Token White Person?

Anyone who has visited a tourist spot in India may have had their photo taken with Indian tourists. Following a recent trip to Elephanta Island (a tourist site outside Bombay) I and my fellow international volunteers now appear in 10 Indian family photo albums. I’ve always found it a little bewildering to be asked to appear in a holiday snap just because I’m foreign.

Fellow volunteer Kassie after a family handed her their baby for a photo

My friend Elizabeth, who has been living in India for a couple of years, has started jokingly charging people 10 rupees to have their photo taken with her. People look momentarily surprised and then usually hand over the fee (which she then gives back). One time she successfully commanded a substantial sum of 100 rupees (about £1.30). 

Elizabeth modelled free-of-charge on this occasion

Though the experience is fun it can make you feel a little objectified as some exotic creature. This experience has been useful as it has made me question how I make local people feel when I wield my own camera abroad. 


I recently discovered that the experience of standing out from the crowd can be even more uncomfortable than a quick photo. On a couple of occasions I have found myself squirming slightly when invited to take a key role in events purely on the basis of perceived status. 


On one occasion I was asked if I wanted to attend a ceremony at City of Child to welcome 50 nursing students. The students were undertaking a week’s serious voluntary work as part of the fantastic Indian National Service Scheme, which encourages students to see serving their nation as their first duty, in favour of ‘indulgence in intellectual luxury’. 

The lovely nursing students from Ruby Hall Clinic getting ready to serve their nation

I entered the chapel with my camera all ready to take photos from the back. I was simultaneously mortified and honoured to be brought up to sit behind the alter with the head of the local village and a representative of City of Child. The pecking order became very apparent when I was second in line to light a candle and to receive a gift. My name was read out as an honoured guest in a speech, and afterwards I was invited to sit at the back of the chapel to drink chai while munching on crisps and Bombay mix with the head of the village.

The candles I helped light

The head of the village after I'd resumed my role as photographer

One aspect that made me feel uncomfortable was my status as a man. My position at the high table was above that of the (female) doctor who accompanied the nurses. And all present had to sit and wait for the men to finish their chai and crisps before proceedings could continue.

A coconut broken in traditional fashion on the threshold prior to the ceremony

Scissors prepared for cutting the ribbon

A few weeks ago I was privileged enough to be invited to a wedding on the edge of the Tadiwala slum.  It was a large wedding of maybe 500 guests, a fantastic affair with lots of intriguing ceremonial action washed down with delicious curry. The strange thing was that I had never met anybody present before – including neither bride nor groom. (The bride’s mother works at DGS and had extended a kind invitation to the volunteers.) 

In spite of feeling like a gatecrasher, I and two other international friends were invited onto stage after the ceremony to receive a beautiful yellow rose (sprinkled with glitter) and a traditional coconut. Nonetheless it was a hugely enjoyable event and it was a great privilege to be honoured in this way. 

Perhaps weirder (though at this point I could feel it coming and was ready to get up from my seat) at an event to mark Women’s Day I was asked to go on stage to present a big bunch of flowers to a man (I still don’t know what for) before being presented with my own rose.


Why the fuss over Europeans? An Indian friend believes that despite 65 years of independence a colonial mindset still occasionally surfaces in India. Or perhaps we're just something a bit different. Who knows. I came to realise that my presence (and whatever I represented) clearly meant something to the people involved on each occasion. So I just got on with it, enjoyed the attention and had a good laugh about it afterwards. 

Snow seekers in Manali

Trucks

I don't make a habit of photographing trucks, but those you find in India are something else:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150819540874085.470928.562699084&type=1&l=5daa5e341b

Indian Street Signs Part II

Click on this link to see more Indian street signs I've snapped:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150800597794085.469411.562699084&type=3&l=0b622375b9

What did I actually do?

Many people have asked what I did in India when I wasn’t taking photos of roadside advertisements or tucking into McSpicy burgers at McDonalds.

Fair question. I had actually meant to write more about work, but in the event the volunteering came to feel like a ‘day job’ and seemed less interesting to write about than vehicles driving the wrong way up the hard shoulder.

So here’s what I did. I’ve included a bit of background on volunteering at Deep Griha Society which should be useful if any readers are interested in giving their time to an Indian NGO in the future.

DGS was set up in 1975 and the first volunteers came in 1981. The charity welcomes a mixture of international and local volunteers. The organisation is clear that volunteers are there to ‘support staff, not replace them’. This attracted me when I was looking for a volunteering opportunity. I definitely wasn’t interested in working for an NGO that wanted to put impose its view of the world on an Indian organisation.

