Seven Reasons I Am Becoming More Indian

1. THE HANDKERCHIEF: I always thought I would have to be 60 years old before I bought the real deal cotton handkerchief. However, it is actually a necessary part of Indian life - not just to blow your nose, you also need to dry your hands, clean your face, and many other things. So I finally succumbed and am now the proud owner of 4 pristine 100% cotton handkerchiefs. I feel old.

2. THE HEAD WOBBLE: I never thought this would affect me. It's one of the first things you notice when conversing with Indians - they don't just nod, they wobble. And recently I noticed an inadvertent, subconscious movement of my own head that has never been part of my persona before. It definitely makes things easier and makes me more understood, more quickly (which is not an easy task for a Scotsman in Hyderabad)

3. WATER DRINKING: When you buy a bottle of water, especially a large bottle, you cannot presume that you will be the exclusive user of that bottle, therefore most Indians have developed the technique of pouring water into the mouth without touching the lips. Previous attempts from me have resulted in more water across my face and clothes than in my mouth. However in the last few weeks I have mastered the technique and can now proudly say I can drink like an Indian.

4. HAND GESTURES: Indians are very expressive and use their hands frequently as they talk. I have begun recently to use my hands as I talk. Not sure how much it helps in the clarity of my communication, but sometimes you just have to realise that the people around you rub off on you.

5. THE MOUTH NOISE: When Indians are slightly annoyed or are being misunderstood and want to correct that misunderstanding they make a noise by a sharp intake of breath and the sound of the tongue against the inside of the mouth, a bit like a "tut" (not an easy noise to describe). It is not a particularly nice noise and one I actually found quite rude when I first arrived here. But recently it has become a habit of mine - especially if someone cuts in front of me while driving. Not sure if I want this to continue, but it's not easy breaking a habit.

6. EATING WITH HANDS: If you eat in the less developed parts of Indian cities and villages, it is unlikely you will automatically be given a fork and spoon - and almost definitely not a knife. Therefore you have to learn how to use your right hand as an eating implement - and I love it! Maybe it's psychological, but I think the food tastes a lot better that way. It's more fun too.

7. BOLLYWOOD CD'S: Bollywood is huge. DVD, VCD (Video CD), and audio products sell in huge numbers - not to mention theatre ticket sales. Recently I have used our well earned money to purchase two such CDs - and I love them. They may be cheesy, but there is definitely a time and place for that!

Learner Driver

(click on the image for a bigger picture)

Well, I (Gareth) can now officially announce that I am the proud owner of an Indian learner's driving license (I realise that may sound like I have found an Indian learner driver and taken their license from them, but that's not what I mean). The even more exciting news is that in one month's time, I will have my very own full license!

The process of obtaining the learner's license was very entertaining. First of all, it took about 5 months to actually get the agent to contact us. But once he called, the process went ahead at full steam...to the point that I drove to the driving school centre, waited about 20 minutes, was then ushered into the office where I was told to sit behind one of the three computer screens. They hadn't even mentioned a test, but obviously this is what I was about to do...or thought I was about to do.

In the end, all I actually had to do was hold my finger down on the control key of the keyboard, while the examiner answered all the questions!!! He slowed down for a couple to see if I had any idea, but even if I said the wrong answer he pressed the correct button. Most of the questions went so fast, I didn't even have a chance to read them! The funny thing is that he only got 16 out of 20 correct (although he did the same for the other two "students" and got 16 with them also).

What a country.

English lessons...again!

When we first arrived in India, we knew there would be some language barriers, and there has been. However, we did not expect to have language barriers when it came to using English! However, we have discovered that in India there are a few words here and there that we have had to add to our English vocabulary. Some of the words are olde English words, but others are completely new and could potentially be the fault of the British Raj during their reign in the country. Here are a few examples...

And finally......

While I was away I was also asked by various curious people about my wedding and the day's events, as each country often has its own traditions. So if you're interested and to my colleagues who wanted to see photos - here is a link to our photographer's website as she was keen to display some of the photos from our day on her site.

http://www.annemarieking.co.uk/gallery02/gallery02.html

Coming home after 12 days away, Gareth had been a fantastic husband stocking the fridge with food, putting flowers in the vase and wait for it... sweeping two of the floors in the apartment! He said that after two rooms, he was so hot and tired he couldn't do anymore.. I appreciated the effort!

