Free time (a rather ironic entry given that I’ve been so busy I haven’t updated my blog in a month and a half!!!)

Whilst in India I have learnt 3 valuable new skills:

1)  The art of yoga (and the ability to get myself into some quite uncomfortable positions)

2)  Enough Tamil to utter random words on occasion much to the delight of the locals.

3)  How to eat copious amounts of rich, stodgy, spicy food.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Ok, so number 3 isn’t technically a new skill, however I think my eating capabilities have reached new heights here!  Any thoughts of losing weight in India were long forgotten when I was introduced to such South Indian specialties as idlis (small, round fermented rice cakes), dosas (crepe/pancake made from rice batter), parotas (round, flaky, layered bread), pani puri (balls of dough which puff up when cooked in oil - Indian fast food!), sambar (staple sauce usually made with lentils and vegetables) and chutneys of varying flavours (eg coconut, red chilli, mango etc) to mention but a few!  All of course washed down with an obligatory bottle of the local brew, Kingfisher! Meals are usually served on banana leaves which makes washing up a little easier!


Chilling at the beach

In a rather futile attempt to prevent the adverse effects of new skill number 3 and due to the weather being too hot to do anything more energetic I have been taking daily yoga classes for the last couple of months.  It’s rather unbelievable to imagine that the girl who dreaded school sports day has voluntarily been exercising on a daily basis but I’ve actually quite enjoyed it (except when my teacher decides to push my limbs in ways that they really shouldn’t bend!).  I‘ve learnt many different “asanas” or postures and noticed a definite improvement as I even managed “the Bridge” on Monday which I’ve been struggling to do for weeks!  I even tried doing my class at 6am, however those of you who have been unfortunate enough to encounter me in the morning will not be surprised to hear that that didn’t last long (particularly as I actually fell asleep during one class and was late for work).


Meeting the locals at the park!

After work, I have also been taking daily Tamil classes in an attempt to learn a bit about the culture and language.  Learning a few essential words has helped me to communicate a little with the girls in the Bistro and the paper unit, as well as identify some of the comments shouted as I pass through town on my bicycle!  The locals seem to appreciate it when I try to say a few words and my accent appears to greatly amuse people!  I struggle a bit with the pronunciation as I tried to ask someone if they wanted some water (tanni) the other day and they looked at me quizzically since they thought I was asking if they wanted to be alone (tani)!


Dance performance

In what remains of my free time when I’m not practising yoga, working at Sharana or attending my Tamil class, I have visited the hotspots of Pondy including the beach front promenade and Gandi statue, the botanical gardens and the government park (where I got mobbed by a gang of schoolgirls demanding to know every detail from my mother’s name to which shampoo I use – think it’s the closest I’m going to feel to being a celebrity!).  I’ve spent a day at the beach, been to the cinema to see a couple of Tamil movies (I’m not quite good enough to understand the dialogue yet but the experience was great fun as everybody cheered and sang along to the songs!), attended two weddings (where I think I was the only white person which appeared to attract quite a lot of attention!), and been to watch a traditional Indian dance performance.

None of the above, of course, excuses the lack of blogging (sorry Katie!) ; )

Working life...



Me, Gopi & Gerard hanging out at the office

During the last couple of weeks I have learned 3 important facts about working life in India: 

1)  No new projects should be started on a Tuesday for cultural reasons (also you will never see a marriage, house move etc on a Tuesday as this is considered bad luck).

2)  Confusingly, a shake of the head from side to side can mean "yes", however it can also mean "no", "maybe", "I don't know" and "I've got no idea what you just said as I don't speak English".

3)  Don't rely on electricity for getting things done (this includes computers, internet connection and the operations of the local print shop).

However, in spite of lots of head-shaking, a powercut and it being a Tuesday, this week I managed to succeed in my first solo task for Sharana - popping down to the aforementioned local print shop to print 3 pages of sticky labels for our homemade cookies!



Me and Sharanya hard at work!!!

My role at Sharana is to assist Sharanya (no she wasn’t employed because her name sounds like Sharana!), one of the permanent employees, to improve the revenue generating operations of the business, being an on-site bistro and a recycled newspaper products division.  Bistro Sharana is beautifully located on the terrace at the top of the office building and employs 2 women full-time who are being trained by a local chef to prepare breakfasts, lunches and snacks, including delicious oatmeal and peanut cookies which we are trying to sell in a number of local shops.  The paper products division employs 3 women full-time who have been trained in making products such as bags, bowls, placemats, plates and even window-blinds from recycled newspaper.  It is hoped that whilst providing vital training and employment to vulnerable women these projects will ultimately become self-sufficient and generate surplus revenue to help fund Sharana’s other operations in the communities around Pondicherry. 



The "Bistro Sharana" girls!

 A typical day will involve getting to the office around 9am, checking emails for customer orders/queries, having a quick catch-up meeting with Rajkala if she is in the office, then performing any number of tasks such as typing out the list of provisions required for the bistro and popping to the shops for essentials, assisting Kaladevi (in charge of petty cash so a good person to know!) to sort invoices, reconciling the Bistro and paper unit stock with production/sales, working out the costing for the Bistro products to ensure the selling prices are correct, acting as cashier for sales from the onsite boutique, catching up with the social workers (Vetri, Srinivasan and Brinda) to see if they need any help etc etc.  A long lunch break is typically taken from around 12:30 to 14:30 then it’s back to work until around 17:00.  Oh and from 09:00 to around 12:30 on Saturdays too.  During the last couple of weeks I have also been lucky enough to visit the children’s Summer Camp for a couple of days and help out playing games with the children and serving lunch – despite several defeats I still maintain I am an Uno champion and have vowed to return to defend my title!


