Teaching, Nallasopara school, Living in Mumbai

  Mumbai (Bombay), India
Sunday, December 9, 2007

Life is going well. In December we switched from regular classes to doing acting, dancing and singing classes for the kids. They are going to perform a show on Dec 21. And we will give them gifts of clothes which are donated to One International. It's a special, fun time for them.

Most of the students are Hindu (a few Muslims and Christians) and don't celebrate Christmas, at least not as a religious holiday. However, India takes off Christian holidays as well as Hindu and Muslim holidays since there are sizable numbers of each faith here. Sometimes people will celebrate Christmas anyways (without the religious connection) and sometimes they just take it as some more time off.

I teach them an English song. They also learn a Hindi song, a dance and an acting performance. I am teaching step 1 Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. For step 2, the Corner Master's Store. For step 3-5, Middle of the Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, a pretty song from 1972. They really like it. I got a nifty, tiny, little speaker with a rechargable battery built in which I can attach to my mp3 player ($9). So I can play the song for them.

With step 1 and 2, it is harder to keep them all singing. All but 1-2 good kids tend to lose interest in singing (esp in step 1). So I have to ask each one to sing it, one by one. This is just like teaching step 1, normally. They have a short attention spans and it is hard to motivate and engage them. They get way more into singing the Hindi song with Susheela, I notice. I am not sure if it's entirely because they enjoy a more complex song that they can understand and recognize or if it's partly because she's better at keeping order in her class. I will continue to try to get them all singing at once. At least, I hope they can get the song down enough in 2 weeks to sing it at the show. I might have to sing it with them at the show to prompt them along. I'm not sure.

It is much easier on me this week, working 9am-noon plus my 2h commute. I get home at 2:30pm rather than 5pm so I can do a bit more in my day. And it's less stressful. I teach them the songs every day so I don't need to prepare a lesson plan.

I have been sick with bronchitis for the last 4 weeks, unfortunately. The sickness makes me occasionally have a coughing fit if I let myself start coughing and I cough up phlegm a few times a day. Sometimes I cough when I'm trying to sing for the kids. My runny nose finally stopped a few days ago. I often get bronchitis in the dry winter in Canada and Mumbai is really dry right now despite being right next to the sea. The Mumbai pollution and dust doesn't help. Plus children everywhere carry a lot of illnesses since they aren't as carefully keeping clean or touching each other and everything. A lot of people here have bad coughs because of the pollution. I got some antibiotics from the local chemist which helped but didn't get rid of it. I got a $5 steam cup (plugs in, plastic, boils water and steams out a small opening) because humidity really helps my lungs. I am resting and reading a lot (for the last 4 weeks, really). I also am able to download a few movies from this Internet connection. Hopefully I get better now that I have this steam cup. To make my weekend even better, I got diarrhea. Possibly due to the super salty, oily chick peas the maid made last night. I am nauseated by salt today. And possibly from the eucalyptus oil I added to my steam cup condensing on my lips (not good to ingest). Krishna also got a bit either from the chick peas or the spicy Tom Yum she had.

Next week, the hours are longer again because we start sorting and wrapping the clothes as gifts for the children. Apparently, it takes a lot of work. We have to pick which clothes to give for each child.

Sophie and Krishna

Two of the volunteers, Sophie and Amy left last week (ended their volunteer term although Sophie comes back for a couple weeks in January). Since Caro left last month, that just leaves Krishna and I. Krishna is from the UK with Indian origins. She teaches at the other, main school in Khar. She is alright.

Go Avi!

The girls in this picture are: Caro, Krishna, Amy and Sophie. Caro and Sophie are from Montreal. Amy and Krishna are from London. Sophie used to teach with me at the farther Nallasopara school. The guy is Avi, who owns 2 of the apartments where we stay. Tanya (who runs everything) and her boyfriend, Josh, stay in a ground floor room owned by Avi. I stay in part of the main room of Avi's apartment, now. The girls stay in the volunteer apartment one building over. I come across to the volunteer apartment to use the Internet and kitchen. Our maid/cook comes every morning and night to the volunteer apartment.

