Varkala in Kerala is paradise.

Remember that feeling you used to get when you was a kid on the morning of your last day on holiday? It was like a deep sadness up in your throat. I haven’t experienced that feeling since about the age of 11 but I certainly felt it on leaving Varkala. 

The same cannot be said for our journey to Varkala however…

Our trip began with a long journey on what’s billed as an ‘ultra deluxe’ bus. Let’s just say neither of these words are fitting for either the bus itself or the journey. There were bus strikes that day so already we were worried we may not even leave Trichy, luckily (or so we thought) the bus was running however. After a gruesomely long and uncomfortable ride with way too many stops that prolonged the journey, minus one exciting rest room stop where me and Sapph both agreed we’d peed in cleaner squats after paying 2 rupees for the pleasure of pissing in a shit stained shack with rats. Pardon my french, but I cannot think of any better way to describe it. We finally arrived at A destination, one around an hours drive from Trivandrum where the bus was supposed to finish but the driver decided he was going to go no further.

We were stuck in a town we didn’t even know the name of and no one around was of much help. We eventually managed to find a bus that was running through the strikes and which also finished its route not too far from Trivandrum. We had no other options so jumped onboard for a ride that took about an hour and a half. I won’t lie and say it was all bad though, we saw some amazing scenery on the way. Lots of lush greenery and lakes. We arrived at the last stop and got a rickshaw from there to Trivandrum station. Then from Trivandrum there was a train to Varkala (yay!) which took about 30 minutes. When we arrived in Varkala, all the rickshaws were charging over the odds to drive us to where we were staying because of the bus strikes. We had no choice but to pay - thank heavens as the trip there was truly worth it!

We chose to stay somewhere relatively cheap this time compared to Puducherry, but out of the two I think we can all agree the accommodation in Varkala reigned supreme. We had two chalets between four perched on the cliff top overlooking the Papanasam beach, the view was beautiful and the chalets were perfect. We had a prime spot to watch the sunset and rise over the sea.

Papanasam literally means ‘wash away sins’. It is believed a dip in its waters will wash away all ones sins in life, so good for me I guess! The beach is first and foremost a holy site, family members come here to scatter the ashes of their loved ones because the waters are believed to be so sacred. We witnessed this ritual several times every day.

There is a strip along the cliff top full of shops, restaurants, beauty parlours and hotels. Don’t be under the impression that all this has ruined Varkala though if anything they have added immensly to Varkala’s character as none of them are invasive on the landscape and each offer their own niche. The seafood is fresh in every day and really good, I tasted barracuda for the first time ever and it was damn tasty! Many a vanilla mint milkshake was consumed at Cafe del Mar as well.

One day we decided to go on a backwaters canoe trip. It took us a while to get there from Varkala, but it was gorgeous. We began in the lake then cruised through the narrow back waters for about 2 hours. Our ‘driver’ was a laugh too and let us each have a go at trying to steer the canoe with the long paddle, I was by  far the worst as I couldn’t even keep my balance and nearly fell on the poor man and pushed him into the waters! There was one really odd point where he made us get out, watch a woman make a bit of string out of coconut fibres then pay her for it. Many a baffled look was exchanged. We came across a really typically touristy family from Australia too, taking photos of the villagers who lived along the waters washing their clothes. We found this entertaining because we have to do this anyway where we live in India. Trust me, i’ll never underappreciate having a washing machine ever again! I couldn’t possibly begin to try and describe the beauty of the backwaters, they’re what Kerala are famous for - so i’ll let the photos do the talking!

We went straight from our backwaters trip to an elephant reserve. In total we saw 5 elephants there, one of them being the largest in South Kerala - he was HUGE. We got to feed the elephants bananas which was cute. Though as i’m sure you can imagine there is just no pleasing an elephant when it comes too food! After that we got to ride one of the elephants, it’s the first time i’ve ever done it so I really enjoyed it. Have to say, I never expected elephants to be so bristly and boney, they aren’t the comfiest to ride but it was fun. We finished up the elephant experience by giving the one we rode a wash, she loved it and sometimes sprayed the wate back at us!

Another day we chose to go to Kovalum, where we would of stayed if it wasn’t for a good friend of Sapph’s reccomending us Varkala instead. All I can say is THANK YOU on that one after visiting Kovalum we were so grateful to be staying in Varkala. Kovalum is extremely built up and geared towards tourism, the ‘Benidorm of Kerala’ as I tagged it. It just didn’t have the sparkle or character that Varkala does. Don’t get me wrong we had an enjoyable few hours there, but after that we’d had enough and just wanted to get back!

