Christmas Day and some bad news

Yesterday morning (Christmas Day) our young women students came to class late and extremely subdued. They told us that Sunita, the warden from the girls hostel who has been coming to our classes to improve her English, had an accident on a motorbike late the previous night. Many people here ride motorbikes or scooters but very few use helmets and Sunita is no exception. We were told she was unconscious and the hospital feared brain damage. We were all very worried for her. Later in the day we heard that she had regained consciousness and should recover - the best Christmas present we could ask for.

In case you're wondering what my Christmas was like it went like this: woken at 6.45am by Shanti, the lovely campus dog that has taken to sleeping curled up in the corner of my room. He belongs to some people who are in England at present and, unfortunately, has fleas! My colleagues clearly think I'm mad but the fleas don't seem interested in me and it's become quite cold here at night so I'm allowing myself to enjoy his company. I decided to do my ironing while I had access to The Iron (the single iron for the entire campus!) then marked some of the students' handwriting homework before having breakfast and teaching from 10am until 1pm as usual. We had a special lunch outside in the sunshine: paneer and spinach with a desert of fresh papaya (we don't normally have 'pudding' but the amount of sugar Satish puts into our tea and coffee makes up for that!)

After lunch some of the students came back to the Paramita buiding, where we live. Ken taught the the young men to play backgammon while the young women took great delight in dressing up in turn Jess, Shakyajata and me in Manju's regional costume. (She comes from Arunchal Pradesh, in North East India, on the border with China). Then we had a photo session, which the students loved. After that Ken, Shakyajata and I had a planning meeting to prepare for the next three days' classes and at 5pm we went on our amazing adventure into rural India (see Ken's last post).

All for now - still no internet connection on campus so we need to leave the internet cafe and find a bus or auto-rickshaw 'home' for 7pm or our dinner will be in the dog - literally!

This is India! (from Ken)

How many times during this trip have I heard and thought that sentence -"This is India!" -but not always meaning "bad"; the students we teach are the most precious jewels enriching our lives with delightful suprises. Last week Shakyajata suggested the most apparently ridiculous of ideas, that we should all produce some kind of 'cultural performance' for each other from our own varied backgrounds (the students have been drawn from all states of India, some not even sharing a common Indian language) - even more ridiculous, she offered that we teachers would present to the students something in return (a repeat of London's Burning was mentioned!). Days went by with not much said by the students, -but beneath the surface the seeds had been sown; -come the day - the desire to perform, the late night preparations and their hidden rehearsals emerged in a wealth of talent and a feast of delights. -songs, poems and drama; some comic; some moving; some relevant to the political plight of the Dalit's struggle; but all were strongly optimistic in the style of their hero and leader, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. He dreamt of a 'Dharma Revolution' for his people, a people oppressed by the caste system of the ancient and dominant Hindhu religion. These students believe in his dream and are each at the cutting edge:; each preparing to return to their own home communities to promote the winds of change. Their ideal is set by the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, aka the Three Jewels of Buddhism.



Last night we visited a Dharma Festival two hours drive out of Nagpur. Typical of many of the villages from which came our students, this village community had a serious history of change; from being treated as 'outcasts' and 'untouchables', they were now recovering their dignity and social rights as owner/farmers. Thanks in part to the Indian Constitution, (to which Dr Ambedkar had greatly contributed), but also to his urging for his people to escape from the superstitions of the Hindhu religion and to convert to Bhuddism. Hence our invitation to the Dharma Festival at which the guests of honour were to be ourselves(!), and especially Achala who was the key speaker delivering a Dharma Talk to the assembled villagers -all buddhists; -them gathered, children and all, under a beautifully adorned canvass; -us raised upon creaking stage, each bedecked with garlands of beautiful flowers. We were watered and fed by one farmer's family in his simple but significant farm house. We ate in his front bedroom -a stream of good food kept emerging from a distant kitchen, food prepared by a team of his family members. When we had eaten the women came out to meet us; much photography and salutations exchanged. An amazing night and worth the ordeal of driving four hours on the nightmare called India roads and traffic. This is India!

