Now that I am a bona fide blogger I should probably only tell you stories that paint me in a good light but I just have to tell you about my first training run. I set off to Lodi Gardens for my first Indian jog. Lodi Gardens is conveniently about 1km from my place. Of course I walked there. I haven’t really seen anyone else jogging on the streets and I didn't want to stick out like any more of a sore thumb than I already do (to be completely honest, it was more because I did not want to be too tired to carry on running when I got there). On my way there, I narrowly escaped death at least twice. The first time was when a motorbike popped out from behind a bus as I was walking past it. The second and more life-flashed-before-my-eyes time was as I was rushing across an intersection where the robot was red. **Note for the future: they don’t wait for the green light here. They go when it is orange for the other side.
That at least got the adrenalin pumping and the first (of hopefully many) training runs was relatively successful. I didn’t have a watch so I managed to convince myself that one loop around the gardens was at least 5km. I was quite cheered when I ran past a guy who remarked “You’re coming round again? But you only just came past!” until I worked out that he must have been dreaming because I only did one loop. I felt pretty cool running along with my iPod (thanks B2 team). But typically pride comes before a …. YIP.
I was running home and I decided to take a short cut. Suddenly I was in an area I did not recognize. It is a very bizarre setup here; I live in a very nice area but the roads alternate between huge sprawling properties and jam packed and completely run down blocks of flats. All the people jam packing the afore mentioned flats watched me curiously as I came running up the road trying to look professional but probably more closely resembling a crippled hippo or some equally ungraceful animal. When I realised I had come to a dead end, I tried to turn around as nonchalantly as possible and as I headed back I tripped. Not just a little trip mind; a huge arms flailing, 10 metre consuming trip. In front of about 30 highly entertained onlookers! Luckily I caught myself just before I planted my face into the tarmac. The most embarrassing part was that I didn't actually trip over anything. I just stumbled.
Oh well, if nothing else I think I at least put a smile on a good few faces that evening. I aim to entertain.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Does a cow have calf muscles?
This is the poster above my desk at the client. I don't know. I assume yes. What I do know is that I have a problem. Aside from the high fliers, I have made only one acquaintance here. He always seems to be at meetings so has not been unable to join me at the buffet style canteen for lunch as yet. It seems pretty straight forward
- Take a tray
- Take some food
But not for the unitiated such as myself. You see, there is one plate and 2 little bowls next to it. There are about 5 dishes to choose from. What to do. I can't ask the canteen servers because they don't speak English very well and I can see the amused look in their eyes as they watch me flounder. Instead I quickly smash a bit of each dish into the closest receptacle and rush to sit at a table with my back to everyone so they can't see how wrong I got it. On my way to the table I try to surreptitiously look at how everyone else does it. Fordsburg friends, please save me from the mortification!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Old Delhi
On Tuesday I met the South African Deputy President. This morning I met the lead
ing actor of an Oscar winning movie. This street kid played the lead role in the short film The Little Terrorist.
Today I went on a tour of Delhi with a difference. The tour was run by the kids of Salaam Balak (salute the children). Salaam Balak is a shelter for the street kids that lived in and around the New Delhi train station. The kids that took the tour guided us through the lives they lived before they came to the shelter. They explained to us in broken English how each train platform was run by a different gang of street kids. They relayed stories of physical and drug abuse. Mind blowing. Our main guide was in his early twenties with a rakish air and a devilish grin. He is currently studying dance and drama through correspondence and aspires
to be an actor.
And then they plunged us into the heart of Old Delhi upon whose streets they roamed. Old Delhi is wild, dusty and chaotic and in sharp contrast to the wide and leafy avenues of New Delhi. I met a potter who has been moulding clay at the same stall for 90 years. I saw a goat serenely assessing his surrounds like a Maharaj from atop an abandoned car. We were invited into the court yards of buildings where royalty used to live; where ornate paintings and inticate mouldings have been superceded by heavily burdened w
ashing lines. We took bicycle rickshaws through the narrow streets and narrowly missed knocking over a wallah pushing his water barrow.
