Today I had a day o
ff and just took time to relax from the hectic last week. I was in desperate need of a lie in and time for my body to recuperate, although I still found myself waking up around 6am, which is just crazy! I took time in the morning to catch up on my blog and finished reading Acts. It was good to just stay in having my thoughts and reflecting on the week. So much goes on out here and I’m finding time is going by so quickly. This Monday begins my fourth week and although I have done a lot and met loads of awesome people, I still want to do more, see more and meet more people and build better relationships with the people I’ve already met.
I caught an auto-rickshaw to the office in Lingarajpurum around mid day. I’m sort of used to arguing with the drivers now. I’ve seen a little note on the side of most of the vehicles saying, ‘If this driver tries to charge more than the set amount, please inform the police.’ So it is actually illegal to over-charge on the rickshaws; it doesn’t stop them from trying though I suppose. It actually got me thinking as well; what would the police really do if you did inform them? I hate to say it but, they’d probably do nothing because I keep hearing stories of how corrupt they are out here. The other day I asked to go to where the office was and the driver said 10 Rupee more than the meter. I asked ‘Why?’ and he just smiled at me and said ‘plus 10 Rupee’. I just jumped off and said he could forget it and as I was walking off he said ‘plus 5 Rupee’ and I said, 'No! Just the meter or I’ll get a different one’. He knew as well as I did that another rickshaw would be along any minute that wouldn’t try and charge me extra, so he just sort of should his head and off we went on our way. The thing is not to let yourself be intimidated by them and you won’t be cheated.
At the office I spent time updating my blog and catching up with any emails and of course, Facebook! Flipping Facebook! Is it taking over our lives just a little bit or has become a part of our routine that we just accept? I also spent time research on the net what advice is available from India itself when it comes to alcohol, sex and drug advice. It seems very hard to find and I found hardly an useful website or companies that are focused on giving any counselling on these things. From talking with Raj and others, alcohol and drug abuse is as much a problem here as it is in the UK. In India however I don’t think it is as public as the UK and to talk about it openly and seek advice on it is considered a bit of a taboo. I need to look into this a lot more and gather local and national publications to see if there is any help available in them.
After the office I wandered around Kamanahalli, which is basically a long road with all sorts of shop on ranging from high class Levi’s and Reebok stores to snake charmers and fortune tellers on the street. The mix of society here is so diverse! I didn’t really buy anything apart from some lunch and just spent a lot of time looking in different shops and trying to converse with the local people. The level of English ranged from really good to none at all. I also spent a lot of my time being stared at wh
ich I’m still getting used to.
I spent some time at home and started reading through Exodus this time about Moses and stuff. Reading the later parts has proven difficult but I am so keen to understand the whole history behind my faith and life that I’m gonna persevere. I mean I’ve wasted too much time not reading this great book and as soon as I pick it up I find new things every time that I just spent a lot of Christian walk never knowing. I mean if I don’t understand my Christian faith myself then how am I gonna explain it clearly to others.
I decided to go for a walk around MG Road in the evening and because Raj was at a camp I thought I’d see if Manoj was free and if he wanted to go for a stroll. So we agreed to meet up at about 8pm and head off to the main road to have a look around. Again it seems we got their too late and places were started to close. It didn’t help that Manoj was 45 minutes late, I suppose I’m really going to have to get used to the Indians and their timings.
ff and just took time to relax from the hectic last week. I was in desperate need of a lie in and time for my body to recuperate, although I still found myself waking up around 6am, which is just crazy! I took time in the morning to catch up on my blog and finished reading Acts. It was good to just stay in having my thoughts and reflecting on the week. So much goes on out here and I’m finding time is going by so quickly. This Monday begins my fourth week and although I have done a lot and met loads of awesome people, I still want to do more, see more and meet more people and build better relationships with the people I’ve already met.I caught an auto-rickshaw to the office in Lingarajpurum around mid day. I’m sort of used to arguing with the drivers now. I’ve seen a little note on the side of most of the vehicles saying, ‘If this driver tries to charge more than the set amount, please inform the police.’ So it is actually illegal to over-charge on the rickshaws; it doesn’t stop them from trying though I suppose. It actually got me thinking as well; what would the police really do if you did inform them? I hate to say it but, they’d probably do nothing because I keep hearing stories of how corrupt they are out here. The other day I asked to go to where the office was and the driver said 10 Rupee more than the meter. I asked ‘Why?’ and he just smiled at me and said ‘plus 10 Rupee’. I just jumped off and said he could forget it and as I was walking off he said ‘plus 5 Rupee’ and I said, 'No! Just the meter or I’ll get a different one’. He knew as well as I did that another rickshaw would be along any minute that wouldn’t try and charge me extra, so he just sort of should his head and off we went on our way. The thing is not to let yourself be intimidated by them and you won’t be cheated.
At the office I spent time updating my blog and catching up with any emails and of course, Facebook! Flipping Facebook! Is it taking over our lives just a little bit or has become a part of our routine that we just accept? I also spent time research on the net what advice is available from India itself when it comes to alcohol, sex and drug advice. It seems very hard to find and I found hardly an useful website or companies that are focused on giving any counselling on these things. From talking with Raj and others, alcohol and drug abuse is as much a problem here as it is in the UK. In India however I don’t think it is as public as the UK and to talk about it openly and seek advice on it is considered a bit of a taboo. I need to look into this a lot more and gather local and national publications to see if there is any help available in them.
After the office I wandered around Kamanahalli, which is basically a long road with all sorts of shop on ranging from high class Levi’s and Reebok stores to snake charmers and fortune tellers on the street. The mix of society here is so diverse! I didn’t really buy anything apart from some lunch and just spent a lot of time looking in different shops and trying to converse with the local people. The level of English ranged from really good to none at all. I also spent a lot of my time being stared at wh
ich I’m still getting used to.I spent some time at home and started reading through Exodus this time about Moses and stuff. Reading the later parts has proven difficult but I am so keen to understand the whole history behind my faith and life that I’m gonna persevere. I mean I’ve wasted too much time not reading this great book and as soon as I pick it up I find new things every time that I just spent a lot of Christian walk never knowing. I mean if I don’t understand my Christian faith myself then how am I gonna explain it clearly to others.
I decided to go for a walk around MG Road in the evening and because Raj was at a camp I thought I’d see if Manoj was free and if he wanted to go for a stroll. So we agreed to meet up at about 8pm and head off to the main road to have a look around. Again it seems we got their too late and places were started to close. It didn’t help that Manoj was 45 minutes late, I suppose I’m really going to have to get used to the Indians and their timings.
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