Also while away I read 'Blue Like Jazz' by Donald Miller. This book has challenged and encouraged my spiritual life as I seek truth and honesty in my Christian faith. He doesn't shy away from difficult questions but communicates so effectively and simply. I really recommend checking it out for, as he describes it, "non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality".

This is also a couple more pix from my trip, the one I took of the pig is completely irrelevant to the conference but I just like the photo! As I took it the flash went off and the pig/bird stirred. As you might see from the picture he's kinda big so as he moved towards me - it was time to leave..

The following day after I got back, Sunday, we were at church in the morning and one of the best quotes I have heard for a while made in light of marking International Womens Day, was, "Women are God's favourite creation." I think some men may have a comment on this!

Later that day we attended an Indian friend's birthday celebration. Held at the Hyderabad Boat Club, it was great fun with some interesting Hindu traditions, including wrestling the birthday boy to the ground and then kicking him (slightly too) hard on the backside as many times as the age he is celebrating...he then had the birthday cake smeared across his face, all in all he has a pretty rough time of it!

Two weeks in Thailand. Part two...

One of the two teams taking part in the disaster planning simulation....

After a weekend of setting up and final conference plans, plus eating lots of Thai food inc seafood, which I LOVE (I must have had Tom Yum soup every day for 10 days!), Sunday night rolled round and on the opening evening for the conference we held a photo competition and official dinner/speeches, with an exhibition displaying each of the WV country offices submissions. The subject was HIV/AIDS and some powerful photos and captions were on display as everyone wandered around wearing their national dress.

I surprised people by wearing my saree, having decided before to dress in my current national dress from India...this made the WV India team very proud! Besides apart from a Morris dancer outfit or some Union Jack shorts (never going to happen) there isn’t really a UK national outfit (not an English one anyway)!

Our special guest speaker was an 11-year-old boy from Cambodia who is HIV positive and has lost both his parents. He moved all of us to tears, but inspired at the same time. He was just a typical young lad in many ways who WV Cambodia were supporting with his brother, but had been through so much and again reminded us all that children are our priority and helping them use their voice to tell their stories.

One of the photos I took while in a World Vision community programme...hasn't she got a great smile!

The week itself was great, despite early starts and late nights as per usual conference mode - it was a great time of learning, sharing and getting to know each other. Overall around 14 plus Asia Pacific countries were represented in the week. Another encouraging aspect was meeting some of the teams I have worked with in the past four/five months and have them say how they appreciated it, felt supported and have seen good work outputs/learnings.

However one of the sad things of being in Pattaya, a tourist resort where WV also has some projects, was seeing so many white, western older men with very young, pretty Thai girls and boys. It is easy to generalise and judge, but nine times out of ten it probably is sex exploitation. At the same time many of the Thai men and women were controlling the situation, earning some money and waiting for the next flow of tourists to fly in.

During the week I was speaking at and managing a few seminars, as well as making sure with Katie and James that the conference ran smoothly - so at times I was feeling a little out of my comfort-zone. But with prayer (!) and lots of preparing/planning, I felt my sessions and entire week went really well with good involvement and feedback.

Here's a couple of pix from the week...

The Asia Pacific regional communications team posing... Katie, me and James.

Two weeks in Thailand. Part one....

Sounds good doesn’t it and it was - but not because I was lying on a beach sipping a pina colada, as at times I may have wished for! I was there for the regional communications conference and also some meetings I had before in Bangkok, which went really well. I flew out from Hyderabad on the 27^th Feb to arrive the same evening and make my way to the hotel in Bangkok. The next few days were spent finalising plans for the conference and lots of meetings with the Asia Pacific office directors, among others. I love my new laptop rucksack, which crammed full was flung on my back each night as I hopped onto the back of one of the many motorbike taxis, which whiz around the city... Cheap and effective they beat the heavy Bangkok traffic and are great fun into the bargain.

On the Friday we left Bangkok stopping off at the airport to pick up my colleague Katie and head further in Thailand. On the way we spent time at one of our World Vision long term community programmes, to check on a disaster preparedness simulation we had planned to train a few teams the next week. We met some of the fantastic community members and WV staff who were helping us by being actors for the day. Having provided scripts, notes etc for them I needed to check everyone was happy and prepared, which apparently they were as they asked if an Oscar for the best performance would be presented at the end!

Leaving them with everything ready for a fake flooding scenario the next week (!), we went on to our final destination Pattaya, where we were staying in a hotel shaped like a ship, very interesting! Was nice to see the ocean and to be honest that’s all I did the whole week - gaze longingly at the sea as we didn’t have any time to do much more but work!

