed transport is so inaccessible here that many who would have wanted to attend would not have been able to do so. Many NGOs do not have spare funds to put on transport to solve this issue. Without this, without disabled people turning up at events in force there is less likelihood of politicians seeing the changes that are necessary.

Perhaps enough will be done by the disabled people’s movement as a whole and by pressure from NGOs and external countries to get India's politicians to catch up. Perhaps there will be funding and transport for people to attend. Perhaps media efforts will be enough to raise the profile of disabled people in India. What I saw today was some incredibly passionate and committed people. A feeling of disappointment at the past but hope for the future. People had come from as far away as Orissa and Pune to attend. We're talking over 24 hours spent on a train to be there.

The UN’s message for WDD was ‘realising the Millennium Development Goals for all. These goals were set out by the UN to be achieved by 2015. They include providing a universal education for all and eradicating poverty and hunger. With disabled people often being the poorest in society due to a lack of access and exclusion from society, India has a lot of work to do over the next six years.

YouTube clip online now.

Delhi's Homeless

We had a visit organised for tonight to one of the homeless shelters run by AAA, an Action Aid funded project. It was a little different to a Friday night back home.

In two cars with my group of 14 volunteers, we dodged the Delhi traffic then ground to a halt. We were bemoaning the fact the visit had been organised on a Friday when presumably traffic is worse. I’m not actually sure it makes a difference what day it is but the traffic did seem worse. We spent an hour inching forward and passing time by discussing the difference in the political structures of the UK, USA, Kenya, Canada and Ireland. As we approached Old Delhi it was apparent what had caused the delay. A melee of goats and their owners were struggling in the space where cars should have been, reducing the number of lanes from three to one. Translated this is space for six cars abreast which had been reduced to space for one car and perhaps a rickshaw. Our taxi driver explained the chaos. The next day was Eid al-Adha, a Muslim festival celebrating the prophet Abraham by sacrificing a goat. Our companions on the road were all going to die tomorrow.

We finally arrived and with dead legs and grumbling stomachs, any moaning ceased as we entered the shelter. It was hard to make out the entrance in the chaos of Old Delhi. We went through a door between the market stalls and cows. Inside was a long corridor with huge rooms leading off into masses of people covered in blankets on metal cots or lying on the floor. We were lead by P and S, two incredibly passionate and dedicated men, to the children’s room at the back. We went through the room one-by-one to a space at the back a room for a talk on the centre. As we passed the room full of 30 boys aged 10 – 13 years old, they shouted ‘Namaste!’ at us. I was astounded at the work done by the volunteers at the centre and the initiatives that have helped the people that shelter here. With 150,000 homeless in Delhi the managers of the shelters and the volunteers work hard. This figure does not include those that live in semi-permanent shacks and structures that aren’t fit for humans to live in.

S seemed to be drained and he mentioned that it was a 24/7 job campaigning for the rights of the homeless in Delhi and trying to keep the shelters open. AAA has a few shelters open around the city but does not cater for women or girls due to one of the shelters being shut down. That leaves an estimated 10,000 homeless females on the streets.

There are many projects at AAA, two of which belied a shocking fact. Firstly, AAA runs a ‘beggar’s court’ where homeless people put in prison can have access to a lawyer and time away from the jail. Secondly, there is a scheme where people can register and get ID cards enabling them to have access to banks, other services and a proof of their ID. The reason for these projects is the Police can ‘push’ on people without ID. They can also arrest anyone seen to be begging or even if they look unwashed, unkempt and homeless. This brings me to the shocking fact: someone may then be put in jail for three years just for being homeless.

Rather than resolve the issue of the homeless, this is a way of rounding people up and sticking them in jail away from public sight. The government however, do seem to be recognising that there is such a thing as ‘homelessness’ which they haven’t in the past. No doubt the issue will have to be addressed. It is one that hopefully will be increasingly more important with the run up to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October 2010.

