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The final blog of the series aims to provide a few reflections on my time volunteering in India, a month on from my return. Adjusting back to life in the UK has not been difficult and at times my experience in India now feels a bit like a dream which I’ve awoken from: I suppose with modern air travel you do make a very quick change from one place and culture to another. It was my first visit to a developing country but in these days of the internet and global media, we are much better connected with and informed about what’s going on in other parts of the world, so going there didn’t seem as much of a shock as it might have once done. I was also somewhat shielded from things by living in pleasant accommodation in the countryside. However, it was certainly very different to anything I have experienced before! India is probably not a place to visit if you can’t cope with lots of people, unpredictability, stray dogs, spicy food, constant noise and smells, chaotic traffic, different standards of food hygiene (and their effects!), fairly obvious signs of poverty, sweet tea and not much in the way of good coffee (at least in Nagpur)! There also appears to be many darker sides. My host in Mahabalipuram related how he had been wrongfully imprisoned by the police for a crime he did not commit and I’m just starting to read the recently published book by James Tooley (Professor of Education at Newcastle University and a ground breaking pioneer of low cost private schools in developing countries) Imprisoned in India: Corruption and extortion in the world’s largest democracy, which documents his personal experience of dealing with corrupt officials and being wrongfully imprisoned. Government bureaucracy appears overbearing and suspicious – there are for example quite strict restrictions on foreign funds coming to NGOs – and there is also the lack of gender equality and its effects, which Slum Soccer and the other NGOs I came across - Women in Need and Goals for Girls - are seeking to address and mitigate. The caste system continues to have an impact on people’s lives and aspirations and the sinister rise of Hindu nationalism and its lack of respect for other faiths appears to be casting an unwelcome shadow over the future. At times, the country felt to me to be somewhat unruly and ungovernable and despite its growing economy and development, I did reflect on whether India’s future is hopeful or hopeless. I also became more grateful for the many advantages which we do enjoy living in the UK, and we shouldn’t take them for granted. On the other hand, I met many highly inspirational, generous, hospitable and respectful people, who despite the daily challenges are seeking to make a positive difference to those less fortunate, despite not being rich themselves. It was heartening to find Christians playing their part in much of this activity, and it was a privilege to learn about and see the impact of their work. I valued gaining “on the ground” experience of an NGO doing development work, although I am slightly anxious of the way in which overseas funding and overseas priorities for that funding may not always be good: the West is certainly not perfect in terms of the values it often seeks to impose on the rest of the world. I loved meeting and staying with local people (such a different experience to being on holiday!) and I appreciated the different food I ate, especially gulab jamuns, Nagpur oranges and the South Indian cuisine of Chennai. Hats off to Nikhat, Priyanka, Varsha, Umesh and Mr Barse for looking after my meals at the guest house so well and thanks to Pankaj for keeping me right in Chennai. I was impressed by the motivation and dedication of the Slum Soccer staff, the family like nature of the organisation and the discipline and hard work of the Bokhara boys helping out around the site – if amused by their many daily trips on and off site by bike and motorbike. It was interesting to learn more about the church in India and the challenges it faces: it’s over 200 years since William Carey first brought the gospel but there is still lots to do. In any new environment, there are always cultural challenges to overcome at the start as you learn how things work, which can make progress slower than you might want. Although most people spoke some English, my lack of ability to understand the local languages was a bit frustrating at times as it meant I wasn’t always in the loop with what was going on. It was also sometimes frustrating not to be able to get about very easily on my own, but I enjoyed whizzing through the amazing, chaotic traffic on the back of a motorbike, even if it was also slightly scary at times with no crash helmet! Sometimes it felt slightly uncomfortable and conspicuous to be one of the very few white faces around – a designated foreigner - but it was also entertaining to be asked to pose for photos because of this! I was also amused by the way in which “Sir” and “Madam” and “Uncle” and “Auntie” are in common use as signs of respect; the lengthy felicitations and flower giving which accompany any formal meeting, event or presentation; being the guest of honour at various events; and sari clad ladies riding side saddle and whole families travelling by two-wheeler! It was also funny to see people carrying crash helmets with them on their motorbikes and only bringing them out to prove to the traffic policemen that they had one when caught at the traffic lights! I learned how to eat curry and rice with one hand, I (just about) survived the constant 90 degree temperatures day by day, I now know what lakhs and crores are – and the car horn is to be used for letting people know you are there or passing them - not for signalling annoyance! I managed to wash for six weeks using just a bucket of cold water. I found out that Indian young people have a high propensity to take selfies and that you can actually get quite a lot of work done just using an iPad, despite the occasional power cuts and sporadic wifi. The sudden implementation of the Indian Government’s demonetisation policy was a surprise and turned into a bit of a saga but special thanks to Nikhat for her daily runs – swathed up in Indian dress and wearing her pink crash helmet - to the bank in the city to try to resolve the problem. It was sometimes difficult to calibrate the cost of living (basically much cheaper than in the UK). I was fortunate to have the time, resources and circumstances to be able to volunteer overseas for seven weeks. Not everyone is fortunate to be in this situation: however, if you are, I would certainly recommend taking the opportunity to do so as everyone has skills and gifts which can be of use. It is a great way to experience a new part of the world, get a different perspective on life and meet new people whilst using your skills and knowledge to serve others. You do need to be quite resilient and self sufficient but I’m sure you will find that the people you work with will be very appreciative of what you’re able to