October: The Generosity of Children

Indian drivers make such idiotic decisions that sometimes I secretly want them to get knocked just a little bit… I’m so glad to get that off my chest.

So, recently I had the pleasure of showing a close friend around Goa. Ash moved from the UK to Kolkata in February this year and has been working for an international bank there ever since (and I thought I had a crazy time when I moved to Santander in Clapham). He’s also been playing football for said bank, so I thought that would be a good opportunity to connect him with the BLC senior boys. Bless him, pretty much as soon as he landed he was out on the field surrounded by 25 teenage boys, most of whom are excellent, ferocious players. Playing much to expectation, I myself sat with one of the less-interested boys and watched them all play from the sidelines, wishing I had that option in high school.

Seeing Ash again gave me a little boost – a little taste of home, comfort and strength. More than that though, the kids absolutely loved hanging out with him – he got them watching the universally comical Mr Bean, he was helping one boy with his history homework, he joined in with band practice and sang a bit of Maroon 5 with the band. He’s a hero.

It was nice to have someone in my guest room too… my guest room which is available to anyone and everyone… which is also en-suite… and free of cost… and next to the beach… in Goa. Come, come, come.

Indian culture will crack you up. Selfies get taken everywhere you look. At the cinema you stand for the national anthem before the movie starts, and there’s a huge intermission in the middle of the movie. There was a moment on a bus journey when a bump in the road shot all the passengers up at least a foot in the air. The chaat stands sell the most delicious street food and they’re always bustling with people standing around, chilling out with each other, but eating from them is always a risk. Driving is insanity, getting something delivered is frustrating, and forget queuing.

Teaching has been going well. I’ve filled my week with either teaching or planning the teaching. Most of my spare time is taken up with the various other responsibilities I have recently been given, or with mixing and mastering my album. I haven’t seen the beach since April, even though it’s next to my apartment. I really miss it and my old friend the sea.

All my students consist of the senior boys with whom I spend most of my time. I can only hope to someday teach some junior boys or girls but for now my week is completely full. Some of the students show some serious talent – I was showing one of the boys a lead guitar riff just to demonstrate the kind of part the lead guitar plays. It took me a solid 45 seconds to find the fret, the shape and to get the riff going with all the right notes in the right place and with the right rhythm. He took one look at my guitar and copied what I did in 2 seconds. It was his third lesson.

Shortly after my previous blog entry in September, the kids were on their half-term holidays, or the “Ganesh Chaturthi” holidays. No school or study for one week. Of course, the wardens have to come up with ways to entertain the kids and give them things to do. When I arrived on the Wednesday the boys had each designed posters for an environmental-themed poster competition to tap into the growing green-awareness in India. All of them were great but a few of them showed true artistic talent.

I also brought some quizzes on big boards with me – general knowledge quizzes, sports quizzes, music, movies, geography quizzes. I split the boys into four teams and for four days straight we had quizzes with chocolate ice creams as the day’s winner’s treat, except for on the final day when I got a cake made for them iced with the message “BLC Boys”. It was so much fun to engage them in a way that put subjects like geography, history and science on the same level of fun as movies and sports.

At the beginning of October, Beena had her birthday and all the children had come together to put on a massive surprise presentation for her. The junior girls did a cute dance, the senior girls did a dance with pom poms, the boys did a skit as well as a (very) funny dance, a couple of the kids got up and spoke about how Beena had changed their lives in giving them a home, a family and a future, and a tonne of hand-made cards and gifts were given to her. We all had chicken biryani and fun times were accomplished.

This level of preparation for the birthday of someone so profoundly wonderful has led me to thinking about how Indian culture is influencing me. From what I understand, the children don’t really celebrate their birthdays the way that people celebrate birthdays in the West. They don’t celebrate on the day but they’re just aware that they were born on that day a number of years ago. BLC puts on an annual celebration and takes all the children to the beach or the water park, or something, to celebrate everyone’s birthdays in one go. A celebration of life! That way it’s much more affordable and it’s also fair on the children who don’t even know when they were born. But I make it a thing to bring a present to each of the senior boys I work with on their birthdays – just a little something that I can afford. But I always get given something back. One boy gave me some of his sweets on his birthday and insisted I take them. One day the Konkani tutor brought all of the boys a lollipop each and as I walked through the room, one of them got up, walked over and gave me his only one. When I went to someone’s home last week, their little daughter put sweets in my hand almost as soon as I came through the door. The boys found a nice pen in a gift box (I didn’t ask where they got it), etched my name into the side and put a light inside so that the light shines out through my name, and gave it to me as an early birthday present. They’ve been writing the Will Adam Music logo in their books and on their arms. One of the wardens offered me a black chai yesterday when he saw I was stressed – it brightened up my day.

I recently had to spend £80 bribing customs in Mumbai to release a box of personal possessions I had couriered from the UK, but last week someone put £80 in my hand, unaware of my situation. Now I’m thinking of how I can make the children’s lives better with my £80. I’m slowly letting go of all the things and stuff that I believe to be mine because I know that every step I take is somehow all planned for me by something bigger. Stuff comes and goes and wherever we go when we die, it’s not coming with us. What we do have is relationship – the one thing creation was created for – and to truly experience relationship, we must give. Give our time, give our effort, give our words, give our money… give what we have, even if that’s just a lollipop.

Sidenotes:

• The car I drive broke down twice in one night. The first time it happened we got some locals to help bump start it, the second time we left it outside the cinema. When I came to look at it the next morning it turned out that carbon residue had built up around the terminals and was stopping the charge getting through.
• It’s Diwali holidays for the next three weeks. Happy Diwali!
• I am in real need of donations. If you feel compelled to give to help me teach here, you can do so via this JustGiving link or contact me on social media or send an email to hello@willadammusic.com and I can provide my sponsorship account details.