YouTube clip online now.

Can tech savvy teens affect change in India?

I’ve been at a VSO strategy conference all day on the outskirts of Delhi with the aim of helping to shape VSO India’s next three year strategy. We’ve had brilliant presentations that have put why I am here into India’s political, social and cultural context. A few random and surprising facts:

• 40% of India’s population are 13-25 year olds
• 40% live in cities
• The emerging middle class of 330 million people are mostly indifferent to the poor in their country
• Young people are not engaged with their country
• The Indian government only spends 1% of its GDP on public health (in comparison to around 6% in a developed country)
• A third of the world’s poor live in India
• There are 45 million internet users
• And 330 million people own a mobile phone...
• ...with another 15 million a month sold
• There is a shortage of Indian volunteers on projects in their own country.

For a country touted as ‘Shining India’ where is the government move to engage the young and middle classes, to promote active citizenship, to encourage those that are better off to help the poor in their own country?

Looking at the stats and facts above it seems obvious to me that technology and social media should play an important role in engaging the young who are the country’s future into actively playing a part in assisting their fellow citizens. With a largely corporate media do they not hear the widespread rural poverty, of the farmers committing suicide due to falling cotton prices or the wrong crops no longer suiting their climate-changed fields? If someone were to make it cool to spread this news, to become involved, to send tweets protesting for social change, to create Facebook groups, to document the failings of the government to enact change...perhaps India’s next generation would be the ones to realise that change. To be the change that you want to see in the world? It’s what the Father of India, Gandhi, wanted.

Delhi Eat-a-thon

I’ve now been in India for two weeks and it’s about time I mentioned food. It is a big topic of conversation between all the volunteers here in Delhi as we love it. We are provided with breakfast and lunch at our training centre. The food is good although thankfully the breakfast is not curry.

Lunch is a variety of curries, lentil Dhals, potato dishes and rice. There is usually Roti provided, an unleavened round bread otherwise known as a Chapatti. I find these a welcome choice if the curry is particularly oily or cooked with plenty of ghee, a clarified butter that will happily clog your arteries. The Roti is particularly good with the blow-your-head-off lime pickle, extra chillies included.

We eat out in the evenings. There is a really good vegetarian restaurant within walking distance and a belly-busting dinner can be yours for 100 rupees (just over one British pound). The Aloo Dam is an amazing mix of cauliflower and soft potato. It’s a welcome not-so-spicy alternative to curry. The butter Naans here are a hit amongst the volunteers due to their similarity to hot buttered toast. Others tell me the Tandoori Chicken is a hit. Any food here washed down with a sweet yoghurt Lassi is a perfect cheap meal.

A local auto rickshaw ride away provides a few options, the best being another veggie restaurant serving Dosas. These light pancakes, filled with a potato and veg mix served with extra fillings and coconut chutney, are a good choice for curry-weary travellers. Otherwise, I have mostly gone for the curry options: mixed veg Parantha (stuffed pancake that is deep-fried) with hot chutneys and a variety of Masala curries including Paneer (cheese curry which is delicious believe or not).

I have mainly been vegetarian here for a few reasons. Cows are sacred in Hinduism so beef is never eaten, the lamb is often mutton or can be goat in disguise. It is hard to tell where meat is from and food poisoning is less likely on a veggie diet. There is little reason to eat meat though as often restaurants don’t serve meat and there is a great variety of well-cooked delicious dishes.

On the whole the food has been great and we have all over-eaten on occasion in an attempt to try everything on the menus. Some of the group aren't used to hot food though and have been struggling to get food they find palatable. Although I’ve enjoyed and mostly stuck to Indian food over my first two weeks I have cracked on occasion. Last night a group of four of us crept away secretly to a nearby McDonalds to order McVeggie burgers and Masala spicy fries. It seems we weren’t alone in wanting a break from the food as on ascending the stairs we discovered another four volunteers silently munching away on their chicken McMaharaja burgers.

