Today was another JIVA day. I got up early and was at the breakfast table for 7am sharp. Breakfast, however, was not waiting for me. I saw one of the staff and said as breakfast was not ready yet I would have to go without eating. I didn’t think he understood but decided to have some cereal in my room before heading out. As I walked through the lobby/breakfast room, I noticed a whole feast had been laid out and the waiter was waiting for me. I felt terrible, so I sat down saying I would have to eat quickly. I ate what could in ten minutes and grabbed two pieces of toast to take with me. The ran out to find a rickshaw. There were the usual problems, understanding where I wanted to go, how much I should pay. Finally I got there and managed to loose another angry rickshaw driver.
The whole school were in the playground, listening to the assembly. I was introduced to one of the higher staff and then they made R the director aware of my presence. He wanted to introduce me to the students, so I stood there while he said where I came from and told the students to welcome me and that I was doing a project on JIVA, so they should help me if I had any questions. I felt so small with all those eyes looking at me, the welcome consisted of a drum being hit and clapping to the same rhythm, I actually felt pretty honoured that they were welcoming little old me in such a way. Afterwards I was asked if I would like breakfast. Despite already having two I felt it might have been impolite to say no, instead saying yes that would be lovely.
Breakfast was actually one of the nicest purely Indian breakfasts I have had here. It was freshly peeled apple – yummmmmm. I hadn’t realised how much I craved fresh fruit. There was also some porridge and a yellow noodle dish, both of which were perfectly nice. The tea was unusual and a bit harder to go down, so I just drank it quickly when I got summoned to go to class.
My first class was geography, it was interesting to see the students at work, they all seemed so eager, all wanting to get involved and have their say. When they got things wrong or confused the teacher would not make a fuss of it but would ask another student to put forward the correct solution/idea. It felt very much like a collective, with the teacher guiding rather than a dictatorship, with the teacher ordering and demanding. I also attended a science class and a social science class. Then I interviewed the Principal. This was eye opening and very useful for the dissertation. S popped in and we arranged to meet a bit later.
After my meeting with S I went to the JIVA Ayurvedic center to meet with a doctor to see what he could suggest about my headaches. It was interesting but I felt once again I may have been ripped off, perhaps not because I was European but just because Ayurvedic treatment is rather expensive. The doctor suggested I take some pills, but that I also try a treatment with hot oil. As I had already used up so much of the day I decided to try the oil treatment. Although the shoulder and neck massage to start with were relaxing, the actual oil treatment I found rather unsuccessful, I did not like the feeling of dripping on my forehead and after a while all I could think about was how will I wash this oil out of my hair. The fact that it had been over 1000 rupees also did not help. As I had spent so much at the clinic I decided to walk all the way back to the fly-over, so I would only have to pay 5 to get back to Meadows. Walking in the afternoon heat was not such a good idea, it took just under an hour and I was so hot by the time I got to the rickshaw depot. But I managed to get a ride for 5, so it was all worth it in the end. I jumped straight into a cold shower and then sat down to work.
The whole school were in the playground, listening to the assembly. I was introduced to one of the higher staff and then they made R the director aware of my presence. He wanted to introduce me to the students, so I stood there while he said where I came from and told the students to welcome me and that I was doing a project on JIVA, so they should help me if I had any questions. I felt so small with all those eyes looking at me, the welcome consisted of a drum being hit and clapping to the same rhythm, I actually felt pretty honoured that they were welcoming little old me in such a way. Afterwards I was asked if I would like breakfast. Despite already having two I felt it might have been impolite to say no, instead saying yes that would be lovely.
Breakfast was actually one of the nicest purely Indian breakfasts I have had here. It was freshly peeled apple – yummmmmm. I hadn’t realised how much I craved fresh fruit. There was also some porridge and a yellow noodle dish, both of which were perfectly nice. The tea was unusual and a bit harder to go down, so I just drank it quickly when I got summoned to go to class.
My first class was geography, it was interesting to see the students at work, they all seemed so eager, all wanting to get involved and have their say. When they got things wrong or confused the teacher would not make a fuss of it but would ask another student to put forward the correct solution/idea. It felt very much like a collective, with the teacher guiding rather than a dictatorship, with the teacher ordering and demanding. I also attended a science class and a social science class. Then I interviewed the Principal. This was eye opening and very useful for the dissertation. S popped in and we arranged to meet a bit later.
After my meeting with S I went to the JIVA Ayurvedic center to meet with a doctor to see what he could suggest about my headaches. It was interesting but I felt once again I may have been ripped off, perhaps not because I was European but just because Ayurvedic treatment is rather expensive. The doctor suggested I take some pills, but that I also try a treatment with hot oil. As I had already used up so much of the day I decided to try the oil treatment. Although the shoulder and neck massage to start with were relaxing, the actual oil treatment I found rather unsuccessful, I did not like the feeling of dripping on my forehead and after a while all I could think about was how will I wash this oil out of my hair. The fact that it had been over 1000 rupees also did not help. As I had spent so much at the clinic I decided to walk all the way back to the fly-over, so I would only have to pay 5 to get back to Meadows. Walking in the afternoon heat was not such a good idea, it took just under an hour and I was so hot by the time I got to the rickshaw depot. But I managed to get a ride for 5, so it was all worth it in the end. I jumped straight into a cold shower and then sat down to work.
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