offer. My experience has whetted my appetite to perhaps make similar trips overseas and work in the international development or charity sectors in the future. For me as an accountant, volunteering through Accounting for International Development (afid.org.uk) worked well. They have a large number of partners across the globe, provided an interesting choice of options and good support before and during my assignment. Assignments can be for any duration from two weeks upwards and there is a high degree of flexibility to fit around your needs - so – fellow accountants - there really is little excuse not to give it a go! Although I was only on assignment for a short time, and things were a bit slow to begin with, by the end I felt as though what I was able to do had been worthwhile and will provide a useful springboard for Slum Soccer as they seek to develop the way they work. It is possible to make a difference even in quite a short period – small steps forward are surely better than no progress at all. The main part of my work was to carry out an initial review of the current financial management arrangements and identify areas which can be strengthened to support growth, resulting in a report and action plan which they, and any future volunteers, can use. I also developed a wide range of quite basic but useful financial processes which can be put into action straight away and I found myself being involved in a range of other non-accounting areas, drawing on my wider experience as a senior manager. I also learned how to write a blog! Many people say that those visiting India from the West either love the experience or hate it. I can’t say I fell in love with India but I certainly enjoyed my visit, I intend to keep in touch with those I met and the work they are doing and I would like to visit again to see them and more of the country in the future. After all, I didn't manage to get to see those tigers!
It was a great way to spend the autumn: sadly, now is the time to end my career break and find a job which doesn’t seem like too much of a let down in comparison. Thanks for following along!
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And so it came to the very long and slightly crazy last day of my trip, when I had to travel back from Chennai to Nagpur to pick up my luggage and say farewell to the good folk of Slum Soccer before returning to the airport to fly back to Manchester in the UK, via Doha. It’s never great when you have to get up in what is really the middle of the night just when you should be sleeping most deeply so it was a bit of a struggle to awake for 3.30am. I’d stayed in a hotel near the airport in Chennai so that there was just a short transfer in order to catch my first flight and have my first breakfast of the day – on the 5.45am Jet Airways flight from Chennai to Mumbai. The flight was quite lightly loaded so there was no one on the middle seat in my row of three but legroom was pretty tight, especially when the gentleman sitting in front tried to recline his seat. Thankfully the flight only took about an hour and a half – our final approach to Mumbai was over the sea but it was very hazy so there was no hope of getting any spectacular photos and I could only catch a brief glimpse of the vast metropolis. The airport is somewhat hemmed in by the city as it continues to develop – the residents of some of the slums which were visible beyond the perimeter wall must get little respite from aircraft noise. The connection to my next flight to Nagpur (and second breakfast) was short so on arrival in Mumbai there was an interesting transfer process which involved getting off the first plane, getting back on the first plane, walking through the first plane past the cleaners and flight attendants preparing the aircraft for its next flight, exiting down the rear steps into a bus, waiting for a few minutes, being driven to another aircraft no more than about 150m away, getting on that through the rear door and finding my seat! The flight to Nagpur was pretty full, presumably with people connecting from overseas arrivals and those travelling from Mumbai to Nagpur for a day’s business - the train from Mumbai to Nagpur takes about 11 hours so a day trip by train is not feasible! Abhijeet arranged a cab to pick me up from the airport to take me back to Bokhara. This time trusty Ola Cabs proved to be less reliable than normal – I think probably because demand from people arriving on the flight was heavily outstripping supply. Uber seemed to have the problem cracked sooner and so after the usual anxiety of trying to spot which cab was mine I was soon on the move. There was another slight snag when it seemed that the driver wouldn’t take me any further than the city limits and I thought I was going to be dropped at the side of the road but before there was a problem I realised Abhijeet had pulled up in his car behind us so he took me the rest of the way. I was back in Bokhara for about 11am! After a brief nap, it was time for lunch (only one!), unpacking and packing my luggage and finishing off a few documents. I was hoping to catch up with Mahima to ensure that everything was fully handed over but sadly a family relative had passed away so she had to stay at home to mind her children whilst her mother and father in law made a visit to the bereaved family – but it wasn’t the end of the world as everything has been done electronically and we’re able to catch up by Skype once I’m back in the UK. All of which led to my final evening in Nagpur. In order to see and thank everyone who had been so helpful during my stay I’d asked for a leaving party to be arranged, which I would pay for as a token of my thanks. It was also Homkant’s birthday the next day and Charlie and Alicia from Coaches Across Continents, who had been in Nagpur for a couple of weeks delivering training to Slum Soccer were also leaving the next day. As ever, it was a bit of a case of wait and see what would happen but the Bokhara boys magically did what was needed to transform the front of the compound – putting up extra lighting and arranging tables, chairs, music systems and fire bowls for the party! It was great to be able to see everyone again before I left Bokhara for the final time. Abhijeet gave a generous speech of thanks to us all, presented us with gifts and we responded in turn – and I had my last biryani, chapatis, rice and gulab jamuns for a while – delicious but definitely looking forward to a change! It was then just a case of finally managing to exchange my remaining rupees into dollars in order to be able to leave the country (!) and stock up with Nagpur oranges for the journey before a final prayer with Umesh and Mr Barse, and about midnight it was back into the gypsy jeep with Umesh and Bunty for the journey through the deserted streets of Nagpur – in much the same way as I had arrived in Nagpur seven weeks before - to the airport for my 2.55am flight - and my second dinner of the day, served somewhere over the Arabian Sea before I finally managed to sleep for a while...