Market Mayhem

Free from the confines of the group with the weekend ahead, I could plan a day out. I feel I get on with everyone here but I find it tough living so closely with people every day. Sharing breakfast, language classes, lunch, shopping at the market, dinner, trying to use the internet in the common room or even grabbing a cup of tea is all done alongside a few other volunteers if not the whole group. My roommate and I decided to stay clear of the tourist areas as we are in Delhi for the whole year. A good plan as we headed to a local area to suss out what kind of area we could end up living in.


We negotiated a good fare to Lajpat Nagar where we know two other volunteers live. We were greeted with total chaos on the roads as we got out of our auto-rickshaw. Beeping horns, street smells and the pandemonium of humanity was a highly charged assault on the senses. Within five minutes we had stumbled into the local market and with it being mainly pedestrianised we were away from the road and although busy not as frantic as the car chaos we had left behind. Star purchase of the day was a pillow for 100 rupees to replace the brick like ones back at the institute. The best 100 rupees I have ever spent.

Getting back wasn’t so much fun as roads had been closed and it took flagging down about 7 autos before we could get one to take us and we had to give him double the price. I enjoyed the ride back though as we got to see the train station and the dangerous looking open crossing. Stuck in traffic we got many stares. What I loved was our driver chatting away or arguing with car drivers around as they were so close to each other. The downside to this was as Westerners stuck in traffic we were the focus of several stares as we were sat there powerless to do anything but smile back. Nothing offensive though and it was fairly funny.

Later we went out to the Defence Colony for some food and managed to get something less spicy for a bit of a breather whilst settling in. The beer was fairly cheap and many women were in this bar too. As it was 50% price on the second beer we had a couple more beers. Well it would have been rude not too. The greatly moustachioed doorman high-fived us on the way out and it was time for a ride home to sleep on my newly soft and fluffy pilllow.

To Beer or not to Beer

This afternoon we were told Indian women rarely drink alcohol and they will usually drink soft drinks when out. Drinking is generally frowned upon. Now, I haven’t had any alcohol at all since arriving here and I understand going out to drink blows the allowance although beer can be bought in bottle shops for 40 rupees. I don’t want to sound like an alcoholic but in the UK alcohol is such a big part of our culture from socialising in pubs to eating out with some wine. I’ve asked myself if I could go dry for the year and although most of the time I won’t want a beverage, I can imagine a cold beer in 40 degree heat on a weekend relaxing with some new friends or having a beer in front of an episode of Gavin & Stacey would go down a treat.


After our classes today, all the staff and volunteers went to dinner. I’m so enjoying the food: huge pancakes called dosas, potato dishes spiced with mustard seeds, mixed thalis, eye wateringly hot chutneys and oh so sweet lassi drinks. I’ve managed to be vegetarian so far which isn’t hard as there are plenty of great cheap restaurants that don’t even serve meat. I’d like to be able to last as long as possible without any illness or food poisoning. This seems like some kind of rite of passage in turning into a Delhite or more culturally correct, a Dilliwa (Delhi is known locally as Dilli and wa means person).

After dinner a few of us went for beers. My new Deaf colleague was there so although I did some social interpreting (tiring when you don’t yet fully know the language) it was good to relax. The beer was 200 rupees. Put into perspective, my daily allowance is 285. The bar was in the more hip district of Haus Khas compared to our accommodation on Lodhi Road so that accounted for the price alone. I loved the retro furniture and the fact I was somewhere where I could go if I felt like going somewhere that felt a bit closer to home with its interesting mix of Western and Indian culture. What I loved even more though was the women were...drinking beer. I slurped away happily from that moment on, in the knowledge I could access my savings for the occasional night out.