We made friends with quite a few of the waiters, bar owners and other tourists which was nice; although one guy went bat shit crazy at Mitul and Sapph one night because he expected us to be in his bar at 9pm yet we was eating elsewhere. The truth was we WERE eating dinner, but were going to go to his bar for drinks afterwards but by the time we got there he took it as an insult even though we’d never set anything in stone. I wasn’t at all surprised though, every time we saw him he looked high off his face and was most probably paranoid because of it hence the way he reacted. 

Each day (we were there for a total of 5) I swore I was going to get a massage but the day always caught up with me, despite doing very little for the majority of our trip. Just chilling out in the sun, eating and chatting to people. So on the final day I made it my mission! I chose to go for a back massage, facial treatment and eyebrow threading and it was lusssssssssh. For pretty much my entire time in India my back has been in pain because the average Indian is just not 5’10”! A typical example being the bed on the train down, I couldn’t even lie straight in it without my feet sticking out into the aisle - many a person walked by and chose to touch or grab my feet when I was trying to sleep! And the seats on the buses are ridiculous too, I often find myself sitting in some twisted position because I can’t get ‘all of me’ in - so when I can I just occupy two seats now so I can sit comfortably. (No I’m not fat, just lanky and in hindsight not even THAT lanky compared to a lot of people I know so how they cope in Asia is beyond me.) So yeah the back massage out of all three was a welcomed relief and i’ve not been that relaxed since I went to a Hamam in Turkey early last year.

There were a lot of strays in Varkala, they’d crowd you at night which could get quite intimidating. We befriended a dog that we named Boophati who was one of the bar owners, he walked us home on several occassions and was so loyal. He even took a bite for us on the way up to our hotel - an actual saviour!

The journey back was a lot better than the journey to Varkala, in respects that the bus went straight to its destination rather than giving up an hour away from its final stop. However, little can be said again for the comfort if anything it was worse for me thanks to an ignorant man sat in front of me. You can recline the chairs pretty much all the way down on these coaches, making it very uncomfortable for the person behind unless they’re also reclined all the way down; but in turn then the person behind that person is also very uncomfortable… and so on, blah blah blah. Anyway, I passed out pretty quickly to only be woken up by the guy repeatedly trying to smash the chair into my knees so they’d buckle and he could recline all the way. I was in agony! I shouted at him then managed to get back to sleep only to come round to him doing it again, over and over! I was livid and lost my temper with him; did this guy really have no common sense or respect for others? It’s not like he had to sit upright all the way to Trichy, he was already reclined back a fair bit - he was just an absolute arsehole to say the least.

Common sense certainly lacks in a lot of Indian folk that i’ve met, not to generalise of course - but the majority that I’VE come across have none and it is so frustrating!

Since being back we’ve done a lot, but also come across many obstacles that often make me feel like losing the will to live! I’ll save that banter for another time though. ;)

Rox - x

Disclaimer: Our trip to Varkala was funded fully by ourselves and not in any way by ICS or Skillshare International.

The last 3 weeks have consisted of temples, village visits, fundraising and a cheeky weekend break to Puducherry that I barely know where to begin.

Tamil Nadu is famed for its temples, often referred to as the land of the temples and there is certainly hundreds to see! I’ve visited 3 in the past few weeks, Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur, the Rockfort and the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Tiruchirappalli. I think out of all the temples i’ve seen so far the Brihadeeswarar Temple has been my favourite however that is most likely heavily infulenced by the time of day we chose to go. We went very early in the morning when the sun was rising, so the sunlight reflected beautifully of the tawny sandstone and we was allowed around the whole of the temple site, we even got to watch a morning ritual where they poured milk over a shiva lingham and everyone recieved blessings. This was great because many areas within Hindi temples are off limits to non-Hindus which can be frustrating at times! The highlight of the visit for me though was being blessed by a temple elephant, i’ve never seen one so close up before! They’re so intelligent as well, if you put food into his trunk he’ll eat it, but if you put money into his trunk (like we did) he’ll pass it up to the man sat on his back then bless you! The first person to do this was Mitul and me, Sapphire and Jenny started freaking out like you can’t feed him money, he’ll get ill!

