Living together in perfect harmony?

Religion has always been a huge cause for violence and attacks in India, and even the recent years Christians, Hindus and muslims have faced repeated attacks against each other.  With few exceptions all the Indian people i meet and get to know are very proud and serious about their religion, and when I tell that in Norway the importance of religion has decreased, and that a lot of people don’t belive in anything I they look a me with little understanding.

Coming to India i was very curious on the situation between the religions. I  thought they were very close to a new wave of violence, burning of shops and what worse went on.

Now my impression is different. Off course, I am just a tourist with little knowledge of what is really going on. Still i have to be impressed by this diverse society living together, in what seems as peace and bliss. Hindu, Christian, muslim – all neighbours. In Utterahalli, a city area of Bangalore, this is exactly the situation

We decided to explore this area, and found a mountain to climb( to be fair, it was more like a hill to walk )

After convincing our guide we are quite used to climbing and that even though there are dark clouds int he horizon we want to go the top, we start walking up this hill, happy with finally moving our fleets in a rocky hilly area. Our guide and my host family father Sebastian was with us, telling storys and making sure we were safe.

As we reached the top the view was amazing. Looking one way we could se a beautiful Hindu temple

A christian cross

And a great view of Bangalore

After taking som photos,  Sebastian started telling us about this 150 year old hill filled with traditions

This is a hill with 12 “station”, all symbolizing Jesus life. On the 12 th station, where Jesus was crucified we are not only met by a stone symbolizing this,but right next to it there are two small red houses, almost looking like the ski-cottages you find everywhere in Norway. Sebastian then tell these are small hindu temples. When the Christians walk their pilgrim march on good friday, the come tired and warm to the top of the mountain. Here they are met by Hindus whom have carried hundreds of liters of water to the top, just so they can serve the thirsty christians celebrating  easter. This is tolerance and respect I can nothing else than admire to the deepest.

Just before the rain starts dripping, the sun shine through the clouds and shines down on our lovely host family. A family who on the surface looks like any other family, but with a story more complicated, amazing and heartbreaking than any other family i have met..

So the question remains, are they all living in perfect harmony or is the situation as unstable as Icelands volcanos?

manic monday

It is a new heat record in Bangalore. 37,9 C. Inside  apartment 331, block 2b, Tungabhadra, Koramangala the current is lost and the fan has stopped working. The sweat is pouring down the faces of the three Norwegian girls sitting in the livingroom, and all they can think about is how extremely hot it is. All of a sudden Ingrid comes running from the kitchen.

Ingrid: OMG! It is raining!!

Astrid and Stina: Whaaat?

Before they have time to react Ingrid is out the door with a haul of joy. Stina gets caught behind trying to put on some clothing. Running up and down the stairs not able to decide if the rainchasers went up or down she runs into Magnus. They decide the noises come from the roof and run up the stairs to steps a time until they finally reach  8^th floor and find to wet happy girls dancing around.

They dance, jump, play and sing in the rain for a while. Astrid and Magnus hide in the hallway scared of the lightning, Ingrid sings “ singing in the rain” (off course), and Stina goes from pretending she knows the lyrics of “singing in the rain” to making fun of the others being scared of the lightning. All of a sudden a huge lightning scars across the sky and they all run screaming in the hallway.

Stina is not that tough anymore.

Leaded by the always sensible Magnus they decide to go back inside. They run down the stairs, soaking wet but with filled with joy. Until they reach the door.

Stina: Ehm.. its locked

Ingrid: But I told you to keep it open?

Stina: but I did. It must have blown in. Wait, I will climb over to the balcony and she if that one is open

She climbs over just to realize that one is locked to

Stina: it is locked to!

The others: F#¤%

Magnus starts banging his head towards the wall and cannot belive he is stuck outside the apartment because of these stupid girls.

Astrid: It would be good with wine now

Stina and Ingrid: JA!!! ( Stina claps her hand likes a penguin)

Stina: Magnus, you are the only one with shoes, can you go?? Pleeeease?

Magnus ( now a bit irritated): No… It is raining and it is far there.

The girls: ååhh…

Magnus: Lets go find the security guard

Stina: ok I go with you.

