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Report from the GSE Team in
India - 28 January
Report two from the GSE Team in India
I am sitting looking at a view of the Himalayas as I
write this! We have just arrived at a small town of Pauri way up in
the foothills. The snow capped peaks which are visible are about 75
km in line of sight. They are still in Indian territory. When we
arrived here the first thing we had to do was hand over copies of
our passports and visas for submission to the Head of Security in
the area. We are apparently quite close to the Chinese border.
On the evening of my last report we were taken to
the most incredible Indian wedding imaginable. Talk about doing
things bigger, better, flashier everything over the top. Indian
weddings are a report all on their own. Maybe we will be able to get
Nicci to write one for us as she was absolutely fascinated by
another wedding which we attended in Bijnor. The poor parents must
be absolutely broke afterwards. Nothing for the cost to run at
R150,000.00.
We moved on to the town of Shamli where we all
stayed in the guest house of the sugar cane refinery. When we
arrived we heard that the wife of a Rotarian at our next stay in
Muzzafarnagar had been murdered. This meant that our plans had to be
changed and we would have return to Meerut (which we now talk about
as ‘home’) after our stay in Shamli. When we spoke to the Chief of
Police he said that murder was quite common in India, about one a
day in his area which covers about 500,000 people. I did not dare
talk about our statistics. Seems that the motive is mostly family
related (not purely domestic) and property. The meeting in the
evening was interesting. A club of some young people but generally
older who seem to control everything. After the meeting they held
another Lohri bonfire and tried to sing the Punjabi songs of the
Sikhs. Not very successfully but it was fun. Having attended a
genuine Lohri bonfire with our guide in Meerut where the whole
family recited the entire procedure and took it very seriously it
was good to see that the Rotarians made some good fellowship of an
Indian tradition which is not common to all.
We did not see much of Shamli as they whisked us off
to a neighbouring Rotary District to visit the National Dairy
Research Institute. Not a great event as probably only Garth was
interested in the process. The teachers were beginning to get edgy
for some Vocational experience. On the way back we were diverted to
a textile factory of a PDG who then called over another PDG (Des
Willis team mate). The textile factory exports everything. Mostly to
the USA. Some of the looms being used could easily date back to
medieval times. The sewing machines are slightly more into our era.
But not much. Afterwards we had to have tea and piles of food. This
the Indian tradition. Here we heard how the club of these two PDGs
had 116 members, an exclusive clubhouse of their own a waiting list
of people who would like to join. Entrance fee to join is $750.00.
Of which $100.00 is paid over to TRF in the members name and $250.00
to the building fund. All members contribute their $100.00 per
member per year to TRF and to the building fund. What a club. Now I
must add that there are four other clubs in Panipat which are all
struggling!
The team members were starting to feel rather
irritable about the lack of Vocationals on the tour. I must quickly
add that we understand that this is not a problem restricted to this
District. Before we went back to Meerut I contacted the GSE
co-coordinator there and insisted on Vocationals. In Meerut Derryk,
Nicci and Niel were taken to a school. Garth went to the Meerut
College and I went to a printing broker. The results were very
mixed. I found the printing very interesting but am appalled by the
quality produced. Totally unacceptable even by African standards.
Garth mad very good contacts. He has even met a past GSE team member
who came from England three years and has come back to India for six
months to assist with research heavy metal pollution in the water in
India. Garth’s partner in Grahamstown is working in the same field
so they may be back in Meerut in September. The teachers came back
bitterly disappointed. Even the teachers of English could not
communicate. Luckily for Derryk he was able to attend a cricket
coaching session at Meerut College which restored his soul a bit.
Poor Niel has just had to accept that there is absolutely no
vocational activity for him in this District. We have heard that we
may be returning to Meerut a day earlier at the end our tour and I
am hoping they are going to arrange an intensive two days in Delhi
for him. I am sure that will make up for him.