Sorting invoices with Kaladevi

Working life is therefore very different to that of an auditor, hiding behind laptops and spreadsheets all day.  Working in an NGO requires the volunteer to be open-minded and flexible and embrace whatever tasks are required, whether it be negotiating with local shop owners to stock our cookies, explaining Sharana’s operations in French to a Belgian tour group which descended on the office one Saturday morning, or moulding shapes from dough with the children at Summer Camp!  I am definitely enjoying the variety of work undertaken at Sharana (not that the life of an auditor wasn't of course full of excitement!) and the feeling that I am contributing towards something real, tangible and lasting.

From Inverness to India...!!!

In my short time in India I have learnt that there are 3 similarities between Inverness and India:

1)  The unintelligible accents

2)  The extreme weather (however favourable in India's case!)

3)  The local's penchant for going for a beer (note: may also impact point 1!)

So how does an Invernessian end up in India?  In my case, I am a 27 year old Chartered Accountant who, until recently, worked in Ernst & Young's Newcastle office as an Assistant Manager in the audit department.  I was lucky enough to win a competition jointly organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and an organisation called Accounting for International Development (AfID) to volunteer overseas in a developing country.  Having previously volunteered in Tanzania and travelled in Kenya and Uganda, India appealed as a new challenge - somewhere I had never been yet growing in importance on the global map.  Plus, I quite like curry.

I flew from Glasgow to Dubai which was a fairly normal flight (despite the number of Glaswegians with point 1).  Whilst waiting to board my connecting flight in Dubai I suddenly became aware that this flight was very different to the last as I was one of only a handful of westerners.  I noticed a group of men kneeling at the feet of a woman dressed in white robes - I hoped this wasn't standard boarding procedure for Indian flights.  On board I was sat next to 2 met dressed head to toe in orange robes with white hair - I had no idea how best to communicate with them but they soon helped me kick out the guy who had sat in my seat by mistake.  I guess sometimes communication can be achieved across language barriers, though boarding cards help.

I arrived in Chennai on Friday 8th April 2011 and after a frantic search for my name on a placard amongst a deluge of welcoming Indians I was rescued by Sekar - my driver.  He didn't ask me for any ID - a simple yes confirmed that I was Sarah Johnson - though there weren't many other sweaty, jet-lagged, pasty westerners emerging from the terminal building so I suppose his odds were pretty good.

The drive from Chennai to Pondicherry was madness.  I will never complain about the A1 ever again.  Sekar deserved a medal for driving - there were times when I simply closed my eyes.  People, bikes, motorbikes, rickshaws, cars, vans, lorries and cows weaved their way across the road in a seemingly haphazard fashion, squeezing through the smallest gaps to creep a few metres ahead, however the system seemed to work as, miraculously, there were no bumps or crashes (a feat I would certainly struggle to achieve on the A1 with its orderly lanes and limits).  It was here I learned that in India horns are used as an everyday means of communication – beeping the horn is done as frequently as looking in the mirror (if not more so).  The horn is used to announce a driver’s presence – simply to say “I’m here” rather than warning of an impending accident.  As such the “honk, honk, beep, beep, ting, ting, hooooooooooooooooonk” of the road became the soundtrack for my journey to Pondicherry.

On arrival in Pondicherry I was immediately invited to lunch at Rajkala’s home (after taking a much needed shower!).  Rajkala is the founder and president of Sharana – a social and development organisation which was set up in 2000 to help and support poor communities in and around Pondicherry, and my new employer for the next 3 months.  Sharana undertake a range of activities in the local communities such as the sponsorship of children to continue their education, running evening homework clubs and Summer Camps to engage children in educational activities rather than work, production and distribution of Spirulina (a dietary supplement which combats malnutrition), providing Community Centres and dispensaries for local villages, managing micro-credit programs to give women financial support to start small businesses and support their families, amongst many other initiatives.  (The English website http://www.sharana.org/ is currently under construction however the French version can be accessed at http://www.sharana.fr/)

Lunch was delicious after over 24 hours of travelling although I wasn’t quite ready to eat with my hand like the locals and opted for the thoughtfully placed fork!  I was also introduced to Rajkala’s husband and children as well as several business colleagues who had arrived for lunch so felt very much included from the minute I arrived.  For fear of talking gibberish to my new boss after such an extended period of sleep deprivation I bid the family farewell and retreated to my new home.

I have been lucky enough to rent an apartment belonging to Muriel and Robert Baube who were instrumental in founding Sharana and have been responsible for co-ordinating the operations of Sharana France.  The apartment is absolutely beautiful and equipped with everything I could possibly need – except aircon.  I am lucky that I like the heat, however it can get a bit overbearing at night.  Who’s clever idea was it to experience a real life Indian summer?  Still, life can’t be too bad when you’re chilling on your balcony overlooking the Bay of Bengal…



The view from my balcony over the Bay of Bengal