During my time in Nagpur, I met some ordinary but inspirational people who, step by step and little by little, are doing what they can to bring about positive change in communities in India. This blog post seeks to pay an appropriate tribute to them and their work, which I think will be some of the most precious memories I will take from my trip and a motivation for me to take more of my own steps to follow in their example in future. An earlier blog mentioned Leah Pattison and her work with Women in Need (www.women-in-need.co.uk) and during my stay I also briefly met Jackie Skinner from Goals for Girls (www.goalsforgirls.org) and staff from Coaches Across Continents (www.coachesacrosscontinents.org), two NGOs which also use football to aid development across the world. However, I can go no further without paying tribute to and giving thanks for Mr Vijay Barse (pictured with his wife below), the founder and original driving force of Slum Soccer. It was a privilege to spend some time with him during my stay to learn more about him and his work and he was extremely kind in ensuring that I was so well looked after during my stay. Slum Soccer, especially in Nagpur, feels like a family, and I think that that is in no small part to Mr Barse’s example. In addition to their own three children, Mr Barse and his wife have legally adopted and provided for three more – Umesh and Varsha (brother and sister) whose mother died when they were younger, their father remarried and effectively abandoned them to a children’s home; and Homkant (who is now Slum Soccer’s head coach), who ran away from home and was found living on the streets. Most days Mr Barse would stay at the guest house rather than at his house in the city so that he could be around to serve breakfast to Consti (the fellow volunteer from Germany) and I, and we would often be joined around the table by young men from the local village who help out around the site – Shubham, Bunty, Vikas et al and Bardel, one of the football scholars – all effectively part of the family and who are being provided with opportunities to develop through disciplined education and training, which they may not have had otherwise. There was often much banter around the breakfast table to accompany the tea and sweet toast (usually combined through dipping!) As much as the great job that Mr Barse’s son, Abhijeet, is now doing in leading the organisation day to day and developing its scale and reach, Mr Barse continues to see Slum Soccer’s mission as primarily being about giving opportunities to individuals like these to build better lives for themselves and their communities (using football as a tool). Many of Slum Soccer’s young staff (most at Nagpur are in the picture above) have come through the programmes themselves and are now giving back to their communities through coaching and leading the work. One such example is Pankaj, who was working in Chennai during my visit (pictured with me below) but whose home is in Nagpur. Pankaj is from humble circumstances – his family house has two rooms but only a tarpaulin roof. A few years ago his father sadly passed away following alcohol and tobacco addictions. Pankaj’s hopes of studying further were dashed as he needed to get a job to provide financial support to his mother and family. He worked for a while as a painter but didn’t enjoy it and alcohol and tobacco were also temptations for him: he was feeling pretty low and empty at the time. He had never really played football before, but one day heard about one of Slum Soccer’s sessions and went along. Homkant, the chief coach, told him it didn’t matter that he hadn’t played before and that he could be taught what to do – he could also be helped to become a coach. The rest, as they say, is history. Pankaj learned how to play, became a coach and is now one of the senior coaches. He really enjoys his work and he doesn’t now have anything to do with alcohol or tobacco. In 2013, he was one of the Indian team which played at the Homeless World Cup in Poznan, Poland and he has completed Slum Soccer’s Young Leadership Programme. He has pretty much learned English by himself (to some extent from studying the Oxford English Dictionary!) and he would really like to study sports management in the UK, the USA or Australia in future. What a wonderful example of how work like this can really help to change lives for good! Mr Barse’s vision and work is informed by his Christian faith (although it should be stressed that Slum Soccer’s work does not have a religious foundation and is open to all): he has also opened a “believers church” at Bokhara to reach out to the local village with the good news of Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of meeting other Christians in Nagpur too, who are also seeking to play their part in God’s mission to the world. They would, I’m sure be slightly embarrassed by the suggestion, but Hansraj and Kath (who are friends of a friend back in Newcastle) and their daughter Anu (all pictured next to me below), seemed to me to be like modern day Nehemiahs – faithfully pressing on with God’s work to which they have felt called despite various setbacks. Hansi was formerly secretary to the Indian equivalent of the Christian Medical Fellowship which seeks to help Christians working in the healthcare professions to apply their faith to the work they do. Kath is a teacher and Anu is gifted in administration. They felt called to also work with the underprivileged who live in the slum communities of Nagpur. Sadly, often the men in such communities get involved in violence and various addictions and it is easier to bring about change through working with local women, who are usually left to run the home, and children, the next generation. So, after engaging with the slum community in one area of the city, Kath and Hansi established a school. In time, this became very popular and successful and began to have a positive, improving effect on the surrounding community. So much so that the local authorities and other vested interests began to oppose the work as they didn’t want the status quo to be changed! In the end this sadly led Hansi and Kath to look for another site to continue their work. They were unable to find a site near the original place in the slums so they have had to move into a new area – a village which is a few minutes drive from the Slum Soccer compound at Bokhara. The means have been provided for them to purchase a large site and they have a great vision to build a campus to serve the local community, primarily for a school but with space for other services such as primary healthcare and other ministries to the church and wider society. They have again faced various difficulties – not least dealing with various levels of bureaucracy and problematic neighbours - and Kath is now battling cancer, but they are continuing to press on as they are able in the God’s strength and timings. I had the privilege of meeting Hansi, Kath and Anu a couple of times whilst I was in Nagpur – I was very grateful for their kind hospitality and welcome - and I visited the site of their planned campus. The school is open and quite a bit of the site infrastructure is in place, but they need more funds to progress further. As with the wonderful folks at Slum Soccer, I hope to keep in touch with Hansi, Kath and Anu now I’m back in the UK.
After my stay in Chennai, I travelled further south for a couple of days to Mahabalipuram, a small fishing village by the side of the Indian Ocean. Mahabalipuram is the home to some amazing carvings from the 7th and 8th centuries when it was the port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas and has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. I'm afraid that once again, I got rather bewildered by the accompanying stories of the “gods”, their various forms and their vehicles or chariots as represented in the carvings but they were certainly impressive as pieces of art made with limited tools in an age so long ago. Often the very large and intricate carvings had been completed from a single piece of rock. A large rock which was seemingly ready to tip over (known as Krishna's Butterball) had also been incorporated into the folklore. I struck lucky when booking accommodation in Mahabs (as it is known) through AirBnB – finding a wonderful host in Saravanan at the Blue Moon Guest House (bluemoonindia.wixsite.com/bluemoonmamallapuram/home) (appropriately named for a fan of Manchester City FC!!) – just a few steps from the beach. If you’re ever in the area, I can certainly recommend staying with Saravanan (pictured above with me and an elephant!) – him and his nephew Akash looked after me very well. I enjoyed their simply cooked evening meals of freshly caught white snapper from the nearby ocean; the roof terrace with views towards the sea was a lovely place to relax and I was grateful that Saravanan was able to take me to visit the various carvings located around the town – as ever on the back of a motorbike – and arrange an English speaking guide to give me a small hope of making sense of what I was looking at! I also saw my first rain for seven weeks whilst in Mahabalipuram as Cyclone Nada made landfall whilst I was in town. Thankfully, its strength was weakening by the time it arrived although it still rained torrentially for about 10 hours non-stop! Some of the roads were quite heavily flooded by the time I was driven back to Chennai – although I was told that this was nothing compared to the floods of a year ago which caused severe damage (www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34830452) and loss of life. Those of you following the England cricket team's current tour of India will also have seen that another cyclonic storm hit the area a few days ago, threatening whether the match in Chennai could go ahead for a while. If the rest of the tour is anything to go by, a better result may have been obtained if the match had had to be cancelled!