The other 2 temples that we visited in Trichy (that’s short for Tiruchirappalli) were still nothing short of amazing, there was just a special sparkle at the one in Thanjavur for myself. Lonely Planet describes the Rockfort as ‘lording over Trichy with stony arrogance’. I can’t think of any better description! It’s a hike to get to the top but the view is definietly worth it! You can see for miles around and we could also see the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in the distance which looked magnificent so we decided there and then that once we’d completed the trek back down to jump on a rickshaw there. Sri Ranganathaswamy is more like an enclosed city as opposed to a temple, when we passed through the first gopuram we thought that was it but it kept on going, and going, and going! The architecture was stunning, especially all the carvings. A lot of the temple was cut off to non-Hindus which was frustrating, but what we saw was beautiful and you can tell a lot of attention to detail has gone into this temple. It’s unfortunate that non-Hindus cannot go in certain parts, they’re that strict they wouldn’t even let Mitul in because he didn’t have a certificate to prove he was Hindu - apparntly the reason behind this is because Muslims used to come in a lot and steal all the gold. Another thing i’ve learnt from living within India is that there is great hostility between Hindus and Muslims, I wasn’t particularly ignorant of this (you only have to look at the long standing problems between Pakistan and India to know) but you don’t truly realise it until you’re here. 

There was a point of around 8 days where there was literally nothing we could do here, which was extremely frustrating and I really did find myself in a place I didn’t expect to be. Angry and wound up, sitting in a village with nothing to do. The main reason for this was because the month of May is the school holidays and all the children had been sent away for summer camp. Granted there were things to be doing in the office, but not enough to fill 8 days and the internet connection is so poor here it makes getting anything done extremely hard add that to the long power cuts we have and we’re pretty stumped. I’ll never take electricity for granted ever again!!! 

We finally began to visit the villages again once all the children had returned from camp. Tollgate has fast become the teams favourite village, they’re feral but in a good way, over excitable and eager to learn and play! I instantly fell in love with one little boy who was a right scruff, he had a mass of crazy black hair then two long rat tails down the nape of his neck. He just reminded me of a few people I know back home and I found it hilairous! On our first visit to Tollgate one man ran up to us ranting and raving, though I couldn’t understand I knew he didn’t want us there so I asked Kavita what he was saying. Apparantly volunteers in the past (not Skillshare) have come to Tollgate to try and convert them all to Christianity - he obviously saw a white person and instantly assumed that was what we were there for. To clarify for anyone reading who doesn’t know me personally, i’m agnostic.

We also visited Pudhukkudi and Poolongudi, we live in Devarayaneri - we’re yet to visit Keeranu (NEWS supports 5 narikuravar communities). We’ll finally be visiting Keeranu on Monday, as long as the ‘indian way’ doesn’t ruin our plans!

It’s hard to beleive I am now halfway through my placement and I feel like i’m only just starting to get a grasp on things here. Lesson plans are starting to be cemented and we hope to plan some youth camps. The children here are all very intelligent for their age and many would put us Brits to shame, I met a 14 year old girl today (whose a crackin cook!) whose studying 2yrs in advance and has just completed our version of GCSEs. I want to leave this placement feeling like i’ve enriched atleast ONE persons life, I think a good place to start is Tollgate as only 1 child from the whole village goes to school there which is extraordinary. They’re such fast learners, yet their parents won’t allow them to go. Of course I will not forgot about the other villages either, but most the children in the other villages do go to school. I’d also like to fundraise specifically for the hostel - this is the childrens home for 10 months of the year as it’s too far for them too travel each day and all they have are straw mats to sleep on and nobody to properly watch over them.

We did write a letter to a local rotary club, however in typical Indian fashion the meeting keeps getting pushed back! I’m in the process of contacting schools and businesses back home as well. I’m perfectly aware of some peoples views on giving aid to India (to clarify Skillshare is not an aid giving charity we’re here to help enrich peoples lives and help them live sustainably and support themselves) however the Indian government is corrupt and does not spread its riches responsibly or evenly. These people are trying their best to help themselves, however it is thanks to generous supporters that they got themselves off the ground in the first place. Through the classification of Scheduled Tribe, the Indian constitution provides legal benefits to communties that have been historically marginalized. The exclusion of the Narikuravar people from this consitution denies them legislation safe guards and benefits. In other words, the goverment won’t help them because they see them as the ‘most backward tribe’. NEWS is and has been fighting for ST status since they were founded in 1990 however despite many petitions (one amounting 50,000 signatures!) and conferences the status has still not been granted. 

