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…
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| The view from my balcony over the Bay of Bengal |
