So I'm going to try and pick up where I left off.
When we went to the village, I was asked to get out of the car and join this throng of men that I can only describe as what looked like a tribal council meeting or something. About 50 + men were gathered sort of in a circle with a guy in the middle smoking a giant hookah pipe. I was seated in this chair at the front of the group while I was introduced to tons of different people, asked to pose for a boatload of photos and was slightly overwhelmed as more and more people including a lot of the children came to see what was going on. I felt a little embarrassed that I was not wearing a more appropriate outfit but I really had no idea what we were going to be doing...so I just explained that Americans don't typically wear shawls and did my best to smile and be charming as to not offend anyone.
We moved next to this open courtyard area that might have belonged to the back of someone's house. It was hard to tell. The children were all peeking in trying to see what was going on and again I was placed at a long table filled with about 25 men while they served me tea and a ton of snacks and desserts. The spread they made for me was very humbling as I know it must have taken a lot of time to prepare. I asked if I could visit with the women in the village and after we ate till I could eat no more, I was ushered outside to the open part of the courtyard and the elderly women of the village were there. Their heads were covered but they lifted up their shawls to say hello and to take my head and give their "blessings" to me. I didn't really know what was going on as I was touched on my hair, hands and given hugs and squeezes left and right but I was very happy to see them and could tell they were excited to spend time with me. The oldest grandmother in the village took my head again and pushed my hair down bestowing one last blessing and pressed money into my hand. I tried to refuse since I knew these people had very little and I felt so bad. Although not a significant sum by Western standards, it was a lot of money for someone from this village. I was told by my hosts that I needed to take it otherwise it would be a great insult. So I thanked them all, took more pictures, and walked back towards the car with many trailing behind me.
After that experience, I was pretty exhausted and went to rest for a bit before we had dinner. We didn't eat until 8pm and afterwards, the two guys that live in house, the owner of the house and his children invited me to take a walk. I was thrilled because I rarely get to walk in Calicut and I certainly don't get to enjoy that nice weather or stay out late at night. But I soon realized that they meant take a walk around the rooftop terrace. I tried not to show my disappointment too much and laughed as the walk around took about 10 seconds. The kids and I decided to make it a game and did laps, trying to out walk the rest of the group. We teased all the other men who were not participating and eventually got everyone to join in. So there I was like a mother hen with her little ducklings following behind her on this roof! After we stopped walking, the two young boys brought out some badminton rackets and we played for a little bit until one of them hit the birdie over the roof. End of game. No bother, the kids brought out a cricket bat next and they proceeded to teach me the rules and how to play the game. Now you probably know that this is the most loved sport here in India and I've tried to get some of my students to explain it to me, but have not grasped it fully. That night, I finally made some headway. They were impressed with my sport skills (which is probably only because women don't play here) and we ended up having so much fun together as my competitive side kicked in. That will remain one of my best memories!
The next day went very similarly to the first, with teaching all day, a closing ceremony of sorts which lasted far too long!!! and another trip to a different village and more cricket on the roof after dinner. The parents were invited to come and see what we had done for the two days of English camp and both the children and I were exhausted going into it. Literally children were falling asleep in their seats as speech after speech droned on and on. I was called the "president" of the occasion with the honor of giving the last speech. I listened while prominent man of the town after prominent man gave a speech in Hindi and tried to stay focused and not appear bored out of my mind. They asked me to sing something mid way and the best I could do on the spot that remotely made me think of a message worth imparting was Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All" hahaha! Only in India! One guy looked at me the entire speech as though I was understanding every single word he was saying and my boss behind me whispered, "Just smile and nod." Which I did a lot of. When he finally finished I felt like clapping, but after the next guy went, he got up and proceeded to give round 2 of his speech. I later talked with my social worker friend about him and we were laughing at the absurdity of it because no one even knew who that guy was and he definitely had not been invited to the closing ceremony!
