Day 3 - India

Submitted by James on November 8, 2005 - 22:05.

We started the day with a typically long, hot Delhi bus journey. With our ever reliable driver insisting he knew the way we weaved our way through untold districts, all of which were curiously 5 minutes from our destination. A good hour later we arrived at our destination with a nice touch of motion sickness and a heavy dose of traffic pollution. But moaning aside, all thoroughly enjoyed it as every minute on the roads of Delhi gives you yet another snapshot of the city; a slum, a manicured park, an elephant, a near miss with umpteen auto rickshaws… Time is never really wasted here it’s just spent watching.

When we did arrived we found ourselves in a suburb busy with construction. Our hosts, Pravah had just moved into a new building, fully functioning except for the lack of exterior walls on the four flights of stairs we had to climb. Unperturbed we made our way up to start our second visit. Pravah was set up in the wake of 1992 communal violence and the destruction of a mosque. A group of young professionals came together to ask what they could do to impact upon the problem of inter faith tension. They formed Pravah to engage young people so as to ensure India’s future leaders would be concerned and motivated with the country’s social and environmental issues. They run a number of initiates from a volunteering service called SMILE, which places students in NGOs, to citizenship training and curriculum development for schools, and a fund to support social entrepreneurs called Changing Looms.

We were presented to by three very passionate and articulate women from various levels of the organisation’s hierarchy, but it wasn’t long before a fair bombardment of questions rained down from the group. Intense discussion followed for a good few hours we wrestled with the various issues. Most concern was centred around why the organisation focused on a fairly privileged group of society rather than a grassroots approach, but Pravah fought us off well and by lunchtime we were impressed and confident that we were seeing something rather special.

As well as expert in fending off difficult questions the ladies of Pravah were also excellent hosts; the dhal, rice and chapatti lunch combo was one of our finest feeds so far, and was accompanied by a special coconut chilli side that Richard took a particular shine toward and continued to indulging long after the plates were cleared and we were back into the debate.

The afternoon saw us travel back into city centre to visit one of the Changing Looms award winner’s projects. Turning off a dusty road at the back of the Red Fort we were met by a gaggle of laughing children sprinting headlong in our direction all smiles and greetings. Most of us were tricked by their cunning offer of a handshake which when we stretched out a hand to respond was whisked away behind their heads, with tongues stuck out and raucous giggles. After photos and sweet distributing we were ushered into a small room at the end of row and met by Amit the project leader. His project rehabilitates street children with a residential stay of about a year and training in craft and theatre as well as schooling and health provision. If we did have any doubts about the tangibility of Pravah or it’s ability to touch the grassroots of India’s population they were immediately dispelled as we were greeted by six of Amit’s students. Coming face to face with real young people who had obviously suffered on the streets of Delhi was both humbling and moving, and as the boys sheepishly gave us their names there was a hush and a focus amongst our group as I think we came to terms with the realities of where we now where just a few days after leaving London.

Amit explained that one of the ways in which he builds the confidence of his students and raises both awareness and cash for his projects is through street theatre performances around the issues faced by street kids. The boys then gave us an extract from one of the plays in which a shoe shine boy is abused by his customers, one of whom is a policeman who beats the boy and forces his to clean his shoes. The boys who had appeared shy and reserved when we met them came alive as they performed, with a mixture of dance, chanting, drums, and beautiful oversized props. I found this personally pretty difficult to watch; young kids who having gone through these terrible experiences were now presenting those experiences bravely and artistically and in doing so helping to change the world for the millions of young people suffering everyday throughout India. Powerful stuff indeed.

Amit explained that the project is funded without a penny of state grant. Tough though this is, it helps him to maintain control of their direction and breeds a sense of entrepreneurship in the community he’s creating. In place of that cash they sell handicrafts that the students produce and take donations from the theatre shows. This meant that there was stuff to buy!! Imagine the first day of the Harrods sale, situate it in a dusty room somewhere off a main road in Delhi and you’ll get impression of what it was like. Bargain hunting, especially of the ethical variety is becoming a favourite activity of the group and many a nail was broken as recycled bags and photo frames were snapped up. As their stock diminished we sat and chatted with the boys informally and really got a glimpse into their situations and how they see the issues surrounding homelessness. One comment that struck me was when one guy said that he disagreed with giving money to beggars because it would be misspent and bred dependency – I heard it from commentators a million times but never from a young person so close to the reality. We retired a short while later to recover at a local market which provided a great chance to reflect on our very real and emotional exposure through Amit’s project.

The mood was lightened somewhat as Kate choked on a Pan – a leaf wrapped in a triangle stuffed with upwards of 15 mysterious herbs and spices - given to her by Farook. Buoyed by this bus side comedy we summonsed the energy for one last shop at a crafts market. Anyone who has experienced a Delhi market would be as pleasantly blown away we were when we arrived to find an oasis of calm; stalls you could mooch around and tea stands where you could watch the world go by as the moon rose over the city. While most haggled Pooja, Salim and myself relaxed with some chai and a plate of pokara; sadly for Salim and I that was the last meal we ate (and that was two days ago!).

Dinner at the hotel was followed by a late night feedback session back in Rupert’s room. Kicking off at gone 10pm (scheduled for 7.15, but Indian Standard Time…) we were a tired bunch but it’s a real reflection of the group’s passion for why we’re here and what we can be together that we ironed out some important issues and made sure that we went forward on this amazing journey in the right spirit and with everyone happy. As undeniably incredible as the visits are, what the tem has become so very quickly is also remarkable.

We finished with a double drambuie for Bob because we had abandoned him earlier in the day so we could shopping (this kind of contradicts the gush on the group but Bob took it well), news that Michael had had very positive news from Penguin India re his book, and Richard received a wooden recorder to help him deliver his ‘short announcements’.