Back to School

We have now had a day of introductions and a further two days of training. This has been Hindi lessons in the morning which are fun but hard. There are currently 15 volunteers. Another three are due to arrive but are having problems getting their visas approved by their respective Indian Embassies in Ireland, Australia and England. We have been split into two groups to reduce the size of the class. Learning Hindi is fun and although hard not especially difficult compared to any other language. There are many fits of giggles as we get things wrong. We have limited time to learn so I am aiming for 30 minutes every day or so but I am sure this willbe difficult as time seems to evaporate here.

Each trip out for dinner or to Lodhi Gardens takes at least 15 minutes as the road is so packed and busy. Going for a run yesterday meant dodging 6 lanes of rush hour traffic, some open sewers, wonky pavements and road works in order to get to a park where risk of breaking your neck trying to exercise was greatly reduced. I’ve been told we are in the area where refugees used to come to live on arrival in Delhi. This seems like a good way of assimilating all the volunteers into Indian life. We have good parts and not so good parts here. It is not just getting around that takes ages as bureaucracy is a factor. Even getting a pay as you go sim for my mobile has meant copies of passport, visa and a photo. I don’t relish trying to set up a bank account or getting an internet connection. These things seem to take weeks to sort out.

The last lesson for this week was on Indian Sign Language. I was asked to speak briefly about sign languages and then the Deaf chef from the VSO office was drafted in to teach everyone a few signs and chat to the class. It’s a shame there wasn’t more time to prep for the session and to chat to my colleague beforehand. Nevertheless I managed to interpret for the class so they got both an idea of sign language, Deaf awareness and how an interpreter works.

A Wecome to VSO India

After language lessons in the morning we were herded into these fantastically old-fashioned taxis. I sat in the front and got told to pretend my seat belt was on. There was no other end for the seat belt to go. As we sped round roundabouts and our driver aggressively dogged traffic my feet were twitching as if I might somehow be able to hit the brakes should we be heading for a collision.


We arrived at the VSO India Programme Office with a very warm welcome of garlands of fragrant carnations strung about our necks. We were introduced to the office staff. As I was saying my name I looked up and saw a member of staff signing to another so I waved a hello and signified that I knew sign language. The head of the office asked how we knew each other. I said I didn’t but just recognised that someone was Deaf and was saying hello. Therein lies one beauty of sign language and being able to communicate, albeit slowly perhaps with anyone in the world. It turned out the Deaf man was the cook and after a gorgeous lunch of spicy beans, a spinach and paneer (cheese) dish, rice and chapattis we got a chance to chat more.

I was surprised to see a lot of crossover with British Sign Language. I could use the British alphabet which was still used in India alongside another set of differently signed Indian vowels but either signs could be used. Some signs such as ‘mother’, ‘father’ and ‘work’ were clearly taken from American Sign Language and some were quintessentially Indian such as ‘born’, ‘taxi’ and ‘sick’. Of course it is difficult to base assumptions on having chatted with one person so I’m itching to get in the DeafWay office and start meeting more Deaf people.

Stroll in the Park

After a fitful sleep on a brick-hard pillow, all the volunteers that had already arrived met for lunch at the Indian Social Institute where we are staying. This is a residential block with a canteen in the basement serving breakfast and lunch. We were given some cash on arrival which was four weeks worth of allowance to see us through dinners and travel expenses whilst on ICO (in-country orientation).

So meeting for lunch meant going done two flights of stairs to meet everyone in the canteen for, you've guessed it, curry. It was all vegetarian food with one type of curry, one delicious potato dish, plain rice and an amazing lime chutney which blew my head off and didn't compare to any I'd had in the UK. I'm going to enjoy this coming year.

We decided on a stroll after lunch and ended up in the Lodhi Gardens 15 minutes away from our new home. As you can see from the pictures, it's an impressive local park. From current volunteers' pictures that I have found on Facebook, it seems I will be here quite often. No complaints about that here. There's also a jogging track where we saw Indian women dressed head to toe running around. It is only about 30 degrees at the moment and I don't know whether people will run in the heat later when it gets over 40. Especially fully clothed. There's already talk about entering the Delhi half marathon next November and I'm planning my first run here on Thursday.