By the time I arrived back in Chennai, it was almost my last day in India, and time to return to Nagpur to bid a fond farewell to my friends at Slum Soccer before leaving for the UK. The following day, I had a free morning to do a bit more exploring by myself in Chennai, again helped by Ola Cabs to reduce some of the difficulties of getting around in a new and foreign new city. First stop was the Kapaleeshwarar Temple - according to my travel guide, Chennai’s most active and impressive Hindu temple – and located just a few minutes ride away in Mylapore, quite near to one of the Slum Soccer locations I’d visited the previous day with Pankaj. The temple is dedicated to Tamil Nadu’s most popular deity, Shiva. Legend has it that in an angry fit Shiva turned his consort Parvati into a peacock, and commanded her to worship him to regain her normal form. Parvati supposedly did so at a spot just outside the north east corner of the temple’s central block, where a shrine commemorates the event: Mylapore takes its name from this event – the “town of peacocks”. After being dropped off in a bustling side street, I could easily see the temple’s rainbow coloured gopuram – the gateway tower – about 100m away so I made my way past various street merchants to the entrance. I’d thought that I would need to remove my shoes before entering so I’d made sure I was wearing easily removable flip flops. However, rather than leaving them amongst the hundreds of other discarded pairs at the way in and risk losing them, I thought that I would carry them with me inside. That soon turned out to not be an acceptable idea as one of the temple wardens gesticulated and told me that “slippers” needed to be left outside, so I had to go back to the entrance and take a chance that I’d be able to find them again later on! This was my first visit to a Hindu temple, so once I’d got back inside, I made another error by trying to circulate the temple in an anticlockwise direction, against the accepted flow! Again, thankfully, I was put right by the temple warden and so spent a few minutes wandering round in the right direction, trying to fathom out what people were doing and what I was looking at! I was very obviously looking like a stranger and tourist at this point, so much so that a girl approached me and asked whether I would like her to show me around the temple and explain more about what I was looking at. So, after being taken back to the entrance again, this time to sign in as a foreign visitor (!), I was given a more informed tour. Although her explanations were clear, I’m afraid I was soon feeling rather bamboozled by talk of the various “gods” and their family members whose “houses” I was being shown and the different forms they take, seemingly according to their circumstances and mood. From what I could gather, faithful Hindus go to visit each deity’s house in turn to offer puja or worship (usually by making a financial donation) and seek the positive energy and blessing of each deity. As a non Hindu, I wasn’t allowed to enter the houses but could peer in from a distance to see what each “god” was up to (not a lot as far as I could tell!) My guide kept telling me in a slightly apologetic fashion that the stories which she was telling me were those that everyone is brought up with: I think she was trying to say that for many visiting the temple is a cultural phenomenon as much as a religious one, although there were clearly some very devoted worshippers at the temple too. After we had passed the different houses of the deities (and also those of what I understood to effectively be temple "hangers on"), we came to a large gold flagpole, before which many of the faithful were prostrating themselves. This, I was told, is considered to be the source of the positive energy being sought. My credulity was stretched somewhat further when it was explained to me that the large tank of water attached to the temple complex was, as far as I could understand, somewhere the "gods" are taken (aided by the temple wardens) during the festival season for an elaborate boat ride. There are also ceremonies each day for waking them up in the morning, bathing them in milk (?) and putting them to sleep at night…. Of course I need to reflect a little more on my experiences and do some more reading, but my experience at the temple certainly left me agreeing with a friend who had told me that Hinduism is very much a religion of works whose multiplicity of “gods” and their forms, which are effectively made in the image of man, allow every kind of behaviour to be justified - there is a "god" for you who will justify and affirm the course of action you wish to pursue! After taking my leave of the “gods” and gratefully recovering my flip flops from amongst the masses at the entrance, I made my way to the seafront to visit the Chennai Lighthouse. The lighthouse is at the southern end of Marina Beach, one of the longest natural urban beaches in the world (its average width is 300m and its about 4 miles in length). I was at Marina Beach a week before it hosted the state funeral of the charismatic five times Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, who died on 5 December 2016. Many thousands of people attended, including the President and Prime Minister of India. Whilst I was in Chennai I saw the image of the Chief Minister on the streets quite a bit and I learned afterwards that she was revered by many, being known as “Amma” or “Mother” and having almost a god like status amongst the people of Tamil Nadu. She was a Tamil film star before turning to politics, and as far as I can tell, she was especially popular amongst the poor for giving them state handouts to ameliorate their poverty. She certainly also did well to succeed as a woman in a male dominated culture. Sadly, she did face recurring allegations of corruption over the years and fought various court cases to clear her name – apparently over 10,000 expensive sarees and 750 pairs of shoes were once found when her home was raided by the police! More about Jayalalithaa's death can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-38218232.
The following day, I visited the Slum Soccer office in Chennai to spend time discussing a range of issues with Pankaj, meet local staff and visit some of the delivery centres across the city. Some of the work I’ve done on this trip has been about helping identify ways in which Slum Soccer’s financial management arrangements can develop to keep pace with growth, and make a start on putting in place new processes which will help. However, some of my time has been spent just bringing a fresh, external perspective to other non-financial or management matters. So, one day in Nagpur I found myself asking some challenging questions on project monitoring and evaluation to Sajid who is managing a UNICEF funded programme to roll out Edukick (using football games to teach maths) to 300 government schools in the district. The culture of Slum Soccer in Nagpur is special, being like a family rather than a workplace. This engenders loyalty and commitment and so with Pankaj, the issue has been how to generate the same qualities amongst the coaches in the different environment of Chennai. I don’t profess to be a motivational expert but I think he found it useful to be able to talk through the issues with someone different and hopefully we arrived at some practical suggestions which can be taken forward to bring about positive change. Food is usually a good way of bringing people together: in Nagpur, all the staff are provided with a cooked lunch every day and we discussed whether this could be replicated in Chennai to encourage the coaches to come to the office more regularly. More immediately, it was time for lunch for us and so we went to a local restaurant to get a take-out thali. The idea behind a thali is to offer all the six flavours of sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy on one single plate – a