Day 54 - 25/02/20
Dear Friends,
After getting back to Mumbai on the 19th, I spent the following days seeing friends from the office and organising myself for my upcoming trip to the south starting in Hyderabad. The evening we got back I joined some friends that had been on the trip, at the Metro Sunlight, which is an Indian style bar and we had some nibbles and shared a couple of beers. It seemed like a lovely end to our 9 day excursion! OSCAR was putting on a gender equality workshop for all the staff on the Thursday, we joined late in the afternoon because it was entirely in Hindi. It seemed really interesting though as I had a chat with the lady running it afterwards. The day before I left Mumbai I went to a music workshop run by two men from Haiti who had flown over specially for it. They were in collaboration with OSCAR and other charities to bring 'music for good' by giving these leaders the skills to teach other children and enable music to benefit their lives. On that day they were learning about the modern band, and were all practising on guitars by playing along to 1 chord and 2 chord songs. They were actually pretty darn decent seeing as though that was only the third day of the workshop. I said goodbye to everyone from OSCAR, for the definite last time, as conveniently the gender equality Workshop was continuing so we met them for the end, on the Friday. I knew it was time to move on but it did not diminish the feeling of sadness that it might not be five years or so before I see any of these amazing people again. I will definitely be staying in touch and continuing to have a role with OSCAR in the coming future.
I want to mention that whilst travelling, not that I'm an expert this is just my experience so far, there are going to be lows as well as peaks, one of which I want to share with you. I was in a taxi stopped in traffic and there was a young man loitering back and forth selling flowers. It was nothing unusual but he kept coming back and the last time he reached into my taxi, as the window was the whole way down, and groped my chest. Now, as shocked as I was at the time I will not let this man ruin my current love for this country. I feel like the perception that India is an unsafe place is outdated, of course everywhere you go you have to have your wits about you, but up to that point I had felt nothing but respected in Mumbai. It is true you will not get a moments peace, people will come up to you consistently, but generally they are not aggressive towards you and naturally westerners are going to stand out, there's no denying that, it is something you have to accept when visiting a place like this.
I am currently in Pondicherry in the South East of India. It is day of my South India tour and I am sharing it with four Aussies and a Brit. They have all been travelling in the North together so I am the newbie and the baby but they have made me feel super welcome and comfortable. We met in Hyderabad and after 2 nights there we made our way down here via an overnight sleeper train to Chennai, and then a traveller bus taking us further south. We had a beautiful lunch at a fish restaurant today overlooking the bay of bengal, and we dipped our feet in the warm ocean before we left - I wish we could have had a quick dip! I will keep you updated as we continue south.
After getting back to Mumbai on the 19th, I spent the following days seeing friends from the office and organising myself for my upcoming trip to the south starting in Hyderabad. The evening we got back I joined some friends that had been on the trip, at the Metro Sunlight, which is an Indian style bar and we had some nibbles and shared a couple of beers. It seemed like a lovely end to our 9 day excursion! OSCAR was putting on a gender equality workshop for all the staff on the Thursday, we joined late in the afternoon because it was entirely in Hindi. It seemed really interesting though as I had a chat with the lady running it afterwards. The day before I left Mumbai I went to a music workshop run by two men from Haiti who had flown over specially for it. They were in collaboration with OSCAR and other charities to bring 'music for good' by giving these leaders the skills to teach other children and enable music to benefit their lives. On that day they were learning about the modern band, and were all practising on guitars by playing along to 1 chord and 2 chord songs. They were actually pretty darn decent seeing as though that was only the third day of the workshop. I said goodbye to everyone from OSCAR, for the definite last time, as conveniently the gender equality Workshop was continuing so we met them for the end, on the Friday. I knew it was time to move on but it did not diminish the feeling of sadness that it might not be five years or so before I see any of these amazing people again. I will definitely be staying in touch and continuing to have a role with OSCAR in the coming future.
I want to mention that whilst travelling, not that I'm an expert this is just my experience so far, there are going to be lows as well as peaks, one of which I want to share with you. I was in a taxi stopped in traffic and there was a young man loitering back and forth selling flowers. It was nothing unusual but he kept coming back and the last time he reached into my taxi, as the window was the whole way down, and groped my chest. Now, as shocked as I was at the time I will not let this man ruin my current love for this country. I feel like the perception that India is an unsafe place is outdated, of course everywhere you go you have to have your wits about you, but up to that point I had felt nothing but respected in Mumbai. It is true you will not get a moments peace, people will come up to you consistently, but generally they are not aggressive towards you and naturally westerners are going to stand out, there's no denying that, it is something you have to accept when visiting a place like this.
I am currently in Pondicherry in the South East of India. It is day of my South India tour and I am sharing it with four Aussies and a Brit. They have all been travelling in the North together so I am the newbie and the baby but they have made me feel super welcome and comfortable. We met in Hyderabad and after 2 nights there we made our way down here via an overnight sleeper train to Chennai, and then a traveller bus taking us further south. We had a beautiful lunch at a fish restaurant today overlooking the bay of bengal, and we dipped our feet in the warm ocean before we left - I wish we could have had a quick dip! I will keep you updated as we continue south.
bye for now,
Phoebe
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