Belinda Carlisle And Earthquakes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14965598

So a 6.8 quake hit the Himalayas yesterday and it was felt in Kolkata. I'm totally fine and had no idea about it all until this morning where I here from the guide that took me around my trek in Nepal that he just about survived it all. My friend in Kolkata was also fine and following the aftershocks went to his favourite restaurant where he somehow, this is how incredibly random India can be, bumped into Belinda Carlisle and joined her for dinner!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Carlisle

Will write more tonight.

Love to all

Rich

I thought I'd post this as it sums up quite well what I want to do..

Advocacy


Assisting with NGO programmes to develop innovative responses to the challenges of delivering advocacy work which will enable women and men from the poorest and most disadvantaged communities to influence the systems, decisions and allocation of resources which affect their lives.

Bloody exhausted..

So the whole morning was about getting a form (pictured below) completed, signed, paid for and submitted at the police station for my visa extension. We also went to enquire about Olive's visa extension and get that all going. This entailed going to a treasury office (twice), paying the 'challan' at the State Bank of India, getting more stamps than you really need to officiate ANY document before finally submitting it to the relevant visa authorities which we also had to visit..twice!

Me and Olive got it done though despite it killing our mornings in 30 degree heat and humidity around the dusty streets of Berhampur. Today felt exceptionally warm to me out there...I've become perhaps a little less desensitised to the exposure to heat due to spending a month in England. Our driver was an absolute legend of a guy called Babula who I have greatly missed whilst in England and he happily obliged to take us to all the destinations and wait when needed etc. He is a good source of banter and like many of the people here finds it amusing, to say the least, that my name sounds like Recharge instead of Richard which yeah, despite being really annoying, stopped me from raging at the craziness of the situation itself. Really cool guy who seems very proud of his recently born boy who he has named Sai Sibram. Indian names rock. It never dawned on me how much I have missed everyone here.

I am giving my Manchester UTD football scarf to my good friend Joyu here who has been away for the past few days. He is the tea boy here but he does other things like clean the toilets and surrounding campus. I think he works very hard and has potential for better, more stimulating things. Maybe he could be a guide for visitors when they come and I don't see why he can't be utilised in the field. But, as like everything in India, employment works like one continuous chain where each person embodies yet another link doing whatever task in the hierarchy which without them leads to all sorts of problems. I suppose this has its pros and cons in itself anyway. Happy to have a job but unhappy to not be able to fulfil one's potential. Ah well, he seems happy enough to me. I found out today he earns 2000Rs a month (26 pounds) and has been here for around 7 years doing the same thing. I expect he gives the majority of his salary to his mum, sister and relatives. He lives in a local village very close to the GV headquarters, Lathi, where Gram Vikas attempted to implement it's 100% water and sanitation program but failed due to many problems including poor community participation, local politics and I'm sure many other things too. This in itself has been a situation to baffle me and many volunteers that have spent time here. Why would you reject the offer of an NGO to commit to years of engaging, long term and potentially life saving work to improve the hygienic and water supply situation in your village? Its really sad to see the kids and parents crapping out on the sides of the road when the NGO is so close and many villages have been revolutionised in comparison to such degrading practices as this. But that's the whole point, if you are habituated to do this since day 1, do what you want not what someone tells you is right or better. If they say no, we say no too.

Had some lunch, back to the office, quick jaunt to the art section before finalising my Tata application and sorting a few things for the Saturday trip to Puri which should be ace. It's Jane's 2th birthday.

Love to all

Rich

'5 a day' #2 - 14.9.2011 & a bit of The Fast Show...''SNAKE''

https://picasaweb.google.com/114936315234966016722/14September2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

So, today was eventful

Today's key word would most likely be bureaucracy: written in multiple fonts and hardly legible to the human eye. I come to expect this from India really but I just thought I'd document an example of how a seemingly easy to resolve situation (by Western standards of course) can be complicated.

So I am in quite a rush to get my documentation submitted to the local police station foreigners office so I can extend my visa here, I think you are supposed to get the documentation off and away to the embassy in Delhi 60 days before visa termination, mine being on th 9th November. In addition, the Tata trip commences end of December so getting this extension is imperative. So to pay for my visa which is 120$ I need to send a treasury challan which is basically where you get a receipt as such which proves you have made a deposit to the Indian Central Bank which is then claimed by the recipient, in this case the Indian embassy responsible for foreigner immigration. So its a way of paying for stuff without actually being there in person, like a voucher. Anyway, so what I have to do is go to the treasury office in my local town, Berhampur, pick up a form which I believe must be photocopied in a certain way and then return to the police office with this form so he can help us fill it out. By the way, the treasury office is only open from 10:30 am to 13:30pm. Helpful. So anyway, following this form being filled out I take this to the main branch of the Indian State Bank and pay the money into their reserve. I then finally get another document which is proof of payment which is then sent along with my other documentation to Delhi. Too many forms, too much wasted time and a completely illogical process. Ever heard of a simple electronic bank account transfer. Nope. No idea mate! ARGH. So wish me and Olive luck for tomorrow's attempts!

I did some other stuff this morning concerning my Tata train application (mention before) too as I have to submit financial documentation to prove myself 'deserving' of a fully sponsored position on their selection roaster. Little worried about this as I am far from a poor upbringing in comparison to other people from the developing world and fully sponsored positions are not given out freely, despite this trip being organised by Tata, perhaps India's largest and most profitable company. I'm going to take some advice on my responses and cross my fingers I don't get rejected on these grounds. It would seem a massive shame for this to fall through at this stage. There are people from all over the world who have been selected and not all are as I say before from 'poor' beginnings...I'll just have to see. Either way I can't afford to pay for any of the trip if it comes to that.

