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.