Lastly we went to the shelter where the kids seek refuge and where I met the Oscar nominee. On the way there we crossed one of the busiest and most chaotic intersections in Delhi where even most taxi drivers fear to tread. I took a video of it but my blogging skills are still very underdeveloped so I can't work out how to post it.
ing actor of an Oscar winning movie. This street kid played the lead role in the short film The Little Terrorist.Today I went on a tour of Delhi with a difference. The tour was run by the kids of Salaam Balak (salute the children). Salaam Balak is a shelter for the street kids that lived in and around the New Delhi train station. The kids that took the tour guided us through the lives they lived before they came to the shelter. They explained to us in broken English how each train platform was run by a different gang of street kids. They relayed stories of physical and drug abuse. Mind blowing. Our main guide was in his early twenties with a rakish air and a devilish grin. He is currently studying dance and drama through correspondence and aspires
to be an actor.And then they plunged us into the heart of Old Delhi upon whose streets they roamed. Old Delhi is wild, dusty and chaotic and in sharp contrast to the wide and leafy avenues of New Delhi. I met a potter who has been moulding clay at the same stall for 90 years. I saw a goat serenely assessing his surrounds like a Maharaj from atop an abandoned car. We were invited into the court yards of buildings where royalty used to live; where ornate paintings and inticate mouldings have been superceded by heavily burdened w
ashing lines. We took bicycle rickshaws through the narrow streets and narrowly missed knocking over a wallah pushing his water barrow.Lastly we went to the shelter where the kids seek refuge and where I met the Oscar nominee. On the way there we crossed one of the busiest and most chaotic intersections in Delhi where even most taxi drivers fear to tread. I took a video of it but my blogging skills are still very underdeveloped so I can't work out how to post it.
First impressions
Imagine, if you will that every car in Joburg was driven by an aggressive taxi driver that frequently used his hooter. Imagine all the roads were half as wide and there wer
e double the amount of cars. Imagine that instead of robots there are circles at which there is no yielding either to the left or to the right. Add in a bit of healthy gesticulating.
Welcome to Delhi.
Well it's been 5 days and I am coming to the end of my first week. I am gradually feeling less overwhelmed and finding my feet in this crazy but phenomenal city. I have thus far successfully avoided Delhi Belly (thank goodness) and eaten some delicious food. My limited knowledge of Indian food
has quite impressed my colleagues over here (thanks for the education Fae, Amantha, Zaheer, Pradeep and Ash (sort of)) and my efforts to fit in and drink my coffee out of a bowl are appreciated.
I am staying in a lovely guest house till the end of the week. The rooms are quite small but the pool is beautiful and considered quite a luxury here where water restrictions are common. As of next week, I move to a different guest house where the living arrangements are more spacious but there is no pool. Everywhere is very jacked and all the guest houses have wireless which is awesome. I have recently discovered Skype (where have you been all my life?) which means that I can talk to Brian for free albeit with an occasional delay. For those of you that are on Skype, please send me your user name. For those of you that aren't, get with the programme! Go to www.skype.com and download it ASAP.
Delhi, like Joburg is a very big city and getting around on foot is not really feasible. The easiest and cheapest option is rickshaw. My rickshaw driver on the first day was very friendly and after the obligatory cricket discussion (BTW. My being at the world record Australia-SA match impresses enormously over here. Thanks Standard Bank) we got to chatting. It turns out that his brother lives in Laudium. Yes, the place on the way to Pretoria! As you can imagine, we are now fast friends and he only tries to take advantage of me every now and again.
The offices are in a very beautiful building in town but the whole Delhi office is crammed into the space equivalent of one wing of one floor of our JHB offices. In addition, there is only one ladies loo which I find very bizarre. They are all pretty friendly although things seem to be done a little differently over here. When I asked the receptionists to organise me an access card they laughed as though I had made the most hilarious joke of the year. Apparently you have to ORDER them! OOOHHHH, now I get it ???
My colleague who I like to call Coreen-the-Machine is an embodiment of efficiency and awe-inspiring in her ability. She has really been great in showing me around and helping me to find my feet. I got launched into the deep end of the project and given my own client . I had to present a workplan on my third day of work. No pressure. The meeting went really well though and it looks as though things are about to get really exciting. [Quick recap: I am working on a project which is focussed on creating job opportunities primarily for rural women through mobile pay phones. That is the summary. Let me know if you want more detail.] For now, I will be based in Delhi.
There is so much to see and do here. Delhi is such a sensual city. All of the senses are constantly assaulted (with sometimes less than pleasant smells). Already on my first day, I had drunk chai in a market whilst stray cows wandered past (a mouse also scurried past but luckily I didn't see it) and had sun downers at the western and very expensive Lodi Garden Restaurant. This was thanks to Nic, my Delhi guide extroadinaire who has already been here for 2 months and still has 2 years to go.
