The bog on the blog

All Mod Cons! (is the third album by The Jam and contains the song 'To Be Someone' - which if I was I wouldn't be doing this...)  The song includes the line 'didn't we have a nice time..?' - which I'm not!

Yeah well this is the first thing that we photographed when we arrived at our hostel. The water wasn't working and this meant that we had to walk across the hallway to get water to fill up the cistern etc. As you can see the accommodation was sublime. I don't know if there is such a thing as a libel action for sarky types - so it shall remain nameless!!!

Anyway like the pampered westerners that we are, when the announcement was made that we were being decanted / evacuated with our colleagues who shared our predicament; we just about stampeded out the door. I will never quite understand the confusion on the faces of the staff as we hurried past their admin office for the exit for the last time!

Waitin' for buses

Waiting for buses is never a good thing - N.E.V.E.R.! Waiting for buses, that are the start of a journey at the end of a holiday or a visit to somewhere that has been significant, even less so! Still while it is the start of the transportation we have been out of our room since 1200 today and are not getting picked up until 2030. Considering that we are 4.5 hours ahead of Scotland, by the time that I should get in the house tomorrow, that will be about 30 hours from closing the door of our room till opening the door of my house! Anyway enough of that...

This will be my last post from Mumbai and I have seen way too much stuff to convey in this blog, at this time. I will try to get some of the photographs that I have taken developed, as soon as possible and post them at the corresponding articles when I get home. This will hopefully give me some more stuff that I can write and maybe add another dimension to the posts, so that people can maybe understand where I have been a wee bit clearer.

As time goes on I will also attempt to add some information about some of the issues and more factual content.

While taking advantage of the air conditioning in the Internet Cafe I have used, I have looked at

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai

and, even though I looked at it before I came out I now relate to it differently. I suppose that is ultimately what the journey was all about. It is certainly worth a 'wee look at' and gives links to all sorts of information about this stunning city; although there is no clear mention of the poverty that I have bore witness to!

We should fly to Vienna at ten to one in the morning and I have charged my IPod for this leg of the journey. Although, since I eventually worked out how to operate the remote control on the plane on the way out, I might try and watch a film or two. Oh; and they have a couple of video games on it as well, so I will check out what these are all about. Need to think travel strategy!

I will keep the BLOG going for a wee while, because there might be some developments to come from our short time out here... I have enjoyed writing it - it gave me some focus to channel my experiences and feel that I was sharing them with people who might know me.

Before I finish up this post, I will write a wee story about when I was doing some media training some years ago. I had a smashing tutor and the one thing that he used to bang about was - always write in the voice of the paper / magazine that you are working / freelancing for.

BLOGS give people a mechanism to write about whatever they want in their own 'voice' under their own terms, this is an extremely powerful thing to have the ability to do! People's responses from Scotland to my posts out here demonstrate the interactive potential of global communications - this was one of my favourite parts of the experience.

Anyway, my media tutor had been a food critic as a journalist - his favourite food was the sausages in Heinz 'Sausage and Beans'! Although that was only his opinion, I suppose I have always thought of this as a metaphor for finding beauty where you least expect it.

"Yeah, so what are you going on about Raymie?" Well the views of the islands across the Arabian Sea from Mumbai are absolutely spectacular and the skyline is a sight to behold, but the smiles of the rag pickers and their children in the slums on Saturday afternoon will be with me forever... true beauty. Uh oh, I think that there might be a song in there somewhere...

My (next) Life as a Bollywood Extra

Kiran used to show up outside of our hostel everyday, he was about 24 and had a 'well polished' look about him. He had movie star or model looks and would ask me if I would go and be a Bollywood extra - a few of us were interested in this but never managed to get the chance to go along. I don't know that it would have meant that I would have been involved in any of the crazy dance scenes, but it was definitely an odd opportunity to have been offered! As some people say out here - maybe in the next life!

The only time that people approach me with offers of work in Glasgow is when they want me to do some market research for them outside the Buchanan Hotel... Maybe if the Scottish film industry was able to develop, this might change!

