Week three, have done alot of work with the night school boys this week. Which has been really fulfilling. At first I was frankly scared of them, they are of a group of 19 yr olds who were sent from a village in Uttar Pradesh where they were living, to Delhi - where they work from about 7 until 9 in the markets and live in utter poverty (sleeping in a park) so that they can send home all the money they earn to their families who have huge debts. They also have to pay for their wife's debts, as most of them are married off by 16. When asked none of them can tell me their wife's first name...
But they have turned out to be really friendly and grateful if you spend some time with them. Took five out to lunch on saturday, and had some very slow conversation as most of them can't speak alot of english. We found out that some came to Delhi when they were 8 and have been working there ever since.

There's been alot of torretial rain over the last couple of days, not alot of fun when you have a large crack in your roof which deposites a stream of water onto your pillow throughout the night. But at least it deddens the stench of the city a little.

I found out a while ago that all of the beggars at Connaught Place and the Traffic lights are run like a business. The employer offers them a salary and props (bleeding baby etc.) and gives them a safe pitch, and the beggar gives the Employer all of the money that they collect during the day. So by giving them money you are funding Delhi's criminal underground circuit, or terrorism, or something, which is lucky because I haven't given them any money yet.

Week two in India

Just over two weeks, a lot has started to establish itself as normal, which means that the days are a lot less tiring and by and large, a lot less disturbing. After a while the poverty just fails to shock you, which in a way is a relief.

The food at the centre where we are living is delicious but after a while has a certain monotony about it. We've been teaching all of this week at a couple of schools around Delhi, what amazes me about them is the contrast between them. There is one that is set in the largest slum area in Delhi (and having been lost in there for an hour, I can safely say that it's big) called Kusumpur Pahari.
The kids at this school could honestly not be more keen to learn, and there's a real sense of community about the area, they have festivals about every other day, and so many people get involved.
They understand that letting their children attend school will benefit them.
The other school we attend, Nathupur Pahari has no such beliefs. All they can understand is that if their children are at school then there is no one but themselves to look after the other children, cook the food and wash clothes.

I'd love to know who pays people in Delhi to hang around on the streets all day helping people out, because whoever it is must be rich. If you find yourself having a bit of trouble explaining where you want to go to an Auto Driver, or haggling over the price of the journey, within seconds a group of five or six people will crowd around to make sure you are going to the right place for the rightish price (excepting that we're resigned to the fact we'll pay at least double fares because we're white).

Went to see our first Hindi film on wednesday, it was called Salaam-e-ishq. We had to take Anju along with us to translate. It was good (but the audience talked/cried in a very overdramatic way, most of the way through).
Two things I've noticed about Indians is that they don't understand the concept of privacy, so as I write this I have an Indian boy by the name of David looking over my shoulder, luckily he can't understand English yet. And yesterday in the Cyber cafe a previously unknown Indian picked up my diary and started to browse through the pages. When I took it back from him he looked almost hurt.