The boys are back in town...

So I have spent quite a while droning on about India’s little quirks and idiosyncrasies that I haven’t really had a chance to talk about the boys town – specifically what makes the boys town tick – the boys who live there. By the way though my title for this post is completely wrong - the boys are just leaving for the hols... oh well its a good song and it sounds nice!

It is an odd bunch of people who live here, each and every one a unique character with their own ways of doing things… whether that is an obsession with cars, marbles or even flared trousers (Although an unhealthy interest in flares isn’t actually unique to one kid, the whole of Chennai are smitten with them – they even make an appearance in the majority of school uniforms). There is even one boy who has been trying every Mission Impossible aerobatic, James bond sleight or Covert-op sneak to try and get past me to grab an extra pack of biscuits from the office – forget not being able to watch BBC, I have my very own ‘Spooks’ right here…

Oops – a toad just leaped into the office and over my foot…

But I digress – the boys’ one overriding interest is cricket, which is brilliant as I can’t stand the game! They play it morning, noon and night – except if its raining, drizzling or even slightly spitting – schools get days off due to rain storms, which despite being labeled monsoons just remind me of a rainy day in England except slightly hotter – nothing really to complain about. I find it funny that if a patch of rain comes along India grinds to a complete halt, people dive for cover and the power cuts suddenly out… thank God they don’t get snow, eh?

Back to cricket however as the overriding interest, generally the boys play four games simultaneously in their playground (which isn’t very big) with four rubber cricket balls which tend to accidentally bombard anyone passing by. I still, despite having several attempts at playing the game, cannot see the attraction in standing around for five days hitting a ball with a stick, but they seem to love it…

When not playing cricket typically the boys will play marbles, do their washing or even study. I noticed the concept of studying in India is different from that in the UK – in India when studying they sit on the floor or at a desk and read their books write out class notes in complete silence for many hours on end. In the UK (Note: this is for me at least, and I can admit this only now I have finished my A2s with half decent grades) studying was lying on my bed, watching movies on my laptop whilst trying to psychically absorb the course information from the textbook open on the desk, halfway across the room…

The boys also have a real love for Tamil movies – basically Bollywood but in Tamil – the local language. These are all musicals and really the sole form of entertainment – all of the music they listen to is from their movies (which means you end up hearing the same songs from the latest movie about 20 times a day which drives you mad!) If you turn on a TV you can only really either watch movies or cricket… neither of which I understand! They couldn’t comprehend why when I whacked out the Ipod, before it broke RIP, I didn’t even have a single Tamil song – they completely believe that apart from Michael Jackson, Tamil songs are the only and most famous music in the world! In honor of the ground-breaking Xmas number 1 in the UK, I played them RATM and their reaction was hilarious as they tried to be polite about it… I guess they aren’t ready for rock yet…

But the boys are brilliant, intelligent, funny and caring. Every single on of them works harder and is more dedicated to their studies than I ever could be – for a starter their universities don’t have the opposite from the UK culture of drinking, clubbing or partying – they just go to learn, and learn completely sober... One day I tried explaining ‘Fresher’s Week’ to them - they couldn’t grasp it, they were shocked by the idea of people their age drinking. The ethics in India are so different – no wonder India is growing technologically so fast when universities are actually places of learning!

However whilst I make quirky little jokes, there is more... Behind the smiling faces there are children who have known complete abject poverty, children who have lived in slums made from materials salvaged from the rubbish tips. Some of these boys will, at the end of this very week commemorate the anniversary of the great Tsunami that indiscriminately stole their homes, their sibling and their parents. There is even one boy in the project, a boy who dreams of one day working for NASA and reaching the stars, a boy who only survived bone cancer by having his infected leg amputated above the knee; he is now condemned to spend every day hopping around on old crutches because his prosthetic leg gets caught in the bike he has to pedal everyday to school… These boys are incredible, young, vibrant people and they have seen things we cannot imagine, still however they get on with life and strive for more with a cheeky little grin and the odd pinched pack of digestives bikkies…

So this is India...

Sorry for not posting earlier - everything has been a bit mad! India is an incredible place, it has a culture that is so different to that of the west, EVERYTHING is different here.

The first thing I noticed was the visual differences from that of Europe. I got a Tuktuk ride from the airport after i landed at 4am local time (an amazing, if not slightly scary experience) and saw that the roads are encased by thousands of short squat terraced garages, these little buildings form the shops for the city. In front of those actually on the edges of the roads are carts and stalls which sell everything under the sun - The whole city is a giant marketplace. Even more in contrast to the UK is the amount of colour, the buildings, the lights and even the clothes are awash with seas of yellows, greens & pinks - compared to the greys, blacks and navys of the average European high street. it is like someone cranked up the hue to full on the TV and somehow made it a country!

However once you get into the country and begin to see more you realise that the colours and sights are just the start of the differences. The sounds & the smells of the city are completely indescribable...

The weather is also very different - it is the end of a particularly long monsoon season - it rains everyday 24/7. Heres how it feels in UK weather terms - imagine the worst winter rainstorm continuous for months in July high temperatures with the humidity of a steam room to boot. My air con is on constantly and it feels like I am getting through a can of antiperspirant a day! The worst thing is it is only going to get hotter! The boys are expecting me to play cricket when the playground dries up. I have no idea how I am going to play in this heat (actually that says very little - I've never really played cricket - I have no idea anyway!).

The boys are great. They are so intensely different from school kids in the UK that it really, really shocked me. I was talking to one boy who was quietly studying in a corner and he told me he wanted to be a civic engineer after going to uni and getting his masters - when I asked him how old he was he said he was twelve. They all are really working hard to further their education, to go to a good uni and get a good job. Some people I know in the UK didn't work out what they wanted to study until the week UCAS statements were due. The kids are trying so hard to better themselves and their families. The boys here really are appreciative of what they have.

One example of this is that the boys town recently got a TV for the library (read: large room with three small bookcases of old tatty textbooks). Now when I was boarding in Cranbrook, the Cornwallis TV room usually had about 10 or so people there in the evening and there would always be an argument over who had the remote, what channel was on or what seat people could sit in. Yesterday I walked into the boys library and saw 100 kids quietly sitting on the floor watching TV - no arguments, no fights and no unnecessary throwing of objects (or cushions - a Cornwallis favorite). One of the boys would have the remote & they would scroll through the channels however not one boy would complain - they just enjoyed sitting there watching TV...

I know that is a really small thing but to me it was huge... it highlighted the great cultural divide between the UK and India!