We are also based down the road from Mehar Chand Market and The Habitat Centre which is Delhi's answer to The Barbican in London. VSO training tells you to take your time in the first few weeks to get used to the area, relax and settle in slowly so as not to induce culture shock.

It seems though that Delhi is similar, in some ways, to other places in Asia. Much horn-honking, you need nerves of steel to cross the road and the food is great. If I get any form of culture shock I imagine it will be a bit later. And I am sure it will happen at some point however much I think it won't.

Arrival and Orientation at the Indian Social Institute

We arrived at 2am at Delhi airport to a few beeping cars but it was fairly quiet other than that. I was surprised but then it was the middle of the night. We were collected by two VSO India office staff who were lovely and very welcoming. After dishing out bottles of water they bundled all of us bleary-eyed volunteers and our luggage into two cars. I sat in a child seat with another volunteer at the back. My first views of Delhi were out of the back of the car through a sunscreen.

My first impression of New Delhi was one of dust and construction. We were all told that with the Commonwealth games approaching in October 2010 the Metro was being extended along with many other building works. This was in keeping with what I had read in guide books that Delhi is under construction permanently.

On arrival at the Indian Social Institute, we were handed out towels, information packs and keys. We agreed between us to meet at a certain time for lunch as nobody was going to get up for breakfast. I didn't bother putting up the mosquito net as it was 4am and I literally fell into bed.

T5 and counting...

I had two other volunteer’s phone numbers who will be on the same flight. There should have been around 10 of us, some connecting from Dublin and Toronto. I was a bit concerned about terminal 5 and the fact I don't have any baggage insurance as it was too expensive for something that didn't cover valuables. Hmmph, was not going to pay up if the policy wasn't going to cover my camera and laptop.

I was dropped off at Heathrow by my parents. We left at 6am from Hertfordshire and still got stuck in the car park that is the M25. An hour early for check in, I bump into another volunteer I'd met a few weeks ago via contact on the VSO message boards. A family goodbye and I was through security. With an hour to go on the flight we had met with the Irish volunteer and another one from the UK. We had lots of conversations about what people packed and what we were likely to miss (the evidence will be on YouTube soon).

Whilst in the queue for boarding we met with another volunteer. The beauty of the two VSO prep courses at Harbourne Hall on the outskirts of Birmingham is you often meet at least one other person that has a placement and is on the same intake as you. So as soon as there were a few of us we were networking quickly. With two intakes every year for most countries it's likely you'll have companions for your in country training. We all have a month together and this is India's biggest cohort at 17 people so it should be interesting!

Packing District

After a weekend away visiting friends before the chaos of packing, I’ve had a pretty stressful week. I only left myself seven days to finish off preparations after work and a weekend of socialising.


The first day was pretty much scanning of as much of my Postgrad folder as possible. It wasn’t urgent but the more I could get done the better. Back-breaking work but boringly necessary. The next few days I’d said I wouldn’t panic but did. I managed a few swimming pool visits to release the tension and the actual packing only took a couple of days. The panic only comes when you think you have to remember all those things you may not get abroad. Delhi though should have anything. I’ve read that hair goop and underwired bras are the worst. Everything else should be fine. I have had several offers of parcels that can be sent at a later date from the UK full of the delights of home.

It’s now the night before I leave. I went for Sunday lunch with a friend to unwind and enjoy a roast beef lunch and some red wine. It was a good move and I’m feeling relaxed, prepared and excited. A 6am start. I’m heading to bed early but I’m pretty sure I won’t be sleeping much!

Drinks? I couldn't possibly.

So it was potentially my last night of drinking red wine for a while and I managed to get a few in. It was a lovely night and a really good turnout. We crammed ourselves into a corner of a balcony at The Cut Bar in Waterloo and slowly overtook the space as various other people left and more friends arrived. I feel like I’ve had a great send off so thanks to all that came.