After a bit of a break in Meerut we hit the road
again. This time in earnest. We travelled to Bijnor. Were shown
around the GSE coordinators business, a brickworks, and his school
were we were the chief guests for a primary school performance. In
Bijnor we did manage to get Garth out to a group of bee keepers on
the farm one the Rotarians.
Then on to Kotdwara. Here we hit the real India
again. I went to visit my host’s printing works. Again, what
shocking quality. But, the printing works has a hotel above. They
took me around and when we came to the eating area where they were
preparing the food, well, I’m not normally squeamish, but I am
pleased I was not attending that wedding. Worse was still to come.
As we left the building I was shown the shops on the ground floor
which they rent out and one was a doctor’s surgery. So what, you may
say. The next comment floored me. They told they had two cows to
supply milk for the hotel. When they showed me where they kept them,
I now don’t want to be sick. I have two photographs. The first of
the two cows in their stall and then I turned 90 degrees and took a
picture of the passage on the surgery which shows the doctor’s gown
and surgical gloves hanging out to dry. Barely two meters from the
cows!
From Kotdwara we left the Ganges plain and moved
into foothills of the Himalayas to the town of Pauri. What a trip.
One hundred kilometers took just under three hours. The quality of
the road is good but twisting and turning. The Mahindra Jeeps,
trucks and busses still drive like a race track. We have given our
driver a Ferrari cap and call him Schumi.
The Rotary Club of Pauri has 14 members and started
by a past GSE team member when he came back in 1992. He has since
also started the club in Srinagar where we are going this morning.
Srinagar is down in the valley.
Regards to all,
Norman Adams |
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Message from Derryk Jordan
of our GSE India Team - 19 January
The past week has been an unbelievable experience! This cannot be
described as a holiday, or exchange, but rather as a fascinating
journey into a mind-boggling country! This evening my hosts said
that in India the visitor is God, and he is most correct! We have
been treated like celebrities wherever we have gone, to the point of
being asked for autographs in Meerut! I've never been asked to stand
in so many photographs, you could swear I was a Brad Pitt look-alike
(not too far from the truth!!). The reality is that Indian people
are just so overjoyed to receive visitors and are so eager to show
their country to the rest of the world. Add to that that I made the
fatal error of telling them that I coached cricket in SA, and now
I'm being hounded by all and sundry! Its nice to start, but the
problem is that Indians love food, and they are most put out if you
will not join them in eating! We have not stopped eating since we
arrived (half the time I have not got a clue what we are eating
which is most probably a good thing!). They have tea 40 times a day,
and every time something must be eaten, and then the three normal
meals are gigantic 6 course affairs which are going to require me to
do some serious training with the mighty 4th cricket team upon my
return!
 We
arrived in Dehli - very thick smog, and spent an evening at the
Indian Habitat - nice hotel in central Delhi. Dehli a huge city with
a Durbany feeling. Traffic unbelievable! 7 lanes of traffic squashed
into 2 lanes! Very normal to be driving and have a camel pulling a
cart on your left, a few cows on the right, some engaged in some
sort of work pulling something, a rickshaw behind you, and a
horse-drawn something in front of you, with a truck trying to
overtake you, and that's all on the highway! Its totally
unbelievable! When you want to pass, you just pull out into the
incoming traffic and go, hand on the hooter, and oncoming traffic
just moves! This system only works as a result of the Indian's
incredible patience on the roads, in SA an absolute nightmare would
ensue! We traveled from Meerut to Dehli (approximately 100km which
took 3 hours due to traffic). There is very little space and for the
entire 100km, there were people, houses, factories and animals on
the side of the road.