More to come in part two, hope it's not too boring!

From the frying pan...

We have always been told to expect the real hot weather from March to May...

...well...

...it has begun...

...in February! The last few days have been in the low 90's and it's only expected to get hotter in the coming weeks and months. Of course, Andi and I have had the experience of tropical Scotland and Northern England to acclimatise ourselves, but I'm thinking that this may feel slightly different.

One of my colleagues told me that he thought he might be able to judge the temperature outside by the redness of my face!

On Our Travels

Well, it has been nice to be in Hyderabad for a prolonged period, but it all changes this week. Tomorrow Andi heads off to Thailand for a 10-day conference with World Vision Asia Pacific. She will be in Bangkok for meetings and final conf planning for the first few days and then off to Pattaya for the remainder of the time where she will be speaking at a few seminars and planning a disaster simulation in the field for the teams involved. She'll then have about two weeks back home in Hyderabad before heading off to another conference, this time in Chennai, India for just over a week.

On Thursday, I (Gareth) get the evening train to Bangalore (which takes 12 hours) to visit some of my colleagues and also attend a wedding, which is actually in another state called Kerala (I'll be going there by bus...6 hours), before heading back to Bangalore and then home to Hyderabad early next week. (At least this trip cuts down the number of nights I have to cook for myself!)

Living In Hyderabad - Part One: The Driving

Many of you have asked us, what is it like to live in India? Obviously it is difficult to put it into words, but we thought we might share a series of videos with you, starting today, on our day-to-day lives here in Hyderabad...and what better place to start, but with the driving. Andi is the driver and we are on our way to my work...

(by the way,if the video is stopping and starting, let it load completely and then play from the beginning, it should play smoothly once you have done this)

Scotch-Indian

News today that an Indian is ready to take over a Scottish drinks icon...(by the way he is the second alcoholic drinks magnate in India to also own an airline, Kingfisher being the other...it has never seemed a great combination to me, drink and flying!)

Indian eyes Scottish whisky giant
An Indian businessman could be the owner of one of the UK's most famous whisky firm within two weeks, according to press reports. Vijay Mallya has been linked with Glasgow-based Whyte & Mackay since last year but is set to clinch a deal, the Hindustan Times says. Mr Mallya's UB Group is reportedly scrutinising the firm's books ahead of a £550m takeover. Whyte & Mackay's brands include the Jura and Dalmore single malt whiskies. It also owns the Vladivar Vodka and Glayva liqueur and Kingfisher beer labels. Mr Mallya also owns an airline and a fashion label.

Whyte and Mackay said in October 2006 that it had received an unsolicited offer from UB Group. Now the Indian newspaper says a deal is believed to have been agreed and that "the formalities would be completed within a fortnight". P.A. Murali, chief financial officer of UB Spirits confirmed that the process of looking at Whyte and Mackay's books, known as due diligence, is underway. But he said it would be "speculative" to comment on when an agreement would be signed. UB Group dominates the Indian spirits market, which is the world's largest for whisky. But Scotch whisky has only a 1% foothold in the Indian market, because of the tariffs imposed by national and state governments there.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/6381339.stm
© BBC MMVII

Ramoji Comedy

A couple of moments that made me laugh during the trip with my colleagues to Ramoji Film City...check out that landing!

A Weekend Of Firsts

When you live in a place like India, you find that everyday you see something or experience something that you have never seen or experienced before. This weekend was definitely a weekend of firsts for me (Gareth), here's the list...

First first: I had a toddy.
In Scotland, to have a toddy is to have a whiskey. In India, it is something a little different. On Saturday I was heading to Ramoji Film City (a bit like Universal Studios in the USA) with some work colleagues and we had stopped to have some breakfast by the side of the road. As we were standing there a guy arrives on his motorbike dressed in his underwear and a unkempt shirt...and a rope around him (picture the Indian Indiana Jones). He proceeds to drive passed us to a nearby tree. At the top of the tree there were four or fives items hanging - which I thought were coconuts, but it turns out they were pots. The pots collect the dew from the palm trees, this guy climbs the tree to collect whatever dew has been caught in the pots overnight and he sells the juice either direct (which is diluted with water) or to a local toddy shop, who add some sort of chemical to the juice and make it into alcohol. Now, 8am is a little early for an alcoholic beverage, but we decided to buy some of the pure juice from him (literally just collected from the tree) and actually it was quite refreshing! See the video below where the guy is collecting the juice from the pots (sorry about the camera angle, I wasn't really thinking when I was filming!)