They run down and try to explain to the guard what happened. He wobbles his head and say he will come help them in 10 min. They go back up to the others and continue to try to convince Magnus to buy wine. He says he need some time to set his mind on being impulsive.

Two guards show up and walk over to the underdressed girls and thinking boy.

Stina: It is locked and we don’t have a key.

Guard 1: Is it locked?

Stina: yes

Guard 1 walks over to Magnus and the door and feels it

Guard 1: it is locked

Everybody: yes

Stina: We don’t have a key

Guard 1 : You don’t have a key?

He looks at Magnus

Magnus: No

Astrid starts laughing and have to walk away

Guard 1 looks at guard 2

Guard 1: It is locked and they don’t have a key

Guard 2: Hm

Guard 1: hm

The guards talk to each other in Kannada and walks off to find some keys. They come back with 10 keys and try to make them fit. Nobody fits.

Guard 1: Hm

Guard 2: Hm

Stina: So what to do? Can we call Ryan? ( the boss)

Guard 1: No

Stina: But we cant sleep out here..

Guard 1 : Yes, okioki. You sleep here and we fix tomorrow.

Stina: WHAT?

Guard 1 wobbles his head

Stina: #¤%&

At this point Astrid grabs Stina and pulls her back and tell her to calm down.

Magnus: I am going to go get wine

The guards decide they can’t do anything more and walks away. The three girls start making phone calls until they reach Ryan and he tell them he will come with the key. They knock on their neighbor door and find some nice americans that let them in. They start talking and are on the subject that all the other Americans students have partied so much in Bangalore, and the girl tell them this is the only apartment where nobody drink. This is when Magnus walks in with a bottle of red wine

Magnus: I GOT WINE!!

The girls: that’s great…

Stina to the American girl: Ehm, you want some?

American girl: I don’t drink..

Stina: Oh yeah that’s right. No we don’t drink so much either

American girl: right..

Awkward silence

They sip on their wine until they finally see a soaked Ryan standing outside the apartment with the door open

They jump up, thank the american girl and run over, thrilled to be inside

Stina: So sorry to get you up now Ryan. ( the time was 2300)

Ryan: that’s ok, but where are all your keys?

Stina: ehm. We only have one

Ryan: One? But you got 5?

Stina: ehm yeah..they are all sort of gone

Then she tries to explain the raindancing but Ryan don’t really seem to understand this. He wobbles his head and walks away.

Everybody goes inside, drink red wine eat ginger cookies ( pepperkaker) and watch a good movie with extremely bad quality.

The girl, the boy and the magic village

Once upon a time, in a country far far away a boy and a girl set off searching for new adventures. They lived  in a big city, but they wanted to visit a small village. They found a village in an area called “Hoscote”.

They special thing about this village is that it had a magic tree.

The children made the girl and boy throw themselves like Tarzan and Jane in the lianas.

Then something strange happened; It was like it took away several years from their age. All of sudden they did not know the proper way to act, eat, wash or even speak! They had to try to explain what they wanted threw sign language and body language. The village people did their best to try to help them, and even the children had to show them how to behave. So when they said “Sit!” The boy and girl sat  down. When they said “ sleep!”, they boy and the girl slept. The village people was so worried about this strange boy and girl they tried to make them eat all the time. Sometimes the boy and girl had to say no. Then the family`s of the village had to very strict and give them food anyway. So the girl and boy ate a lot. One time, the girl even hid under the bed, and still the mother bent down and fed her “chapatti” from her hand. This made the girl laugh, and the boy sitting on top of the bed laughed even more.

Not only the strangers were affected by the magic tree, there even was n magic pussy cat. This cat made everybody happy, always. Even if the children sometimes treated the cat with not so careful hands, this cat always was eager to cuddle. It made the girl very happy, and when she fell a sleep, the cat usually slept on top of her.

The tree was so magic, when the boy and girl woke up the next day they had turned into real indians. Their clothing and even hair was simular to the villagepeople.

The village people was always very eager to see the boy and girl dance or sing. And because the boy and girl wanted to please them, they sang and dances a lot. They danced Norwegian style, Indian style, breakdance style, makkarena style even they did some rock star  simulation. The children loved this. Sometimes the village people thought the strangers was very strange. And they laughed a lot when they thought the boy and girl did strange stuff. Like when the girl wanted to carry 50 kg bags of cucumbers, or carry water on her head. The adult men shook their head and said “foreigners?!”.