This is India... (Hi fom Julie)

Well, I guess you're wondering why it's taken so long since we arrived for us to post on the blog. The answer to that question and the apparent reason for every other arrangment that goes wrong or happens hours later than expected is that 'this is India', where - delightfully or frustratingly, depending on your perspective - things rarely go according to plan. Since we came to the Nagarjuna Training Institute (NTI) at Nagaloka we've had hardly any internet access. Early on we were told this was because of mysterious cabling/router problems on the campus but last week some construction workers cut through a local phone line so now the whole of the area of Nagaloka is without phone and internet but there seems very little rush to do anything about it. So Ken and I have taken an auto-rickshaw into a nearby part of town to use an internet cafe for a very reasonable Rs 15 an hour (current exchange is Rs 71 to the GBP) where we're working in the gloom because there's been a power cut and the PCs are running off enormous batteries. I had to switch to using the manager's laptop because many of the letters on the keyboard I was given are completely worn away!

To go back to how we arrived... the journey here was long but uneventful - no sign of trouble in Mumbai, which is a good thing as there was also no sign of the expected increase in security. At Nagpur we were met at the airport by Padmavir and Shrinivas, both bearing flowers for each of us and looking incedibly smart in the heat that was making us newcomers wilt with fatigue.

We drove through the city and arrived at Nagaloka in the dark at about 6.30pm to find the regular Wednesday power cut underway. Our first meeting with Jess, one of the other English teachers, took place by torchlight. She and Satish, the students assigned to care for our every need, guided us upstairs, through the dark, and down a long corridor to our rooms where we dropped off our bags and hurried out to dinner. When I say 'out to dinner' I mean it in the literal sense. With the exception of breakfast, which we eat in the communal lounge area along the corridor from our rooms, our meals are eaten outside, a short walk away from the building in which we stay. The students take it in turns to serve us and then wash the dishes under taps in the open air. As there's a field of cows and goats next to our dinner table we share our meals with a large number of flies! There's also a Hindu wedding hall across the cow & goat field so we have been known to have an audience of open-mouthed wedding guests – adults and children – while we eat. It seems the majority of locals have never seen white skinned people before.

On our first morning here I found, to my dismay, that porridge is the staple visitors' breakfast. Those of you who've been on retreat with me will know I have a strong aversion to this gloopy stuff. However, Jess assured me that Satish makes excellent porridge, adding dried fruit, cashews and almonds, and I'm pleased to say that I've learned to enjoy it. It's remarkable what you'll enjoy eating when there's no alternative and you're hungry!

Lunch and dinner are usually virtually identical: rice, chapatti, a thin dhal and a small dish of lightly spiced vegetables with a name I haven't yet learned how to spell. The only unknown factors are whether the food will be warm or cold and whether we'll be treated to a couple of hard boiled eggs as an accompaniment (requested to overcome the lack of protein and vitamin B12 in the diet offered). NTI really is run on a shoe-string so the food is of necessity basic but this, apparently, reflects the staple diet of the majority of Indian people.

Our first week here was spent recovering from jet lag, organising printing and debating how the EALIP (English as an Additional Language Intensive Programme) materials should be used alongside the teaching already being delivered by Jess, Achala and later Aryagita, when she arrived from Khatmandu a few days after our arrival. At that point we shared the 'visitors' lounge' with two other temporary residents at the college; Tempel Smith from San Francisco and Abhilasa from the Karuna Trust, who was over here to monitor and coach some Karuna-funded projects.

We have Abhilasa to thank for two of the high points of the trip so far. The first was an evening visit to a nearby computer training organisation called Aryaloka, run by a very switched on Indian guy, Aryaketu. We arrived to find a pattern of events that's been repeated since on several other visits. As guests of honour we were shown to seats in front of rows and rows of shining faced students. Aryaketu gave a long speech and then individual students were invited to present each of us in turn with a bouquet of flowers. As the chief guest of honour Abhilasa was then asked to make a return speech, which was translated sentence by sentence by Aryaketu. He told a very amusing 'shaggy donkey' story, which delighted the audience and perfectly fitted the occasion. Clearly, he'd done this before! A moment before Aryaketu turned to me I realised with a sinking feeling that we were all expected to speak! I've never made an impromptu speech to 50 people before but managed to come up with something heartfelt that the gathering seemed to really appreciate. When we visited the girls' hostel in Nagpur a couple of evenings later I anticipated the inevitable requirement for formal speeches and delivered a slightly more polished version.