Second First: I ate a chilly
Indian food is spicy - of that there is no doubt. However, Andi and I have definitely begun to acclimatise to the local cuisine and can handle a great deal more spice than when we first arrived. During my visit to Ramoji on Saturday, we had a snack time. The snacks were the usual, samosa, french fries, sandwich. However, there was also a green chilly on each plate. I was holding it in my hand and told by my colleagues (who I thought were to be trusted) that this particular chilly was not actually that hot. After a few moments of quiet consideration, I decided to take a bite. I knew at once (partly due to the surprise and gleeful delight in the faces of those around me) that this indeed was a rather hot chilly. Stinging my mouth first, the sensation then worked it's way to my nose, then eyes, then throat. I coughed, spluttered, and began to cry (like a real man, of course) and water bottles were flung at me from all directions. That may be the last chilly I eat for a long time.


Third first: The Road-side Coconut
We have always been warned not to eat too much from the side of the streets - especially that which has already been cut or opened. However, I have often seen the vendors at the side of the road selling coconuts that they cut open, insert a straw and sell to drink the coconut milk directly. This is something I have been wanting to do, so on Saturday evening as I passed one vendor, I stopped and purchased my first coconut for Rs. 5. I took one sip and decided it may not be wise to use the straw they had given, so drove all the way home with one hand holding the coconut and the other holding the wheel (not easy reverse parking when holding a coconut, don't say I didn't warn you!). It turned out that once I had poured the juice into a glass and had a drink, I didn't really like it, but I am glad I tried it.

My first birthday... in India

I (Andi) had a really lovely birthday this year, a surprise weekend planned by Gareth started early on the Saturday morning when we visited parts of the city we had not had a chance to get to yet. This included the Qutub Shahi Tombs, that are a stunning display of blended architecture including Persian, Hindu and Pathan, plus explains some of Hyderabad’s history. Amidst beautifully laid out gardens of Ibrahim Bagh there are seven tombs, erected in memory of the departed kings of Golconda. Kings and Queens have lain buried here for over 500 years, around the time the city was forged and you can see Golconda Fort (the old city) in the distance perched on the hill.


Gareth had planned a number of things, which incorporated all the places or activities he knew I had wanted to visit. One was having a massage, which was very relaxing after a long/busy week at work. Thankfully unlike Gareth’s comment from the masseur, I was not told I was too hairy! In fact it was the opposite, as many Indian women do not shave their legs but often their arms, which are more visible.. They are intrigued as to why Western women do and she enquired as to where my hair had gone?!

Later we had a lovely and romantic dinner at the beautiful Marriott Hotel in Hyderabad, where we also stayed for the night. It was such a treat and a few friends who work there had helped Gareth make it even more special. The picture below shows the view from our bedroom window.


Then Sunday my actual birthday, we were woken with an early morning phone call from Australia with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephews singing, ‘Happy Birthday’ in beautiful harmony and high volume! We had a quick swim in the pool, breakfast and then went round one of the famous museums in Hyderabad (Salar Jung), which again was a good way of understanding more of the history of Hyderabad, its heritage and rulers over the years.

After a relaxing lunch we popped over to share some birthday cake with Ben, Libby and Shane (3 days old at that point!) and then home to collapse and relax, including taking a few phone calls from family and good friends from the UK, was nice to hear their voices and hear their news.

The following evening we had arranged a dinner with some of our friends here after work. Though it was officially planned for my birthday, it was as much to catch up properly with people, eat great food and enjoy good conversation. There were around 16 of us, a mixture of Indians and expats, with a couple of friends including our neighbours Chitra and Rahul meeting others for the first time, meant it was fairly mixed group of people but we all had a lovely evening.


Overall I can safely say this was a truly special birthday in India and one I won’t forget!

Flower Power

It is wedding season here in Hyderabad - February considered an 'auspicious' month for Hindu's to get married - and nothing says "I love you" more, than a little bit of flower power! We passed this car as it waited for the bridal party to emerge and thought we had to share it with you all. The amount of flowers used means there's certainly no need for air freshener (however it may not be so easy to see out of the windscreen)!

New arrival...

We would like to announce a new addition to our family. Wait, before you get excited or start questioning why we didn’t tell you, look below…..

That’s right we are now proud owners of our first ever air con unit. Isn’t it beautiful - the rough hardboard in wood chip colouring, the perfect whiteness of its shiny new buttons, we even have a remote! In all seriousness as the weather starts to go up into the 40’s over the next few months this is going to be essential. Not wanting to spend money on installing air con in the whole house we just have the one, but most importantly it's in our bedroom so we can sleep at night. But we've been assured that the cool air should creep into the rest of the apartment.

