This gallery contains 22 photos.
We arrive at the station a few seconds after what must have been the only on time train that day had left. The next train was in 30mins this turned out to be an hour! It was packed with people … Continue reading
Train to take us back to Ooty
Ooty is a town right up in the mountains and is famous for it’s tea and also is known as ‘Second England’ because at night the temperature plummets and the air is the freshest we have breathed for weeks. We took one of the oldest orphans on this trip. He had the nickname of SMS and has an appearance of an intelligent terrorist. The plan was to catch the steam train at 8am in the morning to Ooty, however we had an untimely coffee break and discovered in the café that there was one at 7.10 and another at 8 we hurriedly drank the boiling tea and ran to the station asking for directions on the way. Our quick walk took us across the main road past fruit and vegetable stalls, though a small dark alley; there were around 4 shops here all selling flowers and the smell was overpowering, we broke through this deep scented aroma into a mini bus station. Here we asked some OAPs who were on a tea break where the station was. They must have twigged from our exhausted expressions that we needed to catch the train. They raised their head and in a Tamil tongue said ‘sorry lad you missed it, gone at 7’. We then proceeded to chase it by car to the next station, but again missed it.
We then, somewhat disheartened, drove up the death trap of a road to Ooty Hills, overtaking on blind corners, more hairpin bends that there was monkeys and often no crash barriers down the vertical cliff.
Elephant food making
The first stop was to go for a proposed elephant ride which involved a drive though Ooty and around 50km journey down the other side of the mountain, this road was even worse. Single track, tighter corners, no crash barriers and distracting words of wisdom at each corner to help to look at the road one wisely said ‘Look at the road’ and another says ‘Buckle up before you buckle down’. We drove through 2 wildlife reserves and saw plenty of monkeys and a wild elephant. We then passed briefly into the next state before reaching our destination. “No elephant rides the man says , it’s not the season.” We could hardly believe our ears. We settled for the slight compensation of observing the elephants dinner being made which looked like they just recycle what come out of the elephant in 10KG balls.. I am sure this is an incorrect observation! We did manage to get a photo with a baby elephant and it’s mother; they seemed fine with us wandering up and patting their sandpaper skin.
The following day we found out that the train in the morning that we had missed had been hit by some falling rocks and several passengers were injured and one was in critical condition. When we travelled back down the mountain by train it was obvious to see how unsafe it could be with overhanging rock bridges that you look straight down at the forest below and wonder if there is anything holding you up. In the end we arrive safely back home.
SMS with his horse
A farmer near Ooty weeding in a carrot field.
The train on the decent from Ooty towards Coimbatore, Nilgiri Mountain Railway
The dinner wash-up
An engineer who is helping with the construction winds down the window of his small orange car and the bristles of his moustache mimics a Mexican wave as he smiles (as all true Indians do). The three workmen in the back lean forward with their red Hindu forehead spots shining away. He says ‘Sam can you come with us we have some checking up to do on a few sites’. So we travelled along the road and as it always does it seems that you must be going along the motorway at 70mph but it is probably only 25mph, there are no speed limit signs and no markings on the speed bumps and many holes in the road. Sometimes it may be that someone has taken the drain cover off for a little bit of maintenance or as a souvenir and there is no warning; it’s just left as a speed trap or sleep trap.
We arrive close to our first destination which is a school. The sign points left down a narrow road which had a steep drop into the turn there was a bit of a bump! We move slowly forward and then a bit more forward then stop… no power… Odd…we try the reverse, again no power. As I look out the window I can see that the tyre seems to have decided that it is going to go askew horizontally. It seems to have also dented the car somewhat and it was detached from the wheel turning lever things. So the rest of the way was to be on foot. We waited here until a mechanic arrived.
Swathi – One of the youngest girls waits for her meal on the steps of the orphanage.