There's also a YouTube clip now online at www.youtube.com/jenpenwen

Bob Geldof's Lost Daughter

It's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster at times over the last week. Getting a bit stressed, then realising there's not much I actually have left to do. Getting stupidly excited then realising I'll miss friends. Then being ecstatic I'm just about to do something I've always wanted to do since I was Bob Geldof's frustrated lost daughter of the 1980's.

Ok so I'm not doing aid work in Africa nut I've always wanted to something in International Development. I also don't have rose-tinted spectacles on about the patronising 'help' I'm going to be giving. International Development has come on a long since that approach (I should say Bob didn't have that approach either). It's now about partnership, working together and leaving behind a sustainable, long-lasting effect of your work that the organisation will have worked with you on and can continue to develop.

A couple of nights ago I spent half an hour chatting to C, a volunteer in Delhi via Skype. She very generously stayed up until 2am to chat to me. The reason that she had appeared online so late was that she'd had to source some water from her neighbours when there was a problem in her flat. C and I met on one of our prep courses at VSO. She went out in July and my placement offer came a bit later. I've been emailling H too in Orissa who was on the same course. Between the two of them I have tons of info about what life might be like for me over the next year.

Now matter how much I prep I do, I'm not going to be completely prepared. Best advice C gave me? Just let it go...

H's blog has been inspiring. Her life seems very much different from how mine will be. I'll be in a big city where I can get anything (though I won't be able to afford luxury goods like imported food). H and others in the state of Orissa have troubles getting hold of toilet paper. I say hats off to them and any VSO volunteer that is a couple of days from the nearest airport. On the VSO courses you get to meet these amazing people who have spent a few years working with rural tribes in Africa and are back for another stint. Humbling. What hardship will I have to face? No red wine. Big Deal!

I don't denigrate my placement. I'll still find it hard for different reasons. After the already comprehensive support I've received before I even get out there, I know it'll all be fine. So letting it all go now and just enjoying my last 3 weeks.

Subtitling my Placement

Ever since I got the call from VSO offering me a Flip camera I'd been wondering how to make clips accessible for Deaf people. Not just British Deaf people but for Deaf people in India and any that may take an interest in VSO and volunteering.

Obviously this is very important, there are at least two Deaf people in the UK who have volunteered with VSO and one person I know of who works full-time in International Development. There will be many more that have done worldwide. VSO has six main strands of work, one of which is Disability. The others being Secure Livelihoods, HIV & AIDS, Health, Education and Participation & Governance. These are all cross-cutting. Within the programme area of Disability is development work with Deaf people and quite often this work is about organisational development. Introducing new ideas, setting up projects, consolidating work done, strengthening the future work of an organisation have all been done by Deaf people for Deaf people.

The work I'll be doing for a Deaf organisation, The Deaf Way Foundation in India, very much feels like a blip in the ocean. It's been hard to find out the things I really want to know. Some are facts such as how many Deaf people or Interpreters are there in India. But what I really want to know is what is the reality of the levels of access that Deaf people have in their lives? To employment, to socialise with each other, to go to the cinema, to health services or to any information they wish to access. With a Deaf man petitioning the courts last month and finally being able to apply for a driving licence, the situation there looks far from rosy.

The organisation I'll be working for seems progressive, positive and does some fantastic work. I've seen their work on the internet and had contact with my line manager, the Chief Exec. They've been doing YouTube longer than some organisations here. And even though my work will be a blip, it will be a blip all the same. The aims of increasing the numbers of Interpreters and their training, developing the Association of Sign Language Interpreters and assisting to develop the Interpreting profession as a whole are small things that will increase the potential for access to Deaf people in India. Even with Interpreters, they will still come across the types of barriers that society puts up which are sadly still evident in this country. But it's a step in the right direction and I'm really looking forward to meeting my new colleagues. I'm hoping some of them will want to do a few clips. Then I'll have to get good not only at Indian Sign Language but fluent quickly enough to start subtitling them into English.