Meerut a fascinating place where you have billionaire mansions
with guards outside, and across the road you have a shanty town with
the most unbelievable poverty! We've seen some soul-wrenching
sights, and as a result of a 1.2 billion population, many people are
forced to just exist, and survival is the order of the day! It's
very common to see people living on the sides of the roads, in
tents, under trees, in hovels, or any other form of shelter.. There
is incredible poverty in India, but also unbelievable wealth. One of
the hosts of the team in Jaipur has a palatial palace as a home with
6 live-in servants and a lift to cover the three floors! Labour
costs are incredibly low in India and there is a huge opportunity
for those in business to make a fortune by exporting. In Meerut we
were welcomed like royalty with traditional Indian blessings,
garlands (we seem to receive garlands at every place we visit) -
suppose to take them off after 5 minutes as it shows humility
(closest statue or curious onlooker therefore receives a beautiful
marigold garland).
 In
Meerut visited cricket bat manufacturer - the SS factory,
manufacturer of SS bats (all hand-made) - sponsor of most of the
Indian team - I didn't have the heart to tell the very proud and
wealthy owner that his bats were clearly not working too well at the
moment!! Also visited a school for English, and had the opportunity
to speak to about 60 teenagers about SA - made the fatal mistake of
telling them that I coach a bit of cricket! You could swear that
Ricky Ponting had just walked into the room!! 2 hours later and
narrowly escaping a challenge to face their fastest bowler, I
managed to get out of there! From Meerut, moved to Jaipur, about 7
hours south of Dehli. A magnificent walled city with huge forts and
palaces on the surrounding hills! City has two parts - an old part
centered on a superb palace, and then a huge modern part which has
the most unbelievable infrastructure! Home to 3.5 million people,
this is the modern India - fast, organised, efficient, clean and
extremely modern! There are even timers at the robots which tell you
how much time there is till the robot turns green - enables one to
save fuel by turning off your engine! Spent the week-end here with
hosts - my host is a family of four! Two lovely boys, but they'd
survive 5 minutes at Grey! Bloody naughty! They are wonderful people
- kind, hospitable, warm, and delighted to have me! Once again, I've
been asked to have tea and food a multiple number of times! The
father reminds me of the Dad in Kumars at 42 - proud, patriotic, and
passionate! Spent today touring the city with a doctor from Rotary
who seemed to know the whole city and was able to get us into nook
and cranny of every castle, palace, fort, shop and alley of this
place! The views and scenery can only be described in photo's! Its
now 11:40 - we leave for Agra and Taj Mahal tomorrow! Having a ball
- meeting some fascinating people and learning some interesting
facts about Indian people (incl. that they are strict followers of
African time and are always at least 45 minutes late, they have no
problems with mass flatulence in public - when standing in a group
of people talking it is quite common to hear a peculiar noise, and
everyone spits here!!)
All in all, a fascinating experience - and we've only been here a
week! Missing all of you!
God bless!
Derryk
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Report from the GSE Team in
India - ±17 January
What an experience. A few years ago when I was first
planning to come to India for business a friend said to me, “If you
think you are prepared for India, you are not.” My experiences
travelling to Delhi three times and mixing with business colleagues
made me forget her comment.
Oh boy, she was ever so correct.
We had prepared. We consulted with Indian colleagues, both of Indian
and South African origin, we spoke to Rachelle, the Ambassadorial
student in Grahamstown who had been on a GSE to India a few years
ago. We read everything we could and watched Discovery and Travel
programmes.
We thought we were prepared.
We were rather concerned when we found that we had been booked on
Ethiopian Air routed through Addis Ababa. What a pleasant surprise!
This airline was voted the top African airline of the year for 2006,
knocking our dear SAA off the top of the pile.
The team are having the time of their lives due to the contrasts in
terms of people, food, people, traffic, people, noise. This is a
country on the move. With a GDP growth rate of over 8% - and now
aiming higher - the giant is awakening. Everybody works. Nobody just
expects. Even the beggars on the streets are actually “working”.
They are organised - in beggar gangs.
Our first experience with the traffic made our hair stand on end.