proper meal being thought to offer a perfect balance of all flavours. I’m not sure a take-out thali is so good for the environment, with lots of little plastic pots to dispose of, but when I had another a few days later the bag it came in was made out of tissue like paper and so also doubled up as a napkin – scoring more highly in the environmental stakes! It has certainly been enjoyable to try some different flavours (I actually really like the South Indian food), although I remain to be convinced about the benefits of lime pickle and the curd rice (like rice pudding) would, in my view, benefit from being sweeter (but perhaps that would defeat the purpose of the balanced meal!) Later in the afternoon, we visited four of the centres where Slum Soccer’s coaches deliver football sessions, taking me to the heart of their work in Chennai. By this point of my time in India, I am used to getting on the back of a motorbike and being driven hither and thither: however in Chennai there is a lot more traffic about - making a right turn across a busy three lane dual carriageway without any traffic lights or filter lanes is rather interesting! We were following one of the other coaches and Pankaj, not being from Chennai, made sure we kept up rather than getting left behind!! Our journey took us from the dusty yard of a government school, where I was mobbed by boys wanting to shake my hand, to the beach next to the Santhome slum, where over 1,000 families live in a small area next to the coast road by the Indian Ocean. One of the Slum Soccer coaches, Vishrem, introduced us to his mother and showed us his family home which consisted of one or two small rooms with a makeshift roof and no plumbed in water. I was also told how one of the centre's best players lives in a house in the slums where all the effluent from neighbouring houses runs through it. As it began to go dark, we visited a session going on at a recreation area in nearby Mylapore. This was surrounded by government housing which was provided for those displaced by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. All in all, extremely humble and humbling circumstances which demonstrate well the conditions to which the work of Slum Soccer seeks to bring hope and change.
Notwithstanding the good work of Slum Soccer, which is not totally about the football anyway, football still lags behind cricket in terms of popularity in India. However, it is making great strides forward: in 2017, India will host the FIFA Under 17s World Cup, the first world level football tournament which the country has hosted. The Indian Super League, a professional league, has been running for a couple of years. Last Saturday, the day I arrived in Chennai, Chennaiyin FC (literally Chennai’s Football Club) were playing the final home match of their short season. Slum Soccer in Chennai had been asked to provide ball boys and player mascots and were provided with some complimentary tickets to distribute, so I was fortunate to be asked to go along to the Nehru Stadium to watch the match. Each team in the league has a mixture of Indian and overseas players, with some “star names”, usually players who may have had reasonably successful careers in the European leagues and are now reaching the end of their careers. John-Arne Riise, once of Liverpool FC, is one of the star players for Chennai. After about 20 ticket checks, Pankaj and I finally got into the ground. Chennai were playing North East United (which in a roundabout way seemed appropriate!) and needed to win to get into the final stages of the season. Kick off was marked by fireworks being let off from the roof, and more fireworks accompanied each goal, even those scored by the away team. The match started slowly and the quality wasn't very high; for a while it looked like the biggest cheers were going to be reserved for appearances by two of the home team’s owners, Abhishek Bachchan, apparently a very famous Bollywood actor and MS Dhoni, the Indian cricket captain. At half time, we made our way to a sponsors lounge for half time refreshments. Rather than pie and chips, or even prawn sandwiches, everyone was provided with a cardboard box from a local vegetarian restaurant full of delicious goodies – what I would call a pasty filled with curried vegetables, a bhaji, samosa and a piece of cake. Chennai’s striker Dudu did his best to help by scoring a hat trick of goals, but each time Chennai went ahead, it wasn't long before they were pegged back. Sadly, the last North East United equaliser came in the final minute of the match and there was no time for any more goals to be scored by Chennai – so that was effectively the end of the season for Chennai. After the match we met up with the ball boys and mascots who were enjoying their food. Things got a bit hairy when (what looked like) some street children breached security and tried to raid the supplies of food and water – and there was a slightly nerve wracking wait on the street for the bus to take the children home to arrive, but thankfully once it came I was soon whisked back to my hotel, although the children and young people were in high spirits and very noisy! The next day, the trials for the Donesti tournament were continuing so I booked an Ola Cab and headed to Cornerstone Baptist Church for their morning service. It was lovely to be with fellow Christians to worship together and have the Bible explained. The pastor, Joshua, preached from the first few verses of Isaiah 55 – a wonderful reminder of God’s gracious invitation to come to him, not on the basis of anything we can bring or offer but on the basis of his grace. Ola Cabs are similar to Uber, and have proved an invaluable way of getting around Chennai and Nagpur. After downloading the app and registering your details, you simply say that you wish to travel, put in where you want to go, select the size of car you need and hit “ride now”. The system contacts cars in the area and in a few seconds you receive a message to say that the car is on its way, with details of the car, driver and how long you should have to wait. You can even watch the car on a map as it gets nearer to your location. You provide a code to the driver to confirm your identity then off you go. At the end of the journey the system automatically calculates the cost of the journey. You can pay cash or by card if you’ve provided your details to Ola. It's not quite as traditional a way of getting around as the auto rickshaw, but it saves the hassle of bartering about the price, helps overcome language difficulties and is probably slightly safer – most seem to have working seat belts! It's also not very expensive (for us at least) – roughly 100-200 rupees (£1.20-2.40) for a decent length journey. On Sunday afternoon, I had another Ola trip – this time to St Thomas Mount in the south west of the city. It is reputed that the apostle Thomas (“doubting Thomas”) brought the gospel to India. I’m not sure of the historical accuracy of such a claim, but notwithstanding the adornments of what is a Catholic shrine, it was helpful to be reminded of how we who were not direct eyewitnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection can also believe. The Ola experience was slightly trickier as there wasn't a 3G connection when I returned to the foot of the mount. Thankfully the app can also work by text message so I managed to get a car to come to me in a few minutes; I had more difficulties explaining where I wanted to go however but we got there in the end: I was glad to get back to the hotel. In the evening, I met up again with Pankaj who had had a successful day selecting potential team members and we went to a local restaurant for some food. Onion dosa and bhel poori were my selections – the first being a local staple in Chennai – a thin pancake made from lentil flour filled with chopped onion; the second being puffed rice with chilli and other unidentified ingredients – but both were very tasty!