My fellow volunteers. Charlie in the middle is 80 years old.

Volunteers get involved in activities across the organisation – from fundraising to helping out in the crèches and youth empowerment groups. Writing grant proposals to secure new funding streams for the charity is another regular volunteer activity.

I focused on external communications, as that seemed a good way to use my PR skills. I wrote the quarterly newsletter (you can read it here). This newsletter goes out to 4000+ friends of DGS around the world and shows them the difference their donations have made (click here to sign up for future issues). I also wrote a number of news stories for the website along with a manual for future volunteers to enable them to get up and running updating the website, facebook, twitter etc. If any readers go to DGS they might end up using it one day ;) I also used my photography skills to record some events such as this intriguing and rendition of ‘Old Macdonald had a farm’ at the DGS' school open day:

I also gave one-to-one English coaching classes to a number of the team leaders. Good English skills are essential to the efficient running of the organisation, and are especially important when it comes to applying for international funding or attending congresses. I found teaching my native language much to my liking. The results were tangible and it was a great way to get to know local people. I also gave some pre-exam English coaching to a group of boys at City of Child, as well as to the teachers at the charity’s English-medium school and to the DISHA ladies (DISHA = Deep Griha’s Integrated Service for HIV and AIDS)

English coaching at City of Child 

The inimitable DISHA ladies

HIV/AIDS is a major focus for DGS and another area of involvement for volunteers. Wake Up Pune! is the English language version, aimed predominantly at Pune’s growing middle class population. Given the English medium, volunteers play a big role in Wake Up Pune.

I got to co-lead an awareness session for a group of men at a new alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre called Santulan. I had the help of Anuja, a local volunteer, who translated my presentation into Marathi. The men were curious and engaged, and speaking to them felt like a real privilege.   

Other activities undertaken by volunteers included an exciting Tippy Tap project, and a project aimed at creating nutritional ladoos (round Indian sweets) to deliver a healthy dose of key nutrients currently in short supply among local children.

So that’s a brief description of some of what I and my volunteer friends have been up to. To be honest in many ways it felt like I was just getting going when it was time to leave India. This reflects the experience of many international volunteers – there’s so much to take in at first and so much to get to grips with culture-wise that the longer one can commit to staying the better. The solution is for me to return to Pune and continue my work in the future…

The inspirational Dr Neela Onawale, who set up DGS in 1975 

with her husband Reverend Bhaskar Onawale 

If anyone is thinking of volunteering I would be happy to be contacted. I had invaluable advice from my friend Lotte Webb who has been to DGS a couple of times in the past. You can also visit this page.

I fell a little behind on my blog posts so I'll be sharing a few more over the coming weeks.

McSpicy anyone?

Everyone has a guilty pleasure when they're abroad. Mine is currently McDonalds. The ubiquitous family restaurant certainly isn't every vegetarian's dream but McDonalds India is another animal entirely.

The subcontinent is the only place on the planet where you will not find a single hamburger beneath those golden arches. There's no beef. No pork. Their place on the hot counter is inhabited by myriad veggie options - the McAloo Tikki, the McVeggie, even the Pizza McPuff. My favourite is the McSpicy Paneer - a succulent patty formed of warm paneer (Indian cottage cheese) wrapped in breadcrumbs, served in a familiar bun with a splash of chili sauce to give it that McSpicy kick. 

McDonalds opened its first Indian restaurant in 1996. It wasn't a smooth launch. It was perceived as expensive and 'foreign', and the potential market of 1 billion needed 'education' on ordering at the counter in a restaurant. There was also a hiccup when people discovered McDonalds was using its usual (fake) beef flavour on its fries, causing offence in a country where the cow is sacred. Thankfully, or not, a large TV marketing campaign proved successful and now people across India can save up (the menu is not hugely cheaper than in the UK) to enjoy a burger of their choice in air conditioned comfort. 

Meat eaters visiting India won't be disappointed. You can get your McChicken and McFish if you don't fancy sampling a McAloo Tikki (a potato-based patty) or McVeggie (akin to your normal UK veggie burger).

Even KFC presents India with a range of chickenless options. They look kind of gross so I've not stepped over the threshold:

The verdict? It pains me to say it, but the McSpicy Paneer is completely gorgeous and I find myself lovin' it at least once a week. It's especially good accompanied by the fries, washed down with Coke and followed by an Oreo McFlurry. I fear I'll crave the McSpicy long after I return home. 

Himalayan photos

Photos from my trip up north to the Himalayas at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150767332324085.464725.562699084&type=1&l=03659f0d96