Then we noticed that there is a sense of orderliness in the apparent
chaos. The Indians are extremely tolerant. They blow their hooters
incessantly as they drive. But not rudely, as we South Africans do,
they actually are communicating. “I am on this side and I am coming
past, so please move over”. There is a type of hierarchy on the
road. Busses and TATA trucks (thousands of them), give way to cars
passing and the bottom of the pile are the animal drawn carts. The
roads have every imaginable means of transport. People walking,
ox-carts, water buffalo drawn carts, bicycles, tricycles, three
wheeler vehicles (Garth calls them Darth Vader mobiles), an
elementary truck powered by a water pump motor (it doubles up as a
pump) called a jaguar, scooters, three wheeler scooters, motor
bikes, cars, trucks and busses. All these jostling for the same
space on the road. If you want to overtake then you just pull out,
oncoming traffic will slow down for you. But remember, there is a
give and take.
We were collected Wednesday 3 January 2007 at the India Habitat
Hotel and Cultural centre in New Delhi by four Rotarians from Meerut.
No trailers in India, our first surprise! The luggage is piled onto
the roof rack and tied fast with a bit of rope. So far our luggage
has not fallen off, although it did come lose on the road last
Friday. Luckily we saw it dangling down the side of the car. The
Meerut district has hired a car and a driver for the month to be of
our service.
We were met in Meerut by the District Governor, Mr. M.S. Jain and
most of the dignitaries of the district. This was our first
experience of an Indian tea, enough food to feed an army.
Thursday saw us visiting a cricket bat manufacturing company. They
supply cricket bats to all over the world. It would not help for me
to describe the conditions in the factory. All is done by hand. We
are taking plenty of pictures and will be showing them at the
District conference. Only by seeing the pictures will you be able to
believe us. Most of the factories are like this. We then had a tour
of the main trading centre of the town. No large shopping malls are
to be found anywhere. The streets are lined with shops, all about
three meters wide with all the shopkeepers clamouring for your
attention. The shops seem to specialise in one type of item e.g.
shoes, or material, or fruit.
On Friday we trekked off to the District 3050 conference in Jaipur.
This trip was a distance of about 350 kms. It took ALL day. Yes,
eight hours of solid traffic dodging. We averaged about 50 kph on
the inter town trips and had a quick bite at a McDonald’s. Bad
mistake!
The District 3050 conference was marvellous. Apparently the Jaipur
area is amongst the wealthiest in India. The district is enormous.
They have 148 clubs with 3480 members and are about 1400 km east to
west and 300 km north to south. I have no idea how the DG is
expected to visit all the clubs in a year. (Ethne and all future DGs
– don’t ever complain about the size of our district!) Niel and I
stayed in the most beautiful home I could ever imagine. Mr RS, as he
is known, is a self made multi-multi millionaire. At the age of 17
he had to start work to assist his father to support his family. He
built up a company exporting soft home interior furnishings. What a
wonderful man. His attitude is that one will receive only if you
give. He must have done an awful lot of giving!
We had a very rushed tour of the sights of Jaipur on Sunday. We went
to the Amber Fort, Pink Palace, City Palace and the City museum. At
the museum we bumped into Gordon and Kay Barker of the Rotary Club
of Grahamstown! What a small world. Even more so when we realised
that I knew them when I was first at University.
Monday, off to Agra. Again the travel, although not far by our
standards, took all day and we only arrived at 3:30 pm. We
immediately went to the Taj Mahal. I had heard that it was
spectacular. Now I know that ‘spectacular’ is not nearly good enough
to describe the building. Well worth a visit by everybody. Garth was
most pleased to be able to see the beehive in the left minaret of
the Taj Mahal.
We then came back to District 3100 for our first real visit to a
club in the town of Khurja. Khurja supplies most of the pottery for
India. Two hundred potteries. Not much for export. We were housed in
the rooms of a Hari Krishna monastery. The facilities were extremely
basic and for two days we only had cold water in which to wash.
