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.