They even had a phone they used to take photos of the girl with, when they thought she was acting strange. When the girl was standing on her hands outside their house the daughter of the family had to tell the girl to come and sit down, because her top was falling down. This made the girl a bit embarrassed, but the children laughed.

One morning the girl followed the mother of the family she lived with to her coriander field. The girl hated coriander, and always thought it tasted like soap. When she lived in the city she did not even like the smell. But she wanted to help the woman. So she cut coriander and carried it on her head back to the house. Even when the children put coriander in her face, she did not scream. But then, a coriandertroll came.

The girl had now had it, and ran away. But the sweetest little coriandergirl came to get her and she could not resist, so she came back and finished the job.

In the magic village the people was always shining. From their ears, nose, necks, toes, wrists and arms was the most beautiful jewellery`s they boy and girl had ever seen. When it was all dark they could her the bells ringing, telling that a little girl was running somewhere around the corner.

You see, the village people never slept. The magic tree gave them never ending energy, or so it seemed to the boy and girl who had to rest all the time.

The village people celebrated many festivals, because their god(s) had their birthday. Then they drank sirup-water with fruit in it and eat vegetables on leafs. They boy and the girl liked this very much, and the village people liked it, because they could make them eat some more.

One day when the girl was following her mother around the village she heard a familiar sound. It was a horn blowing, coming closer and closer. It sounded like the Icecar she knew from home. Her mother ran outside, and the girl followed. To her big surprise it was the icecar! Or the icebicycle. The mother even bought her a icecream, even though she did not ask for it. So she ate the ice cream. It tasted like chocolate and she liked it very much.

Sometimes the villagepeople was a bit scary. Especially red-mouths women. They would talk fast and loud in the language the boy and girl did not understand.

Big city life

Coming back from the countryside of India, the everyday life in a big city began. Everyday life in Bangalore is a very strange thing to say, because everyday life usually is calm, relaxing, consistent and every day is sort of melting together in a big blur. In India, its nothing like this. The days are filled up with different activities and impressions, and there is no such thing as a routine.

We have been cooking Indian food:

Playing around in Indian kitchens:

And for 2 hours every morning we have learned Bollywood dancing.

Starting the day with dancing has actually been a pleasure

Well, at least we have tried to learn Bollywood dancing, it is not as easy as it looks. For someone like me, who get nicknamed “makkarooni” by random bartenders because i cant even get the “makkarena” dance right it havent been easy trying to coördinate both arms and legs in the same direction (or the opposite). And at the same time as everybody else. I think i gave my dance teacher some gray hairs, he gave me some strange looks and laughed a lot. After hitting one American in the face on the dance floor i also realised maybe these moves are not so well suited for public. Still, i cant wait to get home and show everybody!

Our amazing dance teacher tried to make us look like this:

But it ended up more like this:

Still, Magnus, our straight out-of-Army-maybe-even-more-stiff-than-me have been challenged the most;

But with a lot of effort he is now ready for Bollywood! Watch out Sharak Khan!

But there is a lot more to the life in Bengaluru. We have visited a lot of different Ngo`s, with everything from HIV/AIDS homes for children and hospitals for adults, to home for disabled children, and one organisation working for sexual minoritys in India. unfortunately pictures are not always easy to get these places, bur for more information, check out these links:

http://www.snehacare.org/snehacarehome_bangalore.html

http://sangama.org/

One place i really liked was ” the little sisters of the poor, old age home” I felt a little bit home for a while:

Others activities also include

Playing with children:

Fighting with rickshaw drivers:

Celebrating birthdays:

And hanging out with friend on Kalmani:

Coming from the Norwegian countryside, living in the big city of Bangalore is a challenge.
Sometimes all the impressions, the poverty, the noises, the traffic, the pollution get too much. You fill suffocated, helpless, annoyed, irritated. On top of all these feeling you feel bad for having these feelings. This is when it is nice to have 4 more Norwegians around you, that very often feel the same way, and there is no better way of dealing with it, than by laughing and joking. I love the fascinating culture of India, i love the people, their spirit, friendliness, the beauty of the countryside, and the big city growing so fast.