I felt a bit weird at first having a maid/cook. It is much cheaper to hire them in India and that's just the way Tanya has it set up. The maid used to be one of the students (Reshma), who was training to be a maid for Westerners (who pay more). But she was being unreliable (sometimes didn't show up was the main problem - sometimes with legitimate excuses but it was just too often) so we just switched to the professional maid last week. This maid makes good food if it wasn't so salty and oily with hair occasionally in it. Both maids don't really like to speak to me because they can't speak English and I can't speak Hindi. And they run out as soon as they can and I feel like they haven't really done what I want. This maid at least cleans the place well and does the dishes really fast! I almost would prefer to not have the maid! Or have her come once a week to clean. However, I think Krishna might like the maid coming twice a day. It is kind of neat to see what foods this new maid can cook.

I haven't seen much of Mumbai. I've mostly been resting and working. I've wander around the local area (Bandra) a bunch. I got a DVD Writer and donated it to put it in the volunteer's computer. So we can read and burn DVDs - our old DVD burner was only 30% working and rather annoying. It's kind of neat to just explore the area. It's a bit shocking to see families living on the street as I walk around. Perhaps a mother and children gathering water from a cement construction water basin. Or people sleeping on the sidewalks. Most people in this area are rather affluent.

Beggar kids pester me regularly. Their strategy is to keep nagging and poking me until I give them money. I have learned to firmly ignore them and give them stern, rather uncaring looks (certainly no sympathy). Saying "please go away" often encourages them because they know they're getting to me. They can stay for a long time, 2-3 blocks. They target white people especially. I almost never like to give to beggars. I prefer to donate to or help out a good charity, like One International. Begging is an industry here. The Mafia control good intersections and the beggars there pay a fee for begging at that intersection. A baby or small children can be rented to make you more appealing. Some people deliberately deform themselves with chemicals, scarring or chopped off limbs so they get more money. Begging cartels get hundreds of street children to beg (the cartel gets a percentage) and get them hooked on cheap drugs, like glue, to keep them. The money normally goes to alcohol for the beggar or the beggar's parents. Even if it doesn't go to alcohol, it isn't likely to be spent wisely.

One rather odd thing happened to me last week. This guy almost semi-stalked me. I met him at a Puja (religious celebration) last month. It was a fun parade going through the street near our house. With a Hindu statue and an incense thing platform carried on 4 people's shoulders. And a sound system and tons of people dancing. There are some good Indian dancers! Men especially! The men and women were separated in this parade. Many people were convertly drinking alcohol. Lots of people invited me to join in and said hello. It was really fun. This guy was one of the random, friendly people I met. I bumped into him a few times over the last month walking to "The Store" (a general store - sort of like a convenience store only with a lot of supplies and often with quite competitive prices). He was always friendly but I felt slightly uncomfortable with him. It was hard to get a question in edgewise since he kept asking me questions. He seemed ok, though, not a bad guy. I specifically did not tell him where I lived (only a general, "in that direction"). Then, one evening, he shows up. He must've just asked people something "have you seen my friend, a white guy walk by here?" The fact that I'm white almost identifies me uniquely in this area. Then he found the volunteer apartment building and knocked on every single door asking for me! (Krishna answered when he knocked) Finally, he asked the building watchmen and found me at Avi's. He was friendly but soon asked if a couple of his friends could crash for a few days at my place. I thought he said they were German guys in the Film industry. I told him I didn't own the apartments and unfortunately couldn't do that. Josh heard girls, suspected the porn industry and noticed that the guy was drunk (I should have noticed that, it seems probably true now that I think about it). Josh was rightfully quite wary. One International has a reputation to protect. We don't want questionable characters associated with us in the neighborhood. And we don't want many people in the neighborhood to know about the One International apartment. 5 Western girls in an apartment who come and go every few months is quite a target for Indian men.