The trip to the girls' hostel was a real eye-opener. A total of about 80 girls and young women live in the hostel, sleeping five or six to a mattress the size of a queen-sized bed. The conditions are basic but the staff are very warm and devoted to their work. Sunita, the chief warden, has given up marriage and a family of her own to take care of her charges. These children and young woman are not orphans; they come to live in the hostel in Nagpur from villages in which they wouldn't be allowed an education because of their low caste. The same applies to the boys; although in the cities it is now accepted as illegal to discriminate against Dalits (formerly called 'untouchables') in the villages the old ways still remain and Dalit children have to sit outside the classroom, the teachers refusing even to touch their school books to mark their work.

Having worked, and completely fallen in love, with with these young people I feel hurt and outraged on their behalf. They're so keen to learn and such fun to be with that teaching them is a joy. A couple of weeks ago we had an hilarious lesson in which they tried to learn to pronounce 'fish'. Some of them couldn't manage the 'f' sound and said 'p' instead, some of them said 's' instead of 'sh' and others got both ends wrong, changing the meaning completely! Another source of fun was the lesson about prepositions; we had a great time demonstrating 'in', 'on' 'under' and 'by' but the best part was seeing students who didn't get it at first start to understand.

Ken's having a jolly good time

Welcomed at Nagpur airport by flowers -one bunch each - and smiles galore: us weary travellers so pleased to be at journey's end after three nights and thousands of air miles since UK.

Forty five minutes later, having been driven through an industrial hell hole of “satanic” proportions, streets lined with half dismantled lorries and piles of balded tyres, surrounded by a hornet swarm of honking, belching traffic, we turned off the state highway into the peaceful, green, spacious haven called Nagarjuna Training Institute (NTI).

The architecture was surprising. The accommodation rooms are modern , clean and generous; each room with en-suite, fans, balcony, -a veritable Eden paradise.

Not to say NTI has no quirky flaws; we arrived in the dark; as it was a Wednesday the routine City-wide power cut was in full swing. Fumbling for the candles deeply packed in suitcases, we abandoned the dark corridors and rooms, to walk under the full moon across the tree lined campus paths to the awaiting outdoor eating space, and food, wonderful food! The meal, and all meals since, have been especially prepared for us, the honoured foreign guests, -not too spicy, not much variety, but with a privacy offered by our ever-respectful hosts, we meet and eat as a team of teachers, free to discuss our privileged western plans and life styles with few intrusions.

The following day we arose to even greater opulence-, a hot muesli porridge, fresh banana, papaya and sweet milky coffee has been prepared for us 'Teachers' each morning in our accommodation block -a treat of almost breakfast in bed proportions! For the remainder of the week our duties were light, as we assimilated ourselves into NTI, recovering from the various UK ailments we'd brought with us, -colds, flu, tension and jet lag.

The work comes next; our first meeting with the students in a lesson planned by Jessica's class of thirty. They had formed groups of sixes and seven, and with questions prepared earlier we were quizzed about the very souls of our lives; were we Buddhists? How old? What we thought of India? etc.

The whole group of 60 Dhamma Students were already being taught in two groups by the very expert language teachers, Jessica and Achala. They had arrived a week or two before us and had won the trust and loyalty of the pupils for their exciting lesson skills. We geared up practically, got a load of printing done from the EALIP master-copies, and on the personal level, we carefully steered our way through the inevitable 'group dynamics', as we boldly approached “Launch Day” of the much awaited EALIP Teaching Programme.

The proposal seemed to me to be radical and a great experiment into the unknown. 'Would the students find EALIP to be too basic?' was one question; 'would they let themselves be wooed away from Jessica?' was another. How would we sell up-front what we had to offer? Calling together all sixty students, Shakyajata took to the floor and delivered through Satish (her able translator and our excellent porridge maker!) a very 'Indian' introduction; flowers were offered, mutual admiration and formal applause exchanged, as she delivered what amounted to a “Dhamma Talk” around the theme of Kalyana Mitrata. In essence she was proposing to teach to a wide range of existing abilities, introducing Books 1 to 20 of the EALIP programme. But more than that, she was also hoping to achieve a double whammie - to cascade. This meant inviting the more able pupils to learn how to teach. These 'New Student Teachers' would thus create a new resource: in turn they would be teaching their less able peers. A brave and bold experiment - we always knew that we were coming here to 'pilot' or 'test run' this EALIP system, but now alongside EALIP we would be running a further system, which Shakyajata called the 'Cascade Method'.

Meanwhile, onto other subjects: India, India, India!, blossoming friendships, adventures into Nagpur, the TBMSG, Bante's Ambedkarites, meditations, pujas and the host of really wonderful students, who were now rapidly becoming our friends.