Dancing Footnote

On the subject of crazy dance scenes, after coming back from dinner last night we were sitting outside of our hotel when I noticed two young guys (about 12 and 14) boddy popping. This isn't really that unusual in Glasgow, but considering that they were wearing traditional Islamic clothing the sight was a tad novel! This only got worse when they were joined by my room-mate Peter dressed in traditional Scottish clothing - a kilt and a lace-tie collar 'Jacobite' shirt. Superb(!) two wee local guys and a renegade 'Tartan Army footsoldier' body popping about the street as the taxis tooted their horns - what a scream!

The Hard Luck Cafe and the Boulevard of Broken Dreams

It is Monday and the streets of Mumbai are once again bustling and the sound of car horns fills the air. Over the weekend I didn't realise that the streets had become a bit quieter than during the previous week; but today I can notice a clear difference. The streets are teeming with people and one thing that caught our eye is people sitting on the pavement filling out forms - we wondered if they were job applications since it is the start of the week!?

The weekend was quite relaxing, because we moved from our hostel to a hotel - some people seem to think that the difference between a hostel and a hotel is the letter 's'; but let me assure you there is more to it than that!

In the hostel we had wee crappy pillows but now we had big fluffy ones, if we had a shower, the room was too hot and you started sweating almost immediately - now we had air conditioning. I am muttering on about this because; when we struggled with the conditions of the hostel, even they were a world away from the people who live in the slums out here!

After the challenges of Friday and Saturday, Martin and me went out to see if we could find any football to watch - we went to the local Sports Bar. We were able to watch Sheffield United vs Charlton on one telly with Liverpool on another and familiar western rock music blasting out; this included Oasis, Green Day, Metallica, Coldplay. There was a young Indian guy with a Cradle of Filth teeshirt and his pal had on an Incubus one! I found this sort of thing really interesting, as they were clearly identifying with western youth subcultures over their traditional Indian culture. They seemed to be expressing a commitment to their chosen subculture and I wondered if they would encounter the sort of difficulties within their respective communities that I know a lot of young people in my country who become goths, punks, moshers etc. can have to deal with!

Sticking with cultural differences, when we were at the train station on Friday, some of the women in our group were asked to cover up their shoulders because it could cause some offence to people. When we were in the Sports Bar I noticed some of the young women had their shoulders exposed. Like the young guys in their heavy metal tee-shirts, I think that this could have been a hugely significant statement. REM's song Losing my Religion was playing and it has never seemed so apt!

Continuing the 'cultural exchange' theme on Sunday we went out for our lunch to the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) and this was a twenty minute drive from our lovely new accommodation. To get to where the HRC was we had to go through two sentry boxes with guards inside! Considering that there was a row of slum housing made of corrugated iron round the corner, on stepping inside it was clear why this place was hidden away up a side street through security caurdons. There were people having their lunch and considering that we paid for three people what would easily have fed six - it is fair to say that they would have been extremely well off.

As we left, we passed the people in the corrugated shacks again and hearing Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams during the visit added to the feelings of despair passing this sight / site. People try to justify the polar opposites of this short distance by saying that the people are 'left to their fate' or 'make their own luck'. Although the journey back to our lovely hotel through the seafront of Mumbai's bay was spectacular - the pristine skyscrapers that symbolise the successes of India's 'economic triumph' suggested something altogether different to me! The air conditioning in the room stank as well...

The Outskirts of Town

On Saturday we went for a ride on the train again(!), the train was quite quiet on the way out due to it being a holiday and so it wasn't too bad. On the way back we had to run and jump on - into first class with a second class ticket because the rest were so busy. To board second class would have meant that we might have had to hang out of the door - when you consider that on average 20 - 26 people a month die on the Mumbai trains this was never going to be an option. We stood quite near to the door and there is something of a breeze, so you can see why people stand there!