Rather invigorating as it is winter here at the moment. Our hosts
took us to a cinema. Imagine ‘Back to the past’. The cinema must
have been built in the fifties and has probably never been
renovated. After the opulence of Jaipur, Khurja was more than an
eye-opener. I think we have been very fortunate to experience the
basics of life. A visit to a farm community where they served us
lunch brought home the level of life of the peasants. When we
arrived they invited us to sit on their beds which were all lined up
in front of the house. Only later did we realise that this was
actually their ‘lounge’. They had no other seats in the home.
Staying in a Hari Krishna monastery has its surprises. They started
the ringing of the bells and chanting at 05:00 and went on for two
hours.
Our next visit was with the Rotary Club of Bulandshar. Quite an old
club who have been through a decline as the members aged and the
club stagnated. The older members realised that action was needed
and brought in a number of the young ‘movers and shakers’ in the
town. The club is vibrant and we felt so accepted by them. A
wonderful experience. They are busy with a real Rotary Community
project. Something I will be talking about for many years as I hope
to follow the progress. They have taken over the town park in the
centre of town. They had to fight off an attempt to have the run
down area rezoned into shops. Now they are re-establishing the
gardens and the lawns. Their attitude is that this is to the benefit
of all. Old people take their walks, young children play. A Rotary
project which benefits the town. And will probably increase the
business in the town. Bulandshar is only 16 kilometers from Khurja.
I would think that anybody who is upwardly mobile would be prepared
to travel the 30-40 minutes to work in Khurja but have their home in
Bulandshar. The Delhi Public School we visited is an excellent
school. Interesting that even the teachers wear uniforms.
From Bulandshar we came back ‘home’ to Meerut for the District 3100
conference. The district has 93 clubs with over 3,000 members. I am
so pleased that we have had the opportunity to go to the District
3050 conference as a comparison. The trappings of a conference were
in place but the conference was entirely in the hands of the PDGs.
We understand that over 700 hundred people registered for the
conference. At the session on Sunday morning there could not have
been 100 delegates. Mostly the AGs and district officials. There was
no screen or data projector for us to give a presentation. The RI
President’s Personal representative was none other than Dr. Mahesh
Kotbagi. Dr. Kotbagi was part of the Lesotho Medical Mission that
visited our district last year. He is very keen to come to us again
next year and would like to suggest that the medical mission comes
every two years. We could probably reciprocate by sending English
teachers in the alternate years. He seemed pleased with the idea.
Although they learn to read and write English there is a great
amount of assistance needed. Language is a problem. The language
spoken here is Hindi and only a minority speak English. The
government is to introduce English from 1st Grade as from next year.
We have had the opportunity to meet with their outgoing (our
incoming) GSE team. All males. I really believe that they are in for
a tremendous cultural shock when they reach our district. I am
spending my last weekend here with the team to start their training.
We will also have to put together a comprehensive manual for our
clubs. All the team are vegetarians. There is almost no eating of
meat. The Sikhs eat meat, but they are considered a bit weird. All
meat is called ‘chicken’. Imagine our surprise when, on the first
day we were asked whether we wanted ‘white chicken’ (proper
chicken), or ‘dark chicken’ (mutton). Absolutely no beef or pork is
eaten. The pigs that wonder around our quite safe in their foraging
as nobody will dream of eating them.
The foods we have been given have been so interesting and would
probably be a report all on their own. The Indians have welcomed us
with such generosity that we cannot begin to describe. The team has
learnt to pace themselves and I am getting quite a dab hand at
identifying the items that are too spicy. Nothing is not spicy.
I am not sure whether we will be able to get all the luggage onto
the plane when we return. Shopping ‘therapy’ has taken much
attention by the team. The qualities of the fabrics are amazing.
We start moving to the northern area of the district fro tomorrow.
What has been so good is that at the conference we have met so many
of the executives of the clubs which we will be visiting and they
are terribly excited to host us.