The students here are around 70 in number (young men and women), 12 of which are on 2nd or 3rd year of the GfR Course leading to ordination. The rest are in their 1st year of studies of a Buddhism and Social Action course. All will benefit from formal English teaching and especially from our contact. My speciality is definitely the latter, though the former is being delivered very effectively by the others. My Frisbee has been a great success; having been played till destruction …I now wish I had not bought the Frisbee at Poundland!!

Each morning at 6am I join the 1st year students for two hours of various meditations and talks, as they shuffle into the enormous shrine room in the still, dark-light of dawn. Then at 8pm, the busy day is sandwiched by another meditation, talks and a Puja. We teachers work mostly in the mornings from 10 till 1pm, though Jessica has occasionally offered ‘voluntary’ classes for any one to attend at other times, when, (it seems) the entire body of students all volunteer!!! I’m finding it great fun and not too much pressure.

This last Saturday we added a new dimension to their lives, organising a Fun Activity afternoon, including Musical Chairs, marbles, and long distance relay Tiddly-Winks! Shakyajata taught them London’s Burning in four harmonies! Try imagining the ‘Simon Says’ game and out-witting 60 steady, mindful meditators -but we did it! For all 60 participants there were crisps and Squash in paper cups (and some for the on-looking village children!) As well as prizes for specific winners, finally all sixty received a bar of Cadburys Milk Chocolate –thanks to your generous contributions and to the www.justgiving.com/shakyajata collection site.

2nd email from Jessica at Nagaloka

Sent Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 7:17 AM

Feeling a bit tired today - don't know if jetlag or insomnia or anxiety - its a bit nerve-wracking being in the hostel behind lock and key in splendid isolation, listening to something in the kitchen that threw off the pan lid and lapped up the milk. I am hoping cat, but I have seen rats in the gardens here...Achala's quarters have a fridge but ours doesn't so leaving food around is tempting for the critturs. However they usually don't have any water so its swings and roundabouts on that score!

...Having badgered for the CD player it finally arrived about 15 minutes into the lesson - disruptively too. It doesn't work unless it is run through a TV so they brought that too, but then there wasn't any electricity. I suspect when using the projector (and powerpoint) you may encounter similar problems at times, although everyone is very excited about it.

Next week Achala is going to continue to teach the group I am working with today and tomorrow. Its a very basic group and will be the one that you will be using the EALIP with. There are some there that were borderline with the other group, and there is about 5 - 10 who could do with a still higher group in an ideal world. That isn't likely - it seems that simplicity of class subjects is most appreciated. Once proper access to photocopying is made available I'll try to give those people some appropriate extra stuff to do. Next week I'll be taking the "higher" group - and Achala wants to be in the big room which I am fine with but the small room is very dark when there is no electricity. Maybe we could go outside some of the time when there isn't any power. Padmavir basically gave me a timetable on my first day which doesn't allow for any time off apart from Sundays. I blagged one afternoon off but maybe when you're all up and running I'll take a couple of afternoons.

I thought we were going to have a teacher's room but it seems that we just have a shelf at the moment (small steps)... I may need to spend some money on 2 - 3 CD players. If you give me the go-ahead I'll get some when I go into town on Sunday - if there is funding for this? There are two classrooms and I would like the students to be able to access one for their homework and self-study. I thought we could put one in the library but there seems to be little access to this even though they are all mature adults and can be trusted, I think the organisation of keys and stuff is difficult. In fact, as the men and woman have to be separated I'd push for one in each of the accommodations - the womens' hostel and the mens' community/dormitory if possible. Achala says their discipline is strict - they can't play football for example (one is a great footballer) and they seem to be embracing English so it could be a good thing to help them get along as they seem to be enjoying it and English is endorsed.

In spite of the culture shock - and I appreciate it sounds like I'm pretty shocked - I am seeing how wonderful these people are and their dedication to their cause is really inspirational. I'm receiving so much good will - I am very happy in the interaction with all the students and I am so looking forward to helping in rolling this programme out.

I hope that you do get to feel better soon and can rest assured that you will have such a warm welcome and appreciation for all you have done to get this going.

Just a reminder for you (all) to bring a torch/es.

Cheers!

