Wednesday, December 13, 2006
HELLO WORLD I'M BACK!
India was..... a real eye opener. It's like you're on the National Geographic Channel, or in Time Magazine, or Newsweek, you get my drift. But really, seeing it for yourself and reading all about it is different.
Went to the state of Trivandrum in Tamil Nadu, South India, where the poorest of the poorest live there in mud houses with grass roofs. Went under NCC to do CIP there. Built a preschool in Kruchy Village using the simplest of the simplest tools. You'ld really be amazed by the backward nature of the society, they don't even use a wheelbarrow to transport things like bricks and sand and sieving sand is really hard work. The place was swarming with kids when we tried to be Santa Clauses, and the feeling of the entire village having a humble procession to give whatever they can to welcome you is overwhelming. It's like, OBS 10 straight days in a row minus all the fun activities. Actually it's worse, because we don't have proper flush systems in the toilet, no shower facilities, everything there is pail and scoop and a hole in the ground. Sleeping was relatively not bad even though we slept in sleeping bags thanks to my free SilkAir pillow.
Hmm, if you would like to have a taste of how it feels like to be there in the village, imagine hundreds of kids coming up to you asking you "What is your name?" and having to answer that same question over and over again. Imagine yourself using your handphone and having those hundreds of kids staring at you and behind you watching your every move. Imagine yourself taking out your digital camera and those hundreds of kids wanting to be shot in the photograph and when you have taken that photo, they crowd round you wanting to see that photograph. Imagine yourself having curious kids follow you everywhere you go, and i mean Everywhere. Lol. After a while, all of us got irritated with the kids, but i'm quite thankful to be given this opportunity to be able to see the extremity of poverty.
Spent a night and a full day in Kerala, Kovalum Beach. Beautiful black volcanic sand, and pretty scenery. Stuff there mostly boutiques so you can expect the prices. Went for a Full body massage, called Ayuvedic massage there. Wah lao the masseuse put damn alot of oil on me, and i felt like a fish wanting to be fried. And i have no idea what kind of oil it is :/ anyway the massage was how ticklish please, i kept laughing the whole time then the masseuse laughed at me. :/
Oh Yes, and i must mention how sick we all got of the food. Can you eat curry 24/7? Breakfast is curry with Thosai. Lunch is curry with Briyani. Dinner is curry with Chapati. :/ And seriously, Naan, Prata (Parotta it is called), Thosai is almost similar. We were all craving for Singaporean dishes and Japanese and Chinese cuisines :( It's going to be some time before i start eating Indian food again. Lol Oh yes and i got a damn splitting headache on the flight back to Singapore and i fell sick there so just came home from the doctor's. Oh and I mastered the art of Scrabble and learnt Bridge!
so That's basically how i spent like almost my whole holiday and crap, i so need to get started on my holiday homework. Pictures will be uploaded soon!