Still, after fighting with the 10`th rickshawdriver about price because we are white, and the never stopping noises and honking of the streets, after being stared at, laughed at for several hours, sometimes you feel fed up.
But then it passes, and new feelings are discovered. New questions start racing in my head, maybe even a new way of thinking? And i can laugh it all off. Or not. But that is ok.

After a while you sort of find a routine anyway. You have friends, favorite coffee shops, take away restaurants, dishes, parks, places, sounds, smells and so much more.

I dont think i have ever eaten so much nuts, raisins, spices, yoghurt, rice and different strange flavours. I have never been drinking this much coffee. I have never worked out so much before. Or gotten so many new holes in my ears. I have never worn so many unfamiliar clothing. I have never gotten so many messages. I have danced and moved in directions i did not think was possible and
I have been thinking about this one song

“People in a show,
All lined in a row.
We just push on by,
Its funny,
How hard we try.
Take a moment to relax.
Before you do anything rash.

Don’t you wanna know me?,
Be a friend of mine.
I’ll share some wisdom with you.
Don’t you ever get lonely,
From time to time
Don’t let the system get you down

Big city life
Me try fi get by
Pressure nah ease up no matta how hard me try
Big city life
Hear my heart have no base
And right now babylon de pon me case”

Another planet?

CSA- Centre for social action is a student organisation; belonging to Christ University, Bangalore. CSA have different kind of projects, in Bangalore and the areas surrounding it. They have now grown to be a big and meaningful organization and their projects, based on self-help and sustainability have shown good longterm results. They are expanding and new projects are being implemented. This is whats happening in the tribal areas or rural Maharatshar, boarding to northern India. This is a place where the villages never have had foreigners visiting before, and where the word Europe and white skin are given the same questioning face.

Given the fact that most of the Indian population live in rural areas, I consider this a journey to discover the “real” India. The journey began with 22 hours on a train.

Somebody later asked me if the trains in India are comfortable? Comfortable is not a word I would use, but it is a really interesting experience.

We met all kind of people; young Indians

Old Indians, baby Indians, Coffee selling Indians, chai selling Indians, food selling Indians, staring Indians and Indians sitting in airy places

And beggars – child beggars, performing beggars, transsexual beggars, beggars with missing limbs and beggars with interesting pets;

On the train station we where met by the Fathers and Brothers of Balashar, where we spent one day waiting for the others, this was like coming to paradise (literally speaking):

In Balashar is also when we first really felt the reality of being white in places not many white people come. Lets face it, Indians stare. They stare at each other to, but for someone coming from Norway where staring is learned to be bad even from kinder garden it can be challenging. But the staring in cosmopolitan Bangalore is nothing compared to the countryside. So we got some attention:

The reaction from seeing us varied from people to people;
We got curious looks

Sceptical looks

frightened tears

But to get some poses for the camera was never a problem

But we were met with some much more than staring, and the impressions were overwhelming, exhausting and causing the strangest dreams I have ever had, but absolutely unforgettable and unique:

The whole village gathered for our cultural night, where we sang ” kjerringa med staven” and danced “halling” and Polka

These people might just as well been living on a different planet, their values and everyday-life were so far from Norwegian values and everyday-life than I think is possible. The challenges they had to face when it comes to health, superstition, education and living-conditions are huge. But this is still not what made the biggest impression. They had an attitude towards the future I found admirable. There is no rush. If you can define living in the moment and appreciating what you have, these tribal people with no TV, radio, car, motorbike no nothing, they have found it. They were perfectly happy just hanging around the house doing what seems to me like nothing every day. I am not saying they do not work hard, because they do, especially in the harvest period. But spending one day, week, month or year with just doing whatever is needed with the family or village is their everyday-life. No need to improve, develop, become better, bigger or richer. If it doesn’t happened today, maybe tomorrow.

We talk about development, we want to help, but what is development? And who shall define it?

Is it becoming like the western society? Is it having food and water available every day? Is it education or knowledge? Is it the same all over the world?

