First Event at Sangam

My first event was a group of 25 Australians and 1 New Zealander, doing a tour of all the World Centers. We were their last Center to visit, many of them already had visited Sangam and several of them are heavily linked to Sangam. (The lead had been the World Center Manager at Sangam for many years). They arrived at 4am on September 26^th. Ruth (the Guest Services Coordinator), Cate, Liz and I were in the greeting party. It took an hour to settle them into their rooms and then we headed back to bed. They had a sleep in breakfast, which I hosted. So I spent all morning in the dining room talking to whoever came in for breakfast. The event officially started just before lunch. In the afternoon Liz and I led a neighbourhood walk for the ladies who hadn’t been to Sangam before. It went quite well. 

At Ishwari

Typically the Welcome Ceremony happens the first night of the event. But two of the guests arrived a day late (due to visa trouble) so we shifted it to the evening of the 27^th.

The 27^th was the 10^th and final day of the Ghanesh Festival. On this day (although some families do it earlier) people carry the Ghanesh idols down to the river and immerse them into the river. I had the day off. In the afternoon a group of us went to a Puja’s at Sailee’s house. Her house is being heavily renovated, so she was very eager to show us the house. When we were there, they’d just finished painting the outside of the house, and still had to put in the plumbing and lighting. Afterwards we were invited to Padma’s (one of the local ladies who works in the kitchen) for her family’s Ghanesh Immersion. It started with a ceremony in the house and then the idol was carried out into the cab of a pick up truck. The boys were in the back with drums and we walked with the truck down to the river. There were lots of people at the river. The ceremony was performed again at the river, sweets were passed out and then the idol was passed to a swimmer who swam him out, dipped him in the water and then dropped him. While we were at the river, there were a lot of people who wanted to talk to us. But Padma’s sisters-in-law surrounded us and started telling people off. On the way back, one of Padma’s nieces I believe, told us that everyone was wondering how they knew us, and how we came to be with them today. I really enjoyed the whole experience! It was wonderful to be so included in the ceremony and well cared for by many people I hadn’t met before.

The welcome ceremony happened after dinner. It is very traditional, it has been the same since Sangam opened. Mina and Shubha (the head of the local ladies) performed Aarti (a blessing) to welcome us to India. Christa (Deputy World Center Manager of Operations) gave us garlands to welcome us to Sangam.

The next day started with Yoga. For lunch we ran an MDG lunch, in which participants are sorted into high income, middle income and low-income groups that are proportional to India. Then they eat appropriate meals. I was in the low-income or below poverty line group. We were the biggest group and had the least amount of food. We each got a character card, which had given us some small detail of our lives. It went over well with the participants, who got really into their characters. After Chai we went on a visit to an Indian Family. I went with two participants, one of whom was quite worried about rickshaws. The family we visited has two children, a girl who is 12 and a boy who is 6 or 7. The mother is a teacher, and the father is self-employed. The children didn’t speak much English, but the parents had great English. They live in a 2 bedroom apartment. We ate in the living room. They served lots of food, all of which was delicious. They were very concerned about it not being too spicy. The children had friends who were there for most of it, and their grandfather, uncle and cousins arrived at one point. I showed them a photo album with photos from home and the one they were most interested in was a photo of a Gingerbread house! The kids whipped out their phones and took pictures of it. The Australians I was with hadn’t seen one either actually. One of the ladies said she’d tried to make one once, but it didn’t work out. I just thought it was so funny. When asking the girls about school, one wanted to be a doctor and the other one wanted to be an engineer. They both loved math and science. Overall, it was a wonderful evening. The family was so gracious. It was also interesting to see how they were living. I gave them a can of Quebec Maple Syrup, and they didn’t seem to know what it was, but I explained it as very sweet. I hope they enjoy it! Before heading home, we met up with a bunch of other participants, so we could all get rickshaws back. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, another family’s daughter asked if she could fishbraid my hair. She was just starting in guiding this year, and hadn’t had her first meeting yet. So we talked about that for a bit, while she did a good job on my hair. When we got back all the rickshaw drivers tried to team up and get us to pay them more than the agreed upon price. I was so proud of Liz and I for standing our ground. We sent the participants back to Sangam and at one point Liz almost walked away with one of the drivers money, because he wasn’t going to accept it. 