After the second village visit in which I met with a very important political leader in the area as he showed me photo after photo of his diplomatic trip to the U.S in 1987, I was done. I was a bit tired of being shown off and posing for various photo ops! So when I needed to go the bathroom, I told my hosts we needed to go back to the house. Well, the politician did not want me to leave so he attempted to offer me a bathroom in the Hindu temple! Which btw, as a foreigner and non-Hindu, I am not supposed to enter, it had no lights and would have had to use a flashlight, I didn't have my purse with me with toilet paper and my overall fatigue, I was not in the mood to negotiate. I told them again very firmly that I needed to go back to the house, but because they did not wish to offend him, they tried to get me to use the temple bathroom and I stood my ground. Well at this point, everyone at the temple gathered around listening to my plight, as they went back and forth about why I didn't want to go to the bathroom there and I'm not joking, about 50 men were not involved in the conversation and I was utterly humiliated! That was the end of what I could handle and I demanded to go back to the house.
They finally got the picture and we left abruptly. I wanted to cry but held it together. I walked straight into the house and into my room and did not come out again until dinner time. My friend/boss from Calicut knew something was wrong but I was not ready to talk about anything so I just pretended I was fine, ate dinner, played cricket with the kids and went to bed. The next and last day of my trip started at 5am with the early morning prayer call. We piled into the SUV and headed back to Delhi around 6. Our hosts wanted to show us a few sights before we had to go to the airport. I enjoyed touring around there but it was considerably hotter in Delhi and the A/C in our vehicle went out. I was literally melting into the seat each time we got back in the car. After touring a couple historical spots, we headed to the airport and I've never wanted to get out of car so badly. It was the hottest part of the day and I was sweating on every inch of my body. It took like 20 minutes to cool off in the airport A/C and I felt like I could wring out my shirt, it was that bad! The flights home were uneventful and I was never more tired in my life when we finally arrived back in Calicut around midnight. A trip to remember that's for sure! I did enjoy the children very much and would go back just to be with them again but I know I"ll be better prepared now for the next time around as to what it all entails.
When we went to the village, I was asked to get out of the car and join this throng of men that I can only describe as what looked like a tribal council meeting or something. About 50 + men were gathered sort of in a circle with a guy in the middle smoking a giant hookah pipe. I was seated in this chair at the front of the group while I was introduced to tons of different people, asked to pose for a boatload of photos and was slightly overwhelmed as more and more people including a lot of the children came to see what was going on. I felt a little embarrassed that I was not wearing a more appropriate outfit but I really had no idea what we were going to be doing...so I just explained that Americans don't typically wear shawls and did my best to smile and be charming as to not offend anyone.
We moved next to this open courtyard area that might have belonged to the back of someone's house. It was hard to tell. The children were all peeking in trying to see what was going on and again I was placed at a long table filled with about 25 men while they served me tea and a ton of snacks and desserts. The spread they made for me was very humbling as I know it must have taken a lot of time to prepare. I asked if I could visit with the women in the village and after we ate till I could eat no more, I was ushered outside to the open part of the courtyard and the elderly women of the village were there. Their heads were covered but they lifted up their shawls to say hello and to take my head and give their "blessings" to me. I didn't really know what was going on as I was touched on my hair, hands and given hugs and squeezes left and right but I was very happy to see them and could tell they were excited to spend time with me. The oldest grandmother in the village took my head again and pushed my hair down bestowing one last blessing and pressed money into my hand. I tried to refuse since I knew these people had very little and I felt so bad. Although not a significant sum by Western standards, it was a lot of money for someone from this village. I was told by my hosts that I needed to take it otherwise it would be a great insult. So I thanked them all, took more pictures, and walked back towards the car with many trailing behind me.
