Debbie's Placement in India 2018

Tuesday 21st: Tuesdays are normally field days, but this week things got changed around a bit, and today was a school day. I didn't take my camera along today, just focussed on teaching. Wednesday 22nd: I had known that today was a Muslim holiday, but as it was written up as Bakrid on the calendar, I hadn't realised at first that it was Eid. That made me feel a bit bad, but at least I found out my mistake in the morning so I had time to wish 'Eid mubarak' to people before the evening came around. There were no festivities at the SEDS farm, but it was a public holiday. I used the time to try and do some uni work, and to do a lot of cleaning as a productive form of procrastination...  I found a big-ish centipede on our steps when I was washing them down too... Thursday 23rd: Thursday is also normally a field day, but this time around it was another school day. I particularly enjoyed teaching the science class today because the science topic had moved ...

I went and taught at school today. I was very tired but I did my best to be professional. I didn't take my camera in today though as I wanted a day where I could be more present and not think about photos or anything. Today was Trisham's last day, and so although all I felt like doing was going to bed early, when we remembered that we had been given a tip about where to spot bears I was definitely up for that! We agreed a time to leave so that we could go and look for the bears, but unfortunately when Rashna and Alex joined us, they weren't really too bothered about looking for bears and wouldn't try to find out where to go. As we were in Rashna's car and they were driving, this was a definite limiting factor in our bear-spotting success! Trisham and I got really quite frustrated, as we had both been very keen to see the bears, but eventually it became clear that would need to give up on this goal. The car stopped in a town along the way, and Rashna asked if ...

We had a lazy day today. I think the tiredness of several long days, and actually living on placement (no crashing on the sofa and binge-watching a good series at the end of a big day) is catching up with me. Rashna and her Alex arrived at the farm from Bangalore too, and in the evening we all - Rashna, me, Trisham, and both Alexes - decided to go and camp for the night at the top of Sanipalli Hill. This was a really bad idea from my perspective, as I was really tired before we even left, and I definitely needed more than a couple of hours of broken sleep before teaching at school on Monday morning!! Trying not to accept the fact that it was time to get up...

Manil needed to go to Bangalore to sort out an administrative issue, and I decided to ask if I could come along to get a change of scenery and to pick to up some knitting yarn as Manil had asked me to knit her a cardigan. Basha, one of the long-term right-since-the-start employees who helps with these matters also came along, and Alex had a few things to pick up so he joined us too. Along with Ramanji the driver, we made a bit of a car-full for the approximately 150km journey to the city in the neighbouring state of Karnataka. We arrived at Manil and Rajan's Bangalore house to unload - and there was a difficult delay when we found that a drainage ditch had been dug along the side of their road, so this trench meant that the cars couldn't get in or out of the driveway... Eventually we were ready to carry on, after Ramanji found somewhere to park the car and Manil ordered a labourer on the drain digging job to create some way for us to at least be able to walk across the tre...

Today Mani told us that Alex and I would be heading out separately for our field trips today. I tried not to be envious of Alex as he headed off on the back of a motorbike with a big happy/smug grin on his face, and although I didn't get to see or do as much as he did, I had a really nice day. Mani and I travelled into Penukonda in the jeep with Shammy, and although I had hoped to have a day with Manni so that I could work on strengthening our relationship, it turned out that she had other work to do instead. She dropped me off in Penukonda to spend the day with another field worker, Govindamma, and checked if I was comfortable with catching the bus back afterwards before heading off to do her own work. Govindamma took me walking down some of the roads of Penukonda, until we came to a small area where all of the households were engaged in pottery work. The pots which have holes in the bottom - these holes are plugged later once the main part of the pot is dried We went...

Respected teachers and staff, our dedicated children, and honoured guests. Thank you for giving me the privilege of talking to you today. Today, on 15 th August 2018, Indians celebrate the 71st anniversary of independence. India gained its independence from British rule on 15 August 1947. This day is celebrated to commemorate the brave and difficult work of those people who fought against British rule, sometimes even giving their lives, allowing India to become the largest democracy in the world. Freedom from the British was important to Indians, because the British Empire used Indian goods and labour to become richer and more powerful, without sharing these benefits with ordinary Indian people, and the laws of the British rulers kept the Indian people from achieving their potential or enjoying their full rights. Independence became possible because of sacrifices by men like Bhagat Singh, Kadi Ram Bos, and Chandrasekhar Azad; and the work of women such as Aruna Asaf Ali,...

Today's the day! It's the 71st anniversary of Indian Independence. Indians count the day that independence happened, and call it the 72nd Independence Day. At breakfast, I found out that as the chief guest I don't only have to give a speech, but I also have to unfurl the flag! I started feeling very nervous in the morning, as I realised that I would have a slightly bigger role than anticipated, and I was also nervous to speak publicly. Rajan's cousin Koruna was very supportive though, and tried to help calm my nerves. Alex went down to the school early, having not quite adjusted to Indian timings yet. I know from my experience of military parades that when you organise an event which has guests of honour, it is very bad form for those guests to arrive before everything is ready (I have never been one of the guests before - only one of the people who has to be there early to be ready and waiting for things to start). I therefore stayed up at the house and helped...