Anyway where were we - well it is fair to say that this was going to be the most challenging visit of the trip, so our organisers had put it at the end of the itinerary. We went out to visit an organisation that works with people in the slums of Mumbai - these are the people who you might have seen on the television who live within canvas rags. As we walked through the visibly crumbling streets we began to attract attention. At one point we had a group of sixty or more young people following us along the streets excited by our presence. Some people found this quite intimidating - but some of the young people spoke to us and asked questions - their English was superb.

It was absolutely horrendous and the memory of that day will remain with me forever. The organisation works with the people who are known as 'rag-pickers' and this is their work - if you consider that towns, villages and cities grow up around where the industry was - farming, cotton-weaving, ports etc. then to think that this 'industry' is based around a landfill site might give an idea of how bad things are for these people.

We went right through the tents to a riverside and there were young males swimming in it, despite it being clearly polluted. On the way down this pathway there were young children looking after babies and some women who even despite our intrusion into their private space managed to smile. All of the people were extremely friendly and welcoming and we met a social activist who lives within the community and fights campaigns for the rights of the rag pickers - she was a very strong woman. The visit was extremely humbling, and has given me a lot to think about; although whether I can make any sense of this sort of hardship is something that will take time. Some people try to paint a picture that this is the start of an economic journey for the people - after seeing it though; it feels more like the 'end of the line'!

Friday Street Kids

On Friday we left early from our hostel to go to visit a project that works with young people on the streets of Mumbai. This was something that I always wanted to gain some understanding of after three years of working with young people experiencing on street homelessness on the streets of Glasgow.

The organisation working on this takes an approach that would require about 12 organisations in Glasgow and this was more like the way that I think work with people coming from the streets could have success. If young people agree to work with the charity, which is a christian organisation they can take part in a training scheme for a year. There can be up to eight of the young people accommodated in the project's flat during this time and they also gain the opportunity to learn about managing a house and essential things like cooking.

Once they progress through the year they can sit exams to demonstrate that they are competent to enter the job market as either a tailor or a screenprinter. The journey there meant we had to get a taxi, a train and an autorickshaw (a vespa scooter taxi) as someone who drove scooters when I was younger, this was a personal delight. On the way back two of us failed to board the train successfully and had to wait on the next one - the train caper is so intimidating!

Rugged, Beautiful and Wonderful

These were just some of the adjectives that have been used to describe me in some of the comments that were left for me. You are all too kind! Only joking... Anyway what am I about to prattle on about, well some of you might be thinking after some of the recent entries that I think life is a joke and that I am having something of a jolly out here!?

Well, er what can I say it has been absolutely unbelievable, but today's episode was an epic - tiring but inspirational. We got up at 0630 to go on a coach trip across India - 5 hours on a coach, to high up in the rugged mountains to the North East of Mumbai to see a project that works with people who have special needs. This journey was spectacular on the way up and some of the countryside we went through was extremely challenging for the bus driver and some of our party.

We arrived at the project to be greeted by some of the staff, who were disappointed that we were a bit later arriving than expected, who knows what time they thought I get up at! It was lunchtime for the people who live there - as part of a community supported by committed staff and volunteers! The organisation refers to the people with special needs as their special freinds and they were able to interact with our group on their terms - some organisations would not allow this. We had a lunch prepared by some of the people and they went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable. I won't waffle on too much about them but would encourage you to go to their website and check it out for yourself at;

www.sadhana-village.org

The inspiring thing was that they had started out to look after adults with special needs and tried to find a suitable location for this, you can hopefully find out more about the location at

www.girivan.com

Anyway after initial difficulties settling in and establishing their presence within the valley of 3300 families they have begun to work with more and more people. The organisation has widened into doing work around social and economic education with the local community and some of the women were involved in the preparation of our lunch. One of their priority areas of concern, is to look at ways of providing clean drinking water for the people within the valley. The importance of this organisation's presence within the district was illustrated when some men from a village 10km away arrived to discuss the situation about their drinking water resource with the staff.

After lunch we sat beneath some trees in their beautiful gardens and heard some of the special freinds sing wonderful traditional Indian songs. As well as, 'We Shall Overcome' in Hindi, some of our party sang Donald Were's Yer Troosers in return and one of the special freinds gave us a stand up comedy performance. We left the community to begin the long(er) drive back to Mumbai with the sound of thunder in the valley and arrived back to the sound of the tooting horns of Mumbai. Time for bed!