After 10 days there was some tired Norwegians that got home, exhausted, hungry and glad to be back with beds and toilets, but with a feeling that what we experienced collecting information for CSA about the family’s in the villages was unique and at least made us develop…

A colourful day

The 28th of march is the day of Holi festival in India – the festival of colours. This is a Hindu festival, celebrated mostly in the northern parts of India, but even I Bangalore people run to the streets to throw colours at each other. Running in the streets, throwing colours at strangers, making water balloons and buckets with water to throw and poor all over each other, there is few things I think sounded like more fun. And I was not disappointed. We spent the day in the park just behind our apartment with both Norwegian, german and Indian friends, some random, more or less willing to join, also got to be a part of the fun!
The day started of with some jumping

dancing

and attempts to fly

Since we still follow Norwegian time (meaning we show up at 10.30 when we agree on meeting 10.30) and the Indians follow Indian time ( about 30 min- 1,5 hours after the agreed time) we had some time to kill!

But soon they started showing up, and the fight began! (Or playing as someone less into the game would say)

Purple, red, green, blue, pink, yellow and all this mixed together and sometimes mixed with water and sand, depending on where the fight was going on. We got colours in our nose, mouth, hair and practically everywhere it was possible to get colours.

After a long, wet and colorful fight with the neighbor children we all looked like we came straight from a circus / war.

Exhausted we got homemade ladoos from Ingrid, NAM!!

Taking a shower afterward was quite fascinating as it looked like I was bleeding unstoppable, and soon the whole shower was as colourful as me. I still have pink dots on my chest, a red arm and my hair is now green, purple and colours I find it hard to define. The apartment got pink spots all over, even after very creative dance-washing.

So here you go, all you Norwegians tired of everything being so white, a big dash of colours from India!

Meeting a new culture

Some people are adrenalin junkies, some enjoy cooking, some love cleaning and others find sports the most sacred thing on life. Though I might fit into the first category as well, sometimes I think my craving must be cultures. Like travelling, this is never something I have defined as a need, I just somehow end up travelling all the time, and often to places where meeting new cultures are inevaetable . Like going to India. Coming from Norway and going to india might be maybe the safest way to know that everything you do, have been taught or is a natural part of your day is going to change. Your most basic needs, like sleeping, eating, and going to the toilet are going to be challenged.

I think one the things I have find most different from Norway is the food. Everything from when, where, how and what we eat is nothing like home. Foreign people coming to Norway are often shocked about how often we eat, and I am no exception of that. I am used to eating about every 3- 4 hour, which I have discovered is impossible here. A normal day in India will have breakfast at everything from 5 to 9, then lunch about 1pm, and dinner around 8 30pm. My stomach have been rumbling so loud sometimes, people around me have turned around and asked if I am ok. My saving is chai. This sugarbomb of tea, served in a small cup, which looks very much like a shooter and sometimes serves almost the same effect, is a big part of a the daily diet. Another part of our diet is chilli and spices, as I was warned. This has not really been a big problem though, by asking or just throwing you a quick glance they often down-spice the food to a level we can handle. Sometimes it stills feels like my lips are on fire, but drinking lassi ( sugar-yoghurt ) is a good rescue.

Where we eat various from the conditions around us, everything from restaurants to sitting on the ground in the village. We were about 60 youths out on the camp in the village, and it is a big difference coming from Norway where we have been taught from childhood to sit down properly around the table eating, to just getting your food served and then left to yourself to either stand and, or sit down on the ground somewhere. The first day it was quite a few confused Norwegians running around, trying to settle somewhere, but we all adjusted well, and by the last day it felt completely natural and nice to just spot a friend somewhere and go join. Another thing our new local friends taught us is the importance of sharing. Whenever I would ask for water from someone I would get the same answer – water belongs to everyone. There would be one cup standing on top of the water-beholder, and everyone was drinking from it. By rolling the bottom lip and pouring the water into the mouth everybody can share water from either a cup or a bottle. When I tried to do this I ended up soaking wet, and with a laughing audience. Hopefully I will get it with some practice. The food is usually consumed eating with our hands, or hand is more correct. Eating with your left hand is not a proper thing to do( actually it is considered very dirty), which lead me on to the next subject ; toilets.

