Teaching is gradually getting into something of a groove now. We had a short session with the girls this morning to recap some of our previous work on introductions and question forms, followed by a little bit on What? Where? How Many? and How Old? Dhamma study continues too and it’s good to be able to reinforce and practice English language use wherever possible, so the girls have also started reciting the Positive Precepts in English as well as Hindi as part of the morning chant before meditation.
| In the afternoon, we were back out to the city centre to teach the boys. We actually caught the bus this time, which wasn’t quite the harrowing experience I’d come to expect, though I think I got an easy time of it as we avoided rush hour. Actually recognising and then flagging down the correct bus is a mysterious art I have no confidence I shall be able to practice; however, and getting the thing to stop so you can alight (into the middle of the road!) will be equally as challenging when I am finally required to travel alone. Still, I’ll deal with that when I come to it! We had two new young men in the class today, both of whom were delightfully strong in their English already and seemed to have fitted in very naturally to the group dynamic with no hiccups. I’d certainly not have been able to pick the late starters if I’d not met the group already. After class, we had a little time to spare before an arrangement for dinner. We’d agreed to meet Neha, a very successful ex Aryaloka student whom I first met in London earlier this year, and our friend, colleague and hostess, Sheetal. Our walk to the restaurant took us past many smaller traders as well as a larger ‘emporium’ and we managed to buy a couple of little household items we’d been meaning to pick up. |  All aboard the (very quiet) city bus!  The full group of lads! |
Getting over the roads was a new experience. There is no system for pedestrians to cross (there isn’t even what I’d recognise as a pavement on many streets) so one has to either wait, meekly, forever, for a gap in the incessant stream of smoke pumping traffic, or, simply grit one’s teeth and bravely wade out into it. I’m not sure what’s least safe, risking a collision or spending any more time than absolutely necessary breathing in the dense fog. Another balance I have yet to learn! Just outside the restaurant I spotted some strange little fruits on a barrow that were completely new to me and seeing my interest, the stallholder proffered me one to try. When broken open, it looked like a rotten relative of a lychee but tasted more like a sour persimmon. Despite my rather lukewarm feelings towards it, I felt obliged to make a purchase of a few, and fancied some of the conveniently sized apples he was selling; the transaction rather fell through though when he gave me only a ten Rupee note as change for my one hundred. Realising I was less than impressed, he tried to concede by charging me eighty, but by then I was rather put off the whole sale, which I felt (and have since had confirmed) should have been more around the fifty mark, so I managed to retrieve my cash and left sans fruit. I suppose I shall have to learn the art of haggling more successfully soon, else I shall end up either hungry or dependent on others to feed my fruit habit!
 Neha, Sheetal and Shakyajata have dinner at Jaiswal | No chance of going hungry at Jaiswal, However; our chosen restaurant was a surprising opportunity to discover the authenticity of Lily’s in Ashton-Under-Lyne; a small, cheap, but very tasty option for lunch with colleagues when I worked in Tameside. Neha had also brought some treats for us, little coconut balls that her mum had made, and we were also served a dish of fennel seeds and tiny, brightly coloured candy pellets with our bill. Neha’s father, an auto rickshaw driver (who had also taken us to and from the Deekshabhoomi last week) picked us up and ferried us home with a minimum of fuss. |
After a busy day, Shakyajata headed for her room to rest, asking to discuss lesson plans in the morning instead so I was expecting that would be pretty much it for the day.
| Sheetal however, never early to bed, produced a conical wrap of henna and lead me upstairs to the students’ living space where she commissioned Gayatri to produce an intricate mehndi design on my arm! Of course, this was a novelty of entertainment for the whole group and it wasn’t long before we had an audience of the others. Hemlata especially watched the whole pattern emerge and we engaged in conversation as best we could, slipping at one stage in to a beautiful Hindi song, to which I was encouraged to respond by singing something English. I did my best; there aren’t many songs I know all the way through, but a rendition of Spaceman by 4 Non Blondes seemed to fit the mood and went down rather well. Just as there was clearly not a spare centimetre of skin to decorate on my lower arm, I glanced at my watch and decided that was probably just as well as it was half past nine and I’d still have to leave it on for at least two hours before bed. The girls had other plans of course, and I didn’t manage to make an exit until both my feet were also decorated by another keen mehndi artist, Pushpa. I managed to draw the line at starting on my other arm shortly after ten, without appearing to cause and offence, thankfully and managed to retreat downstairs to have a chat with Aryaketu before heading to bed at the end of yet another eventful day. Tomorrow we’ll have been here a whole week already and I can’t yet decide if that week feels like no time at all, or all the time in the world. India certainly hasn’t disappointed my appetite for new experiences and in many ways I’m very aware of my foreign status but I’ve been so warmly welcomed into the family, work and social environments it’s easy to feel very much at home. New experiences shall continue to unfold, I’m sure there will be challenging moments as often as fun ones but having the sense of a stable home at the centre of it all is a comfort that I’m really coming to appreciate for the first time in my life, as I imagine are many of our students. Seven days down, twenty weeks to go and I can’t help but wonder what on earth tomorrow will bring! |  Gayatri begins a painstaking process...  Now stay like that... for two hours...  Our lovely ladies! |
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