ई दिदं't लीर्ण थे लंगुअगे - बुत ई कैन टाईप फ्लुएँत्ल्य!!!

Extreme (Tran)Sports and a Bizarre Bazaar incident

As some of you might know I cannae be bothered watching the telly and spend a lot of my freetime playing video games, eh... for research purposes you understand. So I thought that I would write the next post with something of a theme about video games. It is my view that everyone who came over with the group has successfully become a Extreme Transports Triathlete and that some of us are about to become Extreme Transports Pentathletes! Going through the events one by one in chronological order:

Endurance Longhaul Flight - take twenty people and send them halfway round the world with extremely inconvenient flight times. They can watch their plane go round and round in circles to add to the torture!
Scream Taxi - take groups of three or four people round a strange city and drive as fast as you can without worrying about anything else going on and around you. Sometimes toot your horn to add to the madness!
World Wrestling Trainboarding - try to get onto a train with hundreds of strangers and and sprint for a seat, if you don't get a seat or a handle to hold onto... sorry you have to stand at an open door of a moving train at 70mph and trust the people next to you. Lightweights can opt of the wrestling and take their chances in the cargo compartment.
Platform Game Ferry Boarding - this is just like getting onto any ferry only its more like something out of Super Mario or Donkey Kong! You have to time your jump right - complete level one successfully by gaining entry to the ferry! Level two - jump from one ferry to the next, this adds to the difficulty of timing because two ferries are now randomly bobbing! Tall people have to also think about not bumping their heads...
Craziest Taxi - just like Crazy Taxi and Scream Taxi but with three wheels! No one from the Extreme (Tran)Sports Team has yet managed to do this...


After Platform Game Ferry Boarding (round one) we were on a ferry for a wee culture and heritage voyage across the Arabian Sea to an island called Elephanta Island. The crossing was really smooth - unlike a journey I had in a boat along the Costa Almeria in Spain last year and allowed people to get themselves together after jumping about like Captain Jack Sparrow. On the journey it had a real Pirates of the Carribean feel about it and we could see islands dotted on the misty horizon, who knows what lurked beneath! On arrival at the island we headed up towards caves sacred for Hindus by climbing up 120 stairs, I had to stop halfway up to wipe sweat out of my eyes and grab a drink. When I took a drink, I caught the eye of... a monkey that was feeding a dog - this was on the edge of the market (bazaar) - how bizarre!

When I entered the caves it reminded me of Tomb Raider - Legends and I had to stop myself from trying to shift big boulders to see if a secret mountain passage would unveil itself! The caves were full of the most amazing stone carvings and after looking at them all and discovering that my latest disposable camera's flash didn't work I went for a walk up a mountain with my room-mate Martin. The views were unbelievable and we were able to see three native villages surrounded by all sorts of industry - think of the film about the dancing penguin and you might get an idea. A guy on the mountain path gave us some advice and we headed off on our adventure round to see why the mountain was called Cannon Hill. On the way back down we had a drink of juice with the guy - K.P. and we ended up with him starring in a film that Martin and me made up with him! I hope I don't lose the phone camera and can show yeez it when I get back! Anyway we got back after buying some stuff and the rigorous climb took its toll on Martin so he went for a 'wee kip'. I better go cos I have to waken him up! Oh by the way I saw some nice comments from some people and this was almost as bizarre as the monkey feeding the dog - just not quite!

A Lesson Learnt!

In yesterday's entry I mentioned that I would comment a wee bit more about the food and stuff in Mumbai. Well it is outstanding in the few places we have been so far, but it is unbelievably cheap! On the first night here; eight of us had a meal of a main course and bowls of rice etc. with a drink each for just over 2000 rupees ( about twenty eight pounds). The portions were outrageous and it is shameful to have seen the waste from our tables being taken away after walking past the children, old people and lame begging on the streets.