With this accessibility in mind, I spent most of yesterday finding out how to subtitle a clip. I've thought about the clips quite a bit. Do I sign and subtitle them in English? Do I speak and subtitle them whilst trying to provide a signed version? Should I look into Hindi subtitles? Do I just film, leave it dependent on the situation and make the access as suitable as I possibly can afterwards? Moreover, will anyone actually watch them?

My first clip is up (you get the subtitles up by clicking the options box in the bottom right hand corner of the clip box and clicking the box with subtitle lines on it). It's been fun trying to work out how to do this even if it is a little time consuming typing out the words and checking the timings and readability (and I'm already sick of the sound of my own voice - it'll be much better when I can start to film other people and places). But I know the clips are worth subtitling even if it is my lovely Ma and Pa and Aunty Jean that might want to watch them!

VSO, Web 2.0 and the Social Media Revolution

I set up a Twitter account before I left for Asia as I thought this would help me keep in touch whilst I was away either in Asia or later with VSO. With the Chinese Great Firewall in operation it never really got off the ground. That is, until I got back.

It takes a couple of days to get your head round the point of it as it's often described as Facebook status updates. This is too simple and misses the point. For someone who doesn't work in IT, media or anything to do with the web, I love it and can see how it is essential for those that do. I won't explain it's uses further. Wiki and plenty of blogs have done that for me.

Most charities too now have Twitter IDs and are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon to publicise themselves. The reason why I mention this here is I had a phone call from the VSO Comms department a couple of weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in being given a Flip camera and setting up my own You Tube channel as part of a pilot project with five volunteers. A self-confessed geek in training, I jumped at the chance. So as well as tweeting and blogging I'll now be vLogging. I've been tweeting away and google-ing how to subtitle video clips ever since so I can increase access to the clips. That is, afterall, my job as a Sign Language Interpreter.

Today I got the confirmation that I will be posted out a camera. Honestly, the excitement was more than that of a 5-year-old peeling back the Xmas present paper to reveal the latest marketed must-have. So my You Tube channel is now set up, I've already subscribed to DanandHelen in Zambia's Channel and eagerly await by my laptop to see who the other three volunteers with cameras are and where they are headed.

3-5 working days for delivery apparently. That would be about enough time to prepare for my first few clips.

VSO is go

I applied to do VSO after I saw an advert go out on an Interpreter's e-group. The minute I saw it I knew it was something I'd always wanted to do. It took me a month or so of soul-searching and a change in circumstances before I'd decided to go for it. One or two years out of the country isn't an easy decision to take.

I got offered a post in Kenya starting in July but this fell through due to miscommunication on the part of the charity. I was gutted. I'd been told one in ten placements fall through and it was something I was prepared for although obviously not happy about. With only 4 weeks before my flight had been due to leave I was itching to go somewhere so I booked a flight to Beijing and decided to take a jaunt round Asia.

It wasn't that long before I got two more placement offers: Indonesia and India. There was a hoohah over visas and some deliberation on my part but eventually I did some form filling whilst in Cambodia. By the time I'd got half way round Thailand I had a confirmation through from the employer in India.

This came at exactly the right time as I'd spent a week in Chiang Mai and had met up with two volunteers starting their placements. It was insightful to hear their stories and it only served to renew my enthusiasm and my commitment. How great then to have my confirmation only a few days later. My VSO placement adviser, John, had been amazing. He'd known of my previous disappointment and all communication whilst I was away was happily done by email with offer of a Skype conversation if I could tear myself away from having fun. He'd even offered to help with some of the form filling and chasing up of details from other members of staff.

So I returned to the UK at the start of September knowing I had a mere nine weeks to prepare. And now the story starts...