My time in India with Slum Soccer is fast drawing to a close. For the last part of my trip, I’ve travelled down from Nagpur to Chennai, one of India’s four mega cities in the far south of the country, to visit the Slum Soccer office and to see the Pallavan carvings on the coast at Mahabalipuram. Chennai (formerly know as Madras) is the capital of Tamil Nadu state so it was apt that last Friday lunchtime I departed from Nagpur on the “Tamil Nadu Express”. Umesh gave me a lift from Bokhara to the station on his motorbike (or two wheeler as they are also known here) – about a 20 minute ride in the lunchtime traffic. Thankfully, I only had a small rucksack and another small bag to carry, although I'm sure a way would have been found to transport a large suitcase by bike if needed! He also made sure I got to the right platform and in the right coach - so grateful for help such as this whilst I've been here. The Tamil Nadu Express runs daily from Delhi to Chennai and, if everything runs to time, takes about 32 hours to complete the journey. Nagpur is roughly the half way point – 1100 kilometres from Chennai - so the train had already been on the move for 15 ½ hours by the time it arrived at about 3pm. India’s long distance trains have many different classes of travel: I was travelling in First AC, the highest class, which meant that I was in a compartment with four sleeping berths. I have to say I was glad not to be travelling in the lower classes most of which looked very basic and very crowded. For most Indians who need to travel long distances, travelling by train is the preferred option, as tickets are cheap. (My ticket cost about 3,000 rupees or £35 but it would cost much less to travel in other classes). For the first few hours of the journey, I had the compartment to myself, my solitude only being disturbed from time to time by various vendors knocking on the compartment door to see whether I wanted tea/ chai, samosas etc. As ever, the folks at Slum Soccer hadn't left me helpless. I’d had some lunch before leaving Bokhara and Nikhat-Madam had made some chapatis and an omelette for my “tiffin” so, together with bananas, Nagpur oranges, biscuits, crisps and water I was amply supplied for the journey. About 10pm, a man and his wife joined me in the compartment – they lived and worked in Dubai but Chennai was their home and they were making their way back after a holiday before returning to the Middle East. After a brief chat, the sleeping car attendant was summonsed to make up our beds and it was lights out. I don't generally sleep easily when travelling, whether by train, plane or car so it was unlikely that I was going to sleep a lot on an upper berth in a cabin with strangers in a foreign country with the up and down and side to side motion of the train… and so I don't think I did! Slightly irrationally I was also wondering about how to get out in the event of a crash – after the sad events of a few days previously when a train derailment at night in northern India claimed the lives of over 100 people – and came to the conclusion that a) it would probably not be possible and b) it was probably unlikely to happen! The next morning the train arrived into Chennai Central on time at the ungodly hour, for me, of 0710. Pankaj, one of Slum Soccer’s senior coaches (from Nagpur but working in Chennai for a few months) and Sai (a Chennai local and more importantly a Tamil speaker) were there to meet me off the train and we travelled back to the Slum Soccer office in a cab, then onto my hotel in the nearby Alwarpet district. Pankaj, Sai and the others were running trials for the Donesti Cup, a tournament to be held in Spain in summer 2017 so they went off to do that. I was grateful to be able to collapse into bed to catch up on the missed sleep, followed by a warm shower - a small but welcome pleasure after weeks of washing using a bucket and jug of cold water!!