Since then we have tried to work out more effectively what exactly we need on our table. Often at home I would admit that I waste food sometimes without thinking. I hope to take this experience home with me and this might be bad news for some of the local junk food shops.

Four Days in Five Minutes

Well it has been four days since I crammed my Irn Bru into my back pack and headed off to the airport. I haven't been able to get access to the Internet for a variety of reasons but won't go into all that.

The journey was torture - the overnight in Heathrow was an endurance test alone. The flight from Heathrow to Venice went smoothly and the flight to Mumbai was the same. I enventually managed how to work the longhaul flight telly control and managed to watch some of the History Boys before landing - marvellous. Then the system cut out, just at the good bit - so this will give me something to look forward to one Sunday evening when I get back. I then sat and watched the wee graphic of the plane on the GPS and found that it was an effective method to gain some geographical familiarity with where on earth I was going. I got a bit bored with this after half an hour of circling Mumbai due to a delay landing!!!

We made it to our hostel after an encounter with a Mumbai traffic jam and couldn't believe our eyes at some the crashes that never happened! At some point in the journey the young people mingling on the streets began to fade and it became clear that the people who were on the streets lived there, with small children and babies as well. This is difficult to deal with and make any sense of!

After we woke up at the hostel we went on a tour of Mumbai - this was superb and we saw some extremely interesting stuff about different communities / religions / cultures here.

We went on our journey as culture vultures and our day included a visit to a Bhuddist temple were they were celebrating a feast and we saw a performance of dancing by some of the young people from within the community to celebrate this. This built up into an outlet of energy fuelled by pounding drums and traditional Indian instruments, with clapping from the adults and some of our party. From here we went to a Hindu temple and got into a dispute with one of the street traders about how much we should pay to get our shoes back! This could be understood as being the equivalent of arguing about how much to give the local young team after they watch your car at Celtic or Ibrox park. We then stopped in at Mahattma Gandhi's house for a quite read and a shot of the air conditioning.

The next religion that we encountered were the Parsee and we were told that their tradition means that they take their dead up onto the hill, we were at the foot of; and leave them for the vultures. I didn't expect to end the day getting introduced to 'vulture culture'! But, hey there ye go!

On Monday we went out and about in Mumbai taxis and this was absolute mayhem - being in among it was unbelievable I don't know how this system of non-negotiation works but it does - somehow! We went to visit a project that deals with intravenous drug users and people who are HIV positive. This was extremely effective at what it did with the people and how it helped them to reconnect with themselves and their talents.

The people who use it can learn new skills and are able to come off of heroin with the support of people who try to help them see that their interests are where their talents may lie!!! The organisation runs prison outreach work with social workers, doctors and counsellors, as well as a medical ward and bag manufacturing. They make bags from fabric, leather and paper - in Mumbai, plastic bags are not allowed - due to environmental concerns. This sort of project is known as a social enterprise - any profits from the bag making goes back into the work of the project. I bought a bag - its made extremely well and will be used well I'm sure - then I discovered I'd lost my disposable camera I'd been using!

Its Tuesday, phew... and I better get going quick cos Martin (one of my two room-mates) is getting hungry. The food is amazing and extremely cheap - I will write more about this in the next entry, cos we have been on the train today and it was outrageous. The behaviour of people getting on and off of the train borders on violence and it was quite - nah very heavy scary! This is something that nothing could prepare you for and has to be seen to be believed - just not on my mobile phone camera - thankyou very much!

The project we visited dealt with taking the monsoon water from the roofs of buildings and using it as a way to nourish the soil in communities and lead to a more luxurious environment for the people who lived there. These were quite rich communities and had gates with security gaurds on them! They also recycled stuff from within hospitals and had managed to stop 400kg of waste a day going into the environment. They have started to do some work with compost and have introduced a special breed of earth worm into the soil and this is something that they are looking at developing. Oh, they make paper bags from old newspapers etc. as well!

