Peanut Butter Eating Catholic

I took up volunteer work for a month with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in part to take a break from my self-indulgent travelly adventure, to lay down some roots for a while, try my hand at voling (obviously missing Surface Gallery voling back in Nottingham), and to extend my time in Kolkata.

Mother's Tomb

I helped at a home for mentally and physically handicapped women at Dum Dum (yes, the awful obvious cringe of the name of the place is not lost. The home is in an area called Dum Dum). Dum Dum was challenging and over the month we saw other voles give up on Dum Dum after a day with us.
I helped in a class teaching women numbers, colours, the alphabet, with some colouring, screechy singing, energetic drumming, and fun dancing led by the trainee Sisters, and beating out rhythms on various percussion instruments. At first I felt incredibly patronising towards these women (one of whom is older than I am) as I taught them simple school stuff. There would be brilliant days such as when Asha said "ten" for the first time ever!! Suporna who had limited motor skills but an eye for shapes and patterns. Small improvements felt so huge and it was great to see tiny progressions. It was so lovely to be able to see the individual personalities and talents of these women shine through after slowly getting to know them. Teaching them the hokey cokey was winner, even though 8 of the women were in wheel chairs we still got them moving and laughing at my dance skills! It's reinforced a massive respect  for anyone who works in this profession day in day out as it's tough to be constantly patient and entertaining and loving and educational. It was also personally rewarding and so many voles come away with a sense that they have taken so much more than they have managed to give out. I concur.

On the commute to work: goat happily balancing whilst munching on leaves

And alongside voling I even embraced the Catholic culture of morning mass (nowhere near every morning but still a first for me!) and Adoration in the evenings. I came to love Adoration - for me it was a chance to sit and chill and attempt a bit of meditation or write in my journal as I tried to process my thoughts and feeling and trials over the past few days as a vole. I never expected to come to India and end up going to Mass and surrounded by so many Catholics!

The sugary breakfasts of sweet chai, plain white bread, and sweet bananas with mid-morning break of yet more sweet chai and biscuits took its toll on my ever fluctuating sugar levels (this is the country with the biggest diabetes problem in the world. Not at all surprised!). I was feeling weak and in need of a protein fix. This came in the form of crunchy peanut butter bought at nearby Hogg Market. My first ever peanut butter purchase. Back home I am not a fan but out here my feeble body craved peanut butter asap.

Cuppa Chai and Cardamom

I treated myself to two tea stations: Kumily and Munnar, Kerala. After a tour of a tea factory in Kumily (arrival by government bus of course with a little old lady next to me pointing out her yellow house and where I needed to get off the bus for my tea fix) I strolled around the tea plantation getting in amongst the small tea shrubs and watching the hardy and deft women pick kilos of tea. After muzzling my way in I was allowed to pick a few of the tea leaves using shears attached to a box to catch the leaves in! Lots of fun. This was slightly tainted by the male supervisor, who seemingly did very little but idly stand around and lie to tourists and his workers, who told these women that I was going to pay some sort of baksheesh for allowing me to photograph them. I'd promised no such thing. Awkward.

Munnar was like some little Switzerland complete with Swiss style alps, yummy dark chocolate (good chocolate here is a rarity and almost always disappointing - it just tastes of sugar, bah) and I was there with a Swiss girl. Bizarre but totally stunning (if cold!).

Cardamom galore in Kumily where I managed to have it in a juice (pineapple, papaya and heavily flavoured with cardamom)! Hooray. As well as copious amounts of cardamom tea. Lots of my highlights are pretty much food based. This cardamom juice was served alongside an interesting combo of two fried eggs on fried red onions and mounds of big bay leaves, accompanied by garlic butter and coriander (unpopular with other Castles) toast and some fresh cucumber garnish. Yum. This is one to recreate at home me thinks...

Ooty to Varkala Possible

6 state buses, totalling less than 300 Rupees, in minus 24 hours towards NYE on the beach!

In less than 24 hours me and fellow Hampi dweller missioned it south from cold and wet Ooty to Varkala beach in search of fresh fish, sea, sand, sunshine and, of course, a pina colada or three. We powered through from government bus to government bus with not even a free moment to grab a chai - testament to the grueling, non-stop, determined bus trip towards beaches and booze. We took six state buses with benches for seats thinly upholstered in the standard blue plastic leather mix, glassless windows, concertina blinds made of this standard blue pleather which are useful for when the sun or the wind gets too aggressive. (I have been known to burn sat on these buses - surprised? Not at all!) Elbowing our way onto these buses whilst carrying awkward backpacks and competing with the short but strong and determined Indian ladies to get a spot on the next available bus. And we succeeded every time, with only a few short hours spent stood up wedged in amongst the other locals dripping in sweat and covered in a grimy dust layer. And all for less than 300 Rupees! Crazy cheap!

We had a small glitch when we turned up at a bus station at 1.30am and the next wasn't until 5am so we settled down and napped on the bus station floor, naturally. And then we set off for the final leg to catch another two buses before breakfast. Such an incredible journey!! I'm converted to state buses and now don't even know how to book a private bus! Lols.

We bumped into Lizzie's chum on arrival in Varkala and abused her lukewarm shower (possibly the best of my life) and then headed for our second breakfast of the day on a clifftop overlooking the sea and just off shore we spotted dolphins! Such a fun mission!

Alu Muttar & Chapati

24.11.10 First taste of India. White radish. Promptly followed by alu muttar (pea and potato curry) and chapati, of course. Touched down in Mumbai on 24th November 2010 then quickly dashed into a tiny taxi for a couple of hours towards the Gateway to India. Immediately confronted with the high contrasts of India where slums run alongside luxury hotels. The traffic manic, alert, noisy. The taxi weaves through trucks and buses and rickshaws and deft mopeds and school children crossing what looks like a dual carriageway (to say the least). From Worcester to Mumbai, from tea and scones to curry and chai in a matter of hours.