One of the key pledges of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when coming to office in 2014 was to clean up India – metaphorically in seeking to reduce corruption, but also practically too. The recent demonetisation exercise is supposed to be helping the former (but it's still causing chaos – the newspapers report over 50 deaths of people waiting in the long queues in banks and at ATMs; there have also been reports of state ministers being caught with car boots full of black money!). For the latter, a five year campaign to rid India of rubbish was launched and the Prime Minister was even seen with brush in hand for a photo opportunity or two! Nagpur is supposed to be one of the greenest and cleanest cities in India but there is still a fair amount of rubbish about, often just dumped at the side of the road. A couple of weeks ago I visited a local lake said to be a popular spot for relaxing and found hundreds of what looked like straw dolls in the water lapping against the lakeshore: apparently these were “gods” which had been tossed into the lake as part of a Hindu ritual and had now served their purpose. (That was also a trip where I appeared to become a local celebrity – first a family drew up in their car and then some school girls both wanted a photograph with me – I think because there are very few white faces here!). Friends I've met here told me a story which perhaps illustrates the challenge facing those wanting to tidy up India. They live in an apartment block and have a small balcony. For a number of years their neighbour upstairs got rid of most of their rubbish by tossing it onto the balcony below. I'm sure my friends asked them not to but the habit persisted. Then they bought a canopy for the balcony and the rubbish problem stopped. Then one day their neighbour came to complain because they could now see rubbish out of their window and that wasn't good enough. There was a complete lack of recognition that it was their rubbish that they could now see because it was piling up on the canopy - the problem was the canopy for blocking the way for the rubbish rather than them for throwing it out in the first place! It seems the basic premise is "out of sight, out of mind" and it's then someone else's job to clear it up!!! For many, the Hindu caste system does of course literally dictate the course of life so that what job you are able to do is dictated by what caste you are: for most people clearing up litter is presumably not part of what they are destined for…. The work of Slum Soccer is very important here in that it seeks to show underprivileged young people that their lives don't have to be constrained by their caste by providing opportunities to develop themselves using football as a tool. Gender equality is also taught as in India, violence and discrimination against women is still prevalent in many communities. In Nagpur, things are relatively relaxed so it is OK for boys and girls to play football together, but this is not the case in every area in India. Last week it was Childrens' Day in India - around 150 boys and girls from the local villages came to the compound to play some fun games, get a hot lunch and be taught about effective handwashing! Shoe boxes from Operation Christmas Child were also handed out as prizes for a drawing competition. I found myself playing the part of a local dignitary to give out some of the gifts! A couple of weeks ago I briefly met Leah Pattison who’s actually from the North East of England but has lived in Nagpur for the last 20 years or so. Leah runs a small NGO called “Women in Need” (www.women-in-need.co.uk) which works to improve the lives of underprivileged women and children.
They provide help in a number of ways – one of the most awful things they try to address are situations where women are abandoned by their families, perhaps when they get ill or are proving a burden. Often, the family will take the woman to the station, buy them a one way ticket to somewhere far away in a different state where they don't know anyone and don't speak the language and send them on their way – abandoning them. These women usually end up destitute, without shelter and medical treatment. Leah and her colleagues provide shelter, medical treatment, counselling and other support to help rescue the lives of these women. In some cases, and perhaps after many years, they are able to reunite the women with their families. It's a small scale work, but incredibly valuable nonetheless – however there is clearly much more to be done in changing attitudes so that these situations don't occur in the first place. It's a big task... In about ten days time I will be travelling to the far south of India to visit the city of Chennai, one of India’s four largest cities and capital of Tamil Nadu state. Tamil Nadu is the homeland of one of humanity’s living classical civilisations – the Dravidian civilisation - stretching back uninterrupted for two millennia – and it will be interesting to try to spot the differences from Nagpur. I have already been warned that the diet is quite different. Also on my itinerary may be a visit to the city of Puducherry, formerly known as Pondicherry – and until 1954 under French rule. As many of you will know, the humble cow is highly esteemed in the Hindu religion, which is why they seem to have freedom to go where they wish here in India, even in city streets! In most Indian states, the slaughter of cows is illegal; Maharashtra, where Nagpur is, has also recently banned the sale and export of beef, so another story making the news in the Nagpur Times last week was the seizure of around 2,000 kg of cow bones and meat, reported as follows:
“In probably the region’s biggest seizure after the beef ban, a pick up truck illegally ferrying around 2,000 kilograms of butchered remains of cows was seized at Manas Square in the wee small hours of Friday. This was one of the rare instances when a huge quantity of bones was seized. Acting on a tip-off, members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) started chasing a truck, which is said to have been loaded from Gaddigodam. They managed to stop it at Manas Square near the railway station. In enquiring, the driver told them that he was transporting vegetables. “When we were checking the carriage, the driver and his helper fled. The truck was laden with heaps of bones along with meat,” said Jitu Kundwani of VHP. Although the cow has long had a protected place in Indian culture, some would see the tightening of restrictions on the sale of beef, and the accompanying vigilantism as indicators of how Hindu nationalism (turning India into a Hindu nation) is strengthening under the BJP government of Narendra Modi. Due to the historical connections, and as it’s a Union Territory, Pondicherry is one of the few places in India where you can easily enjoy a fine, medium rare fillet steak without problems, so I’m looking forward to tucking in, hopefully accompanied by a glass of red wine should I manage to get there! Bon appetit! |
AuthorJonathan. Chartered Accountant from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Spending a couple of months as an AfID volunteer working with Slum Soccer in Nagpur, India. Saved by grace through faith to do good works. ArchivesCategories |