Norman Adams' report
(reportedly edited by the team!)
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January 3rd
to February 5th 2007 will see the first GSE team from
District 9320 visit the subcontinent of India. We will be going to
District 3100. They have about 2000 members in 93 Rotary Clubs. The
District covers the western half of the State of Uttar Pradesh and
the State of Uttaranchal. These states are just north of New Delhi
and in full view of the Himalayas. The area of the district would
easily it into the Free State. One of the highlights we are looking
forward to see is the Taj Mahal. |
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The team comprises:-
Team Leader:
Norman Adams Rotary Club of
Raadzaal (Bloemfontein)
Team Members
1.
Garth Cambry
Ph.D (Bio Technology)
Sponsor:
Rotary Club of Grahamstown Sunset
Vocation:
Research and development of commercial uses of HONEY and honey
derivatives. He has formed a commercial venture to produce Mead
(honey wines). They have recently sent an entire container of mead
to the USA. He is also involved with the manufacture of Bio-fuel.
Job responsibilities:
Directly
involved in the above activities. He is very active in the training
of bee-keepers, at present he has about 1500 beekeepers who tend
their own hives and supply the honey to his mead factory.
Requested Vocational
activities:
He wants to meet with bee-keepers, oil seed producers, mustard
farms, bio-fuel factories.
2.
Nicci Hayes
Sponsor:
Rotary Club of Grahamstown
Job responsibilities:
Teaches at
Victoria Girls high in Grahamstown where she oversees the Arts &
Culture Department, Publicity for the school, Functions and
Fundraising, School plays, Leadership camps, and general Senior
Teacher school management responsibilities.
Requested Vocational
activities:
Visiting Senior Secondary schools, Teacher Training Facilities.
Nicci is also very interested in projects involving complementary
medicines especially in the rural areas. She is also very
interested in visits to, and discussions about, religious activities
of all types. Nicci is a Reiki master.
3.
Derryk Jordan
Sponsor:
Rotary Club of Algoa Bay
Vocation:
Science Teacher at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth. Also
Vocational & Life Skills Teacher
Job responsibilities:
Career and
personal counselling. Head of Grade 8 pupils, Sports Coach, Hostel
Master, Coordinates Toastmaster Public Speaking & Youth Leadership
courses,
Requested Vocational
activities:
Meet with teachers. Visit schools, curriculum development, Youth
Leadership Development, Sports coaching.
4.
Niel van Niekerk
Ph.D (Drama)
Sponsor:
Rotary Club of Bloemfontein
Vocation:
Drama Director, Teacher of Drama and related arts at Eunice Girls
High School in Bloemfontein. Examiner and curriculum developer for
Drama for the Free State Education Department.
Job responsibilities:
Directing
plays, Drama teaching, Drama administration, Drama curriculum
development and examination, Creative development
Requested Vocational
activities:
Arts, acting, directing, meeting actors, directors, producers, film,
stage and television. Education of drama. Niel is also a gourmet
cook so would be very interested in anything to do with food and
cooking.
Training
The team have met twice
to develop their presentations and get a better understanding of the
Indian culture. We met in Bloemfontein in early September where we
were joined by Sanjay Dharwadker, a friend of Norman, who is on a
business contract from India. We also had Indian food prepared for
us by the Bloemfontein Hotel School who have an Indian Chef who is
working on his Masters degree.
We met again at the end
of October and had the opportunity to spend time with a South
African of Indian descent who frequently travels to India. He gave
us a South African’s perspective of India. We also met with Rachel
Woods, the Ambassadorial student in Grahamstown who had been a GSE
team member from the USA to Indian in January 2004. Her advice and
insights were invaluable.
We will finalise our
presentations at the beginning of December.
Are we ready?
India promises to be a
wonderful, interesting experience. The team is prepared to be
sensitive to accommodate whatever cultural experience we find.
Excited? Yes, very.
Norman
(6 November 2006) |
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