It makes me sad because the Narikuravar people have been extremely hospitable towards myself, the team and past volunteers. They’re nothing like what many Indians assume them to be and don’t deserve the prejudices they recieve each day.

Rox - x

The Indian Way is starting to grate on me a little this morning. We’ve been sat in the office for an hour and a half now waiting to begin English and IT lessons that we’ve prepared and no one is too be seen. I’m growing tired of waiting around for people in this country, as much as I love India their time keeping skills are appauling. In this time spent hanging around I could be doing something a lot more productive with my time - such as getting out of the village. Living and working here can make one extremely claustrophobic especially when Indians have no concept of personal space.

For example, the other day one of the villagers just decided to walk into our house unannounced when we were getting changed. My bedroom door is directly in line with the back door that she came through and I was just stood there barely covering my dignity with a towel so I ran back into my room shouting that I was getting changed and Sapphire darted in too because she’d also just got out the shower. When I opened my bedroom door again she was still stood there in our kitchen, perfectly aware of the fact we were getting changed and didn’t even excuse herself from our house! This is just one example of many similar cases, however one of the most aggravating things is when someone comes into our house (usually one of the children) and pulls my skirt down because my legs are showing from the knee down, or points at my top because it’s slipped a little showing a bit of bra strap! It really infuriates me, I completely respect India’s dress code but when I am sat in my own house (and in this blistering heat too) I shouldn’t be put under scrutiny by people who i’ve not even invited into my home. Simple things such as going to the toilet which is 10m away from our house are a chore, we can’t just go out in our pajamas (shorts and a t-shirt) without having to cover our legs and shoulders for fear of offending someone. Yet the men can walk around almost completely naked in just a towel that’s been folded in such a way to look a little like a kilt and even then i’ve already seen several unwelcome sights when they’re ‘readjusting’ yet it’s not frowned upon?

I’m not asking to walk around constantly in a bikini or next to nothing, because that isn’t who I am anyway - but even just to be able to get away with wearing a strap top without my shoulders offending someone and i’d be grateful!

It’s unfortunate that this post is a largely negative one but please do not be under the impression that I am not enjoying it out here, because I really am there’re just a few things I am struggling to cope with as with any new country someone decides to live in for a while. Culture shock is definatley the correct phrase to describe the above.

Originally this post was intended to update you on what i’d been up too since i’d last updated, however after a ‘heated discussion’ this evening with the team as regards to how women are treated in India - I feel it’s only right for me to highlight the problem as it’s something that’s affecting myself and the rest of the team directly.

After some research online I came across a blog post from a past ICS volunteer who was based at the NGO, SOVA in Orissa - I urge you all to take a read of Cristina’s post as it was done towards the end of her placement confirming that not only are women oppressed across India but that also this isn’t just ‘teething’ issues with me, the team and India. I completely understood where she was coming from and related to many of the problems they recieved despite only being at NEWS itself for just over 2 weeks.

“But no one would rent out a room or apartment to three single women because, why would girls live alone?  They are to be living with their families or husbands. Anything else is inappropriate and wrong. Luckily, after three weeks, we managed to get a house through our boss’s father in law. Luckily, we thought… He imposed a curfew at 8pm.”

http://cristina-amrein.blogspot.in/2011/12/woman-in-rural-india.html

Like Cristina we also had accommodation issues here at NEWS. I can only speak for what information i’ve recieved from past volunteers and the NEWS staff as by the time we arrived the issue was resolved. However, we’re the first team to live within the community at NEWS after many issues between past ICS volunteers and their landlord at previous accommodation in a nearby town. It’s not seen as ‘proper’ for women and men to live together in this country unless they’re married or related and the landlord had a massive problem with this. In the end it resulted in the previous team leader Chris, moving out to the house we’re in now in Devarayaneri. Whilst the girls continued to live in the usual accommodation, but even that was frowned upon because why would three women be living together? The living arrangement now consists of me, Sapphire and Jenny living in the CEO’s house that Chris was also living in previously for a short while whilst Mitul lives opposite in a small hut. Needless to say when we first arrived we all felt awful at the thought of pushing the CEO and his wife out of their marital home. Luckily they both seemed very happy to accomodate and only live next door, granted in a much smaller house and we’re all in debt to them for their generosity. 