After that experience, I was pretty exhausted and went to rest for a bit before we had dinner. We didn't eat until 8pm and afterwards, the two guys that live in house, the owner of the house and his children invited me to take a walk. I was thrilled because I rarely get to walk in Calicut and I certainly don't get to enjoy that nice weather or stay out late at night. But I soon realized that they meant take a walk around the rooftop terrace. I tried not to show my disappointment too much and laughed as the walk around took about 10 seconds. The kids and I decided to make it a game and did laps, trying to out walk the rest of the group. We teased all the other men who were not participating and eventually got everyone to join in. So there I was like a mother hen with her little ducklings following behind her on this roof! After we stopped walking, the two young boys brought out some badminton rackets and we played for a little bit until one of them hit the birdie over the roof. End of game. No bother, the kids brought out a cricket bat next and they proceeded to teach me the rules and how to play the game. Now you probably know that this is the most loved sport here in India and I've tried to get some of my students to explain it to me, but have not grasped it fully. That night, I finally made some headway. They were impressed with my sport skills (which is probably only because women don't play here) and we ended up having so much fun together as my competitive side kicked in. That will remain one of my best memories!
The next day went very similarly to the first, with teaching all day, a closing ceremony of sorts which lasted far too long!!! and another trip to a different village and more cricket on the roof after dinner. The parents were invited to come and see what we had done for the two days of English camp and both the children and I were exhausted going into it. Literally children were falling asleep in their seats as speech after speech droned on and on. I was called the "president" of the occasion with the honor of giving the last speech. I listened while prominent man of the town after prominent man gave a speech in Hindi and tried to stay focused and not appear bored out of my mind. They asked me to sing something mid way and the best I could do on the spot that remotely made me think of a message worth imparting was Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All" hahaha! Only in India! One guy looked at me the entire speech as though I was understanding every single word he was saying and my boss behind me whispered, "Just smile and nod." Which I did a lot of. When he finally finished I felt like clapping, but after the next guy went, he got up and proceeded to give round 2 of his speech. I later talked with my social worker friend about him and we were laughing at the absurdity of it because no one even knew who that guy was and he definitely had not been invited to the closing ceremony!
After the second village visit in which I met with a very important political leader in the area as he showed me photo after photo of his diplomatic trip to the U.S in 1987, I was done. I was a bit tired of being shown off and posing for various photo ops! So when I needed to go the bathroom, I told my hosts we needed to go back to the house. Well, the politician did not want me to leave so he attempted to offer me a bathroom in the Hindu temple! Which btw, as a foreigner and non-Hindu, I am not supposed to enter, it had no lights and would have had to use a flashlight, I didn't have my purse with me with toilet paper and my overall fatigue, I was not in the mood to negotiate. I told them again very firmly that I needed to go back to the house, but because they did not wish to offend him, they tried to get me to use the temple bathroom and I stood my ground. Well at this point, everyone at the temple gathered around listening to my plight, as they went back and forth about why I didn't want to go to the bathroom there and I'm not joking, about 50 men were not involved in the conversation and I was utterly humiliated! That was the end of what I could handle and I demanded to go back to the house.
They finally got the picture and we left abruptly. I wanted to cry but held it together. I walked straight into the house and into my room and did not come out again until dinner time. My friend/boss from Calicut knew something was wrong but I was not ready to talk about anything so I just pretended I was fine, ate dinner, played cricket with the kids and went to bed. The next and last day of my trip started at 5am with the early morning prayer call. We piled into the SUV and headed back to Delhi around 6. Our hosts wanted to show us a few sights before we had to go to the airport. I enjoyed touring around there but it was considerably hotter in Delhi and the A/C in our vehicle went out. I was literally melting into the seat each time we got back in the car. After touring a couple historical spots, we headed to the airport and I've never wanted to get out of car so badly. It was the hottest part of the day and I was sweating on every inch of my body. It took like 20 minutes to cool off in the airport A/C and I felt like I could wring out my shirt, it was that bad! The flights home were uneventful and I was never more tired in my life when we finally arrived back in Calicut around midnight. A trip to remember that's for sure! I did enjoy the children very much and would go back just to be with them again but I know I"ll be better prepared now for the next time around as to what it all entails.
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