Snakes in a Boys Town

Hi guys and happy Pongal celebrations and a great ‘Indian Republic Day!’

I have just got in from a rather long journey back from one boys town to the other – it is Indian Republic Day and there was a big party… I am now staying (and have been for the past few week) in the country north of Chennai and loving it – the novelty of Indian city life wears off quite quickly and it’s nice not to be surrounded by constant noise, pollution and dirt; the only drawback of my present location is now being surrounded by scores of deadly Cobras, Scorpions and swarms of malarial Mosquitoes…

I am in what is referred to as a forest area, however it in truth is merely a bunch of low bushes (picture the new forest with angry snakes), randomly dotted with villages here and there. The village nearest to me is a lovely little place named Amaranbedu which appears to be almost exclusively populated by old boys of the Rotary boy’s towns. I arrived the day before the four-day Tamil festival of Pongal, celebrating harvest time. At this village there was a party every night containing lots of special events including the climbing of an 8 metre greasy pole, lots of dancing competitions and a really physical game called Cabadi (which appeared to me to be basically British bulldogs without the running –I found it to be strange but good fun when I played it a few days later). There was one event in which I actually took part, before I realised what it was, and that appeared to be the relatively easy task of running, jumping and trying to hit a suspended bag with a stick. Note the fact I say appeared… firstly the bag was moved up by a pulley any time anyone tried (making it near impossible) but most importantly was the fact, of which I was blissfully unaware, that at the moment you jumped to swing your bat you were bombarded by two bucketfuls of water, drenching you and every piece of your clothing to the bone in a matter of milliseconds…

The above mention of dancing is interesting to note as well due to the fact the only dancers for the whole celebration appeared to be male – Due to the societal restrictions on any kind of public female/male intimacy it meant that the boys were all dancing with each other & the girls were in a corner giggling… I say dancing but they weren’t exactly floating round in a graceful waltz or boogieing to a twist – the Tamil village style of dancing appeared to be shaking epileptically to the bongo drum line – and when dancing with two people it was usual to face each other whilst oscillating violently in your own style around the other – it was a seriously weird way of dancing but after watching for a time you got past the initial reaction and it began to look strangely impressive and complex (Even if it did at first appear to be a lost Frankie goes to Hollywood video!).

Another amazing part about the Indian countryside is the country roads – no I don’t mean that they are soft or smooth or lined with wild flowers – the amazing thing is the reduction of traffic on them compared to Chennai city’s mad alleys. They appeared so calm that I decided to learn how to ride a motorbike on them, unfortunately however, as above, appearances were deceptive… the roads may look calm but whilst you are dodging pot holes, trying to out run violent, rabid dogs and dealing with elderly men who think as they are 70 they have earned the right to walk in the centre of the road and will move for nothing despite any build up of traffic (this is the case even if the road is such that it is impossible to drive around them – instead you can easily spend half an hour constantly stalling, driving 2m further and then stopping again wishing an immediate and violently acute heart attack on the old incontinent sadists). However one of the biggest dangers on the road apart from the afore mentioned terrors and of course myself, is the fact that at all time you must be on the look out for any stray buffalos. These creature literally have such a strong death-wish that they pounce out of their fields, generally from behind a large hedge, at any vehicle passing by in the hope it will put them out of its misery (I say its due to an inferiority complex – Indian buffalos are so very nearly cows that they have to put up with being milked, herded and constantly sounding constipated etc. but at the same time not having the satisfaction or excuse of being a worshipped holy animal). Apart from tall this there is something else you should also know about Indian motorbiking it is tremendous exercise – this is due to the fact that generally when Indians buy their fuel they normally only buy a half litre or litre (to put in a tank of normally at least 10 or 12 litres) and as such a 20 min jolly often turns into a 4 hour expedition due to having to push the bike the last 10 kilometres

There was however an even larger problem, I realised as soon as I turned off of one of these small calm looking roads onto a main road, which had by the way decidedly given up the pretence of looking peaceful and easy, and finally I drove along that right until I found out it ran straight onto a national highway was a positive bedlam of speeding trucks carrying gargantuan loads, massive 4x4s cutting you up every five seconds and still somehow omnipresent the odd suicidal buffalo… the problem? During all my focus on the starting and changing up gears I hadn’t ever gotten around to mastering the slowing down part… many shouted instructions and windswept gestures later I managed to slow down and turned round before I hit Calcutta…

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!