My team leader Sapphire raised a very good point tonight - for a long time she’s had low self esteem when it comes to her body image and it’s only in recent years she’s learnt to accept herself and be happy in her own skin. I’m sure most women, including myself will have experienced something similar to this in their lives. I used to never be happy with what looked back at me in the mirror and often felt extremely low not only about my body, but why some days I even existed. I became extremely self destructive and depressed - mainly thanks to cruel bullies in secondary education. It’s only since around the age of 18 (bare in mind i’m only 20) that I began to accept and feel happy with what i’d been given. Not to say we all don’t have our down days, but that’s perfectly natural. I don’t want to become another cliche sob story - bullied in school and a mess because of it but unfortunatley it is (or was) the truth and what i’m saying here only scratches the surface. The point i’m trying to make here in relation to how women are viewed in India is that women are not pushed to feel good about themselves, they’re encouraged to cover every part of their body up and deny themselves any feminity. Study hard, marry a ‘good man’ (that’s been prearranged by her parents) and live to please her husband, in fact everyone but herself. Some people may argue that this is all they know, but why should a women just accept that? Once upon a time it was all we knew in England until Emily Panchurst chose to take a stand.

It’s frowned upon in this country for a woman to bare her skin, drink alcohol, have sex before marriage, make eye contact with a man, marry for love, speak to most men without it being viewed as promiscuous, divorce a man who mistreats her and marry old.

As you can see the subject of marriage comes up a lot and arranged marriage is something that I believe is a tradition that needs to be outlawed. Of course, my opinion isn’t gospel but i’m sure many people will agree with me. The marital age in India is 21 for women and 25 for men, notice how the age for women is younger? It’s usually viewed that any woman whose not yet married past the age of 25 as a bit past it. I asked an Indian man why the marital age was older for them, he replied because they have more to do with their lives. So, a woman doesn’t? Absolute garbage of course! When discussing arranged marriage with an Indian woman she chose to tell us that before her husband there was a man she loved, but her parents did not like him (or most probably a suitable dowry wasn’t offered) and she was told to forget about him. When we asked if she was happy with her husband, she simply replied ‘I have too be’. How is this living? 

She inquired about ‘lovers’ in England and quite blatently frowned upon what we had to say, but in hindsight how is arranged marriage any better? ‘Lovers’ to Indian people is basically what they call anyone who isn’t married, regardless of the fact if you’ve been with your partner for many years and have just decided not to marry - you could see by her face that she was disgusted. I tried explaining that marriage really wasn’t seen as neccessary in England, as many people weren’t religous either - just because a couple isn’t married doesn’t mean they’re not devoted to one another. I’d rather be unmarried spending my life with someone that I loved and was happy with as opposed to being married too someone I had nothing in common with. I used my parents as an example they’d been together happily for 24 years before finally deciding to get married 2 years ago - not out of neccessity, religion or because people expected them too - but because they wanted too. 

I’d just like to finish up this blog post by first of all saying I started this around 10 days ago, when there was little to do due to certain circumstances and we were all growing very frustrated. My thoughts and feelings on the above are still present, however i’m able to let them go over my head a lot easier now and also understand why some of these things happen, even though I may not agree. One of NEW’s objectives is to empower women and I beleive they’re doing much to try and achieve this so i’m happy.

Here’s to hoping women all over India can one day be treated as equal to men, at the end of the day there is no point pretending half of your population doesn’t exist.

Rox - x

Finished my last shift at UPS yesterday, so the India trip is now feeling very real too me. Don’t think i’ll 100% believe it’s happening till that plane takes off though! Everything is sorted as opposed to my passport, visa, flights and vaccinations all I need to do now is pack - which i’ve always hated doing!

My journey starts this coming Wednesday (11th April) when i’ll need to get a train down to London from my home town Nottingham, then from their the underground to London Heathrow. For anyone who doesn’t know i’m a massive geek when it comes to anything related to aviation and i’m super excited about going to Heathrow airport and checking it out then flying with a long haul airline.

Just to give you an idea of how much of an aviation freak I am - a place on my top 10 of where I want to visit in the world is actually JFK (New York) International Airport.

My flight departs Heathrow at 8.45pm (GMT) arriving at Indira Gandi International, Delhi at 9.45am (GMT+5:30hrs). I’ll be flying out with all the Skillshare India volunteers and we’ll all be together for training in Delhi for several days before we’re dispersed to our own NGO’s.

That means a 30-40hr train journey down to Tamil Nadu, unless we’re lucky and get an internal flight. I’ll be travelling then with my team leader Sapphire and other volunteer Mitul.

I will try and update my blog as often as possible, but as of yet i’m not sure what the internet access is going to be like!

Rox - x