 

The next morning we took the participants out to one of our community partners; the Muslim Girls Orphanage for a tour. Muslim children are considered orphans if they don’t have a father. The MGO takes in girls and also runs three schools. They run a school in Urdu, a school in English and a polytechnic to teach young women skills that can be used to earn an income. The schools will take children from the community, although they have to pay to attend the polytechnic. It was a very large and beautiful campus. The children were very friendly and many of the older ones wanted to shake our hands.

In the afternoon I led the Laxmi Road tour. We had three groups that went out. The Laxmi Road tour is a tour of a historical and cultural market area. There are also lots of shopping opportunities for people who are interested. We always visit Kirti’s, the sari shop. I had a great afternoon, as my group was fantastic. The chaos of Ghanesh festival had subsided a bit, but I really enjoy Laxmi Road. It’s just so busy! Going out with a group is fun, because you get to negotiate traffic with a group of 10 ladies. I always find it really funny when the occasional shop that’s selling jeans (or other western pants) tries to sell me some. “Yeah, right. I’m dying of heat and stand out enough as it is. Good try though.”

Alandi

Alandi

One the 30^th we took the participants out on another whirlwind tour of the countryside. First we went to Alandi, which is a place on the river where there are many temples. Mina was leading the tour and I found it funny that at any time she had just as many rapt Indian listeners as our own participants. It was also nice going out with Mina as she was able to ask the children more complex questions for us. Such as, why aren’t you in school? (They had a half day) why? (Because it’s the last day of the month) is there a special reason for that? (No idea). Next we went to Jagriti School for Blind Girls and got a quick tour. They are building a new school and hostel, and all I can say is they look like they need it. Afterwards we went to Tulapor, another riverside temple spot. There were many children there as well, as they had been shipped in for a drawing exam. Finally, we had lunch at another community partner; Ishwari. Ishwari is a coop for rural women to learn new skills and to support their independence. We had a magnificent lunch there, before heading back to Sangam. In the evening we had a pool party with local staff and participants. It was fun, but I was getting sick and a tad homesick. I did play with several children, some in the pool and a couple outside of the pool. 

Tulapor

 

Ishwari

The next day my cold is at it’s peak. So I ended up spending the morning napping in A/C. In the afternoon we had Indian Afternoon, which I was determined to join in for. I got to wear my sari! I learned how to do rangoli, which is used often here, and absolutely stunning. Essentially they pour coloured chalk powder onto the ground or floor. Sometimes stencils are used. Outside a home it is a way to welcome people into the home. I learned a little bit about cricket from an enthusiastic Australian. I got Mehendi done on my left hand. I was a tad worn out so I ate dinner in my room, out of my sari, which is quite tight and a bit hot. I rejoined the group to watch the katak dancers who came in for the evening entertainment. Katak dancing is a little like tap dancing, except they have bare feet, and hundreds of bells on each ankle. The sounds they made with their feet were amazing! It’s also a very expressive dance form, and part of the performance is having the stories explained. The girls’ teacher was there, and she had such a lovely and expressive hands to assist in her story telling. Afterwards the event guests had their closing ceremony, but I went and got an early nights’ sleep. 

 

I was feeling better in the morning and was able to help say goodbye to the group as they headed out at 9am. As it was the end of a quarter, we had a stock take day. We pulled everything out of the shop and counted it before putting it back. We took a break to go over to Mina’s house for the event eval. Mina’s apartment is beautiful. She showed us around her kitchen, showing us her spices and other goods. We had delicious snacks there and then headed back to finish up stock take. For dinner we had a family dinner, where Liz and I were awarded our staff scarves, nametags and pins, as we officially ended orientation! Late in the evening, the name of the 5th Guiding World Center was announced; Kusafiri, which is Swahili for journey or travels. We were very excited despite the sound not working for most of the live broadcast.

That brings me to yesterday. In which we cleaned up from the event. Slowly starting to look at our next event, which is the Birthday Celebration, From Silver to Gold. I’m looking forward to my first event as a full Sangam Volunteer!