Jess

1st email from Jessica at Nagaloka

Emailed to Shakyajata & Ken on Thursday, 4th December @7.45am:

As Achala mentioned before there are about 70 students - these comprise 23 - 26 women who are staying in a hostel and bus in every day, the rest are men who live on-site in rather cramped conditions and there are about 12 (men) who are GFR, have completed their course and are staying in better accommodation, also on site. The hierarchy is very prevalent - with those on the course having a full day including an hour of work and good but not excessive food. They are all delightful people.

We teachers on the other hand are waited on hand foot and finger as far as our culinary needs and beyond. We have a person assigned to us (Satish) who speaks near-perfect English and is very smart. He makes fantastic porridge, and makes sure we have enough of everything. He also supports the classes by translating for Achala.

Achala (called Achal because the final "a" is seen as a female name by the Indians) has been doing a sterling job of teaching all the students at once. He has inspired them and they do love his lessons. Having said that he is pitching to the middle of the group - as there is no other way to do it and those with more English could do with more challenge and those with less could do with more attention. For this reason we are going to split the group into 2 (this afternoon) by means of a test I borrowed from work. He will be taking the more experienced students (Group B) this week and the elementary ones (Group A) next week, and me vice versa.

Group A will be using the Natural English coursebook and B Cutting Edge until you get here and can run the EALIP programme.

We also have a timetable ensuring that the Dharma classes remain from 11 - 1. We have 1 hour 10 - 11 and then 1.75 hours from 2.15 - 4.15 (a 15 minute break at 3.) Roughly speaking.

So we'll do this until you get here. Achala is off for a week on a training course with Subhuti on 13th so what will probably happen is that I continue with the pre-ints and you can start your programme and everyone will breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Things I should tell you.

Mosquitos. Lots of them, day and night. In the rooms we have these funny things that plug in and are supposed to kill them. As I have been sleeping under a mos net and soaked myself in repellent yet still have been bitten about 10 times I don't have much faith in these electrical repellents. Also there are big gaps between the mos screen and the window frame so I still have them in my room.

Power Cuts. Twice a week the power goes off and the local generator goes on, however this isn't quite as neat and tidy as it sounds, in fact it seems quite random - it is dark early about 5.30 (though my sense of time is still off kilter) - I know that we eat our eve meal in the dark about 7.0 and its been dark awhile before. This means that the electric mosquito killers don't work when the power is off, nor does the kettle, water filtration thingy and so some awareness of things not always being comfortable is useful. Last night for example I woke up and couldn't sleep - wanted to read, couldn't, wanted tea couldn't, and didn't want to risk getting out of bed for fear of encountering the other guests that share my room occasionally (ghekko and er, cockroach) ...So please bring torches with you! And candles.

Nagpur - I imagine you know this but .... Quite squalid - as you know I'm not used to India or poverty at this level. There is utter chaos on the roads and by going to town you put your life in the hands of the craziest rickshaw drivers etc. On my arrival we came through when the traffic was "light" and there was the expected cows and bicycles etc but also a dead dog that looked like it had been driven into with some force by a large vehicle, it was in a kind of right-angle . I went into town again yesterday and really the filth and piles of dirt are pretty bad with people living on the streets, kids etc.

Went to a street tailor and one of the machinists was just collapsed accross the machine, sleeping from exhaustion and the others carried on working around her. Also visited a Buddhist friend of Nagaloka who has psoriasis - it was like going into the middle ages - this dark flat - clean enough but she's hidden away in the back room covered in cream sitting with frustration - the condition all over her body from head to foot. Its not infectious and we'll visit her again this weekend. This stuff is all outside of my comfort zone, and I did know to expect some shocks.

The exchange rate is fairly poor now at 72 rupees per GBP. Its an idea to check out phone networks before getting here. I got a new Indian phone with top up etc for about 22 quid but had I done some research could have adjusted my phone and just got a sim card, although the networks are expensive.

I am currently in the conference suite - paramita - in glorious isolation, other than marauding cats, mossies, ghekkos and so on. I'm looking forward to having some company there. Achala is good - he lives across the other side and is also very accostomed to India.

The students are absolutely lovely and I am so glad to be able to give them something. The resources will be so appreciated once we get going. At the moment we have a struggle to get marker pens and photocopies, but I am sure they will get this part of it organised soon.

Its late and lunchtime and I must away... Have to have lunch before afternoon lessons. Will keep you more informed. Remember to pack a torch, and there is nothing to attach the mosz nets to. String or rope would be helpful.

Cheerio
Jess