On a more exciting and important note we want to say a huge congrats to a number of friends who’ve had babies recently, one set of friends in Hyderabad gave birth literally this morning! Ben and Libby we cannot believe that after having dinner with you the night before we might have triggered the early birth of Shane! We are so happy for you both and cannot wait to spend time with him. Lib maybe when he’s older we can introduce him to the delights of swimming in our local pool!


Also a massive congrats again to Dave& Ro, Fi & Pete and Alistair & Catherine on the birth of their sons. We are really excited about the new additions to your family and hope that in the not too distant future, as we are scattered across the world we might get to spend time with you all.

It's A Small World

We thought it might be interesting for you to see the breadth of countries represented by people visiting our blog in the last 24 hours. We've still got a bit of work to do on South America and Africa (come on Spearsy!)

(as with all our photos, you can click on the image below to see a larger version)

A Cold Snap?

It sounds like many of you (especially in the UK and USA) are experiencing some bitterly cold weather at the moment, so we thought we'd add a weather outlook to the webpage....(has anyone any spare sun tan lotion?)

Do you still want to be our friends?

The Joy Of Playing

Last weekend when we played cricket, there was a little Dalit boy playing cricket with his grandmother next to us. As we have previously mentioned, Dalits are the "untouchables" of Indian society - some upper castes do not even recognise them as human. Despite this, it was so great to see this kid enjoying himself, the same way any kid in the world does when they are playing. Here is a short video of him...

What are you listening to?

Recommendations for some of the music we’re listening to, books we’re reading and DVD’s we’ve watched… What are yours…?

Music

- Once Again, John Legend
- The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
- Continuum, John Mayer
- Standing In The Way Of Control, The Gossip
- World Through Your Eyes, Reuben Morgan
- Marga Darshan, Aradhna


Books

- Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller
- The Sound of Laughter, Peter Kay’s autobiography
- Empire, Niall Ferguson
- News From No Man’s Land, John Simpson (Thanks Nik & Tim for the loan!)
- Lead Like Jesus, Ken Blanchard


DVD’s

- Season 7 of The West Wing... we have an addiction!
- The World’s Fastest Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins
- Still Game Series 5
- Water, by Eric Seema, Raghubir Yadav, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari

Christmas in February...

Our watchman Srinivas and his wife have a little boy called Chintu. He is possibly one of the cutest little boys you will meet and incredibly shy. Whenever I (Andi) see him I always say hi or ‘Namaste’ and try and use a little Hindi - generally establishing a friendship with him. The other week I gave him a balloon animal I was given while leaving a restaurant after lunch with a friend - his face was a picture, as he had never seen anything like it. Glancing up at me he gently smiled his thanks.

He never usually speaks or initiates conversation, however he is always curious to see what we ‘whities’ do, or when his father brings up post etc he stands at the door staring into our apartment. So imagine my surprise the other day when waiting for the lift to arrive, Chintu runs towards me and opens his mouth to say, and bear in mind this is now February, “Happy Christmas ma” - I had made a break through!

At Christmas, Gareth and I gave his family and others working in the block, a gift in an envelope marked "Happy Christmas", plus he must have remembered us wishing people ‘Happy Christmas’, as so many times in the past they have wished us ‘Happy Diwali’ or whatever weekly Hindu festival is taking place! So now my friend Chintu can’t stop speaking to me, generally in Telugu the local language, which I don’t really understand. But again the other day he came rushing after me saying, “car, car” as I had left one door open, he had noticed and wanted to warn me.

I love these moments here. They may not seem that amazing or even interesting, but to me it was very special and as I see so many kids scrabbling in bins, working on the streets, begging for money, it is good for the heart to see my little buddy smile. As my birthday approaches and I look forward to celebrating with my husband and friends over dinner, I decided to say to those who were asking me what I would like for a gift this year, to consider instead donating that money or whatever they chose… to the Dalit Freedom Network, which we highlighted in a previous blog.

It sounds so pious I know and I cringe at that, but I do have so much and it’s a small way for me to reconcile some of the poverty we see every day, as close as the next street or the garbage skip up the road. So thank you to my in-laws Gillian, Linda and the family for their generosity and to other friends who may do this. And hey I’m no angel, Gareth still had to buy me a gift to open on the day!