The rest of the time has been spent helping continue building the orphanage. I have been taught how to cement and lay bricks and making sure it’s not all wonky. Also learnt how to carry bricks and get a wee bit sun burnt. The mosquitos here are a murderous bunch; they just seem to never have enough blood to satisfy them. Sometimes outside you just look up and there are swarms of the buzzing, blood sucking creatures. Last night was a teaching night, we taught them a songs like heads, shoulders, knees and toes. We are currently trying to organize a few trips of a few of the children and then a trip for everyone to a waterfall and a zoo so hopefully this will all work out.
So with an Indian smile and a slowly growing moustache I must dash; serving dinner time.
Two children pose while walking to school in their small tribal village on a trip to Ooty.
The foundation of the new orphanage has now been completed. We have helped fill in the holes with rocks and filling in the sides of the water tank with sand. It has been great to see all the smiling children again and how they all do their little bit to help out.
We have taken two of the children to a small water park they were beaming from ear to ear and really enjoyed it. We have also seen the celebrations of Diwali which is like November 5th but a lot more explosive and dangerous as half the rockets take off and half explode on the ground. They have ground fireworks called bombs which are exactly what it sounds like. If you put a tin cup on top the cup is fired up into the air and about 5 seconds later it returns to earth from its small trip into orbit. One of the orphan’s relatives took us to their coconut farm and we were given 3 coconuts to drink straight away. It is fascinating to seem them climb what seems to be a smooth trunked tree.
This week has been mainly spent in some rural villages about 60km out of Coimbatore. We’ve met a lot of Hindu people and have had many Gospel preachings throughout the different villages. Some congregations were half Hindu and half Christian which was interesting. We have also been looking around large companies to try and find jobs for the children when they leave the orphanage to support themselves. We have successfully taught the children some songs and some English and today we are continuing to help build the orphanage and attempting to wash clothes in a bucket of water, this turned into more of a water fight with the young children as they found it very funny to jump on your back when you were washing and to spray you with as much water as possible. This is a brief account and due to a lack of internet connection updates maybe few and far between!
It’s now day 4 into the building of the new orphanage and the metal pillars are to be placed today along with the cement. We arrived safely after a bumpy bus journey from Hyderabad we left the city at 4.30pm arrived into Coimbatore just after 10am. The bus journey was like driving along a twisty Somerset lane that needed to be resurfaced or maybe it never was… The temperature is very warm here and they have more time without power, every day there is 14 hours of power cuts and 10 hours of power which can be interrupted with mini power cut.
If you say there is no room to swing a cat in India… the answer would be, no, it’s no problem. Space in India is lived within an inch of your life. As we catch an auto into the city to get some stuff, we pass traffic so close that you can see every speck of dirt naturally graffitied onto the side. We nicely make contact with the rear of a motorbike and a hurried apology is made and we continue on our journey, if it’s a red light then take left slip road, then go straight across the traffic both ways and join the road, just a quick and unsafe way to skip the lights. The other trick to save time at the junction is to drive though the petrol station. We go a little further down the road and a motorcyclist wobbles as she over takes with her young daughter because the road has many bumps and dips. Some of which have what is probably the origins of the Grand Canyon. The car she wobbles beside slows down as she over takes, however gravity seems to be stronger as she fall over in front of the oncoming car as the bike falls on top of her daughter. The car skids to a stop and the wheel is inches away if not centimeters from crushing her head. The daughter screams and the traffic stops everyone jumps out and gives a hand to clear the scene a few seconds later they were standing at the side of the road, shaken, bruised with a few tears. Traffic resumes in the normal Indian chaotic chaos with the young girl’s shoe left in the middle of the road.
We attended the birthday celebration of our host’s daughter. She was 17 and the guest of honor was the retired chief of police for the state of Andhra Pradesh. He arrived with a few bodyguards with guns and when he left it was very late at night so the host and I travelled through the back streets of the city to show him to the main road (I was bare foot!), when we arrive at the road we ran out of petrol and so the saga of getting home commenced.