Also courtesy of Nic, I attended a drinks evening held by the South African embassy. We got there and it turned out to be a full on banquet in honour of our own Deputy President, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka!!!!!!!!! She started off the dinner by saying "I am not here to talk, we have done enough of that today. I am here to PARTY." As you can imagine, it was a very fun night. I met some incredibly cool people including the wife of the high commissioner, Mrs Maloyi.
For those of you that have asked me about lucrative marriage proposals, I have not had much time to investigate this but the good news is that education has recently become more important for the eligibility of a woman than looks so for those of you that are well educated and want to pursue opportunities overseas…
BTW. I am going to be in London next weekend for training. I will be staying at the party palace of Effra Road and all UK people can expect to be hearing more from me shortly.
e double the amount of cars. Imagine that instead of robots there are circles at which there is no yielding either to the left or to the right. Add in a bit of healthy gesticulating. Welcome to Delhi.
Well it's been 5 days and I am coming to the end of my first week. I am gradually feeling less overwhelmed and finding my feet in this crazy but phenomenal city. I have thus far successfully avoided Delhi Belly (thank goodness) and eaten some delicious food. My limited knowledge of Indian food
has quite impressed my colleagues over here (thanks for the education Fae, Amantha, Zaheer, Pradeep and Ash (sort of)) and my efforts to fit in and drink my coffee out of a bowl are appreciated. I am staying in a lovely guest house till the end of the week. The rooms are quite small but the pool is beautiful and considered quite a luxury here where water restrictions are common. As of next week, I move to a different guest house where the living arrangements are more spacious but there is no pool. Everywhere is very jacked and all the guest houses have wireless which is awesome. I have recently discovered Skype (where have you been all my life?) which means that I can talk to Brian for free albeit with an occasional delay. For those of you that are on Skype, please send me your user name. For those of you that aren't, get with the programme! Go to www.skype.com and download it ASAP.
Delhi, like Joburg is a very big city and getting around on foot is not really feasible. The easiest and cheapest option is rickshaw. My rickshaw driver on the first day was very friendly and after the obligatory cricket discussion (BTW. My being at the world record Australia-SA match impresses enormously over here. Thanks Standard Bank) we got to chatting. It turns out that his brother lives in Laudium. Yes, the place on the way to Pretoria! As you can imagine, we are now fast friends and he only tries to take advantage of me every now and again.
The offices are in a very beautiful building in town but the whole Delhi office is crammed into the space equivalent of one wing of one floor of our JHB offices. In addition, there is only one ladies loo which I find very bizarre. They are all pretty friendly although things seem to be done a little differently over here. When I asked the receptionists to organise me an access card they laughed as though I had made the most hilarious joke of the year. Apparently you have to ORDER them! OOOHHHH, now I get it ???
My colleague who I like to call Coreen-the-Machine is an embodiment of efficiency and awe-inspiring in her ability. She has really been great in showing me around and helping me to find my feet. I got launched into the deep end of the project and given my own client . I had to present a workplan on my third day of work. No pressure. The meeting went really well though and it looks as though things are about to get really exciting. [Quick recap: I am working on a project which is focussed on creating job opportunities primarily for rural women through mobile pay phones. That is the summary. Let me know if you want more detail.] For now, I will be based in Delhi.
There is so much to see and do here. Delhi is such a sensual city. All of the senses are constantly assaulted (with sometimes less than pleasant smells). Already on my first day, I had drunk chai in a market whilst stray cows wandered past (a mouse also scurried past but luckily I didn't see it) and had sun downers at the western and very expensive Lodi Garden Restaurant. This was thanks to Nic, my Delhi guide extroadinaire who has already been here for 2 months and still has 2 years to go.
Also courtesy of Nic, I attended a drinks evening held by the South African embassy. We got there and it turned out to be a full on banquet in honour of our own Deputy President, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka!!!!!!!!! She started off the dinner by saying "I am not here to talk, we have done enough of that today. I am here to PARTY." As you can imagine, it was a very fun night. I met some incredibly cool people including the wife of the high commissioner, Mrs Maloyi. For those of you that have asked me about lucrative marriage proposals, I have not had much time to investigate this but the good news is that education has recently become more important for the eligibility of a woman than looks so for those of you that are well educated and want to pursue opportunities overseas…
BTW. I am going to be in London next weekend for training. I will be staying at the party palace of Effra Road and all UK people can expect to be hearing more from me shortly.
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