This is also a social enterprise and they have been awarded an award by UNESCO (who are on Barcelona's shirts) for their storm water harvesting. The thing is Barcelona donate to UNESCO! As the debate about alcoholic drinks manufacturers on football shirts gathers pace, maybe Liverpool, Everton, Celtic and Rangers could follow their example - donate to Shelter, Oxfam, Barnardo's, Children in Need?! Somehow I doubt it, anyway I am digressing again! ... "Aye awright Martin jist coming"

That's it time to go, just have to finish something off... nah only joking. This is a photo of me done in an Andy Warholian type of style. It is me trying to squeeze some of my favourite ginger (quaint Glaswegian colloquialism for fizzy pop) into my hand luggage! Eeurgh... pardon me!

Raymie meets Gandhi!

Boy oh boy! This technology lark is quite the thing of beauty - the sideways photo of me was sent to this blog from a mobile phone that I am taking out on my visit to Mumbai. This can be understood as me messing about with a bit of technology before fully understanding the requirements for it to do (exactly) what you want. [For more thoughts on this go to blog post numero uno.]

Anyway if things work out as I hope you can look forward to photos of me at Starlight Express [For more discussion on this go to blog post number two.] and eating my Vienna loaf. [For more discussion on this go to blog post number two.] By the time I take the next photograph I will hopefully have understood that I should make the photo the correct way up / right way round at source - then send it to the blog.

On a technical evolutionary scale, this can be understood as being able to do two things at once successfully - take for instance breathing and walking or dipping biscuits in your coffee; and eating them whilst talking on the telephone to your pal without them noticing.

Whether I can do anything about the tenuous quantam time travel / chronological challenges of reading the most recent events before the dim and distant past is a mystery which shall remain unexplored. So for those of you who have just joined me, stuff that has been discussed so far includes Starlight Express, Ronnie Corbett, Ultravox, Match of the Day and meeting my new chums - who incidently I haven't met yet!

Right must dash - have to see if I can book an appointment at the hairdressers.

Do Not Be Alarmed!

As you can see there is something different about me... Do not be alarmed though because it isn't really me, it is merely an image of me that has been distorted to seem as though I have two heads. Hands up who thought I had caught an as yet unidentified disease...

Well not me that's for sure! I am still at home and messing about with stuff - this includes an IPod adaptor, which is a strange contraption but might come in handy at some point in India - must remember to pack the travel plugs between the toaster and the kettle! Then run off and meet my travel companions between AT Mays and the Exchange Bureau or something like that. Better remember to check the newly received travel arrangements for these sort of details...

Gadzooks! It seems that after meeting my chums / colleagues / companions at the seats between the clock and the large plantpot that used to be an ashtray, we will board a flight to London at 1915 and arrive in London at 2030. This will give me time to take in Starlight Express before visiting the London Dungeon. After breakfast at Tiffany's I will board a flight to Austria - Vienna, where I shall buy a loaf and listen to Ultravox. By this time it will be 0945 and time for me to have a shave before I board the flight to Mumbai - I believe that this is known in travel circles as a Vienesse Whirl - or is that a biscuit?

I will arrive in Mumbai at 2250 on Saturday night and hope that the hotel will be showing Match of the Day.

10 April 2007

Like... is there anybody out there?
Due to the sense of trepidation and confusion I feel at this moment, I will write this post using only exclamation marks to end sentences! I wonder if I'm the first person to ever do that? I have tried to get this blog thingy up and running - I think I sort of understand the elements of it, that I think that I will need for what I intend to do!

That's what I tend to do with things and find that it is a way of putting stuff into practice, rather than sitting on me hands - this has seen me having some mad experiences with technology! I don't intend to bore you with the details of this cos if you know me then you are probably sick of this anyway!

I hope to bore your good self / selves with a selection of anecdotes and a series of big prize giveaways, which will hopefully secure me a lucrative career on the after dinner speaking circuit! Me and Andy Goram could have a couple of interesting converstations! Oh and I could probably take on Ronnie Corbett for abstract digression and laughing at my own jokes!


Posted by Raymie McCabe at 14:51 1 comments

Labels: Andy Goram, Ronnie Corbett, Screaming Lord Sutch