An early day to start off our tour with a 6am Yoga lesson. Our yoga teacher has been affectionately called "the yoga Nazi". He takes his yoga Very seriously. It was still fun and gave us plenty to laugh at for the rest of the day (at his expense).
We travelled to central 'Jawaharlal Nehru University' and had lunch with the lecturers and professors from the computer science department. They were very interesting and the samosas were great.
Facts- tuition at JN Uni is $6 a year as students are sponsored by the government. Students live on the campus for 10c a month. Sounds like a great deal but places are very limited so you must have excellent grades and be fluent in English as all teaching is in English not Hindi. To be accepted into a particular school you have to sit an 'Interest examination' and be interviewed. So it's a very tough process. There are some places for international students but they must pay full fees (only 5-10% international students). Students being accept at JN uni are accepted equally from government and private schools. The male / female ratio is 50/50, female applicants are given an extra 5 admission marks as part of the uni's 'Inclusivity Policy'. Not sure if I like the idea of being given 5 marks, but maybe culturally girls do not have the same schooling as males (with extra household duties) and this is an equalizing mark.
We then travelled by bus on a dirt 4wd track through what appeared to be a rubbish tip that cows were grazing on. Seriously, there was no grass just a landscape of plastic with cows wandering around. There were also little villages here made out of mud and plastic. Very depressing but the people all waved and smiled at us as we drove past.
Our tour group stopped at one small settlement to meet with a bus from the Smile Foundation. They are a fantastic group that travels to these poor areas to offer medical services and education. The bus is converted into 3 areas including consulting room, an x-ray/test room and a pharmacy dispensary out of the drivers cabin. They offer health education and also school education for illiterate adults to help with job placements. They also help educate school drop outs (young children/teenagers) that have left school to work to try to assist the family financially.
This organization is sponsored by local business groups, charities and donations. They perform a wonderful service to help these people that would normally not be able to get any medical assistance and/or limited education opportunities. www.smilefoundation.org
The doctors took us on a tour through this village. It was a very humbling experience. These families had so little but were still so happy and loved being in photos with us. Families welcomed us into their area and didn't beg or ask for anything. They just wanted to smile and enjoy the novelty of this interruption to their daily lives. #it is important to note that begging is not part of Hindi culture as they are very proud people, begging is usually done as part of organized crime.
We handed out lollies to the children and some small gifts from Australia, then we were back on the bus to leave this world behind. These areas are so completely different to the very modern New Delhi that we are staying in. It does make you reassess the 'Stuff' we have in our lives.
The day concluded with a welcome dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant which started with Bollywood dancing to Indian drum music in the street. So much fun and the food, omg amazing. Have I mentioned how good paneer is?
The day was full of extreme situations and experiences. India is certainly very surprising and definitely the roller coaster I expected. The people (majority) are beautiful and very gracious no matter what their situation.
We travelled to central 'Jawaharlal Nehru University' and had lunch with the lecturers and professors from the computer science department. They were very interesting and the samosas were great.
Facts- tuition at JN Uni is $6 a year as students are sponsored by the government. Students live on the campus for 10c a month. Sounds like a great deal but places are very limited so you must have excellent grades and be fluent in English as all teaching is in English not Hindi. To be accepted into a particular school you have to sit an 'Interest examination' and be interviewed. So it's a very tough process. There are some places for international students but they must pay full fees (only 5-10% international students). Students being accept at JN uni are accepted equally from government and private schools. The male / female ratio is 50/50, female applicants are given an extra 5 admission marks as part of the uni's 'Inclusivity Policy'. Not sure if I like the idea of being given 5 marks, but maybe culturally girls do not have the same schooling as males (with extra household duties) and this is an equalizing mark.
We then travelled by bus on a dirt 4wd track through what appeared to be a rubbish tip that cows were grazing on. Seriously, there was no grass just a landscape of plastic with cows wandering around. There were also little villages here made out of mud and plastic. Very depressing but the people all waved and smiled at us as we drove past.
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| Cows used for recycling of plastic bags. |
Our tour group stopped at one small settlement to meet with a bus from the Smile Foundation. They are a fantastic group that travels to these poor areas to offer medical services and education. The bus is converted into 3 areas including consulting room, an x-ray/test room and a pharmacy dispensary out of the drivers cabin. They offer health education and also school education for illiterate adults to help with job placements. They also help educate school drop outs (young children/teenagers) that have left school to work to try to assist the family financially.
This organization is sponsored by local business groups, charities and donations. They perform a wonderful service to help these people that would normally not be able to get any medical assistance and/or limited education opportunities. www.smilefoundation.org
The doctors took us on a tour through this village. It was a very humbling experience. These families had so little but were still so happy and loved being in photos with us. Families welcomed us into their area and didn't beg or ask for anything. They just wanted to smile and enjoy the novelty of this interruption to their daily lives. #it is important to note that begging is not part of Hindi culture as they are very proud people, begging is usually done as part of organized crime.
We handed out lollies to the children and some small gifts from Australia, then we were back on the bus to leave this world behind. These areas are so completely different to the very modern New Delhi that we are staying in. It does make you reassess the 'Stuff' we have in our lives.
The day concluded with a welcome dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant which started with Bollywood dancing to Indian drum music in the street. So much fun and the food, omg amazing. Have I mentioned how good paneer is?
The day was full of extreme situations and experiences. India is certainly very surprising and definitely the roller coaster I expected. The people (majority) are beautiful and very gracious no matter what their situation.