Paper is not believed to clean properly, therefore a bucket of water is placed next to every toilet, and in a way I not yet have learned water is splashed around in a hygienic way. I actually do believe this makes everything cleaner but I have no idea how women are able to this without getting their tights or pants wet. So we carry around toilet paper. Except from this, using a Indian bathroom is really not that bad. Off course the conditions vary, but they actually do in Norway as well. And after discovering we were standing backwards on the toilet which is not a seat, but more like a porcelain hole in the floor, Astrid and I are getting the hang of that to. And off course this is where the left hand comes in, as this is the hand used for toilets, it shall stay out of the food. Some rikshawdrivers actually refuse to accept money if it is given from the left hand.

Living in the village we spent our nights sleeping anywhere from right next to a cow on the floor, to in luxurious beds with pig pillows and warm blankets. Like everything else in India sleeping conditions various.  In the apartment we have nice beds, but for a country girl like me who more or less grew up in the forest, there are a lot of new and strange sounds. Like when the Eastside-gang of dogs and the Westside-gang of dogs decides to have their nightly fight. Or when the drivers of unknown vehicles use the horn like an orchestra on 17.may in Norway. Fortunately my good sleepingheart quickly recover and I dazzle back into sleep. I have actually gotten more sleep and had a more steady sleeping routine here than anywhere else in the last 6 months. It is strange waking up by myself in the morning, waiting for the alarm to go off. This is when I have time to listen to all the strange noises coming from the apartments under, over and next to us… And again the traffic off course, that really never seem to rest. Though Bangalore is known for its hectic traffic, I never expected anything like this. Yesterday a rikshaw driver realized we laughed when he drove like a maniac ( hysteric giggling might be a better description though). He therefore speeded up even more, and all you tough boys back home whom have given me a lot of thrills with your rear wheel driven Volvos on the snow ; you have a lot to learn.

As some of you might know I grew up spending most of my youth on a farm, both working there and spending time with my horse. As it was a home for my horse, it was my second home as well. This farm did not only have a stable, but also a barn filled with cows. I also worked on a cattle station in Australia, and feel like I have some experience in this area. But I have not seen anything like the cows in India. They walk around in the streets, they eat trash, they are used to pull wagons in this absurd traffic, they are being painted on, they are worshipped and some places, much less than in Norway off course, they are a part of the menu. (My vegetarian project is working out quite well btw)  They all seem very calm and happy and it is very clear that India has a special bond to this animal, some places it is even crucial for survival. Like the dogs they are a very natural part of the city-life as well as in the rural areas.

But more than cows and dogs, the city of Bangalore is filled with people. It is people everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. The people of India are as diverse as the country itself, but they all seem to have the same kind of energy around them. And in them. Our new friends never really seem to run out of energy, something that suits me perfectly! I feel that I have made a lot of new friends, even in such a short period. Everybody is so friendly and easy to talk to. They are interested in meeting new people, and learning about Norway and our culture. Sharing about their own culture is never really a big problem either. I think the clearest example in a typical Norwegian and an Indian have to be when we all were heading back from the camp in Hoscote this Monday. After spending 4 days with very little sleep and a lot of new impressions the Norwegians did what Norwegians usually do when they are on a bus. Sit down and put on their ipod. The Indians on the other hand all gathered as many as possible in the back of the bus, if there were no seats available around their friends they stood in the aisle. For 1 and a half hour. Singing, playing games, talking, shouting, laughing and crying because it was their last camp together. The spirit of India is loud and beautiful. And very different from Norway…

I think out of all these culture crashes, what turned out to surprise me the most was the similarities between the students I have met so far and myself. Not in the way we are brought up, or maybe not in our future life. Maybe not even our thoughts about marriage, family or god. But the sense of humor, our values, the energy, activities we like doing and what we like to talk about is definitely on the same level. Why is this such a big surprise, you may ask. I don’t know. Maybe because I was seeing all the differences? It shouldn’t have been, and in Norway this is what we call a “ lærepenge”

To sum up I want to tell a story who shows that even though we Norwegians find many things in India strange, Indians sure do find us just as weird.