The art section guys ,who I am getting ever more close with, have most of my work finished for the RTI IEC (Information Education Communication) materials. This comprises 7 posters, and a tonne of great sketches exemplifying the impact RTI can have on various village level issues. I'm really proud of this work and excited about the final product. I'll post the photos up when I finally go and photograph the whole set.

Apart from this, I think I am still getting over my jet-lag and this morning felt like sleeping a very, very long time. I'm forcing myself to go by Indian time instead of how I did it in England and just slept a few days away.

I wish my Oriya was far better too. I feel apprehensive about going back to the field before I am more confident in understanding others speaking the language to me. Not easy.

Right, that's it. I'll link to my picassa album with yesterdays 5 shots.

 https://picasaweb.google.com/114936315234966016722/13September2011ReturnToGV5?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I hope I can get into a habit of this as it could work really well. There were some great opportunities for shots I missed today in Berhampur, the school kids often get lifts in cycle rickshaws with an extended part on the back where they all sit down and are covered by a little roof, like a cycle rickshaw school bus. See the picture below of a really good example of one.

Love to all

Rich

New Compositions From Aphex Twin and Jonny Greenwood

I intend to post all my music videos here now instead of facebook as I am quite sure I irritate people with constant posts! These should be quite spectacular.

A return to India and '5 a day'

Hey!

So I've arrived back to India and Gram Vikas after a month and a bit of holiday back in the UK where, apart from the London riots and a bit of a culture shock the first few weeks, I had a truly wonderful time. It was especially great to share my stories and passion with friends and family, even if it took quite a lot of explaining! I got to see Arcade Fire and my friends band Scratch Latin play live, surf in Cornwall, go on amazing mountain walks and see-side jaunts with my dad and sit endlessly in real English pubs and bars with the best of friends. You have no idea how much I missed the drinking and pub going culture in England. Loved that.

I've returned to a wonderful welcome with hugs and smiling faces from my colleagues which I see more as my second family now. I heard from Jane Feeney (who very kindly put me up for one night in Bhubaneswar following 2 days of travel and shared a duty free Jack Daniels with me) that the re-entry into India can be quite overwhelming but I seemed to have more trouble going back to the UK! I'm not sure exactly why this is.

The monsoon rain has really set in since I left in August with incredibly heavy rain falling 2 or 3 times a day. I wish I could record the thunder and photograph the lightning strikes. It feels almost dangerous to walk out into the rain and see the thunder crack the skies above me. I will try and capture it though as I have never seen lighning come down and illuminate the sky such a wonderful colour of pinky red. Like everything in India, it's loud and bright, its seemed quite an appropriate thing to return to India and see such a weather phenomenon. The rain breaks the humidity and I am happy to tell that I actually slept last night without a single fan on which is a first for me in all my time in India. I had some pretty vivid dreams though which seemed to be a massive amalgamation of thoughts and experiences from my time in England.

So what has changed since I left? I know its only a month but as you can see I am trying to make more of an effort to document my time here as I may not be here for another year so will try again this time round to truly capture the true essence of my Indian experience. My idea with the '5 a day' is that I will document my time at Gram Vikas by simply snapping 5 shots and uploading them somewhere where you can check everything out. I hope it promotes some kind of discussion or debate. Apart from my renewed interest in blogging and the intensified rains, there are now 2, I think, cows now moved into the nearby fields close to my accommodation to chomp at the vegetation which has grown at an incredible rate. I also noticed an intensified rice paddy farming as I crossed through Orissa as obviously when the rain is there, it is time to capitalise on the conditions. I love looking out on the patchwork quilt sea of paddy fields which seems to go on for eternity. It made me wonder how they co-ordinate the farming of the fields and how local villagers organise the land ownership of such a vast area of land, as my work has shown me however, I expect this is only accomplished with difficulty and in relation to the farming itself - with centuries of passed down technical knowledge. 

I loved seeing the guys including of course Anvesh and Jospeh and sharing stories with Olive. Good to have this little network of people from very different backgrounds and expertise. I hope we can help each other out as the years go by. I definitely want to visit Ireland that's for sure.

Whilst in England I was accepted for a position on the Tata Jagriti Yatra which as described on their website http://www.jagritiyatra.com/, is basically an 18 day train journey visiting 13 destinations around India ( a 9000km trip in total) where social entrepreneurs have established NGO's and foundations to assist with International Development issues. From over 10,000 applicants thus far I have been selected and I am very proud and feel privileged to be granted such an opportunity. I am always seeking inspiration for all my endeavours and I’m sure I will meet some great role models and highly driven individuals here. I was a little concerned that I might be one of the few foreigners on the train but upon looking on the website there are people from all over the world so I’m looking forward to that diverse mix of opinion and experience.  My only issue is that the trip sets off end of December and my visa here expires in November so my visa extension, as well as job applications, is on top of the to-do list!!

In relation to my work: I am awaiting the finished designs for my motivational/educational posters to use in villages to promote RTI activities (Right to Information) I’m excited about finalising these and putting them to the test. I am also feeling great being back as I no longer pay for my accommodation here and this has really boosted my confidence as I hope this means my work has been recognised and I am valued. This means an awful lot to me, especially when I have such love for the organisation and its work. I also plan to document government schemes available for villagers in Orissa to attempt to define some kind of standard procedure so people know how things 'should' be working locally. Quite a long and drawn out task but I'll chip away at it. I think it could be a great resource if it is put together well and translated.

I’m getting a bit bored of writing now and want to get on with other things so that’s enough for now. I’m going to take 5 choice photos tonight and will upload them tomorrow.  For now I will upload an image taken by my Dad when we visited the Wirral, UK and went for a deceptively long walk across to Hilbre Island.

Love to all

Rich