Western girls are supposed to be easy as opposed to super-conservative Indian girls. I would say that Indians are rather sexually repressed. Women walk with their daughters and give men the evil eye. Men and women holding hands in public is quite shocking (public kissing is disgusting and abbhorrent to them). If you are travelling with your boyfriend/girlfriend, it is best to say you are married or people give you nasty looks. Girls are somewhat harrassed in India. They need to be wary (both Indian and Westerners). Apparently groping girls while appearing to accidentally bump into them in a crowd is practiced like an art form by some men, here! Women are often separated from men, like on the trains, out of necessity. Often it's not a problem but it can be.

It is interesting that men feel more comfortable holding hands and touching each other, here. One of the older, male teachers sort of caressed my forearm and seemed to mean it as a casual, unconscious, minor, comforting gesture. It isn't unthinkable that a Western friend might do that (esp a woman) but it still felt a bit odd to me. I see men who are friends holding hands, regularly on the street. Where Westerners might put an arm over a friend's shoulder, an Indian might hold his friend's hand. It's funny that a man holding a woman's hand in public is a bit shocking to Indians but 2 men holding hands is fine!

Josh suggested that I don't mention that I'm volunteer teaching to people I meet at first. That I just say I'm travelling and staying at a friend's place. I'm not sure if I agree with that! I don't see how telling people I'm volunteer teaching is a bad thing! The stalker would have found me even if I hadn't told him that. It's kind of creepy to think about people abusing others using basic information about them. Josh mentioned the example of someone going around the neighborhood asking for donations for "One International" - only keeping the money for themselves! I could try to be more wary with people who I don't know or who make me feel slightly uncomfortable. Most people here are great. Helpful and friendly. I haven't noticed many scam artists or theft. They certainly try to gouge Westerners with higher prices but that's not so bad. They are so poor and even the gouged prices are often still pretty cheap for me. Still, I don't like to be gouged. It's hard when every vendor you ask gives an inflated price. I can send the maid to buy food. Or try to find a vendor who doesn't inflate his prices. It is so nice to deal with people who seem honest, provide quality goods/service at a low (non-overcharged) price. I can also tell a vendor what I'll pay, bargain with him and be prepared to walk away. I have to keep learning about how much everything should cost. I miss the big box Western stores which have good prices (no bargaining required) and reliable quality. You don't have to ever worry if the clerk is trying to put one over on you!

Update: It is now New Year's. The Dec 21 performance went wonderfully. There were so many people! It was neat seeing some of the Moms of my students. I got terribly sick from Dec 22-27 (esp 25-27) which sucked. It was a flu. I felt weak, had a headache, cold sweats, low fever, was disgusted by every type of food and had constant nausea. I mostly just rested and read. I called home some. On Xmas eve and Xmas, Tanya was nice enough to put on an excellent meal. We stayed up and played games like Cranium afterwards. I was too sick to stay up much or drink. Tanya and Josh were also sick. My parents sent me a stocking with a few things in it which was really nice. It wasn't a bad Xmas but it felt weird not being home. Also, being sick really sucked. I finally broke down and got some antibiotics from the doctor on the 26th which have totally helped. The time off is quite nice now that I'm not so sick. Trying to decide what to eat when every food seems digusting is quite annoying! The last thing which hasn't returned yet is my desire for chocolate. I've been playing a computer game, Lemmings, some. I had a great birthday meal with Tanya and Krishna. It was a BBQ buffet. Lots of meat and desserts! I'm off until Jan 7, now. I would like to practice my Hindi and soccer, some. And perhaps see some sights. It's nice just relaxing, too. I need to plan for my travels - I've only got 3 weeks left of teaching.

This time, I'm just going to leave most of my photos separately browsable from this text entry. It takes a lot of work to stick them all in and sometimes I don't really want to talk about each photo.

Also, here are 2 catchy Indian pop/Bollywood songs from the Dec 21 performance in case you're interested (They have funny videos extracted from the Bollywood movie, also, if you can find them. The YouTube versions are unfortunately terribly low res.):

(1) Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - 03 - JBJ
(2) Partner - 01 - Do U Wanna Partner

Bye for now!

Curtis