The plan tomorrow is another short trip into the city, 60 orphans will be sleeping on the ground floor tonight. The family we are staying with were asked if they could accommodate 4 orphans for the night while they had a look round the city on an educational trip. The phone call this morning revealed it was actually 60! On Wednesday night we are going South to the orphanage at Coimbatore. We will leave Secunderabad at 4pm on Wednesday by bus and arrive in Coimbatore at 8am on Thursday, hopefully without too much of a hitch.
This gallery contains 13 photos.
We arrived at the bus station to catch a bus to the poor villages. It was all very chaotic as we tried to find the right bus stand, meandering through the beggars and other travelers. Finally our bus arrives narrowly missing the passing dogs and people. The driver has a long beard and looked sinisterly at us with his small prayer hat. He tells us that the bus is a non-stop so we compromise as you can, in India, never be satisfied with just a no. So an hour later we disembark the bus in the middle of nowhere at the side of the highway; a team of 8 of us and wait to thumb a took-took. Finally one arrived and some of us travelled by took-took and me and two others by bike. We only fell off once, I don’t think that’s bad for Indian standards. We then arrive at Parvathapur – most of the houses are mud and straw and their inhabitants are the happiest people on the planet. Their smile lasts and their eyes get wider and wider until you think their face couldn’t get happier until they laugh! We bought around 20 sets of children’s clothes for each villages along with sports equipment and about 6 chickens for each village. One baby was to be named and a church meeting was held underneath a sheet outside their house. It is tradition to name your child on its 21st day. The family had decided on a name but on the day the rest of the family did not agree so it was changed, we were asked to choose an English middle name! It also rained a couple of times in the villages, one of the times we walked a mile in the pouring rain for 3 baptisms in the local lake, there was a string of soaking wet people under umbrellas walking along the muddy lanes, an experience I will never forget.
(Photo above is giving some of my pictures taken last time to the children)
Working alongside some farmer was also some of the work we have done while in the villages – helping taking the corn from the cob and extracting the rice from the plant. These people have proved to be the happiest people on earth despite having so little, they have a satisfied life. It is hard but laid back, life is cheap but the family is valued highly. They have no worries… no complications… just the next meal…
Photo of us teaching
Local washing
The 21st day of this babys life, with her mother
A young girl collects some wood for her family
A farmers day house, its designed for one person!
The buffalo are brought back to the village for the night
A local farmer chilling out side his wee home!
Two orphans about to leave for school
A young boy called Jarakeesh holds a Mickey Mouse teddy tightly to his chest, he stands outside his Hindu house, he looked nervous as four white people approach. His mum stood beside him and interpreted for us, his hand stretched forward un-concertainly to meet mine for a friendly handshake. Mickey Mouse couldn’t join in as his eyes were gone and his colour was very faded. As we wander further down the street we meet some children playing with Kites a family clearing the road, donkeys eating though piles of rubbish, little communities living under plastic sheeting working away and of course in the background is the call to prayer from the mosque and the music from the Hindu temple and the very musical sounds of the horn from every passing car, motorbike, tooktook and cow!
We went into a shopping mall, which was an expensive shop we were told, most of the clothes were designer clothes. One bargain was 7 shirts for £20!
At the moment we are just soaking up some of the Indian spice, trying some super hot food, followed by an ocean of water and potentially frequent visits to the little room with the loo!
25/10/12
The Indian experience so far is fairly inexplicable…it’s a chaotic mish-mash of colour, goats, took took, mopeds and many many a near death experience! Everything moves so fast and is so exciting! It’s going to be hard to go back to the safe and quiet UK. I’ve become quite attached to the beautiful chaos!
We rode a Took Took for an hour into the city to buy supplies/equipment for the children in the villages. I’m not entirely sure how to describe a Took Took…it’s a three wheeled transportation device which reminded me of a pedal car, but with a beefy motor which makes the noise of it’s name…tooktooktooktook.
By Melanie Gardiner