Standing helping serving lunch one afternoon (!) in Hoscote,  I realize the hot burning sun have made a clear visible line on my upper arm, where my kurtha begins.. Quite pleased that this is going to turn into a tan I proudly show it off to everyone interested in the food line. Next to me one of the elderly local woman are standing observing this noisy interruption in her oh so usually peaceful day. She gives me a confused look when she sees my arm, and I try to explain it to her by pointing at the sun. This makes her even more confused, and one of the kannada-speaking chefs quickly fill her in on why my arm look like half of it was dipped in tomato sauce. As she realizes that the sun made it like that, a smile spread on her face and within few seconds she is shaking with laughter. She put her dark arm next to mine, like she want to show me how it is suppose to look, before she walks off shaking her head and laughing out loud by how these silly white chicks even get burned by something as natural as the sun.

Gårre ann a være så teit??

Going to india

The date is 1. feb and the time is 03.45. The alarmclock goes off in my room and the sweet (?) melody of lady gaga wakes me up. Without really thinking I get up and get ready to go, the last few days has been a mix of goodbye-dinners, partying and some desperate hours of packing. The idea of packing everything in the last second never seem so good when the last second actually is there. Especially when the backpack, passport and laptop somehow all have gone missing few hours before departure time.

The backpack was discovered under the stairs, the passport on top of the closet in the bathroom, and the computer in my brother house, about 2 hours drive away. When am I suppose to learn to organize my life?

Tho I might not be a good short time planner, my long-term planning for this year has been quite good. In march last  year I was trying to plan what to do for the next year..I did not know what I wanted, but travelling was my main goal. If I could squeeze in some studying as well that would defiantly make me feel better. I felt like this was my chance to do exactly what I wanted, I had nothing that was standing in my way to go explore the world.

Some hours on the internet, a few phone calls and some consulting later I found myself with quite a tight schedule for the following year;

1 sep – 15 dec, Cape town, South Africa

4 jan – 16 jan, Sund folkcollege, Indreøy, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway

20 jan – 30 jan, Peacekorps course, Fredrikstad, Norway

1 feb – 12 may, all over, India

Before this I had some really intense months with working, more or less day and night, and together with loan and scholarship from the Norwegian government I was able to go. The months in Cape town and around the Southern parts of Africa deserves its own post, so I will get back to that, hopefully in not to long!

This blog will mainly be about India and what I experience here. Sund folkcollege, together with the support from the Norwegian peacekorps arranges an exchange with Christ college in Bangalore, India. We will mainly be working together with CSA, centre for social action, a volunteer student organization working with different kind of social projects and NGO`s around in India. Women empowerment, street theater and working with kids in the slum are some of the important areas the students are taking responsibility for.

It takes us almost 24 hours to get to Bangalore, and it was a quite tired, but excited gang that was picked up by Blossom, former Sund student and now the peacekorps coordinator on Christ. Local time was 0630, and already it was people and cars everywhere.

I have to say, I do not consider myself as a very hysterical person, but the mix of elements on the streets here in Bangalore are quite terrifying. And very fascinating. Cars, trucks, rickshaws, mopeds, bicycles, people, dogs, tractors, buses, cows and many more elements I don’t even know the name of all go together in these streets. Go together might not be the right word though. Imagine a dance floor with people in all ages all going crazy at once. But in a miracoules way, this chaos somehow work. I now takes us about ten minutes to cross the street  (the dogs use about 2 minutes, the locals maybe 3)

“Us” is Astrid, Magnus, Bente and me.  On her way is Ingrid, our last roommate.

The first few days we have been looking, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling all the unusual but very much likable things around us. Visiting shopping malls, Christ college and touring around Bangalore. The local youths we have met so far have all been fun, nice and I am looking forward to be hanging out with them some more!

Today I walked all by my self from the house to the mall. About 30 min. I was quite proud when I got there, I even managed to cross the street! I almost fell over in front of a alot of people, but tried to stumble my way up again and recover with dignity, laughing to myself ( the backside of being white is that people notice you, and for someone as clumsy as me, this can lead to some imbarrasing episodes). My general impression is that people are really nice and helpful, and I feel quite safe most of the time.

The next few days are going to be spent with the photoclass from Sund, more Norwegian volunteers, and a lot of Indian volunteers on a camp for children in Hoskote(?), about 1 hour from Bangalore – I cant wait!